RI GOP Files Ethics Complaint Against Raimondo Over Lottery Contract Extension
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
The Rhode Island GOP filed an ethics complaint against Governor Gina Raimondo alleging the governor violated RI's ethics laws tied to her role in overseeing contracts with IGT.
“The Ethics Commission should investigate what the Raimondo administration has done for IGT while Raimondo and Sweitzer have been DGA [Democratic Governors Association] business associates. If it does not, then it will send a message that in Rhode Island, the governor can ethically enter into a billion-dollar no-bid deal with a state vendor while the governor’s business associate is a lobbyist for and probably a shareholder of that state vendor,” said the complaint.
The complaint was filed by Brandon Bell, the former GOP executive director. Bell ran for the Rhode Island General Assembly in 2018 and was soundly defeated.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDuring Bell’s tenure as Chair of the Republican party, the party lost seats in the General Assembly and failed to win a statewide office or a congressional seat.
"This is a partisan attack attempting to derail proposed legislation that would guarantee jobs for 1,100 Rhode Islanders, secure hundreds of millions in local investment, and generate $80 billion in revenue for the State. Each element of the proposed legislation will go through a thorough and public vetting,” said Josh Block, Press Secretary to Raimondo.
The suit is just the latest twist in the battle between IGT — the largest lottery company in the United States and Twin River who holds the contract for the two state casinos.
Twin River is facing a number of legal issues. Twin River Worldwide Holdings, is now facing both federal and state investigations on different matters and recently, as part of a third legal battle in federal court, came to a settlement where the company agreed to pay 72 supervisors nearly $800,000 in back overtime wages.
READ ABOUT BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE INVESTIGATION INTO TWIN RIVER
About the GOP complaint, Twin River’s spokeswoman Patti Doyle said, “The complaint filed today echoes what Twin River has been advocating for months: engage in a public, highly transparent bid process instead of simply handing a 20-year, billion-dollar, no-bid contract to a political ally. The Rhode Island taxpayer deserves just that.”
