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Rhode Island
RI advocacy group files complaint over McKee’s ILO controversy. What to know.
ILO investigation report released. Here’s what it says
RI Attorney General Peter Neronha released a long-awaited report on the investigation into a lucrative contract awarded to a McKee ally.
PROVIDENCE –The citizens-advocacy group Common Cause has filed a complaint against the political ally at the center of the “ILO” contract controversy that has dogged Gov. Dan McKee since he ascended to the state’s top office in March 2021.
Though Attorney General Peter Neronha found insufficient evidence to file a criminal charge against anyone connected to the “ham-handed” award of a $5.2 million education consulting contract to ILO, Common Cause Rhode Island on Thursday filed a complaint with the secretary of state against McKee ally Michael Magee.
What is Common Cause alleging?
The allegation: That Magee aggressively lobbied the executive branch to award a contract to the newly created ILO Group headed by Julia Rafal-Baer – who had been an associate at his nonprofit “Chiefs for Change” – without officially registering as a lobbyist.
In a letter to the lobbying arm of Secretary of State Gregg Amore’s office, Common Cause Rhode Islandrequested an investigation of Magee’s alleged failure to register as a lobbyist, as well as sanctions for his alleged violation of the state’s lobbying law.
Filed by Common Cause Executive Director John Marion, the letter references documents released by Neronha and the Rhode Island State Police in late October, at the conclusion of their investigation into the awarding of a state contract to the ILO Group, LLC.
“The investigation into how the ILO Group was awarded a state contract exposed politics at its worst, including a procurement process full of back-scratching,” Marion said Thursday.
“We are disappointed that the state’s public integrity laws did not protect against the unethical behavior revealed in the ILO Group investigations,” Marion continued. “While ultimately few may be held accountable, Rhode Islanders deserve to know this behavior won’t be repeated.”
Among the findings Common Cause cited as evidence of unregistered lobbying:
- A Zoom call on March 5, 2021 with McKee, the governor’s then-Chief of Staff Anthony Silva, then-Director of Administration James Thorsen and state Purchasing Agent Nancy McIntyre during which “Magee introduced the idea of hiring ILO as a consulting firm.”
- “Following that meeting, Magee sent an email to Thorsen and McIntyre in which he attempted to narrow the field of those firms able to bid on the contract by including terms favorable to ILO.”
- “The state police [concluded] that, ‘When read in the context of Magee’s prior communications tothe governor’s office, his advocating for one vendor to DOA officials suggests Magee’s continued intent to have [ILO Group CEO, Julia] Rafal-Baer receive the contract.’”
Common Cause also requests an Ethics Commission investigation
Based on Neronha’s publicly reported findings, Common Cause also petitioned the state’s Ethics Commission to amend its gift rules to encompass the unusual situation that came to light during the attorney general’s ILO probe.
The investigators uncovered a previously undisclosed contract in which Chiefs for Change engaged another company, SKDK, at $15,000-a-month, to provide then-Lt. Gov. McKee and his staff with advise in the lead up to his ascent to governor.
In the petition to the Ethics Commission, Marion noted the narrow wording of the current $25 limit on gifts from those who have a “direct financial interest in a decision that the person subject to the Code of Ethics is authorized to make or participate in [making] as part of his or her official duties.”
“Common Cause Rhode Island believes that the current requirement that there be a financial nexus for the ‘gift rule’ to apply is insufficiently protective of the public interest,” he wrote.
He asked the Commission to amend the gift rule to include “lobbyists as a class.”
His argument: “When registered lobbyists, who by definition are paid to influence public officials, are giving gifts to those same public officials, it undermines ‘the public trust,’ gives the ‘appearance of impropriety,’ and suggeststhat public officials are using their official positions for ‘private gain.’”
He also asked:
- That the Commission require public officials and employees to disclose any gift received if, “under the totality of the circumstances, it is more likely than not” they would not have received the gift were it not for their public office or position.
