EDITORIAL: Uninspiring Choices for Democrats

EDITORIAL: Uninspiring Choices for Democrats

The Rhode Island Democratic Party could not choose between Dan McKee and Helena Foulkes at its state convention on Saturday.
 

It is not that they are unknown candidates — Foulkes has been a candidate for more than four years and a corporate executive for nearly 30 years. She lost to McKee in the 2022 Democratic primary by just a few thousand votes.

 

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And after McKee’s last three-plus years in office in his first elected term, as you would think, Democrats would rally around Foulkes. McKee has repeatedly blundered, and it appears that many Rhode Islanders are simply tired of him.

 

But despite the McKee exhaustion, Democrats have not rallied around Foulkes —  they haven’t because of Foulkes’ blatant flaws and GOP links.

 

While she was president of CVS, the company was the leading donor to Trump through its corporate PAC. Let’s make this crystal clear: according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal in 2018, CVS was the #1 backer of Trump. You have to work pretty hard as a corporation to be the top corporate donor to a president. And, this Trump pump was done while Foulkes was the President of the company.

 

Foulkes personally donated to Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She made additional donations to other corporate Republicans over the years, including two donations in the 2000s to RI Republican Governor Don Carcieri.  These weren’t accidents. The sun was not in her eyes. Her dog did not steal her checkbook and start writing checks. Foulkes knew exactly what she was doing. 

 

It was good business for her.

 

Her ties to the opioid crisis are a blisteringly bad mark, and her misleading statements about her role and the timeline of her involvement are disturbing. In some cases, her statements are simply lies.

 

Then, there is her leadership of the Dodd Center, which was funded, in part, by the Sacklers — the family who launched the opioid crisis.  Again, the board she chaired included members of the Sackler family, a Sackler lobbyist, and a close family political advisor.

 

Again, it was good business for Foulkes.

 

The best thing she has going for her is that she is not Dan McKee. 

 

And McKee has been around Rhode Island politics since 1992, when he was elected to the Cumberland Town Council. Too often, it feels like he is still a town councilor.

 

McKee’s embarrassing management of the Washington Bridge failure and his defense of Peter Alviti were gross malfeasance and destroyed much of his credibility. A GoLocal investigative series revealed deep ties among McKee, the Laborers' International Union, and Alviti. 

 

Further, his administration’s inability to block and tackle has turned into an epidemic — paying employees, managing technology, etc.

 

But most public polling of likely Democratic voters shows McKee at about 20% and Foulkes at 40%.

 

On Saturday, the Democrats could not choose between two great candidates; there was little enthusiasm for either.