Healey Claims Lt. Governor Costs Taxpayers $20K an Hour

Healey Claims Lt. Governor Costs Taxpayers $20K an Hour

The independent candidate for lieutenant governor, Bob Healey, is claiming that incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, a Democrat, spent just over 30 hours discharging her official duties last year—which he said consist of little more than chairing three committees.

The criticism is the latest effort by Healey to demonstrate the uselessness of an office that he promises to do everything in his power to eliminate, if he is elected.

Roberts has said one of her chief responsibilities as lieutenant governor is work on three committees, which she chairs—the Long Term Care Coordinating Council, Emergency Management Advisory Council, and Small Business Advocacy Council.

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Minimal official duties?

But Healey said the meeting minutes available on the Secretary of State’s Web site show that Roberts spent a total of 30 hours and 23 minutes in meetings for those three councils in 2009. For example, the Long Term Care Coordinating Council met just five times in 2009: Jan. 14, Feb. 11, March 8, June 10, and Dec. 16. Each meeting was under two hours.

Based on a budget of $825,754 for her office in 2009, that translates into $27,177.86 for each hour of committee meeting. “Over $25,000.00 an hour to chair meetings for committees with solely advisory powers …good work if you can get it,” Healey said.

“So what are we paying for when we spend $1 million a year for a worthless office?” Healey added. “The bottom line is that the office is an inefficient, ineffective, and unnecessary use of tax dollars. Must I produce further evidence of this claim?”

Roberts: Healey ‘grasping at straws’

Roberts Campaign Manager Dan Meuse said Healey’s claim showed a lack of leadership from a candidate who is “grasping at straws.”

“Mr. Healey's inability to grasp the full scope of what the Lt. Governor does is another clear example of why he is the wrong choice for Rhode Islanders,” Meuse told GoLocalProv. “He fails to account for the hundreds of hours of staff time spend on policy research, information coordination and outreach activities for each council - and that's just for the scheduled meetings. Each council also has a number of external activities that are coordinated by the office.”

For example, he said the Buy Local RI initiative was an outgrowth of the Small Business Advocacy Council that “took on a life of its own.” He said Healey also failed to take into account every other activity of the office, from constituent response to legislative advocacy to Roberts’ work on implementing national health care reform through the Healthy Rhode Island Task Force.

“Mr. Healey's false argument is grasping at straws while Rhode Islanders are looking for real leadership,” Meuse concluded.