RI Campaign 2010 – Dueling Endorsements

RI Campaign 2010 – Dueling Endorsements

Democratic gubernatorial rivals Patrick Lynch and Frank Caprio both announced endorsements yesterday.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 251, which has 5,800 members, officially backed Caprio. “Frank Caprio gets it. He understands what working families are facing. He knows our government is driving  jobs out of our state on a daily basis and he has the plan and the skills to bring the changes our state needs,” said Secretary Treasurer Joseph Bairos.

Meanwhile, Moderate candidate Ken Block criticized the Legislature for approving a budget with a potential $100 million deficit, caused by a cut in federal Medicaid fundi

“The latest trick is to balance the budget using 100 million dollars of federal aid that they know will never materialize,” Block said. He claimed that, “this all but ensures that Rhode Islanders will pay the price through gimmicks like the Car Tax. And based on how they are having the debate, you can't tell if they are even reading the bills. This is crazy, bad fiscal management and regular people in Rhode Island are paying the price.”

Also, Patrick Lynch yesterday criticized an amendment that would kick the wind farm issue back to the Public Utilities Commission, which has already turned down a contract for the between National Grid and Deepwater Wind, the developer of the project.

Lynch, who issued the statement as the Attorney General—not through his campaign office, said the bill would make “the PUC Deepwater’s rubber stamp for a pre-rigged outcome that will be disastrous for Rhode Island ratepayers and businesses, costing them nearly $400 million above the market price of electricity over the next two decades.”