Raimondo’s Point Judith Ties to Providence Contracts Come Under Scrutiny
Friday, October 31, 2014
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Raimondo has come under fire from Republican opponent Allan Fung following the revelation that Raimondo's former firm, Point Judith, invested in a firm that was awarded contracts with the Providence Water Supply Board -- while Raimondo's husband, Andrew Moffit, was the board chair.
On Thursday, Fung held a press conference at the Providence Water Supply Board where he criticized General Treasurer Raimondo for her lack of "transparency and forthrightness," following a GoLocal investigation that showed that Envista, a company that Point Judith had invested in, was awarded contracts with the Water Supply Board on multiple occasions
Repeated requests for information from the Raimondo camp by GoLocal have gone unanswered. One question that has yet to be addresses is what was Raimondo's financial gain was from the Point Judith investment in Envista.
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Cranston Mayor Fung spoke on Thursday to the issues of transparency and leadership in the campaign at the press conference at the Providence Water Supply Board.
"Point Judith has made money from a company that was hired to work for Providence Water Supply Board, which was chaired by the Treasurer's husband," said Fung at the press conference. "In case after case, [Raimondo] has not shown leadership, or shown decisive action. I want to highlight a few examples that date as far back as 2010."
"Half of the Treasurer's and Chafee's appointees were lobbyists, the Treasurer gave state contracts to campaign donors, the State Pension fund gave $570,000 to her former firm, and her gross mismanagement and lack of oversight as a board member of RI Housing...we've seen where that's gone," said Fung. Fung also questioned Raimondo's rehiring of First Southwest "after the state is suing them for allegations of fraud and misrepresentation regarding the 38 Studios transaction."
"The Treasurer is playing politics with the facts, to hide her own lack of leadership and results," said Fung.
Contract Details Emerge
At the time the first Water Supply contract was awarded to Envista, Point Judith had less than twelve active clients in its portfolio.
According to records from the Board of Contract and Supply, on August 17, 2009, the Board voted to enter into a contract at the request of the water supply board with Envista. The contract for the first year was for zero, according to an attachment to the meeting notice, which showed that the contract for the second year was for $20,000. It is unclear if Envista bid for the no-cost contract.
For early stage venture backed companies, getting high profile contracts, as in the case of a city the size of Providence, creates tremendous value. Envista's following contracts with the City of Providence jumped to $37,500.
In 2005, Moffit -- along with then Mayor David Cicilline -- was involved with the hiring of the Chief Engineer and General Manager of Providence Water, Pamela Marchand.
"Marchand possesses a keen knowledge of the challenges facing municipal water systems with the vision and expertise to take Providence Water to a new level of excellence," said Moffit, in a press release issued upon hiring. "The search committee screened a long list of applicants from all over the country and found the best right here in our backyard. She clearly emerged as the most qualified candidate with the leadership skills needed to lead Providence Water into the future."
"Certainly, it is legitimate for the press and citizens to ask questions about any public contract," said Monique Chartier with the group RI Taxpayers. "In this case, one of the questions to ask would be, did the Providence Water Supply Board, with General Treasurer Raimondo's husband at the helm, put these contracts out for open, public bid as required before awarding it? If they did and the contracts were awarded to the lowest qualified bid, then there would appear to be no issue, though the result of the bidding process was undoubtedly helpful to the company that Ms Raimondo's firm had invested in."
Democratic Party Responds
On Thursday, the Democartic Party Coodinated Campaign Chair, Peter Baptista, issued a statement on the revelations. contacts.
"Gina's husband Andy Moffit did serve as the Chairman of the Board of Providence Water Supply. As a board member, he was not involved in any way with this contract, which was negotiated and awarded by the Providence Water management team; nor was he even aware of it," said Baptista. "As with all contracts in Providence, this contract was reviewed and approved by the Providence Board of Contract and Supply, which is comprised of representatives from city departments, in which Mr. Moffit did not participate."
Chartier asked why Raimondo did not answer the questions directly.
"If the contracts were properly awarded through a public bidding process, why isn't Ms. Raimondo answering questions herself rather than giving this matter an unnecessarily political tone by referring the press/GoLocalProv to her party's chairman? Because public dollars were involved in a transaction that touched both herself and her husband, the General Treasurer has an obligation to answer questions herself," said Chartier. "If everything is on the up and up, she should be eager to do so and put this matter behind her."
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