Russell Moore: Raimondo is an Insider's Insider
Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Russell Moore: Raimondo is an Insider's Insider
But since she’s got has media providing aid and comfort to the notion, it becomes an easier sell in the closing days of the campaign.
The Democrat General Treasurer, who has had her eyes set on the Governor’s office since she was a high school student, and will apparently stop at nothing to get into it, has obviously read polling data that alerted that Rhode Islanders are tired of “insiders”.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSo Raimondo has done everything plausible to paint her opponent, Republican Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, as a product of, by and for state government—given his previous position as an insurance industry lobbyist. And she’s also attempted to portray him as an old school machine style politician who ran Cranston as his own personal fiefdom.
Without any context, those attacks would be effective. To be sure, Fung is not without his own warts and has taken campaign contributions from police officers that he sat across the table from and negotiated against on behalf of the taxpayers (he was supposed to at least).
The most connected ever?
Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that Raimondo is backed by Providence’s East Side power brokers such as Myrth York for a second and start with the most obvious point: Gina Raimondo raised and spent more than $5 million in the Democratic Primary for Governor. Try raising $100,000 to run for political office as an outsider without having well-heeled connections in the financial or political arenas. Or better yet, save some time and don’t even bother, as that will be a quixotic endeavor.
The legacy media, especially the Providence Journal, has made it seem like it’s some big coincidence that the at the same time the General Treasurer increased the placement fees the pension fund has paid to hedge fund managers by roughly $50 million—Raimondo became the biggest fundraising prowess in the history of Rhode Island. Does that sound like an outsider?
Major League inside baseball
Then, since it was broken by your's truly, there’s my favorite example of Raimondo’s major league level of expertise at the game of insider baseball—she re-hired First Southwest, a company that the state is suing for fraud over its role in the ill-fated 38 studios deal. First Southwest is staffed by the remnants of Fleet Bank and the uber-connected Maureen Gurhigian. It’s unconscionable that Raimondo, in her role as Treasurer, would retain someone that the state is suing for fraud—unless there are reasons that we, the general public, aren’t privy to.
And then this week, golocalprov.com broke the story detailing how a company owned by Gina Raimondo’s venture capital company, Point Judith Capital, secured a contract from The Providence Water Board at a time when her husband, Andy Moffit, was the board’s chairman. Moffit was appointed board chairman back in the mid 2000s by then Mayor and now Congressman David Cicilline.
Legacy Media gives free pass
The fact that Raimondo is an insider’s insider is obvious to anyone who pays attention to politics on a regular basis, but that may not be the case for people who are busy working two jobs, trying to raise families, and attempting to make end’s-meet. That’s where the media, which should know better, comes into the equation.
Can anyone imagine if Raimondo what the legacy media’s reaction would be like if she was a Republican and increased the pension fund fees to $70 million dollars when they were less than $20 million before she took office? Imagine, for a brief second, what would happen if former Republican Governor Don Carcieri had rehired First Southwest, a company that the state is suing for fraud over the 38 studio’s deal? The media would go bonkers.
Deceit and complicity
And if it was revealed that a Republican candidate’s spouse, or even a moderate Democrat for that matter, had awarded contract to his or her spouse, the media would be calling in the F.B.I to investigate the situation.
It’s frustrating, because busy Rhode Islanders are relying on the media, which is paid to objectively observe and report on state government and politics.
It’s up to the voters of Rhode Island to select the candidate that they believe is best suited to move this state forward, but they’d be wise to do themselves a favor and realize that Raimondo’s talk about being an outsider is nothing but cheap spin designed to deceive. We expect that from political candidates, but it would be nice if the media members weren't so complicit.
10 Questions Gina Raimondo Has to Answer When Running for Governor
10. Money
Can she explain the amount of out of state money?
Most of the candidates for Governor need to answer the question, can they raise enough to be competitive? That is not a problem for Raimondo. She has proven to be the most skilled fundraiser, but her issue is justifying that the vast majority of the money is coming from out-of-state.
