Raimondo Blasts Brown for Not Revealing Global Zero Donors

GoLocalProv Political Team

Raimondo Blasts Brown for Not Revealing Global Zero Donors

Gina Raimondo is blasting Matt Brown for not revealing donors
Governor Gina Raimondo is firing back at gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown asking him to disclose the donors to Global Zero -- the non-profit organization located in D.C. that Brown previously headed.

This all follows a brutal week for Raimondo. Earlier in the week, GoLocalProv reported that Raimondo never disclosed an illegal donation from Oaktree to the Employees Retirement Board or SEC.

As GoLocal wrote on Friday, “According to a settlement between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Oaktree — a $100 billion California-based fund that Raimondo invested $20 million — the private equity firm gave Raimondo an illegal donation while she was running for Governor in 2014.”

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

“As an elected politician, Raimondo should have disclosed to the board the potential for direct and indirect dark money contributions to her campaign — and explained the dangers of both — and disclosed any potential violations of law,” said former SEC investigator Ted Siedle. On Thursday he received a $30 million whistleblower award by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — the largest in the agencies history.

According to the SEC, "Between September 2014 and April 2016, three covered associates of Respondent made campaign contributions to candidates for elected office in California and Rhode Island, which offices had influence over selecting investment advisers for public pension plans in those states. Within two years after these contributions, Respondent provided advisory services for compensation to the public pension plans. By providing those advisory services for compensation within two years after the contributions, Respondent violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-5 thereunder."

The Raimondo campaign released the following statement: 

Matt Brown has broken his own record for the number of words he uses to say 'I won’t tell who Global Zero's donors are.' His statement on Global Zero is close to 900 words of carefully crafted deflection.

Nowhere does Brown acknowledge why he is so closely aligned with Global Zero's U.S. Chair – an oil lobbyist with alleged ties to Russia who has donated at least $1,000 to Brown's 2018 campaign.

Brown touts his pledge to take "no corporate PAC or lobbyist campaign contributions, including from the fossil fuel industry" on the front page of his website and in daily interviews but has nothing to say about the oil lobbyist on his Q1 2018 fundraising report?

If Brown really has nothing to hide about Global Zero's donors – the corporate interests and individuals who paid Matt Brown's $300,000 salary for the past decade after he abandoned Rhode Island – he would have already released the donor list.

And remember: Brown's 2006 campaign imploded amidst a federal investigation into "engineered" contributions and "apparent laundering," "leaving a legacy of vaporized visibility."

He talks a good game. But with Matt Brown, it’s never really about core values; it’s about Matt Brown.


GoLocal Statewide Poll - Conducted by Harvard's Della Volpe - June, 2018

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.