Is Gina Using Taxpayer Money To Campaign?

Much ado has been made about the fact that General Treasurer Gina Raimondo spends a lot of time traveling out of state raising money, gives curious speeches while accepting awards from conservative groups, accepts contributions from SEC violators and maintains friendships with Enron traders.

But I have not read much about the fact that she seems to be using taxpayer dollars to campaign for higher office.

I did notice, though, that Providence Journal investigative reporter Kathy Gregg did sniff out one clear example of this.

Gregg pointed out that Raimondo’s recent “Telephone Town Hall” cost the Taxpayers $1,800 for 8 people to make calls to the Treasurer over a span of 45 minutes.  That is $225 per call of the public’s money.  Can’t you find a lawyer for cheaper than that??

Gregg also investigated the consultant that Raimondo used with this $1,800 in Taxpayer dollars – Stone Phones – which turns out to be a company of “political strategists” according to their website.

This leads to an interesting question.  Which 10,000 people did Stone Phones call?  Did they call the voter list?  And, if they did, does that violate campaign finance or ethics laws?

And why is she using Taxpayer dollars to pay a political consultant anyway?

If Raimondo really wants to use your tax dollars to campaign, her time would be better spent supporting Public Financing for RI Elections.