Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee on Thursday denied any wrongdoing in connection with the award of a lucrative contract to a politically connected firm, and he said Attorney General Peter Neronha should have recused himself from the case because of his support for McKee rival Helena Foulkes.
McKee spoke with reporters a day after Neronha released a host of documents about his investigation into the $5.2 million contract awarded to a new firm, the ILO Group, to help Rhode Island schools reopen amid the pandemic.
Neronha said he found that McKee directed the contract to the ILO Group in a manipulated process, although he said the evidence was too cloudy and contradictory to justify a criminal charge.
Speaking with reporters during a Statehouse news conference, McKee said the absence of charges — from federal investigators as well as Neronha — underscores that he did nothing wrong.
The governor said the attorney general “made unfounded and incorrect allegations that I violated procurement laws, even though he fully admits that it is outside the scope of his office. Let me set the record straight. My office followed procurement law at that time.”
“Was the governor’s office involved? It was a governor’s office procurement,” McKee said, later noting that a change in state procurement rules would prevent the kind of approach used at the time. The governor denied that he improperly steered the award of the contract.
While McKee said some things could have been done better, he said the contract came amid the transition as he was succeeding former Gov. Gina Raimondo in 2021 and trying to help Rhode Island improve in its response to the pandemic — what he called a once-in-a-lifetime public health emergency. The governor said he acted based on what was best for the state.
McKee said the critical findings outlined by Neronha stemmed from how the attorney general has made clear that he supported Foulkes for governor in 2022 — when she almost beat McKee in the Democratic primary — and hopes to see her succeed McKee in 2026.
Neronha has “a blatant level of political involvement,” McKee said, “and it gives me pause.”
“While an attorney general is clearly and publicly campaigning against someone who is the subject of an investigation by his office, should that attorney general have recused himself?” McKee asked. “Yes.”
Neronha has acknowledged a chippy relationship between him and the governor, while denying being motivated by a personal animus toward McKee in the ILO Group probe. He said his release of a memo and documents from the investigation was based on informing the public.
Asked for a response to McKee’s remarks, Neronha spokesman Timony Rondeau said via statement, “We stand by our report, the Rhode Island State Police’s report, and the Attorney General’s approach. The Governor has not and cannot dispute any fact set forth in either report. The rest is deflection and the people of Rhode Island can make their own determination from the facts our Office and the State Police laid out.”
Common Cause of Rhode Island said Neronha’s findings underscore a lack of transparency in the state and that the organization would examine them for possible ethics violations.
