Block Blasts Shekarchi Over Inspector General Legislation

Block Blasts Shekarchi Over Inspector General Legislation

Outspoken Rhode Island businessman Ken Block is letting loose on Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi.

Block, who has previously run for governor both as a Moderate and as a Republican, is blistering Shekarchi for failing to support the efforts to create an independent inspector general’s office designed to identify wasteful spending.

In September 2024, TIME magazine named Block one of America's Democracy Defenders.

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“Speaker Shekarchi's bizarre response to efforts to bring an Inspector General to Rhode Island continues his pattern of thwarting efforts to further good government in the state,” said Block.

“Shekarchi is so opposed to an independent review of our government's operations that he embraced President Trump's firing of 17 Inspectors General. The most constitutionally powerful politician in Rhode Island (elected by just 5,684 Rhode Island voters in 2024) would prefer to exercise his power without independent oversight,” added Block.

“The Speaker is against a governor's line-item veto, a mechanism to help control spending that 44 other states have and that close to 70% of polled Rhode Island voters want. Rhode Island desperately needs tools to help remove the most wasteful spending from the Speaker's opaque budget process. Remember Dr. Pedro's $1 million? That ridiculous pork came straight out of the previous Speaker's budget process,” said Block.

The reference to Dr. Victor Pedro was from allegations in 2019 that then-speaker of the House Nick Mattiello had attempted to provide a $1 million grant to a campaign donor to support alternative medicines.

“Ironically, Shekarchi controls a PAC named the Rhode Island Good Government PAC. He uses this PAC primarily to support Democratic politicians. This PAC does nothing to further efforts to make Rhode Island government more transparent. Autocratic rule is as inappropriate at the local and state levels as it is at the federal level. Speaker Shekarchi is no friend of good government,” said Block.

 

Shekarchi Responds

“I have always kept an open mind on the inspector general issue and will review the testimony provided at this week’s committee hearing.  However, I am yet to be convinced there is a need to create an office that would provide many duplicative services when we have the offices of the Attorney General, the Auditor General, the Office of Internal Audit and the U.S. Attorney already addressing corruption and waste in government,” said Shekarchi.

But Shekarchi did not give examples of when the Attorney General or others had identified and rooted out wasteful spending.

“In a very challenging budget year, I am concerned with the cost of the millions of taxpayer dollars it would take to create a new office. In addition, pro-Constitutional Convention advocates cited the creation of an inspector general’s office as one of the top issues to approve the referendum question last November, yet the voters overwhelmingly rejected the need to hold a convention,” added Shekarchi.