Matt Brown Releases “Plan to Take Back Rhode Island” - Calls for End of Corruption

Thursday, September 06, 2018

Rachel Nunes, Contributor

Matt Brown at State House press conference

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown called for an end to corrupt politics in Rhode Island Wednesday afternoon, outlining his five-part "Plan to Take Back Rhode Island" and placing Governor Raimondo at the center of the state's corruption.

"Across the country and the state, we're seeing a rising tide of people who want to change the system. We say that in Massachusetts with Ayanna Pressley's victory, and we're seeing that here in Rhode Island. People called that victory a major upset and we're on track for a major upset her in Rhode Island as well on Wednesday, September 12," Brown said.

The plan includes the following steps:

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1. Ending Pay-to-Play Politics
2. Banning Lobbyist Contributions to Campaigns
3. Enforcing Existing Campaign Finance Laws
4. Strengthening the State's Board of Elections
5. Bringing Existing Corruption to Light

"Citizen's United is something we have to live with, but I believe we can make changes at the state level to ensure transparency and reduce dark money in campaigns," Brown said.

At the press conference, Brown stopped short of directly accusing Raimondo of breaking the law through pay-to-play politics, saying the focus of his campaign is on changing Rhode Island law.

"Under Governor Raimondo, there's an unwritten rule: if you want a government subsidy or tax incentive, you have to donate to her. [Raimondo] approved more than $150 million in corporate handouts to companies that gave her more than $400,000 in contribution. It’s a “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” deal that favors big corporations, leaving behind the more than 90% of businesses in Rhode Island that employ fewer than 20 workers each," said the Brown press release.

Brown also pointed to examples of projects that received tax breaks while Raimondo chaired the board of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, all of which donated to Raimondo's campaign. To remedy this, Brown is calling for a law banning candidates from accepting campaign donations from senior executives or board members of companies with state contracts, those who receive tax breaks from the state, or with pending regulatory matters before the state.

In addition, Brown is calling for a ban on campaign contributions from registered lobbyists.

"When lobbyist money is exchanged for policy, the powerful and well-connected win and Rhode Islanders lose," Brown said in the release., adding that Governor Raimondo has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees of lobbying firms and employees of companies closely tied with lobbyists.

The third step in Brown's plan is to better enforce already existing state laws, including the statute requiring those requiring outside groups who support a candidate through advertisements to sign an affidavit ensuring they did not directly discuss plans for the campaign with the candidate. Brown believes the burden should be on the candidate as well, and that anyone running for office who received support from an independent expenditure also sign an affidavit saying they had no contact with the organization.

Brown is additionally calling for increased staff and resources at Rhode Island's Board of Elections to ensure campaign contribution rules are followed.

"The state’s existing Vendor Affidavit law requires that any contractor with a state contract in the 24 months prior to or after a donation of more than $250 dollars fill out the affidavit. But the law is rarely enforced, so donors whose companies have state contracts rarely file the affidavits with the board. This year, the BOE received only 15 vendor affidavit filings 13 from donors whose companies also had state contracts -- far below the norm," said Brown.

With further resources, he continued, the Board of Elections no longer be understaffed and overburdened and would be able to enforce all laws effectively.

Finally, Brown called for Rhode Island to "shine a light" on corruption by increasing public information and transparency.

"Rhode Island received a "D" grade from the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and Frontier Group in 2018 based on how well "ordinary Americans" could use government spending websites," said Brown.

To make sure the public is made aware of campaign contributions by state-affiliated employees, Brown is calling for an overhaul to the Board of Elections website to make searches easier, as well as linking state databases of contracts and tax breaks with campaign finance websites.

Matt Brown Releases “Plan to Take Back Rhode Island” - Calls for End of Corruption

Related Slideshow: GoLocal Statewide Poll - Conducted by Harvard’s Della Volpe - June, 2018

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