PROVIDENCE — The Ethics Commission yesterday fined North Providence Mayor A. Ralph Mollis $3,000 for violating the state ethics code during his successful campaign for secretary of state.

The commission also fined John E. Fleming Jr., Mollis’ longtime chief of staff and campaign chairman, $500. Both settlements, negotiated with the commission staff, stemmed from a mailed solicitation for campaign contributions that went to some North Providence town employees.

In an unrelated case, the commission also ordered an investigation of an ethics complaint against state Rep. Raymond E. Gallison, D-Bristol. The commission found that a complaint about Gallison’s involvement with a nonprofit agency that receives state money would amount to an ethics violation if the accusations were proven.

The charges against Mollis, who takes office in January, and Fleming stemmed from a campaign fundraising mailing in June that went to 1,468 persons, including 132 municipal employees, according to the settlement documents.

After the commission approved the settlement, Mollis said that “I wanted to put this behind me” and not dispute a complaint before the commission while in office.

Mollis said that the mailing was “obviously in violation” of the ethics rules. He said the fundraising letter was read to him before it was mailed. “I said, ‘Great idea — send it,’ ” Mollis said. “I should have known that list included town employees.”

The complaint was filed by the opponent Mollis defeated in the Democratic primary election, Guillaume de Ramel. Mollis immediately acknowledged in June that the accusation was "regrettably true." He said yesterday that his campaign has since refunded about $3,300 to town employees who contributed.

The settlement says that the mailing included a ticket, priced at $125, to a fundraiser held at the Metacomet Country Club in East Providence on June 29. The town employees who got the solicitation came from 19 agencies, including 36 at the Fire Department and 37 at the Police Department.