ORGANIZED INFLUENCE: Governor McKee and Armand Sabitoni’s Special Relationship
GoLocalProv News Team
ORGANIZED INFLUENCE: Governor McKee and Armand Sabitoni’s Special Relationship
For decades, Armand Sabitoni served as the General Secretary and Treasurer of the Laborers' International Union — a union with a rich history of ties to the Patriarca crime family, corruption, and even former President Bill Clinton.
The Laborers have always been a powerful force in the Rhode Island State House, but in recent years, the union's influence has grown. The Laborers dramatically bolstered their sway in the road and bridge building industry with the appointment of "their brother," a 15-year veteran of the union, Peter Alviti, to head the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT).
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOver the next two weeks, GoLocal explores a series of sometimes intertwined issues: the relationship between the powerful union and top Rhode Island politicians; how contracts are awarded at RIDOT; and the growing influence of Laborers' International in the road and bridge building industry in Rhode Island.
At stake are billions of dollars between Rhode Island's RhodeWorks program and increased federal funds via the Biden administration's infrastructure appropriations.
This investigative series answers many questions and unveils connections. Despite billions spent on Rhode Island's roads and bridges over the past decade, the state continues to be at the bottom of national rankings. One of the state's two major highways is impacted due to the closure of the Washington Bridge.
We follow the money.
McKee defeated Helena Foulkes by just 3,357 votes to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2022, which catapulted him to an overwhelming victory in November’s general election, where he beat Republican Ashley Kalus.
Fueling McKee's campaign was a massive expenditure from Laborers’ International via an independent expenditure group — called Forward Rhode Island.
Money flowed from the “Laborers Political League - Education Fund” and a separate account, the “Build New England Fund,” to the special Forward Rhode Island account. Each of the Laborers’ funds funneled $300,000 to benefit McKee.
More than 100 donations were made to the "Laborers Political League - Education Fund," according to a document filed with the Rhode Island Board of Election, Campaign Finance Division.
None of the donations were made from Rhode Island; most were union "Locals" from around the country, and the list included donations from just two individuals - two Laborers' officers of Local 341 in Alaska — Augustine Merrick and Wesley Canfield.
SEE ALL THE DONATIONS REPORTED.
The physical address for Forward Rhode Island is just a few blocks from the Laborers’ Washington, DC headquarters.
By far and away, the Forward Rhode Island monies were the single biggest funders of McKee’s narrow victory.
The man who signed the check for the Laborers' Political League was the then-General Secretary-Treasurer of the Laborers, Armand Sabitoni.
Armand Sabitoni rose to be a national leader of the union. He and General President Terry O'Sullivan came to power after Arthur A. Cioa was forced to resign. Coia pleaded to federal charges in January of 2000.
Arthur A. Coia is the son of Arthur E. Coia, the long-time General Secretary-Treasurer of the Laborers and, according to FBI documents, a close associate of crime boss Raymond Patriarca.
According to tax documents prepared by the Laborers, Armand Sabitoni received just under $900,000 in compensation in 2022 — $663,281 in salary and $233,442 in additional benefits.
Forward Rhode Island is located in Suite 247 at 1032 15th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C.
The money from these independent groups is under more and more scrutiny, and the donations are more and more cloaked.
Forward Rhode Island is not located in Rhode Island — its address, according to campaign documents, is located at 1032 15th Street, N.W. Suite 247. The phone number associated with “Forward Rhode Island” rings at a firm called Premier Political Compliance. The firm has not responded to emails or calls. It claims to be a top-level campaign finance compliance firm.
There appears to be no connection to Rhode Island.
"In Rhode Island, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals can give $2,000 a year to a campaign, but because of the Supreme Court's disastrous Citizens United decision, they can give an unlimited amount to an independent expenditure group. Theoretically, those independent expenditure groups operate separately from a candidate's campaign, but we've seen that to hardly be true in practice with things like 'red boxing,' where the candidate's campaign tells the independent expenditure group exactly what to say in their advertisements," adds Marion.
In March of 2022, the Laborers announced that the union was all in on McKee for governor.
”Governor McKee has demonstrated the intellect, character and shared vision to revitalize and reinvigorate our state toward socio-economic recovery, sustainability and vitality for all,” said Armand Sabitoni in announcing the union's endorsement. “He will continue to roll up his sleeves and get the job done for Rhode Island.”
McKee had been trailing early. A poll released in late June of 2022 put then-Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea in the lead of the Democratic field for governor with 24% of the primary vote, McKee at 20%, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes at 16%, former Secretary of State Matt Brown at 5%, and Dr. Luis Daniel Munoz at 1%. The poll showed 31% of respondents were undecided, and the margin of error was just over 5%.
The Laborers' support was critical for McKee; he needed the union's influence, organization, and money.
And, McKee is critical to the Laborers’ interests. The Laborers were instrumental in placing RIDOT Director Alviti in the job nearly a decade ago and needed a governor who would keep Alviti in power.
