Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee is the guest this week on the Political Roundtable.
Topics include his primary battle with four other leading Democrats, his record as governor, controversies involving the ILO Group and former chief of staff Tony Silva and more.
Here is a transcript of the uncut version of the interview. (The audio of the uncut interview can be found in the mp3 file attached to this story.)
Ian Donnis: We are now less than six weeks from the September 13th primary election. Polling suggests this is a close race between you and two top Democratic rivals, Helena Foulkes and Nellie Gorbea. What makes you the best candidate in this race?
Dan McKee: Well, I’m the only one who’s had experience as a governor, which is important, especially the way that I came into office under the– Which I think arguably was the the most strenuous emergency state of emergency the state has ever seen. And, and the results that we received, you know, I stepped up with leadership when it really mattered. Lowest, one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country when I showed up. Now it’s the number one. Allowed us to re-open economy. Second in the country right now, according to Moody’s, first in the Northeast, lowest unemployment rate that we’ve ever had in 46 years of recording unemployment. And the good news is, there’s a great deal of jobs left. And the budget that we passed that I signed and submitted in January was fully, virtually fully intact. And, and it’s gonna give us significant economic growth, and opportunities for all the people who live in the state, all 39 cities and towns,
Donnis: The most recent media poll, by The Boston Globe, showed Nellie Gorbea with a four-point lead over you, a large number of voters still undecided. If you’re doing as good a job as you say you are why are voters a little bit lukewarm about you?
McKee: Well, I don’t know whether that’s true or not. And and again, polls come and go, it depends on how you ask the questions. And I think also, let’s remember this, I think, I believe that I’m the only sitting governor in the country that has a contested primary. And it’s been, you know, nonstop, relative to, you know, the the attacks that I’ve been having on me nonstop for all through the pandemic. I was focused on the pandemic, and I was focused on managing the state until I signed the budget.
Now we’re about campaigning. And I know there’s a number of undecided voters, we’re gonna certainly be talking to them, we’re gonna be talking to all voters in a way that I think that we’re communicating. I think everybody have seen my ad my mom is definitely a celebrity, as you’ve said earlier, before we got on the air. But that really is — reflects not only the fact that my mom lives with us, and not only reflects that, our family values and a history of civic involvement and volunteerism. Mayor for 12 years, you know, lieutenant governor, now, hovernor, but it also reflects what we got done, right? We eliminated the car tax. That was because I was able to manage the largest surplus in the state’s history.
Donnis: That was led by the House of Representatives in their budget.
McKee: Well, no, that’s what I was able to do. Now, that’s not correct. What I was able to do well it was started and planted by Speaker Mattiello, and that General Assembly, we accelerated an additional year on that, over $60 million. That’s a direct result of the surplus that I managed, if you didn’t have the surplus, you wouldn’t be able to accelerate and eliminate the car tax. And we were able to work with the speaker and the senate president on all those items, whether it’s the Child Tax Credit rebate, that’s going to be going out in October $250, for a child and up to three children in the family up to $200,000 of income, helping 115,000 families. That’s a direct result of the management I provided in a surplus that was in there. The federal dollars, the APRA dollars are in this year’s budget. Right? And then —
Donnis: We’ve go a lot of issues to cover. So let’s move on if we could, governor. We see how abortion remains a big issue in the country and in Rhode Island. Why did you not include in your budget an expansion of abortion rights to cover people in Rhode Island who are on Medicaid and the state employee health plan?
McKee: Well, first of all, I’ve supported that issue, and supported and certainly supported the women’s right to choose with an executive order that I put in place right after July 4, which was just a few days after the Supreme Court made that, you know, horrendous decision to take away that right on a federal level. We are supporting that. And let’s talk about how this happened, okay. The General Assembly, both the Senate and the House, the House on the finance, the Senate on the judiciary, that bill was in front of them. I had letters to them supporting that and asking them to move on that issue. So there’s a function of the General Assembly, just like and I believe, I think we’re in certainly in a spot right now where I’ve indicated that’s a top priority for me when we get back in session, and I believe it will be with the General Assembly.
Not too dissimilar than the work that I did on gun safety. Right. I sat with the Senate president and the speaker said, What do I need to do to get that to my desk. And we got it to our desk. And we put in three pieces of legislation that I had supported for several years. The same thing with the driver’s permit, right, the the driver’s privilege. That’s something I supported, that’s something that I actually had a step up in the last 10 days of session, and make sure that everybody understood that we could afford to do it. And it was important to our economy it was important to get people the jobs safely, important to get the kids to school safely. And so it also was an, you know, a safety issue in general in terms of insurance.
Donnis: And that’s the permit for undocumented residents.