Raimondo will face a number of questions regarding who is really behind her campaign - the amount of out-of-state dollars is just one of the questions.
9. Pension Reform
Did she only reform certain pensions?
Raimondo rose to celebrity status because of her leadership on pension reform. Her efforts helped to stabilize the pension system, but the reform was hardly democratic.
Teachers took the vast majority of the hit, while major groups of pensioners escaped reform including the judges, state police and disability pensioners. Raimondo has some explaining to do.
8. Lack of Transparency
If she lacks transparency as Treasurer, what will it be like as Governor?
From her deepest critics to the media and even members of the retirement board, many have questioned her and her office's willingness to share information and provide the public insights into her management of the investment commission and the performance of the fund under her leadership.
Data which historically was easily accessed by the public and media is now locked behind the Raimondo wall. Often this raises serious questions and forces the media to seek the simplest information via FOIA requests.
7. Wall Street
Why is Wall Street spending so much money supporting Raimondo?
Raimondo is the queen of fundraising and so much of it derives from the major players on Wall Street.
6. Performance
Has Raimondo managed the pension fund competently?
The most important job of the General Treasurer might be the management of the state's retirement fund. The blockbuster investigative piece by Stephen Beale unveiled that the pension system under Raimondo lost $200 million.
While she may be able to blitz the airwaves with positive messages about her bio and her leadership in pension reform, her Democratic primary competitors and/or her GOP opponent in the General Election may be able to destroy her credibility by playing up her "mismanagement of the pension system."
5. Hedge Funds
Will Raimondo pay the price for shifting so much of the assets into Hedge Funds?
For the past six months, Raimondo has been under constant critique for shifting more than 20% of the State's retirement dollars into unregulated Hedge Funds. The critics has included forensic auditor/Forbes contributor Ted Siedle, Rolling Stones magazine's star reporter Matt Taibbi, former General Treasurer and candidate again, Frank Caprio, as well as many of the public unions. The combination of where she gets her campaign dollars, coupled with the shift in investment strategy and the under performance of the fund may all build into a snowball effect.
4. Connect to RIers
Educated at Yale and Harvard, a Rhode Scholar and a millionaire, can she connect to the average RIer?
Raimondo is a born and bred Rhode Islander, but for her adult life she has been educated at the best colleges in the world and living a professional life aligned with many of America's super rich associated with Wall Street. In her announcement she mentioned a number of times she was a mother, but did not mention that her husband is a partner at Mckinsey - and according to Forbes magazine probably takes home $2 million or so per year.
Raimondo talks a lot about her father losing his job when she was a child, but she has come a long way since then. She could come across as the ultimate RI success story or be perceived as an out of touch venture capitalist.
3. Siedle and Taibbi
Neither Ted Siedle or Matt Taibbi are going away - can she deflect their questions and charges?
In the past two months, both forensic auditor/Forbes columnist Ted Siedle and Rolling Stone's star reporter Matt Taibbi have raised serious issues about Raimondo's motivation and judgment.
As Taibbi wrote, "The dynamic young Rhodes scholar was allowing her state to be used as a test case for the rest of the country, at the behest of powerful out-of-state financiers with dreams of pushing pension reform down the throats of taxpayers and public workers from coast to coast."
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-the-pension-funds-20130926#ixzz2o2bLhqKW
2. Is she a Democrat?
Will Taveras and Pell paint her to be too conservative?
Raimondo is simply hated by the teachers unions and others - big blocks of voters in the Democratic primary. Both Clay Pell and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras will tack to the left and may compete for the same voters allowing her to sneak through to the general. However, progressives and unions may decide to pick Pell over Taveras (who is struggling to raise money and whose track record in Providence may come under fire) and then Pell can take the left leaning primary.
1. SEC Investigation
Can Raimondo survive an SEC investigation?
Both Siedle and a state senator have written to the SEC calling for an investigation into the investment practices of Raimondo. A federal investigation would be at a minimum a black eye to the General Treasurer and an enforcement action might end a credible campaign. Timing may prove to be everything.
