Consider this: 38 Studios could ask for state money to pay back the state money it owes the state. It would do this by selling tax credits to others who owe the state money.
What’s even more amazing is Schilling actually didn’t get as much money as he was expecting. He told his friend and political ally former Gov. Don Carcieri that he needed $75 million and, while the loan was for that much, after an initial round of political blowback, Carcieri only gave Big Schill $50 million, the other $25 million was set aside leaving the ex-ballplayer $25 million short of what he said he needed. So not only did Carcieri screw over the public sector, he screwed over his private sector partner as well.
We sure wish the former governor would man up and make a statement … or even better: the General Assembly ought to hold hearings to ferret out just what went wrong here so the state can ensure nothing evenly remotely like it will ever happen again.
Just a question here: has the Projo editorial board weighed in on the 38 Studios debacle yet?
Another question, this one posed by Ted Nesi: “What do House Republicans have against Rhode Island?”
Journalism is great at covering college graduations, but doesn’t always do a great job at covering the converse. Elizabeth Harrison bucks the trend with a four-part series on Rhode Islanders without a four-year degree.
What a stir Corey Booker caused when he veered from the talking point that venture capitalism is bad for the economy … but what did you expect him to say? After all, the financial industry has all but bankrolled his political career. For the background on why they would do this, watch this video.
The House Finance Committee is expected to vote today on a supplemental property tax for Woonsocket … which is good news since last week the vote was being held up by, of all people, the Woonsocket delegation.
Bob – I understand that you are trying to create a progressive narrative here and place the Republican governor’s head on a pike, but as irresponsible as Carcier’s role was, the fact of the matter is that dozens of other people were also responsible for the 38 Studios loan. It is not intellectually honest for this blog to exclusively dwell on Carcieri over eight separate blog posts like he was the only one responsible without even mentioning the other parties involved once. There were Democrats, progressives, and union leaders who facilitated and approved the loan as members and consultants of the EDC, including at least one who is a current contributor on this blog. The heavy majority Democratic General Assembly is responsible for overseeing the EDC and approving the public loans it makes. The Democratic speaker of the house of representatives was directly involved in setting up and advocating for the loan alongside Carcieri. Examining root causes is important, but turning this into a brainless partisan issue is the most effective way to ensure that it is repeated in the future.
Fox, Paiva-Weed, former Finance Chair Costantino and other Democrats supported this, but the only reason it happened is that Carcieri made it happen. The EDC is quasi-public, not a part of the Assembly. The Governor appoints the Executive Director and Board of Directors (with token Senate approval). It was Carcieri’s ED who played cheerleader at the 38 Studios pep rallies. It is the Governor who sits on the Board of Directors. It was Carcieri’s Board that kept Chaffee and others out of the room when they made this deal. He appoints the Board and ED of the RIEDC.
It was he who got it done. And he is the one hiding his head in shame and avoiding the press. So yes, holding Carcieri most responsible is absolutely the correct thing to do. I think AG Kilmartin needs to see if there are derelictions of duty or other charges we can bring against Carcieri.
But – your general point is valid – we can’t give a free pass to the others involved. We need to hold Democrats accountable in the same way we hold Carcieri and Republicans. In addition to supporting the 389 Studios foolishness, Democrats passed the tax cuts for rich people, continue to support tax breaks for corporations w/o requiring proof that the investment is creating jobs, continue to keep gay marriage from happening, continue to protect the extortionists in the payday lending industry, and so on, and so on…