An Inside Edition: Rhode Island Government
A Recap of Recent Events (Particularly Those Relating to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo)
Some big primaries are coming up, and we are overdue for a recap. There will be much more to cover in this primary season, but here is the scoop so far:
Let me begin by recommending some of the best experts to pay attention to, beyond the campaign pros I have mentioned so far (like Simon Rosenberg).
First, the one and only Ted Siedle. He runs the Pension Warriors blog, which has recently looked into the health of the state pension systems in both Ohio and Minnesota. In fact, Siedle’s reporting was the topic of a recent online podcast on the retirement crisis in America (including in Rhode Island, in large part thanks to Raimondo’s disastrous pension reforms). Stay tuned, because Siedle also has a book coming out on his late father (feel free to check it out at Barnes & Noble or at some other place).
Then, there is Terry Mutchler. Mutchler is a prominent whistleblower regarding public records law. She has worked on more than a few high-profile public record law cases (again, including in Rhode Island), often appearing as a high-profile guest on TV programs like The Rachel Maddow Show.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich continues to post remarkable takes on various issues on his blogs. I specifically encourage all of you to check out one of his latest takes on emerging American industries like semiconductors. You could additionally check out more of his work on the Inequality Media YouTube page.
In the meantime, former Housing & Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro is heading the Latino Community Foundation, which focuses on Latino community engagement and political power.
Remember, my fellow Rhode Islanders: local media is the backbone of communities all across the country. Without local TV stations and community newspapers, many stories in the community would remain shrouded in mystery and darkness. Let me give a few examples of our best. Firstly, there is the Target 12 team of investigative journalists. One of their best reporters, Ted Nesi, has a weekend column highlighting the week’s most important political news in the state. The Public’s Radio reporter Ian Donnis has a similar week recap every Friday. If you like their reporting, please do subscribe to their newsletters.
On a similar note, Steve Ahlquist has covered Rhode Island progressive politics for a long time. He got his start with RI Future and Uprise RI, but he now has a Substack page which I highly recommend. If you are looking for some other local recommendations, Bartholomewtown is becoming an increasingly popular podcast in the state. I have just recently joined the ranks of its growing fanbase. The host of Bartholomewtown, local journalist, musician, and jack-of-all trades Bill Bartholomew, is also the producer of WPRO’s The Dan Yorke Show. As a Rhode Islander, I can definitely say these local outlets—among many others—have done a fantastic job of covering local issues fairly and accurately over the years. Especially when it comes to the career of US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Which gets us to our inside look at Rhode Island state government today (by the way, feel free to look at my previous blogs, and past petitions, that have covered this issue before). It is now more than 3 years since Gina Raimondo hurriedly left Rhode Island to take the helm of the US Commerce Department. Nevertheless, for the people of my home state, she has left behind many lingering questions.
For instance, what will be the fate of the state pension system? In spite of the growing public pressure and media coverage regarding the campaign to end the financial hardship of almost 30,000 state retirees, much remains locked behind closed doors. Where have the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars she diverted into Wall Street gone? How much of that money went to Raimondo’s own firm Point Judith Capital, which was the only asset in the supposed “blind trust?”
What will happen to the growing number of state government agencies under disrepair and distress after years of quagmires and scandals under the Raimondo Administration? What will happen to the many families and households who have to deal with these state departments and agencies for the next several years, such as Rhode Island veterans, children, seniors, the poor, and the physically and developmentally disabled?
What is the true financial health of the state? How vulnerable will our state healthcare system continue to be in the years to come? What is the future of education not only in the state-controlled Providence Schools, but all across Rhode Island? How will we work to improve Rhode Island’s abysmal business climate to lift all boats for working families and all households? How will the years-in-the-making affordable housing crisis end? How will Rhode Island’s infrastructure and transportation systems rebuild after years of short-changing and poor leadership there? How will Rhode Island combat the climate crisis—or strengthen its energy supply—when both priorities have been ignored for years? And how will this state help small businesses and workers alike overcome the obstacles that they face today?
These are questions that have a direct relationship with the failures of Raimondo’s tenure in Rhode Island. Like a true venture capital vulture, she swooped in and essentially stole the pensions of workers and retirees to give to Wall Street hedge funds and private equity firms. Her form of “leadership” offered nothing for Rhode Island working people. She cared much more about ensuring donors padded their profits in Rhode Island. She squeezed out public education to make place for a vast charter school industry. She subsidized private corporations with public taxpayer dollars—an approach that often failed in almost spectacular fashion. She expanded fossil fuel projects over the concerns of the actual communities-mostly poorer communities and communities of color-who remain left behind by those policies.
And we have not even mentioned the many other government administrative duties Raimondo neglected as she traveled the country for long-distance fundraisers in California, New York, and Washington DC.
