Governor Will Not Refer Smiley-Crisafulli Threat Dispute to RI State Police for Review
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Claims by Twin River’s Rhode Island President Mark Crisafulli that Governor Gina Raimondo’s Chief of Staff Brett Smiley threatened him will not be referred by the Governor to the Rhode Island State Police for review.
Raimondo’s Communication Director Jennifer Bodgan said that a referral to the State Police will not happen as Raimondo believes Smiley -- and that the Governor believes Smiley when he said he did not threaten Crisafulli, and questions the timing of the allegations, months after the alleged incident occurred.
According to Crisafulli, “Mr. Smiley's message was crystal clear: If Twin River opposed the IGT legislation which was being introduced that day, we would suffer regulatory consequences with the State. It is our view that there should never be any correlation or connection between our regulatory relationship with the State and our right to oppose legislation which harms us. I relayed this message to my leadership and we decided to proceed with our opposition to the no-bid, 20-year deal and we issued a statement opposing the legislation. I received an angry call from Mr. Smiley expressing disappointment that we openly opposed the deal. In total Mr. Smiley called me three times on the afternoon of June 27th.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCrisafulli made the assertion in a letter sent to Senate Finance Committee Chairman William Conley.
Smiley disputed Crifafulli’s claims and in a statement on Wednesday said, “I spoke with Mr. Crisafulli several times over many weeks and never once made a threat. That is not how I conduct myself. The day the legislation was introduced, I gave him a courtesy call to let him know that the General Assembly was moving forward, but that the proposal did not include Twin River getting VLTs. He was not happy with that news and it was a tense call. I also told him the State’s broader relationship with Twin River is important and I hope we’ll find other ways to help them grow their business. It’s unfortunate that they would make this accusation months later at the conclusion of the public hearings.”
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