PROVIDENCE -- The state Republican Party chairman said yesterday he was looking for a new candidate for lieutenant governor after learning the party's endorsed candidate, Larry Shetler, had just been sentenced on a fraud charge in Massachusetts.
Shetler, 51, of 261 Admiral St., Providence, was ordered Monday by a Suffolk Superior Court judge to spend the next two years on probation and to complete 400 hours of community service. He had been accused of forging signatures on documents that his former company submitted while bidding for work on Boston's Big Dig Central Artery project in 1995.
The settlement in Shetler's case -- which also bars him from bidding on Massachusetts state contracts for five years -- is similar to having a charge filed under Rhode Island law. If Shetler completes the terms of the deal and is not charged with a new crime, it will not be considered a conviction, according to a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Tom Reilly.
Shetler, a community liaison officer for the Providence Economic Development Corporation, maintained yesterday the matter was just a "misunderstanding" and an error in judgment, not anything criminal.
He said he had not told party leaders about the case because he considered it "ancient history." Shetler said his hope was to continue on with his campaign.
Brad Gorham, head of the GOP, said he called Shetler after learning about the charge through a small news item in yesterday's newspaper.
"He has a story about what happened and how he got caught in this bind," Gorham said.
But, "Wrong is wrong," Gorham said. "You may have a reason why you did it but it was still wrong."
Shetler submitted his declaration of candidacy papers to the secretary of state on the same day he went to court. The deadline for other candidates to file is today at 4 p.m.
Gorham said the revelation "comes at a very inopportune time."
"We're seeing if we can find someone else to file now," he said. "I'm asking around. But the notice is very short, so it's hard to find somebody."
Gorham said he had also summoned the party's executive committee to a meeting at their Warwick headquarters tomorrow at 6 p.m. to decide how to proceed.
Gorham said the party could find a new candidate and ask Shetler to withdraw or choose not to field anyone at all. The party could also proceed with Shetler, or perhaps try to yank his endorsement, Gorham said.
"Larry [Shetler] has said he would cooperate in whatever is necessary, whatever the party feels is the right thing to do here," Gorham said.
Shetler said yesterday he would attend tomorrow night's meeting and plead to stay on the ticket. He said if the party asked him to withdraw his name "I would certainly have to consider it seriously."
Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, D-Glocester, who is seeking reelection, was out of state and could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But state Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch called on Shetler to drop out of the race.
"I think particularly in this environment in Rhode Island, where corruption and ethics certainly should be a priority among all public officials including candidates, it's ludicrous to think a guy would run under the Republican banner with that kind of blemish on his record."
"Let him deal with his own legal problems on his own," Lynch said. "There's certainly no place for it in elected office."
According to the Massachusetts attorney general's office, the charge of procurement fraud against Shetler alleged that in 1995, as president of CAB Engineering, he put together a bid by several companies, including his own, to perform land-surveying services on the Boston highway project.
Shetler allegedly submitted written certifications signed and notarized by 13 people who agreed to supervise survey crews. The attorney general alleged at least six signatures were forged and at least four of the people involved had not agreed to provide such services under Shetler's bid. In addition, some of the signatures of company leaders in the joint venture were forged, the charge alleged.
A competitor protested, the matter was explored and ultimately CAB Engineering's bid was thrown out, the attorney general said. Shetler was indicted in the case in September 1997.
Shetler, of Puerto Rican heritage, said he formed CAB Engineering in the early 1990s with the sole intention of putting together a minority-owned company and affiliates that would qualify for a bid on the massive Boston highway project.
He said when the time came for the bid he needed 27 different signatures on the proper documents from the people he believed had agreed to be part of his team. Shetler said he signed some of the names himself, but believed he was authorized to do it.
"Sometimes you have permission to do that," he said. "I don't want to make excuses. I wasn't an expert in this and some of these documents are just hundreds and hundreds [of pages] and are repetitive . . . I thought I had the right to do that."
Later, he said, he found out some of the people he believed were on his team were actually working for a competitor -- and had accused him of misrepresenting their participation. Shetler suggested he was set up for failure because powerful people on the project did not want a minority-backed, out-of-state bid to succeed.
"I was a neophyte. I was a babe in the woods. I was a trusting soul," he said. "I just made an error in judgment and assumed everyone was all on the same side and didn't understand the politics."
Shetler said he settled his case because of the legal costs and the need to "get on with my life." He said he hoped to perform his community service at a Massachusetts soup kitchen.
"I never thought it was a big deal," he said. "I legitimately went in and did something which I thought was absolutely fair and I never lied about it."
"I don't want to sound like I'm not contrite," he said. "I'm committed [to the campaign] and I'm not sure one misstep makes it all go away, but maybe it does."