McKee: That’s something I drove and then put in letters in of support. And the way they get this done is through General Assembly. General Assembly needs a majority vote, budgets need a two thirds vote. And it’s pretty obvious you didn’t have two thirds, you didn’t even have majority in this session, when both of those bills were held over for study. I believe that what’s going to happen this time around is that I think it’ll come out of the General Assembly and in a in a way that is going to support the insurance and make a level playing field for the insurance coverage. And I’m gonna sign that bill. And I’ve already been on record saying I support it.
Donnis: You cast the tie-breaking vote recently, when the Commerce Corporation approved a new funding plan for the soccer stadium in Pawtucket. We all want to see Pawtucket do better. But sports economists say stadiums are not a good form of economic development. And a study prepared for the Commerce Corporation found that this would produce somewhat tepid job growth. Why do you consider this a financing plan worth supporting?
McKee: Well, we all can’t be saying that we want to help Pawtucket and do nothing for them. Right. So this is a plan that was approved prior to the me getting to office. It did have, you know series of improvements and investments. And if you wanted to just give up on it and walk away then vote no, because basically it would kill the project. This project again, I want to put this in the context of what I’m doing as governor of the state of Rhode Island. We’re investing everywhere in the state, not only in the in the federal dollars we have but also in the surplus dollars, again, the largest surplus that the state has ever managed and being invested in ways that are going to help the economy long term and bring jobs to the table short term.
So we’re investing over $40 million in fisheries in Galilee. We’re investing over $60 million in the port in Quonset, we’re investing over $35 million of public dollars into East Providence for the new supply chain port for the wind industry, which will hopefully we get to talk about how I’m leading that issue as well in terms of picking it up in a way that’s taken full advantage of the opportunity. We’re investing dollars in the Superman building, we’re investing money in the convention center, we’re investing public dollars in the bus transport depot, you know, situation in Providence that’s been dead. Both the Superman and that bus terminal in Kennedy Plaza had been dead until I showed up and I put people around the table and actually figured out how to do it.
So the investment in Pawtucket is no different than what the strategy is investing in projects that the municipal leaders believe are going to really be helpful. We analyzed it, it was approved by the commerce board. And right now it’s time to really rally behind that decision and make it work. And we will manage it in a way that the taxpayers are protected. No dollars are going in there unless you have a certificate of completion on the project. There’s a 30-year clause in there to make sure that the soccer program, soccer team, the professional soccer team is going to be there for 30 years. There’s multiple type of things in this piece of decision making that a commerce corporation board made. And so it’s time to move on, it’s time to actually make it happen. And understand that we’re doing it throughout the state. And jobs — I just told you, the lowest unemployment in the history of the state of Rhode Island. That’s under my watch. And the way the best remedy against the recession or an economic downturn is J-O-B-S, jobs. And that’s what we’re investing in jobs, good paying jobs, that are going to be bringing revenue and income into families and into those communities. And those jobs are going to generate activity for our small businesses and local communities.
Donnis: According to the Providence Journal, your administration used the language of the state’s open records law in declining recently to disclose whether or not the governor’s office was subpoenaed as part of a state federal investigation into the ILO group educational consulting controversy. Your administration is within your legal rights to take that approach. But in the interest of transparency, why not disclose whether or not the administration has gotten subpoenas in this matter?
McKee: First of all, I mean, I’ve answered this question when I was back in November with you in terms of that investigation. I don’t need an investigation to know what I did or didn’t do. I know what I did was absolutely in the best interest of the people of the State of Rhode Island. Coming in again, in the state of emergency that we’ve never seen before, education is a high priority for me. We have really talented, skilled people that have been in five different administrations that they can make those decisions. If anybody has a question they can call our communications department. But we know we’re getting the proper advice to manage the state properly. And that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. I’m focused on the next levels of, of economic development, equity across the board for people who have been left out of the system for too long, issues that have to do with health. That’s what I’m managing day to day. I’ll let I’ll let the, you know, the, the the experts in our office handle the issues that you just talked about.
Donnis: Attorney General Peter Neronha recently reported out that you had no role in your former Chief of Staff Tony Silva’s effort to pursue a personal development in Cumberland. There were no criminal charges in this matter. But Neronha says that Silva exercised very poor judgment, and appeared to throw his weight around, did those findings come as a surprise to you that Silva was appearing to try to use his influence, as a state official on a personal project?
McKee: It didn’t come to surprise me that there was no charges and there was no law broken. The most important thing in this election that we’re in that’s what we’re talking about here today, is that I told people that I had nothing to do, or I did not lift a finger to help a friend. And that’s the accusations that are getting published in the newspaper, published in some of the reports that you give. And the fact of the matter is that no, it was– the Attorney General was very clear that I had no involvement in that project. That’s what the taxpayers, that’s what the voters need to know. And —
Donnis: Well, what about Silva’s behavior? You initially stood by Tony Silva, when this controversy came up. Are you surprised that he engaged in this kind of behavior, according to the attorney general?
