Francis P. Driscoll, center, and family members leave U.S. District Court in Providence yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE –– Political bribery doesn’t unfold in dark alleys anymore, with cash trading hands in paper bags, a prosecutor told jurors yesterday during opening arguments in the retrial of two former executives of the Roger Williams Medical Center.

In the case of a state senator on the make, John Celona, the bribe came in the form of a $700-a-week consulting job, motivated by a desire to buy his State House influence.

“This is a case about the private individuals who make public corruption possible,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dulce Donovan. “It’s about Robert Urciuoli, who bought a state senator, and Frances Driscoll, who helped him.”

Urciouli, the former president of Roger Williams, is charged with one count of conspiracy and 35 counts of honest-services mail fraud. Driscoll, a former hospital vice president, is charged with one count of aiding and abetting the alleged conspiracy. Both were convicted by a jury two years ago, but an appeals court in January overturned their convictions based on the judge’s instructions to the jury.

A lawyer for Urciuoli argued to jurors yesterday that Celona’s job was so out in the open because it wasn’t a crime at all. Celona was so effective at promoting Roger Williams and its “continuum of care” to seniors, the lawyer said, that he was “one of the best bargains that Robert Urciuoli could have ever made.”

Celona had no power when Urciuoli hired him, argued lawyer Michael Connolly, of Boston. And the first thing that Urciuoli did when Celona asked him for a job was to check with a hospital lawyer, who in turn obtained an advisory opinion from the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.

“Why would Robert Urciuoli decide to bribe a senator who had no power?” asked Connolly. “How many bribery schemes start when the defendant goes to his lawyer and the lawyer goes to the Ethics Commission?”

Driscoll’s lawyer, Larry Tipton, of Boston, presented an argument that mirrored Connolly’s. He urged the jurors to use their common sense and not get buried in the mounds of documents that will be entered as exhibits.

The opening arguments in the second round of U.S. vs. Urciuoli and Driscoll came in the more ornate courtroom of Chief U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi. The first trial was presided over by her predecessor, Ernest C. Torres, in a smaller, more modern courtroom downstairs in the federal building in downtown Providence.

But perhaps the biggest difference is the absence of Celona, who pleaded guilty to selling his office to Roger Williams, CVS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and is serving a 2½ -year federal prison term. Celona, who agreed to cooperate with the authorities, testified for six days at the first Roger Williams trial, but prosecutors have chosen not to call him this time because of questions about his credibility.

Prosecutor Donovan called attention to Celona’s absence early in her opening statement to the jury.

“This is a case about political corruption, pure and simple,” she said. “But there is no politician at the defense table.”

Instead, she said, this case would be about the other side of the equation –– the private individuals who buy politicians. She described how Celona supported Urciouli’s attempts to facilitate Roger Williams’ attempts to merge with an out-of-state hospital company in 1997, which led to a bigger legislative battle at the State House.

Although Celona was on the outs with the leadership at the time, Donovan said, he still used his influence as a senator to convince another senator, Robert Palazzo, to change his position to favor Roger Williams.

“Every vote counted,” said Donovan.

Still, the merger attempt failed. That summer, Donovan said, Celona, whose North Providence lawnmower business was failing, asked Urciuoli for a job. And Urciuoli, mindful of the need for Celona’s continued political support, hired him, Donovan said.

Donovan further said that the consulting agreement that Celona signed, with an affiliated assisted-living center, The Village at Elmhurst, masked the fact that the village’s co-owner, Peter Sangermano, didn’t want to hire Celona and only agreed to after Urciuoli promised to have the hospital pay Celona.

Later, when Celona became a powerful Senate committee chairman, able to influence health-care legislation, he functioned as the hospital’s “errand boy,” Donovan argued.

“Roger Williams bribed him,” said Donovan. “They gave him a job at The Village at Elmhurst as a way of funneling money to him for his [political] support. People don’t bribe politicians anymore with cash in a bag in a dark alley. Robert Urciuoli, the chief executive of a hospital, was more sophisticated than that.”

Donovan told jurors that they would read communications between Celona and Urciuoli and Driscoll documenting how the executives directed the senator to act on the hospital’s interest on legislation and in pressuring health insurers to increase their reimbursements to Roger Williams.

Celona was paid $260,000 from 1998 to early 2004, when the agreement ended following disclosures by The Providence Journal that raised questions about Celona’s financial dealings with CVS and Blue Cross, disclosures that led to his loss of power in the Senate.

Connolly pointed out that the hospital received an advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission that said that Celona could work as a consultant, and that he could even participate in legislation that affected hospitals provided it affected Roger Williams no more or less than other institutions. Based on that advice, Connolly said, part of Celona’s duties spelled out in his consulting agreement called for him to keep tabs on health-care legislation.

Following the opening arguments, the prosecution called its first witness, former Senator Palazzo.

Palazzo, who did not testify during the first trial, described how Celona lobbied him to change his vote during the heated legislative battle regarding Roger Williams’ attempted merger in 1997.

Palazzo, a heavy-set man with dark hair who once represented Silver Lake and Olneyville in Providence, calmly told the court that he and Celona were both elected to the Senate in 1994. As newcomers to the General Assembly, they both followed the commands of Senate Majority Leader Paul Kelly and his appointed Democratic leaders.

Palazzo characterized himself as being “at the bottom of the food chain.”

In June 1997, Palazzo voted for legislation, opposed by Urciuoli, that would have blocked Roger Williams’ attempts to merge with an out-of-state hospital chain. Palazzo admitted that he knew next to nothing about the legislation, but went along with the Senate leadership’s wishes.

The bill passed, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond, setting up another battle in the legislature, this one over whether to override the governor’s veto.

Palazzo said that Providence city officials, led by then-Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., met with the delegation of nine senators from Providence and urged them to side with Almond. At the time, there was grave concern that for-profit hospitals could adversely affect the quality of health care in Rhode Island.

Palazzo testified that Celona, who had supported Urciuoli and opposed the legislation, badgered Palazzo to meet with Urciuoli at Roger Williams Hospital. They met and Urciuoli told him that the hospital was opposed to the legislation. He said that Celona told Urciuoli that they were on his side. “Whatever you need,” he said. “Whatever we can do for you.”

Palazzo said that he went along with Celona as part of his opposition to Senate boss Kelly. But Kelly prevailed, and the Senate overrode Almond’s veto, effectively killing the Roger Williams merger.

After the vote, Palazzo and Celona found all of the furniture removed from their Senate offices and placed in the hallway. “We were evacuated from our office,” Palazzo said.

The trial was to resume at 9 a.m. today with Maureen McNamara, the hospital’s former chief operating officer, taking the witness stand.

bmalinow@projo.com