Question of the Week: After a bruising battle involving one of Rhode Island’s largest revenue sources, can the pieces be put back together? (Probably) Thanks for stopping by for my weekly column. As usual, your tips and comments are welcome, and you can follow me through the week on the twitters. Here we go.
1) While the outcome of the big brawl between IGT and Twin River remains unclear, the passing of time and legislative hearings on the no-bid $1 billion 20-year extension – especially in Senate Finance — have steadily shed more light on pertinent details. As the week began, Gov. Gina Raimondo’s administration unveiled details of a consent agreement with Twin River involving the company’s use of debt. Raimondo pounced, using the story to pour fresh scorn: “Twin River’s repeated disregard for the regulations that govern their business license raises serious red flags about the company’s leadership,” she said. But correspondence released by the governor’s team as part of the paper trail took on a life of its own, due to this conspicuous element from Twin River Worldwide Holdings CEO George Papanier: “[E]verything changed after we opposed IGT deal. At that time, a senior member of the administration warned a member of my staff that there would be consequences if we opposed that deal.” On Thursday night, Senate Finance Committee members expressed their concern about the warning cited by Papanier, and signs are that the matter is far from over.
2) To hear Twin River Executive Vice President Marc Crisafulli tell it, the entire clash could have been avoided if the state had agreed to lower from 85 percent the proportion of VLTs in Lincoln/Tiverton controlled by IGT. Instead, lobbyists, communications consultants and others have profited handsomely from the ongoing trench warfare between the two sides. But the question of what’s best for Rhode Island and Rhode Islanders remains elusive. Raimondo remains steadfastly behind IGT; she calls the extension the best way to keep 1000+ jobs in Rhode Island (the state GOP has suggested other motivations for the governor). On a request from Senate Finance, the state Office of Revenue Analysis issued a report this week. The study offered mixed findings on the merits of extending IGT or going out to bid, while also describing IGT’s video slots as under-performing. A day after the consent agreement became public, Twin River – which has parried Raimondo’s insistence on the IGT extension with a series of counter-measures — boosted its credibility by unveiling Scientific Games as a partner. (IGT spokesman Bill Fischer countered by saying, “Twin River is now claiming it will take a conglomeration of four entities, all seeking their share of profits, to replace the high quality services offered by IGT, the Rhode Island based leader in the gaming industry.”) Yet for all the back and forth, the resolution of the conflict is unlikely to emerge ahead of the 2020 General Assembly session.
3) The re-emergence of a controversial mailer from House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello’s 2016 re-election campaign led the RI GOP to call for Mattiello to step down. Mattiello has previously spoken about wanting to extend his speakership into the future. So it’s worth considering the lessons drawn by Mattiello from 2016, when he scored a razor-thin 85-vote victory over Republican Steve Frias. While campaign operative Jeff Britt now faces two charges related to his role with Mattiello’s 2016 campaign, Britt has enjoyed a reputation as one of Rhode Island’s most-feared election strategists. Two years later, in 2018 (a non-presidential year), Mattiello managed his own campaign and wound up scoring a considerably larger victory over Frias. While an old adage holds that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, Mattiello said running his own effort made perfect sense. “I didn’t like the campaign that was run two years ago,” the speaker told me during an October 2018 interview at Tommy’s Pizza in Cranston. After Britt’s indictment, his lawyer, Robert Corrente, said in part, “[T]he evidence at trial will leave Rhode Islanders scratching their heads about who did and who did not get charged, and will show that Mr. Britt was used by the Mattiello campaign as a fall guy.” Yet if Mattiello is able to maintain his office for years into the future, 2016 will be remembered as the close fight that made it all possible.
4) Here’s a top challenge for Womazetta Jones, who recently marked her third month on the job as Rhode Island’s secretary of Health and Human Services: managing the growing Medicaid costs for long-term care. With the state now spending about $300 million on long-term care, “the population in terms of that age group is only anticipated to grow,” Jones acknowledged during an interview on Bonus Q&A on The Public’s Radio this week. So what’s the answer for better managing spiking costs for long-term care? “We need to find ways to help Rhode Islanders stay in their homes or communities as long as possible,” Jones said. “We need to work a lot more directly and intentional at looking at, how do we make that happen?”
5) Attorney General Peter Neronha struck an empathetic posture this week while discussing the absence of charges in connection with an August 14 incident at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. Neronha said he understood the disappointment and hurt of activists who were troubled by the resolution. In a statement, he said, “The grand jury worked hard to carefully sort through all the testimony and evidence that was presented to them. From my own experience, I am sure that they had to deal with complicated legal and factual issues, including determining the intent of those whose conduct was within the scope of their investigation and whether that intent rose to the level of criminal misconduct. Often, these are not easy issues for grand jurors or trial jurors to grapple with. I am grateful to them for their public service.” People who were part of the protest countered by saying Neronha’s office should have done more, and that the outcome sends a message sanctioning violence. “What happened here is just outrageous, that the state of Rhode Island is just going to let these guys get away with this kind of violence, caught on video tape for all the world to see,” said Jared Goldstein of Roger Williams University Law School. “The prosecutors made the decision about how to present the case. They chose what facts to present, and they presented it in a way that led directly to this result.”
