Patrick C. Lynch
“Remember,” says Patrick C. Lynch, the attorney general of Rhode Island, “we’re essentially a city state, a tiny little place, (1,045 square miles), “where roughly 17 percent of the state’s 1.1 million residents live in Providence, the state’s capital and largest city.
Thus, in the nation’s smallest state, smaller than many counties, when a crisis or tragedy occurs anywhere within the state, it reverberates down to the smallest hamlet.
One such event became a defining element in AG Lynch’s life and career.
It was February 20, 2003. He had been attorney general for six weeks and had driven that evening to Ashland, New Hampshire, to join his family for a weekend of relaxation. He had arrived late, the children were already in bed, and after dinner with his wife, he went to sleep. But not for long.
His then six-year-old daughter awakened him to tell him he had a phone call. He was informed that there was a major fire at The Station, a club in Warwick, and that many were feared dead.
Lynch kissed his wife and children and within minutes was on his way to West Warwick, where he took charge of the lengthy, complex investigation of what turned out to be the fourth worst fire tragedy in U.S. history, causing 100 deaths and more than 200 severe fire and smoke-related injuries.
Preliminary investigation indicated that sparks from a pyrotechnic display by the band on the stage had started the blaze. More than 400 persons were jammed into a room with a legal capacity limit of 300. Many of the concertgoers were trampled and burned as they attempted to leave by the single exit.
Setting up headquarters in a restaurant across the street from The Station, Lynch lived at the scene for several days.
For AG Lynch and his staff, the ordeal is not over yet. Three persons—two brothers who were owners of the club and the tour manager of the band that was playing there, were indicted on 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Because of the voluminous material resulting from 100 autopsies and hundreds of medical reports, a painstaking and protracted discovery process is still under way and the trial is not expected to begin until late this year or early next year.
Lynch, an NDAA state director, is one of only three state attorneys general—the other two are M. Jane Brady in Delaware and Gregg Renkes in Alaska—who are also district attorneys, responsible for prosecution of all felonies and misdemeanors in their states. As chief legal officer, he also has civil responsibilities, representing all state agencies, departments and commissions in litigation.
To carry out these multiple responsibilities, Lynch has a staff of 232, including 93 attorneys, and a budget of $19 million. Criminal work occupies more than two thirds of the office’s workload, with 63 attorneys assigned to prosecution and 20 attorneys to civil matters.
He says that although he enjoys some of the civil aspects of his job, he’s a prosecutor at heart, having come up through the ranks as a prosecutor under three attorneys general, handling some of the toughest cases, including narcotics, homicides and gang crimes.
“My greatest challenge,” declares Lynch, “will come at the end of my four years, and hopefully eight years should I be fortunate enough to be re-elected. And it will be if people look at this office and say: ‘The attorney general’s office fought for justice for everyone fairly and fought for justice equally for everybody.’”
The youngest of seven Lynch children (six brothers and sisters; his oldest brother, Dennis died of cancer in 1989), Patrick Lynch and his siblings acquired an interest in public service and politics at an early age. His father Dennis served five terms as mayor of Pawtucket. And his brother William is currently chairman of the Rhode Island Democratic Party.
Growing up, he developed his athletic skills in backyard basketball games against siblings, the Pawtucket YMCA and the Southside Boys Club. Following a family tradition, he attended St. Raphael’s Academy, where, coached by his brother Dennis, he became a basketball star and was named to the all-state first team in his junior year. He also played baseball all four years and in his senior year pitched a no-hitter.
Lynch went on to college, receiving his bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1987 and his law degree from Suffolk University. While at Brown, he led the basketball team to its only Ivy League championship in1986, winning all-Ivy League honors in his senior year.
He delayed a clerkship to take graduate courses at the Queens University Law School in Belfast Northern Ireland. He also managed to find time to play professional basketball in Europe with an Irish team and conduct basketball clinics in strife-ridden neighborhoods for Sports Corps, a program modeled after the Peace Corps.
Did he ever consider delaying his law career for a stint with the NBA at this point? “The NBA wasn’t calling,” he said, “but if it had called,” he remarked wryly, “even a 10-day contract would have helped pay off my college loan.”
Returning home, Lynch served a two-year clerkship under the presiding justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court. From 1994 to 1999 he was a special assistant attorney general. As lead prosecutor in the Organized Crime Unit, he successfully prosecuted a number of major cases, including several murder cases.
From 1999 until he was elected attorney general in 2002, he was an attorney with one of Providence’s top law firms.
Lynch considers the increasing use of gun violence and drug-related crimes as his major crime challenges. He adds, “The other major challenges that we prosecutors face are the advances in technology, and with that, what challenges we can expect in the courtroom after jurors have seen TV crime investigation shows like CSI, and how we temper those sometimes unrealistic expectations.”
On being a prosecutor: “I love this job, because you have the opportunity to help people who are sometimes at the lowest point emotionally and physically and who are crying out for some relief. In many instances you can’t provide them what they think the defendants deserve—for example, we don’t have the death penalty in Rhode Island—but at the same time you have the opportunity to protect them and bring them justice and solace. And that’s very important.”
Sports, particularly basketball, still have a strong pull on Lynch. He coaches his two children, who are nine and seven. And one his favorite times of the week is when he can get away for a pickup game with friends at a local gym. When he can, he takes his children, Kelsy and Graham, to watch him play.
“I think sports gives you a certain competitive nature that you must have to succeed. You certainly need it when you’re before a jury. Many of the values I have learned in sports I have carried into my job. It’s not about winning and losing, but it’s about getting into the fight and not being deterred by a bad decision, but standing up and being heard.”
At 40 and one of the nation’s youngest state attorneys general, Patrick Lynch has packed a lot of experience and activity in those four decades, including leadership in a number of civic and charitable organizations in addition to his arduous professional schedule.
As for the future, Rhode Island has a two-term limit for the attorney general and other high offices, and Lynch expects to run for that second term.
And then? Patrick Lynch has an intriguing answer, which goes all the way back to St. Raphael Academy, all those basketball games, and a family that regards public service and helping others as noble callings.
“I love this job,” he said again. “There are others who dance around, trying to pick jobs that are politically convenient. In this job you have to make tough decisions every day. They may sometimes be unpopular decisions, but if you are grounded in understanding the task at hand, you just have faith in the difficult decisions that only you can make. While those decisions may be politically unpopular, the people later will say: ‘You know what? He did not waver. He made the right decision, and because of that, other opportunities might arise.’”
He adds: “This office is so very difficult and challenging that you can’t really worry about the next election, let alone the next day. So I do the best I can in the task I have and look forward to doing that, and should that bring other offers, I’d be happy to oblige.”
|
