Block Open to Working for the State

Block Open to Working for the State

Moderate Party candidate for governor Ken Block told GoLocalProv he is open working for the state of Rhode Island to eliminate waste and fraud in the Department of Human Services.

Block’s statement came after state Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, D-Woonsocket, issued a press release, calling on Governor-elect Lincoln Chafee to reach out to Block for ideas on how to save millions of dollars in waste and fraud. Baldelli-Hunt supported neither of those candidates in the election, instead backing fellow Democrat Frank Caprio.

“Addressing the problems and costs of the Department of Human Services is not something that should wait until after inauguration day next January,” Baldelli-Hunt. “I urge Gov.-elect Chafee to use every resource at his disposal to start now to fix what is wrong with that department, for the good of the people who receive services from it and for the good of the taxpayers who help fund it.”

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Block: 'State of our state's systems is poor'

Block welcomed the idea, which he said he had not discussed with Baldelli-Hunt before she went public with it. “I applaud her zeal,” Block told GoLocalProv. “The state of our state’s systems is poor and I think it’s important to put a focus on them.”

In the 1990s, Block developed a software system that saved the state of Texas $1 billion by eliminating waste and fraud in its welfare programs. Block said the same program could not be used for Rhode Island, but he said he was open to developing a new program specific to the Ocean State.

“If the state chooses to go out to bid for that … I will be a ready, willing, able competitor to go after that,” Block said.

Chafee did not issue a response.