House Republican Leader Blake Filippi was headed to court on Thursday to "rectify [an] abuse of power'' by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello when he "ordered an illegal audit'' of the Rhode Island Convention Center.

PROVIDENCE — House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello called off an audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center on Thursday after the top-ranked Republican in the House filed a lawsuit accusing him of abusing his power and the convention center's own board challenged the speaker's authority to initiate the audit without a vote of his fellow legislative leaders.

Mattiello's critics have questioned whether the audit was retribution for the suspension of Mattiello's friend James Demers from his job as security chief at the convention center, which the speaker denied again on Thursday.

In a day of high-political drama at the State House, Democrat Mattiello accused House Republican Leader Blake Filippi of pulling a "political stunt." Filippi, flanked by fellow House Republicans at a press conference, accused Mattiello of "illegally'' usurping the decison-making powers of the five-man leadership committee known as the Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS) by declaring himself a one-man "majority."

Calling the cancellation of the audit "a victory for good government,'' Filippi said Thursday: "The illegal audit ended today but the investigation into the illegal audit begins today because our lawsuit stays.... The main basis for our lawsuit is the illegal usurpation of JCLS's statutory authority ... [and] we believe this illegal audit will be Exhibit A."

Added Republican Rep. Michael Chippendale: "We are the party of good government, of transparency, of no more backrooms. This stunk so bad we had to call for an immediate injunction. That's how urgent it was to us."

While the cancellation of the audit certainly "alleviates the need for an immediate injunction ... it doesn't change the underlying fact that JCLS is being utilized as a tool, apparently, based on what we are reading and what we are learning, for retribution towards political enemies and for the awarding of favors to political allies. And we find that to be completely unacceptable,'' Chippendale said.

Mattiello told reporters he "just assumed" he would have had at least three of the 5 JCLS votes, with Filippi voting with him and House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi for the audit "since they [the GOP] has been calling for an audit of the convention enter for a very long time."

Does he regret calling for the audit by himself, he said: "Absolutely not. I think it's the right thing to do. I think the place needs an audit. They voted today to disregard the auditor general. Does that raise anybody else's eyebrows except mine,'' he said of the convention center board.

"I think it needs to be done and it's shameful that we are not going to be able to do it, but it is not my issue,'' Mattiello said. "I expressed a need for it and if it doesn't get done, we won't know what it might have disclosed ... but the public should be more concerned about that than myself."

Lawyers involved with the case met Thursday afternoon, and a status conference was set for March 2. Republicans will have until Feb. 14 to file briefs in the case.

By the end of the day, however, it appeared there might be an end in sight to the escalating fight over who controls Auditor General Dennis Hoyle, who is a General Assembly employee — and more broadly, the legislature's own $45.6-million budget.

If Filippi asked him in writing to call a meeting of the JCLS, Mattiello said he would do so. Asked if he would make that request, Filippi told The Journal he was refused twice before, but would try again. "I think it's a great idea,'' the Block Island Republican said. Stay tuned.

The Joint Committee on Legislative Services is made up of the House speaker, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi, Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere and Filippi. Put another way, it is dominated 3-to-2 by the House, but none of the other members of the committee acknowledged knowing about the audit until WPRI-TV first brought it to light.

During an appearance on WPRI's "Newsmakers," Mattiello acknowledged that he ordered the audit without a vote of the JCLS "and claimed that he alone is the majority,'' according to the lawsuit.

Mattiello has not yet disclosed what information he was given that prompted him to initiate the audit. But he called for it after his friend James Demers, the convention center’s security director, and Amanda Marzullo Wilmouth, the convention center’s assistant general manager, were suspended for undisclosed reasons.

Filippi said he asked the speaker to call a meeting of the committee to authorize the audit after-the-fact and "he refused."

In the lawsuit that former state GOP Chairman Brandon Bell filed in Superior Court on Thursday morning on his behalf, Filippi sought a court order to halt the audit and a declaration that Mattiello through an intermediary — JCLS executive director Frank Montanaro — "unlawfully assumed the powers'' of the legislature's five-member leadership committee when they ordered Hoyle to audit the convention center, without a vote.

Standing outside the Licht Judicial Complex Thursday afternoon, after a conference with Superior Court Judge Melissa Long, Bell said: "We believe the speaker has used the JCLS to punish his foes and reward his allies."

The court filing centers around a law that authorizes the auditor general, who is an employee of the General Assembly, to conduct audits of other public bodies, but only when requested to do so "by a majority of the committee." The lawsuit challenges Mattiello's assertion that he alone had the power to initiate this audit.

Filippi's suit specifically asks the court to "restrain and enjoin Mattiello from [any] further action ... without approval of the majority of the JCLS.''

It also asks the court to order the defendants to immediately produce — for placement under court seal — any and all records obtained since Frank Montanaro, executive director of the joint committee, asked Hoyle to conduct the audit on December 23, 2019.

Had Mattiello called for a vote, Filippi said: "I think we would have rubber stamped it. We've been calling for an audit of the convention center for over 5 years,'' but "given the facts that have come out in the media, I would have questions for the speaker about what the purpose is, and why we are doing this ... and where it is going."

Mattiello responded to the lawsuit by canceling the audit, while at the same time providing this version of events over the last several days.

“On Tuesday, Minority Leader Filippi had indicated that he wanted an audit and believed one was appropriate. He stated he would sign a letter requesting that an audit be conducted at the Convention Center. On Wednesday, when the letter was presented to him for his signature, he became belligerent and refused to sign the letter. He threatened that a lawsuit would be filed and he stated to me that ‘this is political.’

“I firmly believe that regular audits of our quasi-public agencies, including the Convention Center, are necessary. In fact, the Republican Party has previously called for an audit of the Convention Center on numerous occasions. It is unfortunate that Leader Filippi has turned this into a political stunt,'' Mattiello said.

Filippi's version of what happened Tuesday and Wednesday differed.

According to Filippi, he and Mattiello talked Tuesday night. "I said, 'Listen, you need to call a meeting of the JCLS to approve this audit.' He's like, 'I will not call a meeting of JCLS.' I said, 'Would you be willing to have the members of JCLS authorize this in a letter?' He said: 'Nope. I will not have them sign a letter. I make these decisions myself.'

"About an hour later the speaker called me and said, 'Listen, Blake, why don't we just sign a letter to authorize this?' And my response was: 'Listen, speaker, I won't commit to sign a letter. I have to research the law and I have to speak to my people.' And so then, I got a text message from one of his people that said: 'The Speaker has something for you. Come up.'"

Picking up the story there, Filippi said he and Chippendale went upstairs to Mattiello's office and told him: "Speaker, we are not signing any letters if you don't call a meeting of the JCLS to approve this audit and publicly commit to regular meetings of the JCLS. [If not], we're filing a lawsuit."

Without commenting on the audit itself or the lawsuit, Democrat Ruggerio and Republican Algiere issued this statement: "The Senate has long held that the Joint Committee on Legislative Services should meet regularly and vote on matters before us. Furthermore, we have worked for decades to change the structure of the board. We have regularly sought to bring parity to the committee through legislation."

Asked about a report that state police were investigating allegations related to the now canceled audit, Supt. Col. James Manni, said: the state police do not confirm or deny investigations.

With reports from staff writer Paul Edward Parker