- That the Commission to consider a policy to “better protect the procurement process from political interference.”
New East Bay Bike Path bridges are open and ready for bikes
What’s it like to ride over the new East Bay Bike Path bridges? We sent a reporter to try them out.
I’ve long thought bike paths are among Rhode Island’s premier attractions, up there with the beaches, the mansions and the bay.
We like to knock government, but credit where it’s due, the state has done an amazing job building out an incredible pedaling network.
It’s clearly a priority.
At least I thought it was.
But they’ve just dropped the ball on what should have been a beautiful new stretch.
The plan was to finish a mile-long connector from the East Providence end of the Henderson Bridge all the way to the East Bay Bike Path.
There was even $25 million set aside to get it done.
Except WPRI recently reported that it’s now been canceled.
The main fault lies with the Trump administration, which is no friend of bike paths, and moved to kill that $25 million.
But it gets complicated, as government funding always does.
To try to rescue that money, the state DOT reportedly worked with the administration to refunnel it into a road project. Specifically, the $25 million will now be spent helping upgrade the mile-long highway between the Henderson Bridge and North Broadway in East Providence, turning it into a more pleasant boulevard.
That totally sounds worthy.
But it’s insane to throw away the bike path plan.
Especially for a particular reason in this case.
They’d already put a ton of money into starting it.
When state planners designed the new Henderson Bridge between the East Side and East Providence, they included a bike path.
It’s a beauty – well protected from traffic by a barrier, a great asset for safely riding over the Seekonk River.
The plan was to continue it another mile or so along East Providence’s Waterfront Drive, ultimately connecting with the East Bay Bike Path, which runs all the way to Bristol. Which, by the way, is one of the nicest bike paths you’ll find anywhere.
But alas, that connector plan has been canceled.
So the expensive stretch over the Henderson Bridge to East Providence is now a bike path to nowhere. Once the bridge ends, the path on it continues a few hundred yards or so and then, just … ends.
Too bad.
We were so close.
Most of the stories on the issue have been about the complex negotiation to rescue the $25 million by rerouting it to that nearby highway-to-boulevard project. But I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of that bureaucratic process here because it loses sight of the heart of this story.
Which is that an amazing new addition to one of the nation’s best state bike path systems has just been scrapped.
You can knock the Rhode Island government for blowing a lot of things.
The PawSox.
The Washington Bridge.
But they’ve done great with bike paths.
And especially, linking many of them together.
Example: not too many years ago, Providence bikers had to risk dicey traffic on the East Side to get to the more pleasant paths in India Point Park and on the 195 bridge to the East Bay Path.
But the state fixed that by adding an amazing connector that starts behind the Salvation Army building and beautifully winds along the water of the Seekonk River for a mile or so.
That makes a huge difference – and no doubt has avoided some bike-car accidents.
We were close to a comparable stretch on the other side of the river – that’s what the $25 million would have done.
But it’s now apparently dead.
Online commenters aren’t happy about it.
On a Reddit string, “Toadscoper” accused the state of being “complicit” with the feds in rerouting the money from bikes to cars.
And there was this fascinating post from FineLobster 5322, who apparently is a disappointed planner who worked on the project: “Mind you money has already been spent on phase one so rejecting it at this point is wasting money and also against the public interest … but what do I know? I only worked on the project as an engineer … I didn’t get into this to build more highways. I do it … to give back to communities and give them more access to their environment.”
Wow. One can imagine the state planning team is devastated. That’s not a small consideration. Good people go into government to make life better in Rhode Island, and it’s a bad play to take the spirit out of the job by first assigning a great human-scale project and then, after a ton of work, trashing it.
A poster named Homosapiens simply said, “We just accept this?”
Hopefully not.
The first stretch of the path over the Henderson Bridge is done, money already sunk.
What a shame to leave that as a path to nowhere.
It doesn’t have to happen.
Between Governor McKee and our Washington delegation, there’s got to be a way to get this done.
There’s got to be.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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