Experts Say Raimondo Needs to Reboot Her 2nd Term After Growing List of Failures
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
In November, Governor Gina Raimondo swept into office with 52 percent of the vote.
Since the election night jubilation, her administration has faced a stinging array of failures and missteps.
GoLocal looked to Rhode Island and national political and economic experts on how Raimondo can reboot her second-term, which so far saw most of her priorities fail to be included in this year's budget, CNBC rank Rhode Island 50th for business, the DCYF Director resign amidst dysfunction, the education system in tatters, and now the healthcare merger Raimondo was trying to broker collapse.
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“It’s hard because [the ship] is sinking in every direction,” said Jennifer Lawless, former Brown University
Professor and now the Commonwealth Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia.
“I would not be in panic mode but I do think that some clear shake-ups within the administration would allow her potentially to take some of the heat but also demonstrate that she’s got a plan to ensure that we don’t continue down this path,” added Lawless.
University of Rhode Island economics professor Len Lardaro said that Raimondo’s strategy, however, is wrong.
“This state doesn't have due diligence. We do things that make headlines, like announce retraining programs without asking is it the right size or scale. You just get the press conference. Thinks of sports betting -- they had someone look at a mature industry elsewhere, and we saw what happened. There's this constant need for positive and publicity [when] people want them just to be honest. Communication is an area that we need improvement on. If we make a mistake, own it and talk about how can we improve,” said Lardaro.
To Shake-Up Team -- Or Not
Providence College Political Science Professor Matthew Guardino cautioned against realigning her staff in light of the government power structure.
“The only good reason to change advisors here would be if there’s evidence their missteps were significantly responsible for the governor’s setbacks, in reality, or perception. I’m not sure that’s the case. These political problems seem to go deeper. They have a lot to do with her opposition in the legislature,” said Guardino.
"Raimondo does seem to have an image problem both within and outside her party, which makes her job especially tough," said political science professor and veteran pollster Victor Profughi. "If I were her, I don't think I would reboot the agenda, but rather would simply boot the notion that I have an agenda. I don't mean forget about having priorities, but stop talking about my agenda and concentrate on improving my image. Bringing in some fresh faces (maybe even some not so fresh ones, but experienced ones who have respect) might be a place to start. And stay home in Rhode Island, showing your commitment to the state and its people would certainly help,"
Business management expert and Dean Emeritus of the Business School at the University of Rhode Island Ed Mazze said that Raimondo needs to strengthen her management skills.
“The Governor needs to spend more time managing her staff as a leader and champion for these activities. She has to avoid 'backroom' deals with donors and some constituent groups. Shaking up the team will get publicity but not results. She also needs to work and communicate better with the legislature and the leaders of local government Leadership in government is more about the person on the top rather than the team,” said Mazze.
Raimondo’s staffing is complicated as her chief-of-staff has all but announced that he is running for mayor of Providence in 2022. Brett Smiley came to Raimondo three years ago nearly to the day from running Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza's office, and only, after more than half-a-dozen others had turned down the job.
Finding a new chief-of-staff of impact may be difficult for a lame-duck governor facing a long list of challenges.
Raimondo Challenges
In 2019, failures have been near-constant and the implications are long-lasting.
Business - Economy
Raimondo’s economic development resume took its most recent significant hit when CNBC ranked Rhode Island as the worst state in America to do business and a series of Wall Street Journal articles, columns and editorials have shredded Raimondo’s priorities and motivations.
The Wall Street wrote in February, “Mr. Lamont drew his toll inspiration from Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, who has lately been scrounging for cash to finance “free college,” universal preschool and Medicaid. Last month she proposed extending the state 7% sales tax to Netflix, e-books, iTunes, interior decorating, landscaping, shooting ranges, beach parking and more. She also wants to reimpose the ObamaCare penalty for individuals without health insurance. And she’d create a new $1,500 penalty on large “for-profit” employers for each employee who enrolls in Medicaid. This new tax is loosely based on legislation proposed by Bernie Sanders and would essentially punish businesses for hiring low-income workers.
Ms. Raimondo did yeoman work eight years ago fixing the state’s public pensions, so it’s a shame she’s now driving off businesses like Democrats in Connecticut and Illinois.”
Lardaro is critical of the Raimondo administration's strategy.
"They hide behind the 3.6 [percent unemployment] which is meaningless because Rhode Islanders dropped out of the labor force and Massachusetts took a lot of our unemployed," said Lardaro. "The number of employed Rhode Islanders is well below where it was in 2006 and going down again and they won't acknowledge it. They're pointing to that 3.6% unemployment. I thought they didn't legalize marijuana here yet -- what are they smoking?"
Gary Sasse, former director of administration for the state of RI says Raimondo needs a new strategy on economic development.
"The Governor should reboot Rhode Island’s economic development strategy. The strategy should place more focus on a productivity agenda. State competitiveness is largely determined by how productivity it utilizes its human and capital resources. Innovation drives productivity, and emphasis should be placed on new technologies for advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, human-machine interaction, and data analytics," said Sasse, who heads the Hassenfeld Institute at Bryant University.
PC's Guardino says Raimondo needs to fight back.
“It also seems important politically to mount an aggressive response to the CNBC ranking. There’s nothing to be done policy-wise in the short term to improve that. But continuing to make the case for her economic development approach in terms that appeal to voters can help. Deflecting blame to her opponents in the legislature would also be politically wise. Point to the mandate of sorts she got last fall – in a state without a lot of political consensus, the governor did easily win a majority,” said Guardino.
Education
School testing scores — the RICAS — were delayed by the Raimondo administration until after the election and showed the under Raimondo schools had failed to keep pace with neighboring states — especially Massachusetts.
On average, Rhode Island schools finished 17 to 20 percent lower than those in the Commonwealth.
It has been well-reported of her budget failures were key initiatives like the expansion of RI Promise — free tuition for Rhode Island College students — and universal pre-K were slashed or cut.
“Generally, the best way to right the ship is to focus on issues that are broadly supported by voters (especially Democrats and independents). This could redirect the discussion away from some of the governor’s defeats and apparent failures. Something like universal Pre-K comes to mind, one of her marquee issues which is not only pretty popular, but so far in RI seems to be fairly successful and fairly well-implemented as a policy,” said Guardino.
Now, Providence schools have been dubbed the worst in the country and a horror show.
"The Governor’s leadership in education reform should address two goals. The first is to clean up the education horror show in Providence and other failing school districts. Second is to focus on implementing her stated goal that 75% of third-graders read at grade level by 2025," said Sasse.
Healthcare
On Tuesday, another of Raimondo's priorities unraveled as merger talks between Care New England, Lifespan and Brown University broke off. Raimondo was personally vested in the negotiations.
“I’m disappointed that the parties were not able to come to an agreement. I continue to believe that a locally-run, academic medical center is what’s in the best interest of Rhode Island. I have encouraged the parties to keep an open mind, remain open to future discussions, and to continue to pursue expanded collaboration that could pave the way to further integration down the road,” said Raimondo.
Managing UHIP, DCYF, DMV...
Over her tenure as governor, Raimondo has come under fire for basic departmental management. The federal court intervened in the management of UHIP by naming a special master and both the Department of Children, Youth and Families and Division of Motor Vehicles have been two endless hot spots.
Raimondo will look to turn things around on Wednesday with the ribbon cutting of the Wexford building on 195.
See Slideshow of What Experts Say About Raimondo's 2nd Term Challenges Below
Related Slideshow: Experts Discuss Raimondo’s 2nd Term Challenges - July 17, 2019
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