When McKee was elevated to Governor, Armand Sabatoni was named to his transition team — and it was not Sabitoni’s first transition team.
Armand Sabitoni and Gina Raimondo became political allies when she was launching her political career.
Raimondo’s relationship with Armand Sabitoni dates back to 2010, when then-Raimondo campaign manager Joe Shekarchi connected the union boss and the newly-elected General Treasurer.
Shekarchi, now Speaker of the House, was the campaign manager for Raimondo and then served as head of her transition team.
“It was Joe who brought them together. She needed a big-time union connection,” said a former top Raimondo gubernatorial staffer who spoke under the condition of anonymity.
Armand Sabitoni was appointed to Raimondo's first transition team.
Today, Raimondo serves as Secretary of Commerce in the Biden administration.
Despite having little experience as a transportation official, Alviti jumped from a mid-level Laborers' position to Rhode Island's top transportation spot in 2015 — being named by newly-elected Rhode Island Governor Raimondo as her Director of RIDOT.
Prior to joining the Laborers, Alviti was the public works director in Cranston.
In contrast, Alviti's predecessor at RIDOT was Michael Lewis — he was known for finishing the Central Artery Project (the Big Dig) in Boston and, after being replaced by Alviti in Rhode Island, was then appointed the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The Laborers' bosses — both Armand and Michael Sabitoni, cousins and top officials in the union — were central to Alviti getting the job and now, keeping the job. Details on this will be published in Part Two of this series.
Alviti's RIDOT Subject of Two Federal investigations, McKee Defends — COMING NEXT WEEK: ORGANIZED INFLUENCE, PART TWO —ALVITI
RIDOT under Alviti is now the subject of a second federal investigation, but McKee continues to defend Alviti's leadership despite the failure of Washington Bridge.
A series of stories, starting in 2020 by GoLocal, unveiled contamination being dumped in the Olneyville neighborhood by Barletta Heavy Division as part of the $410 million RIDOT 6/10 project. When confronted, Alviti repeatedly lied and denied the dumping.
The series of stories led to a non-prosecution agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Barletta. A Barletta project supervisor pled guilty to multiple charges, and the company paid $1.5 million to the government.
“Today, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation was notified that the United States Department of Justice and the Office of the Inspector General is seeking documents and records related to the Washington Bridge. This is not unexpected, and the Governor welcomes the review. The Governor has instructed the Rhode Island Department of Transportation to fully cooperate. As you know, the Governor has directed his Department of Administration to hire an independent, third-party expert to review this matter as well," said McKee's office at the time.
GoLocal reported last week that the lead investigator from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), who is driving the investigation into the RIDOT Washington Bridge failure, had investigated another Alviti-led RIDOT project -- the previously mentioned 6/10 contamination.
The ties between McKee and Armand Sabitoni extend from politics to the golf course and multiple high-profile political appointments.
McKee and Armand Sabitoni play golf together.
In an interview with McKee last week, GoLocal asked about their matches, and the Governor said, “Well, you know, Armand’s pretty good and he's coming off a hand injury, so I haven't seen him at his best recently.”
“But I think he would kind of say that I might have a little edge on him but he wins his matches. I’ve got to admit that he gets enough strokes to win his matches," said McKee in the interview.
When reached by phone on Saturday morning and told that the Governor said he was the better golfer, Armand Sabitoni said, “Is that so? Hmm. I am actually playing golf right now, I will call you back after.”
He did not call back, nor did he answer follow-up calls by GoLocal.
What is not known is who pays for the golf outings. GoLocal repeatedly requested clarification from McKee's State House communications team.
Despite the numerous requests, McKee's team would not respond.
Armand Sabitoni Appointed to Multiple High Profile Positions By McKee
Since McKee's election to Governor in 2022, the Governor has named Armand Sabitoni to a number of high-profile appointments. Raimondo had previously named Armand Sabitoni to the University of Rhode Island Board of Trustees.
Armand Sabitoni stepped down in 2023 from his position with the union but remains highly influential.
McKee tapped Armand Sabitoni to the Rhode Island Life Science Hub Board -- the group has already received $45 million in state funds.
McKee continues to defend Alviti. Despite the two federal investigations of RIDOT, the failed bridge, alleged bullying by Alviti of employees, and him yelling at an elderly man at a public hearing, McKee says he stands by Alviti.
"I think that we have had examples of inappropriate behavior, and dismissals certainly came forward with the issue that had to do with David Patten, so there certainly is a threshold," said McKee.
"If you're asking, has Peter hit that threshold? At this point, no," said McKee.
"What we are going to do is we are going to wait. I think that's why I'm embracing the federal [investigation]. The DOJ is going to go back to 2015 on this project. I would expect that they're going to be reviewing everything that that you were bringing up, you know, in [GoLocal's] columns," added McKee.