WPRO News

Governor Dan McKee is asking the state’s attorney general to conduct an independent investigation into his chief of staff’s actions involving property in Cumberland.

McKee’s request to Attorney General Peter Neronha came one day after the governor was peppered with questions about his chief of staff, Anthony Silva’s parcel in Cumberland. The land is predominately wetlands and was the subject of an application to the state Department of Environmental Management seeking permission to build.

“The Governor requested the investigation out of an abundance of caution to provide full transparency and reassurance to the public and to ensure all information related to the application is brought forward,” reads a statement issued Wednesday by McKee’s office.

McKee told reporters Tuesday at his weekly briefing that he was assured there was “no undue influence” exerted by Silva, who subsequently transferred the parcel to his son. Silva had reached out to Cumberland Mayor Jeffrey Mutter to discuss the parcel.

“I don’t think it’s inappropriate for someone who is, you know, had an interest in a project to be talking to a local mayor. I was a mayor of Cumberland, I took those calls all the time,” McKee said on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the Rhode Island Republican Party filed a complaint with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, ” regarding Mr. Silva’s failure to properly disclose his financial interest in this property for at least four years.”

In a statement, the RI GOP said, “an investigation should be conducted as to whether Mr. Silva attempted to influence in anyway (sic) the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in granting a permit to develop the wetlands in June 2021 after DEM rejecting a similar request in 2019.”

Silva, a former Chief of Police in Cumberland, is McKee’s chief of staff, and also acts as a Deputy Director of Cumberland’s Emergency Management Agency.