Candidate Filippi does not live in the district

Filippi claims Block Island residency while official records show he lives in Lincoln

Walsh files formal complaint

Where Blake Filippi REALLY lives. It's actually in the 46th House District

By Rep. Donna Walsh

I have filed a formal complaint with the RI Board of Elections charging my opponent with misstating his true address on his candidate’s declaration this year and on his voter registration, which he first filed in August 15, 2000.

In a recent mailing, Mr. Filippi claimed to be a “life-long resident” of the 36^th House District, which includes all of Block Island and Charlestown and parts of Westerly and South Kingstown. He listed his address on his 2014 candidate’s declaration and on his 2000 voter registration as 912 Champlin Road, New Shoreham.

However, the following official records contradict that claim and instead show his home address to be in Lincoln, RI, far outside the 36^th District:

• On twelve major campaign contributions between 2004 and 2014, Mr. Filippi listed his residence as 1092 Great Road, Lincoln. 

• Two of those donations were made by Mr. Filippi in May and June just before he filed his candidate’s declaration swearing under oath that his home was in Block Island.

• Mr. Filippi's donation to Fung for Governor listing Lincoln as his home address was made on June 21, just five days before he filed his Notice of Organization with the Board of Elections, a sworn statement listing Block Island as his residence. 

• Mr. Filippi’s bar license in Rhode Island lists his residence as 1092 Great Road, Lincoln. 

• Mr. Filippi’s bar license in Massachusetts also lists his residence as 1092 Great Road, Lincoln. 

• Mr. Filippi gave 1092 Great Road, Lincoln as his residence when he was stopped for several moving violations in Rhode Island and Arizona in 2000, 2001 and 2003. He registered to vote as a Block Island resident in 2000. 

• Mr. Filippi’s campaign literature lists the number to reach him as the phone number for his residence at 1092 Great Road, Lincoln.

Mr. Filippi cannot claim residence in two places at once. I presented the Board of Elections with almost twenty official documents where Mr. Filippi give Lincoln as his home address, including records of the traffic stops where he presumably had to show the arresting officer his driver’s license.

For all these years, Mr. Filippi has been voting as if he is a Block Island resident and now is running for office as such, even though all the other evidence shows him to be a Lincoln resident.

I have asked the Board of Elections to take action on these charges and to refer the matter for prosecution after they verify the evidence I have presented.

No one is above the law. Voting rights and the right to run for elected office are sacred; to declare residency, you must actually live where you say you live.

Here is the complete text of my complaint. You may also find a copy of my complaint with a complete set of the documents I presented by going to my website at http://www.rep-donna-walsh.com/. (You can also read the original complaint and see all the supporting documents by clicking here.)

Complaint against Blake A. Filippi

October 27, 2012

RI Board of Elections

50 Branch Avenue

Providence, RI 02904

I recently discovered documentary evidence that my opponent for Representative, House District 36, Mr. Blake A. Filippi, does not actually live in the District.

On June 26, 2014, he filed a sworn declaration of candidacy that stated his residence as 912 Champlin Road, New Shoreham.

He registered to vote on August 15, 2000 using that same address. Westlaw database records show him as voting from that address since at least 2006.

However, state and federal campaign contribution records show that he gave entirely different addresses as his residence.

The Board of Election website lists a total of thirteen campaign contributions by Blake A. Filippi beginning in 2004 and continuing to the present. There is an additional Federal Election Commission record of a donation by Filippi that occurred in 2012.

In 12 of these 14 campaign contributions, Mr. Filippi lists his home address as 1092 Great Road, Lincoln, RI where he and his family maintain a home and a cattle business.

On one donation, made to Patricia Morgan, he improperly lists the address of his law office in Providence as his residence.

In only one instance, his $250 contribution to Governor Donald Carcieri, Mr. Filippi lists a Block Island address, but his post office box number, not the street address as required by law nor the Champlin Road address listed on his voter registration and recent candidate declaration.

The record of his campaign contributions is listed as Appendix 1.

While state law on residence and elections is flexible, Mr. Filippi cannot live in two (or three) places at once as indicated by his listing of different addresses on official documents during the same year. 

As Mr. Filippi is an attorney, he should know that the law requires him to make true and accurate statements on official documents, such as his voter registration, candidate declaration, campaign donations and bar license applications.

His campaign declaration listing his residence as Block Island and his 2014 campaign contributions listing his residence as Lincoln were virtually simultaneous. He swore out his declaration on June 6/26; he made his donation to Mr. Fung on June 21 and to Mr. Hodgson on May 14.

I believe that based on this evidence alone, Mr. Filippi may have committed election fraud and may have perjured himself on his sworn candidacy declaration and other official documents.

If you look back at his voting record, you will see he is registered and votes as if he is a Block Island resident while giving campaign contributions claiming to live in Lincoln. See Appendix 2.

He also held bar licenses in Rhode Island and Massachusetts listing Lincoln as his legal address and giving the Lincoln phone number. See Appendix 3.

On his campaign literature, he gives the phone number of his Lincoln residence. See Appendix 4.

Mr. Filippi was stopped for traffic offenses with five charges in Arizona in 1999, 2000 and 2003 and two more in Rhode Island in 2000 and 2001. Westlaw records indicate that he gave the arresting officer his address as 1092 Great Road in Lincoln. See Appendix 5. These records indicate that when he was stopped by police, he must have produced a license showing his address as Lincoln, not Block Island.

I believe that when you compare his voting registration to the many other official records, ranging from law licenses to his arrest records, you will see there is evidence that Mr. Filippi has also committed voter fraud. Again, he cannot live in two (or three) places at the same time.

I respectfully request the Board of Elections to examine the evidence, much of which resides in your own files, to determine if Mr. Filippi has committed election fraud or a related offense in 2014 and whether he committed voter fraud each time he voted since 2000 as the appended records suggest. 

I request a hearing on that evidence. 

If you see what I believe is clear and compelling, I ask that you take the appropriate action to see that Mr. Filippi is prosecuted for breaking the state’s election laws.

I certify that I have sent a copy of this complaint by U.S. Mail to Mr. Filippi in accordance with the Board’s Rules of Procedure for complaints.

Rep. Donna Walsh