The Rhode Island Attorney General's office issued a stern statement late Monday afternoon to the Barrington and Portsmouth town councils, in response to a resolution each council passed recently.

The resolutions passed by the councils called for the AG's office to distribute Google settlement funds to the Barrington and Portsmouth school committees to enhance school security measures in both towns.

But according to AG Spokeswoman Amy Kempe, both resolutions were fraught with inaccuracies. 

The resolutions include a section stating that the AG's office used some of the $230 million in Google settlement funds "on items such as police pension plans, renovations of nine buildings in the control of the Attorney General and their ongoing utility bills, new police vehicles, hundreds of desktops, laptops, high end surface computers and accessories, tasers, purchase of the opioid antidote known as NARCAN, a new firing range, two boxing rings, a trip for two to Las Vegas for a police convention and multiple other purchases…"

"We don't know where they got that information," said Ms. Kempe 

In her statement, Ms. Kempe said the AG's office was one of five agencies to receive settlement funds — the Attorney General received $60 million, North Providence Police Department received $60 million, East Providence Police received $60 million, the Rhode Island State Police received $45 million, and the Rhode Island National Guard received $5 million. 

She said that while the other agencies may have spent some of the money on the cited above uses (tasers, boxing rings, etc.), the AG's office did not. (She added that the AG's office holds no authority over other agencies' expenditures of settlement funds.)

"Of the $60 million the Office of Attorney General received through the Google settlement, the overwhelming majority was allocated to improve the efficiency and operations of the Office of Attorney General, at no cost to the taxpayer," Ms. Kempe wrote. "These improvements include the purchase of a building to address the space limitations of the office’s main building, construction of a new customer service center at the Pastore Complex in Cranston which will house the Bureau of Criminal Identification, the Consumer Protection Unit, and the Adult Diversion Unit, and long overdue and greatly needed information technology upgrades and physical repairs at the Office’s existing facilities."

Ms. Kempe further explained that there is no money remaining from the Google settlement.

"…the remaining balance of Google settlement funds, specifically allocated to the Office of Attorney General, upon completion of the current projects is approximately $7.1 million, most of which is already approved for annual costs and maintenance of facilities for an extended timeframe," she wrote.

Ms. Kempe said she believes the inaccuracies can be traced to Portsmouth, which was the first town council to pass the resolution. 

On April 23, the Portsmouth Town Council unanimously approved a resolution urging State Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to release nearly $23 million in Google settlement funds for security upgrades in Rhode Island public schools.

The agenda item was requested by council member Elizabeth Pedro, who said Portsmouth’s four schools would gain more than $300,000 to spend on security if the money was released.

The attorney general’s office was given $60 million in 2012 as part of the $230 million Google settlement for law enforcement purposes, according to House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan (R-District 26), who’s also calling for release of the funds.

“Since then, the office has spent nearly two-thirds of the money on purchases that are much less important than our children and teachers’ safety, including high-end tablets and accessories, lapel pins, generator rentals, and a new $15 million ‘customer support center’ in Cranston,” Rep. Morgan stated in an earlier press release.

In an interview on Tuesday morning, Barrington Town Council President Michael Carroll said the resolution he voted upon was a simple request for the AG's office to distribute remaining Google settlement funds to enhance school security. He later wrote: "In late April, the Town of Barrington received a draft resolution from the Town of Portsmouth proposing that the Attorney General distribute the remaining Google settlement funds to the public schools in the State of Rhode Island to enhance the security of those schools and help protect our students. Because we felt that was an excellent use of funds, the Barrington Town Council passed a resolution urging that the Attorney General distribute the funds as proposed.

"I have read the statement from Attorney General Kilmartin’s office noting some inaccuracies in our resolution.  I intend to propose a new resolution correcting any inaccuracies so that we can focus on the main point of protecting Rhode Island’s children. We meant no disrespect to the Attorney General."

Portsmouth Town Council President Keith Hamilton did not deny there were inaccuracies in the resolution, but he said Rep. Patricia Morgan spent four months asking the attorney general's office for information that she never received.

“The inaccuracies were brought forth because there was information out there that (the attorney general’s office) wouldn’t confirm or deny. They didn’t answer the Freedom of Information (request) that Morgan put forth. How about being transparent?” he said. 

Mr. Hamilton said the AG’s office also stuck Rep. Morgan “with a $4,000 bill to get that information. She’s a sitting member of the House Finance Committee and it should be readily available.”

“This is politically motivated by Peter Kilmartin," added Mr. Hamilton. "There are rumors he’s running for governor and he’s an opponent of (Rep. Morgan). He’s the most ineffectual attorney general in the history of the state. He’s done nothing for the state.”

Mr. Hamilton labeled Ms. Kempe’s comments as “smart aleck” remarks.

“To have a spokesperson for any official government officer snapping back like that is just poor form," he said. "It shouldn’t be tolerated and frankly she should apologize to us, Middletown and Barrington.”

— With reporting from Jim McGaw