What They Are Saying: Failed Rhode Island Dem Gov Gina Raimondo’s Weekend Of Rough Headlines

Democrat governor Gina Raimondo’s failures are adding up in Rhode Island, and, with a slew of negative headlines over the weekend, her troubles appear to be only getting worse. On top of the state’s lagging economy, growing scandals are already causing worries for Raimondo for her 2018 election, with the Democratic Governors Association already spending big on ads to prop her up amid the possibility of challengers from even her own party. Here are some highlights of recent coverage:

A new Providence Journal editorial emphasized Rhode Island’s shrinking work force under Raimondo, noting that other states in the region under GOP governors like Massachusetts and New Hampshire have been adding jobs:

“The other concern, over the long haul, has been Rhode Island’s shrinking workforce. During 2016, the state lost 1,500 workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, continuing a trend that goes back more than a decade…

But the numbers consistently tell us there is a long way to go. While states such as Massachusetts and New Hampshire have long since gained back all the jobs they lost during the Great Recession, Rhode Island is still down by more than 1,100…”

Raimondo is also raising new questions by refusing to state whether she would vote to recall a Providence City Councilman facing prosecution for embezzlement, WPRI-TV reports:

“The four elected officials who live in Providence City Councilman Kevin Jackson’s ward all plan to vote in Tuesday’s recall election, but they aren’t revealing which way they are leaning…

‘Governor Raimondo plans to vote in the recall and believes the residents of Ward 3 should turn out and vote their consciences, as in every election,’ David Ortiz, a spokesperson for the governor, told Eyewitness News…

Jackson has represented Ward 3 since 1995, but was arrested by State Police last May and indicted by a statewide grand jury last July. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege he embezzled $127,153 from the Providence Cobras youth track-and-field team, an organization that received more than $67,000 in taxpayer-funded city donations between 2005 and 2015. He is also accused of using $12,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses.”

Issues from Raimondo’s past are also beginning to resurface for Raimondo, with a new Providence Journal report on allegations that her “hedge-fund gamble cost the state pension fund $500 million:”

“From provocateur Edward “Ted” Siedle’s lips to former Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s ears to WPRO-AM come allegations, making the talk-show circuit, that Gov. Gina Raimondo’s “hedge-fund gamble cost the state pension fund $500 million.”

And to hear Siedle tell it, there’s more: Raimondo “lied” to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission…

On April 20, Siedle went on WPRO to lob his allegations on the Tara Granahan show and then tweeted: “Largest financial scam in RI history: @GinaRaimondo pension hedge fund gamble loses $500m.”

His attack line in an earlier Forbes.com column: Raimondo “blatantly ignored credible warnings by [billionaire Warren] Buffett and, yes, me.”

The alleged “loss” is Siedle’s assessment of how much more the $7.9 billion pension fund might have made had Rhode Island’s $1 billion in hedge-fund investments gone instead into a lower-cost, higher-yield S&P 500 index fund.”

And to make matters worse for Raimondo, WPRI-TV reports that her predecessor, Democrat Lincoln Chafee, is continuing to slam her for wasting taxpayer dollars, amid recent talk that he may challenge her in 2018:

“Former Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Sunday urged the state’s economic-development agency to reject his successor Gina Raimondo’s push to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing Wexford Science & Technology’s development projects on the old 195 land.

Chafee made the argument in an open letter to the R.I. Commerce Corporation board, echoing his high-profile but unsuccessful effort to convince the same panel to reject the disastrous 38 Studios deal in 2010. The Commerce board on Monday is set to approve about $21 million in tax breaks for Wexford, part of nearly $40 million in incentives being directed to the Baltimore-based company.”