Let’s not forget, for example, the recent dysfunction at Eleanor Slater Hospital. It was so bad that it required a full-scale turnaround plan from her successor Governor Dan McKee, and the Rhode Island General Assembly. For 3 years, Raimondo has ignored any opportunity to address the patients and families impacted by her administration’s decision-making on the Eleanor Slater Hospital campus. She has failed in every meaningful way to acknowledge, apologize, or even rationalize what happened to the disabled patients there. She failed to explain why she tried to shut down Eleanor Slater Hospital secretly, or why she abandoned the state’s responsibility to ensure suitable building conditions and patient safety, or why her administration played around with Medicaid funds in possibly illegal ways (thus, why RI Attorney General Peter Neronha launched an investigation back in 2021).
If any White House reporters want to follow up on these matters—whenever Raimondo comes out of hiding again from the press—rest assured that “we the people of Rhode Island” will appreciate your efforts very much.
In the meantime, we have some news from Rhode Island. One story concerns a notable slow-walking in the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s cooperation with the US Department of Justice around the breakdown of the Washington Bridge. RIDOT is apparently still slow in handing over documents going back to January 2015 (which just so happens to be the time when Raimondo was first inaugurated Governor).
All this sheds light on Rhode Island’s rocky relationship with public records laws when the media, government officials, and others request important documents. Indeed, Director Peter Alviti approved a RIDOT policy in 2016 forcing engineers and contractors working with the state to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). That meant they could not tell anyone about the specifics of what work they did for the state. That meant that possible early warning signs about the bridge could not be disclosed to the public, which could be a key part of why the entire westbound side of the bridge has to be torn down and rebuilt completely. State contractors who broke the rules had been allowed to do so without pushback from public whistleblowers—until, of course, it was too late.
Amazing what can happen in complete darkness and secrecy, which unfortunately describes much of Rhode Island’s political history.
We should all take note of the differences between Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge situation vs. Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge situation. What happened in Rhode Island was not the result of a freak accident, and Gina Raimondo has oversaw disastrous local infrastructure initiatives in the past (e.g., the failed truck tolls experiment). Tune in for the results of the Washington Bridge investigation, especially as we “go back” to the time before the current RI Governor’s tenure.
Put together, these problems in RI public records law have consistently plagued the entire tenure of the Raimondo Administration. That is why we have the ongoing battles over RI pension records today, and that is why concerned citizens have had so much trouble dealing with the Rhode Island Department of Education, Providence Public Schools, and Raimondo’s handpicked RIDE Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green. Let us be clear: Raimondo bears the brunt of the responsibility for setting up these precedents in state government secrecy.
To top it all off, Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) CEO and Raimondo appointee Scott Avedisian resigned after a hit-and-run incident. According to eyewitnesses, he was found driving under the influence.
But that small blurb fails to capture the full story. The truth is that Scott Avedisian, the former Republican Mayor of Warwick, was never qualified to run RIPTA in the first place. Rumor has it that his appointment to the position by Raimondo in 2018 was intended to stave off any formidable political rivals who could have jeopardized her perilous reelection campaign. It was bad enough that she had to spend at least $8 million against two primary opponents as the Democratic incumbent. Either way, whether the rumors were true or not, her actions did have consequences. Warwick learned about Avedisian the hard way, after reviewing its city finances after his tenure there (talk to Rob Cote, the watchdog of Warwick; he has appeared on The Dan Yorke Show numerous times).
Avedisian did not do much better at RIPTA either. The agency has become much more unstable under Avedisian’s tenure, and currently contends with budget deficits and financial shortfalls. Until recently, bus driver salaries have decreased, and bus routes across the state—especially in the the capital city of Providence—have been cut considerably. Nowadays, RIPTA’s future is quite uncertain, even as transit advocates and community voices hope to have better services with new leadership.
Which is to say that we should all take the time to thank Gina for looking out for RIPTA over the years.
But, to Rhode Islanders, all this should be no surprise. Similar issues are at play with the legacy of the Coastal Resources Management Council, where Raimondo fired true environmental advocates and replaced them with accomplices of the fossil fuel industry. Her disastrous management of the Council has resulted in calls to overhaul the body altogether.
In short, Raimondo’s only strengths are in looking for political wins over good results, picking incompetent leaders to assure her political future, engaging in financially wasteful and imprudent government projects, closing off government operations to a small elite handful of individuals, and looking to benefit financially, politically, and personally over the backs of working people.
Her failures to “execute well” are much more extensive than she gives on, and all indications today are she has learned very little from her past mistakes.
Fortunately, the nation is starting to wake up. If I can offer some parting advice for the US Commerce Secretary, it is probably too late to turn over a new leaf. Don’t bite the corporate hands that feed you.