McKee: Well, that’s the attorney general’s business, in fact, halfway through one page in they said, the attorney general usually ends when there’s no, there’s no laws broken. That’s the main thing that for me, there was no laws broken. The interpretation in terms of involvement — that’s a, you know, that’s not a an objective is more of a subjective type of thing. I’m not being critical. Anyways, the main thing here in this campaign, is that the accusations about me being involved in the controversies that I remember — Helena Foulkes [saying that] first day in office, I was taking care of myself and my friends. These type of things are evaporating in front of your eyes. That report said that I was not involved. I knew I wasn’t involved. I do know that any other scandals are brought up in the media and pushed by the opponents in this campaign that have been going at it for a year and a half. There’s nothing there. They’re going to come up empty. I told you it was going to come up empty. And the Tony Silva issue, they came up empty. I was not involved. In the ILO issue, I do know that they’re going to come up empty there. There was nothing that– We followed procedures. And I feel, it’s not just confident, I’m absolutely confident that what’s going to happen here at some point in time, it’ll be shown just like in the just like in the Tony Silva report, that I had no involvement in any way that was underhanded in any way that was favoring a friend as I’m being accused of. I do what’s in the best interest of the state of Rhode Island over and over again, every day, I do my best. And we’re doing very well. Granted, we have challenges. And this is a high tension timeframe coming out of a pandemic. But just take a look at the facts. Look, look at where we are leading the country and an economic recovery, lowest unemployment in the history of state of Rhode Islad, largest surplus ever, ever, ever managed in the state and those dollars are going into projects to help long term economic growth in the state of Rhode Island.
Donnis: You were an early supporter of Joe Biden in 2020. A lot of Democrats have been unconvinced that he is the best guy to lead Democrats in 2024, although Biden’s been on a bit of a roll the last two weeks with a series of political victories. Do you think Joe Biden is the right guy to lead Democrats in 2024?
McKee: I was one and probably the first state elected official, I think in the Northeast. That was with President Biden when he was running, I was up in New Hampshire knocking on doors in 10 degree weather. And I believe that Rhode Island is benefits from that. When I have been in his company, I’ve been in the Oval Office. There’s another thing in terms of to your first question, why am I most qualified?
We have developed a network with the White House with the president. I’ve been in the Oval Office talking about these issues that are important, offshore wind in particular. Creating a group of governors across the east coast with the president putting that together, having more Cabinet members ever visit in a short period of time and but it’s been 15-16 months. What do you think I’m going to get done if I get the four year term – significantly more, but we’ve made significant progress. Never have had this many Cabinet members in the state of Rhode Island. That’s a direct result of a relationship that I built with the President, and with the national groups, of course, let’s not forget our congressional leaders who have been phenomenal during this timeframe.
Donnis: Rhode Island has ambitious goals on trying to reduce the effects of climate change. One goal is to rely 100% on renewable electricity by [2033]. Is that a realistic goal? And what does the state have to do to make that goal a reality?
McKee: Well it needs to follow our plan, right? The plan that we put in place. The Rhode Island 2030 plan is an actual plan, I’ve asked you listeners go to RI2030.com and weigh in on multiple issues that we’ve outlined in an actual comprehensive plan in the in the middle of a pandemic, we were able to do more than just be the number one vaccinated state in the country. So that areas of high high level of opportunity for us. The offshore wind. We lead the country in the moment, we have– I put legislation in this year, there’s no governor that’s been more aggressive in terms of this environmental issue than me.
And so we put in legislation this year to procure an additional 1000 kilowatts of energy on offshore wind, what’s on the market, what’s on the platform right now that’s been approved is going to electrify over 350,000 homes. We were at CCRI yesterday, announcing a job training plan that is actually going to help people learn how they can participate in that economic opportunity for jobs. So this is a major opportunity, Ian, for us, and we’re not going to — anybody who’s taken — thinks that oh, we don’t have the momentum or we shouldn’t be following momentum, we should take a time out. This is crazy to be taking a time out and even shift in leadership at this point in time in the state of Rhode Island. We have the momentum, that’s an area that’s really really strong. This is going to bring good paying labor jobs to the table for several years. And those jobs those people who are in in those incomes are going to be buying pizza at the local pizza shop in the community. So this is a real opportunity where the environmental issues that have been front and center for years now, the economy is actually intersected with that. You can see with the money that we’re putting into electrifying, electric stations for electric vehicles, you can see where we put in a rebate program that’s going to bring in several millions of dollars in to help encourage people to buy electric vehicles. You can see it where we just announced $25 million dollars into heat pump program that’s gonna bring 1000s of heat pumps into residential and small-end business entities. So this is an opportunity that I I just can’t understate and right now, we have taken advantage, full advantage in a short period of time. And our budget reflects that, Ian.
Donnis: That’s all the time we have so we need to leave it there Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee. Thank you for joining us.
McKee: Well, thank you. We appreciate the opportunity. Ask everybody to vote for me when when September 13 comes.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
