Robitaille Says Chafee and Caprio Plans Are ‘Bankrupt’
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The campaign for governor has turned into a race to see who was the first to come up with the idea of saving money by moving state offices out of leased space and into vacant state-owned buildings. Both Democratic candidate Frank Caprio and independent Lincoln Chafee came out this week with plans to cut down on expensive leases.
But their Republican opponent, John Robitaille, says Gov. Don Carcieri already beat them to the punch.
“It is clear that both candidates appear to be bankrupt of new ideas and are more inclined to take credit for others accomplishments,” said Robitaille, who served as communications director for Carcieri.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOn Monday, Chafee announced he would cut down on leases that cost the state $11.9 million a year, shifting as many offices as he could to vacant, state-owned buildings. Chafee said Rhode Island had as much as 400,000 square feet of unused office space.
Not to be outdone, Caprio issued a statement just hours before Chafee’s announcement, saying that he would save Rhode Island taxpayers $4 million over 10 years by moving the main office of the General Treasurer from space it leases in downtown Providence to a vacant state building in Warwick.
“These two candidates tried to outfox each other yesterday by trying to get to the media first with their statements,” said Robitaille spokesman Mike Napolitano. “This is not anything new. These two candidates were trying to make this new and claim fame for their ideas.”
Carcieri Implemented Program in 2005
Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman for Carcieri, confirmed that the Governor was already working on the problem. She said that when Carcieri was first elected there was no central inventory of state buildings and leases on private buildings, no central agency responsible for maintenance, and no master plan for how to use state buildings.
But that all changed under Carcieri, according to Kempe. She said he created the Division of Facilities Management and the Division of Capitol Projects and Property Management to oversee all state properties, looking out for opportunities to save money.
“The state then set about to create an inventory of state leased and state owned properties, started to move from leased space to state-owned space, saving the taxpayers millions annually both from no longer leasing space but also from more efficient operations and consolidations of services,” Kempe said.
The state began shifting offices from leased space to state-owned buildings beginning in 2005 and by 2011 will be saving $5.25 million as a result, according to the Governor’s office.
Chafee Responds to Robitaille
The Chafee campaign yesterday responded to the criticism, saying that Robitaille was either running on Carcieri’s record or against it, depending on the situation. “The voters of Rhode Island should find it worrisome that Mr. Robitaille can run at breakneck speed from Governor Carcieri's administration one day, as evidenced by his opposition to the Deepwater Wind project, and then become its Drum Major the next,” said campaign manager J.R. Pagliarini.
“Senator Chafee is talking about establishing an intelligent, thoughtful, long-term plan for the use of state-owned property,” Pagliarini added. “He will replace the practice that has existed for decades with sound, cost-effective management of our taxpayers' dollars and state assets.”
The Caprio campaign, meanwhile, pointed out that its original statement to the media had credited the Governor and the state with already saving $4 million over the last five years by cutting down on leases.
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