Fox Defends $1.5 Million for Redistricting
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
House Speaker Gordon Fox is defending the allocation of $1.5 million to redraw the lines for the House and Senate districts.
The plan has come under fire by Operation Clean Government and at least one state rep who asks why the state is spending that money when the federal government supposedly offers the program for free. “I don’t understand why we would not take advantage of something the federal government has to offer,” said Karen MacBeth, D-Cumberland.
She pointed out that Rhode Island is one of only three states to not use the federal program.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMacBeth issued posed her questions to Fox in a letter earlier this month.
Speaker: ‘Free’ program not free
In a statement that spokesman Larry Berman released to GoLocalProv, Fox said claims that the federal program is free are “totally wrong.”
“The free software provided by the Census Bureau was specifically NOT designed for redistricting purposes,” Fox said. “It was only designed to allow states to configure the geography that makes up precincts … and there is no population data attached. While a number of states made use of this ‘free’ program, they still spent tens and hundreds of thousand[s] of dollars in staff or consultant time to participate in the program.”
Because of the “significant cost,” Fox said the state chose not to participate in the second phase of the program.
In an April 8 e-mail to all state reps on the controversy over pay raises, Fox noted that the General Assembly has set aside $1.5 million in its budget for the redistricting process.
Final cost at $700,000
But the actual cost of redistricting could be far less—closer to $700,000.
The firm the state has hired to do the work is Election Data Services, a Virginia-based firm. EDS was the only company that bid on the work and its contract was unanimously approved by the Joint Committee on Legislative Services on March 8, according to the Speaker’s office.
The company had initially offered to do the work for $838,051. “But through negotiations, we were able to reduce this proposal to $692,420, for a savings of $145,631, without eliminating any services,” Fox said.
In her request, MacBeth asked for copies of the RFP and the contract. Those documents have since been made public by the Speaker’s office.
Informed of Fox’s response, MacBeth said she still is looking into the matter. “Bottom line is, is there a way to save the state money?” MacBeth said. “The more I push, the angrier they get … All I’m doing is looking for more information,” she said.
Election Data Services is a 35-year-old company that has been handling redistricting for the state since 1983.
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