R.I. Gov. Carcieri Names Police Veteran to Beacon Mutual Board

Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri, who is battling the insurer over legislation to relax its regulation and reduce the number of gubernatoral board appointees, has appointed former State Police Major Brendan P. Doherty of Cumberland to the board of directors of Beacon Mutual Insurance Company. Doherty currently serves as director of public safety for Roger Williams University.

Doherty replaces Sheldon S. Sollosy, who resigned earlier this month. Sollosy resigned after Carcieri made public allegations about possible preferential treatment given his firm by Beacon Mutual.

Sollosy was originally appointed to the board by former Governor Bruce Sundlan in 1994.

Beacon Mutual has a nine-member board of directors. Of the nine, the governor directly appoints four members. The director of the Department of Labor and Training and Beacon’s chief executive officer serve as ex officio members. The final three members are elected by policyholders.

Although the Governor technically has four appointments to the board, Major Doherty will be Governor Carcieri’s first. All other gubernatorial appointments were made by previous governors. Currently, only Adelita Orefice, the DLT director, represents Carcieri in any capacity.

Until Sheldon Sollosy’s resignation, the gubernatorial appointees to the board consisted of Sollosy, George Nee, Henry Boeniger and John Holmes. Sollosy, Nee and Boeniger were all originally appointed by Governor Sundlun on December 12, 1994, and subsequently reappointed by Governor Lincoln Almond. Almond appointed John Holmes on December 31, 2002, after Carcieri’s election but before the new Governor took office. Their appointments all expire on November 29, 2006. Until that time, Doherty will fill out Sollosy’s unexpired term.

Topics Law Enforcement