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Featuring...Another Grueling Stretch for US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Feel free to check the entire blog archives from “Political Pulse” & “Salzillo Report” on the 2024 primary cycle, rural outreach, redistricting litigation, base dynamics, campaign organization, the current media landscape, the issues at stake, Project 2025, Build Back Better, the progressive movement, the true story about former 2024 VP contender Gina Raimondo, and much more.
Feels like we’ve been cranking it up on the campaign season. We’ll get back to that soon enough, but it would not be right if we glossed over some of the things going under the radar.
First, we have to go to the tough couple of months for US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
In August, she was giving an opportunity to speak to the Chicago Democratic National Convention, but she could not do so without lying about her own record in Rhode Island. Courtesy of the blogs, we took the time to fact check her almost right at the moment. Feel free to visit the August fact-checking edition we have in the archives, and check out “The Gina Raimondo Files” that are already up on the web.
In September, two reports came out spotlighting unwelcome news to initiatives she is pushing in the US Commerce Department.
First, is Intel, which is getting the bulk share of the CHIPS Act funding available (around $52 billion or so) even though its stock price has lost more than 60% of its value just this year. Now the company is turning to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for counsel and guidance on promoting itself in the artificial intelligence and chipmaking sectors.
Now listen: I have no problem if companies need a helping hand, as most of us experience one way or another. But in this context, did anyone ask Raimondo to be the high-class government lobbyist for Intel, or was she asked to head the Commerce Department impartially based upon the choice of the President? Seems hard for her to figure out, I suppose.
But seriously, as has been documented before and on a widespread basis, it is concerning the closeness of the relationship between Secretary Raimondo and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. Let’s release the calendars of Commerce Secretary Raimondo’s meetings with business executives. Let’s have more transparency on the chipmaking grant applications. We should know whether Raimondo & Gelsinger made a backroom deal behind closed doors to reap bigger awards based on these special privileges given to Intel, and maybe in exchange to boost Raimondo’s personal ambitions. Perhaps this is what Senator Bernie Sanders warned about back in 2021, and what Senators across the aisle, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have concerns about in the grant application process.
It also has been said the chipmaking grant application process has gone much slower than had been anticipated. But hey, if that’s true, count me unsurprised as a Rhode Islander, though still disappointed for those who put the hard work into such issues.
And that is not it either. The Commerce Department process under Gina Raimondo is earning the major consternation of workers and unions once supportive of the effort being pushed. It turns out the Department of Commerce has allowed industry giants like Intel to defy its own guidelines on worker safety, including promoting environments that result in “unsafe working conditions, low wages, union busting, and microchip industry practices leaving workers unpaid for weeks.” Despite other rules, from 2019 to 2024, a survey showed 9 of the top 10 semiconductor grant companies put $239 billion of their own money into dividends and stock buybacks. Microchip is furloughing workers in Gresham, Oregon.
Hear the frustration of people like IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew, or Jobs to Move America Deputy Director Miranda Nelson if you doubt the findings of the news report about how the Commerce Department under Raimondo is mishandling this program.
Unfortunately, this is not surprising either, coming from a mediocre venture capitalist who gutted the state pension system to enrich herself, and tanked the investments of current workers and state retirees. This is Rhode Island on steroids for those not familiar with Raimondo’s legacy in my home state.
For example, it has been reported that Raimondo knew back in 2021 how her work in AI could indeed benefit her husband’s business ventures. More questions on that issue.
Recently, Raimondo also declined, or refused, to comment on the current ILA port workers strike across the Eastern Seaboard, even though it is absolutely relevant to commerce. She instead directed the responsibilities over to President Biden and the other relevant Cabinet heads because she is “not focused” on the matter.
Perhaps she does have a focus problem.
Don’t be surprised after all of this that she still tries, after all of this and more, to get a spot in the Harris Cabinet (preferably Treasury Secretary) if the Vice President wins in November. Still a very big if in a very close election, just to clarify. Expect the criticisms of such consideration to ramp up fast either way by Main Street, just as Wall Street attempts to dislodge FTC Commissioner Lina Khan.
And then, in the lead up to October, Raimondo goes on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and says Trump should be extinguished before being forced to clarify her comments even on a channel that is very friendly to her on most occasions.
Do I think she was threatening the President’s life? Most likely not. But considering the recent assassination attempts on Trump and aggressive political rhetoric at large, you would have thought Raimondo would have better prepared for the question (instead of putting her foot in her mouth). There are plenty of lesser-known people ready for national primetime. Gina Raimondo is definitely not one of them.
For all the condemnation on the Republican Party side, it is telling some Democrats have criticized her too, both because of the language being incendiary to begin with, and how it perpetrates the false idea that Democrats want to kill Trump, even though most of us, myself included, do not see it that way. It’s scandalous.
And to paraphrase a State Senator in my home state, if not for her built-in network years in the making, she most likely would be pummeled with criticism on all sides. If people like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib or Congressman Jamaal Bowman used such quotes, don’t think the corporate media apparatus would have given them the cover they have to Raimondo on this particular instance and many other controversies like it. In fact, we know from experience they would not have the benefit of the doubt.
Fun fact on Raimondo’s RI record: During her time as Governor, and still so today, Rhode Island ranked 50th out of 50 states for per capita housing construction. Where’s Dean Wormer when you need him? Gina Raimondo, your grade is “zero point zero.”
Now we can cover a few other stories of interest:
In Florida, insurance carriers took advantage of homeowners in the state, falsifying damage assessment reports and stiffing mortgage buyers and tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of dollars. 60 Minutes did profile the issue well and there will surely be more to come on this matter. With severe natural disasters and warming oceans, keep your eye on where this goes.
And credit to another segment by 60 Minutes on the fentanyl crisis in the United States, and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s response to the crisis.
In the segment, you will also see how the opioid crisis paved the wave for the fentanyl trafficking because of the continued demand for opioids. Among the companies complicit in both: CVS Health, which was once headed by Gina Raimondo ally Helena Foulkes (another sign of Raimondo’s terrible choice of political company). When Foulkes runs for Governor in 2026, remember that fellow Rhode Islanders.
There is also some news on the pension system in Ohio and Minnesota via the Pension Warriors blog. The author is a personal friend of mine, so I had to recommend the blog again.
We should not forget to discuss a revised ethics rule that gives federal judges the ability to not fully disclose gifts and accommodations provided even at corporate-owned homes. We have now legalized full-blown corruption in our judicial system today by legitimizing the Clarence Thomas Exemption into law. Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo have won the battle, and the public has lost.
Finally, here is a Frontline PBS documentary on the 2024 presidential election. Hard to say the TV episode was not fair to both candidates actually, but that can happen with less commercial breaks and more TV time as a suggestion for the media business.
Stay tuned for the home stretch everyone.