6) Gov. Raimondo has gone to court in search of a declaration that parts of Article 15 of the current budget requiring legislative approval of marijuana and hemp regulations are unconstitutional. “Medical marijuana is a new and growing industry, and we have a responsibility to regulate it in a way that’s open, transparent, and fair for businesses and consumers,” Raimondo said in a statement. “We can’t go back to the old way of doing things, when business decisions were made through inside deals and behind-the-scenes influence. This is a clear violation of Separation of Powers, and we’re asking the Court to intervene.” In a joint statement, the spokesman for House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said, “This is an unnecessary expense by the Governor of state taxpayers’ dollars and judicial resources because the General Assembly leadership has already indicated that legislation will be introduced in January to remove this provision in the law.”
7) With Rhode Island students continuing to under-perform on standardized tests, don’t miss this story looking at what went wrong with attempts to rejuvenate Nathan Bishop Middle School on the East Side of Providence.
8) HHS Secretary Womazetta Jones said she doesn’t know why federal authorities subpoenaed state records related to Dr. Victor Pedro. Asked if the situation raises questions about the oversight of public spending, Jones pointed to how Gov. Raimondo removed the $1 million for Dr. Pedro in the current budget (the money was later restored by the legislature, and then removed again after it sparked a public controversy). “I think it just further shows for all of us that we need to continue what we’ve been doing, which is watching, understanding and going forward with sharing any concerns we’ve had about a program,” Jones said.
9) Former state Rep. Doreen Costa and developer Jerry Zarrella will co-chair President Donald Trump’s Rhode Island campaign in 2020. (TGIF was first, back in August, to report their interest in the role.)
10) RIPoli people on the move: Kelly Rogers, deputy treasurer for policy and public finance, is leaving RI Treasury. Rogers, who joined General Treasurer Seth Magaziner’s staff in 2015, is moving on at month’s end for a private sector job …. Meanwhile, Michael DiBiase, director of the state Department of Administration, has been named as the next executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. (RIPEC’s current head, John Simmons, previously announced he’d be leaving at the end of the year.) “A strong pool of candidates came forward; however, throughout the interview process, it became quite clear to the members of the search committee that Michael DiBiase was the most qualified person to move RIPEC in the direction determined by our board, Johnson & Wales University Chancellor Mim L. Runey, LP.D., who leads the board, said in a statement. “We look forward to Mike, as the public face of RIPEC, having an active presence at the State House, in the community and on social and traditional media, working to enhance the understanding between government and the private sector.”
11) Mosiac, the immigration podcast from The Public’s Radio, offers a great listen contrasting the Italo-American pride of Columbus Day on Federal Hill with the far less positive feelings toward Columbus in another part of Providence.
12) Kudos & Congrats to Jim Hummel on the tenth anniversary of his Hummel Report. The former ProJo/ABC6 reporter, who now hosts “A Lively Experiment” on RI-PBS, offered these reflections: “When we launched in October 2009, I wasn’t looking to be a pioneer, I just wanted to continue doing investigative reporting and knew there would have to be an internet component involved … We began as a grassroots effort, with a couple of deeper pockets (John Hazen White Jr. and Alan Hassenfeld) and primarily individual donors, who we still rely on today. We’ve produced 300 investigative stories and 100 Rhode Island Spotlight profiles of other nonprofits over the past decade. Running a nonprofit is a challenge, as you have to worry about the business and fundraising sides in addition to editorial, but we’re making it work. My most satisfying stories are the ones with significant impact: from the resignation and imprisonment of Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau, after our series of stories in 2010 detailing his taking a free furnace from a city contractor; to a troubled city councilman in East Providence who opted not to seek reelection after our investigation last year; to a piece we did earlier this year revealing service cutbacks at Block Island State Airport — cuts that were restored within weeks of our story …. We are trying to fill the very large vacuum left by those reductions in staffing [at other media outlets]. I do think our model can — and has been — replicated across the country as dozens of nonprofits have sprung up since we launched. But none with the long-form video investigations we produce.”
13) Politico Playbook broke the news that Rhode Island native Tad Devine, who worked with Bernie Sanders in 2016, has signed on with Andrew Yang’s long shot presidential campaign. The Daily Beast has more.
14) HousingWorksRI at Roger Williams University offers its latest in-depth look at housing in Rhode Island.
15) While trying to recuperate from a cold, your correspondent recently enjoyed the sea-faring epic “Mutiny on the Bounty” from 1935. Due to on-site shooting, the film cost about $2 million, making it the most expensive movie of its day. But “Mutiny” did big box office and won an Academy Award. Related Fun Fact: the HMS Bounty, a ship recreated for a 1960 remake of “Mutiny” with Marlon Brando, called Fall River home for a while, but sunk in the Atlantic during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
