NEW: Speaker Fox Backtracks on 38 Studios Comments
Friday, October 19, 2012
The campaign spokesman for House Speaker Gordon Fox is backtracking on comments Fox made on 38 Studios during a debate earlier this week.
On Wednesday evening, Fox asserted the members of the House knew about Curt Schilling’s video game company when they voted on legislation that made it possible for the EDC to give the company a $75 million loan guarantee. But in a statement Friday, spokesman Bill Fischer said Fox was simply talking about media reports that suggested 38 Studios was considering moving to Rhode Island.
Fischer released the follow statement:
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"As he has previously stated, Speaker Fox was aware that 38 Studios was interested in relocating to Rhode Island. In fact, it was reported in the Providence Journal on March 24, 2010, well before the loan-guarantee program was debated. Speaker Fox has always made it clear that this legislation was never specific to 38 Studios or any particular company – any company seeking funding would have to be vetted by the EDC.
"When Speaker Fox was addressing this issue at a neighborhood debate on Wednesday evening, he indicated there was public knowledge of Curt Schilling's interest in coming to Rhode Island because it had been publicized. He did not mean to infer in any way that representatives were aware that the legislation included funding for 38 Studios, because it did not. Representatives did not have information because there was no earmark in the legislation for 38 Studios or for any other company.”