As Rhode Island Budget Crisis Worsens, Dem Gov Gina Raimondo Tries To Evade Responsibility

Forced to take questions from the media, Raimondo refuses to take responsibility for Rhode Island's latest budget crisis.

The RGA reports:

Rhode Island Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo’s administration is once again finding itself consumed by scandal after they missed a key deadline for a court appeal, opening up a massive “budget sinkhole” that could cost the state millions. Facing intense bipartisan criticism, Raimondo spent yesterday hiding from Rhode Island’s press corps, even trotting out her embattled Health and Human Services Secretary in front of journalists in a botched attempt to take the fall for her. Raimondo was finally forced to take questions from the media last night, but refused to take any responsibility for the crisis, and instead blamed her subordinates while distorting the facts.

Raimondo tried to put the blame on squarely on the lawyer who failed to file her administration’s appeal, dismissing him as a “junior lawyer” even though his title was “senior legal counsel.” Raimondo also claimed she wants to hold those responsible for the scandal accountable by investigating the matter and “getting to the bottom of it,” but she offered no apology for her failed management, took no share of the blame for the crisis, and even asserted that “this has nothing to do with” how state agencies have been run under her administration, despite multiple scandals involving her Health and Human Services Department.

This isn’t the first time Raimondo has tried to blame others for her own shortcomings. She has consistently passed the buck on taking responsibility for her administration’s alarming child welfare scandal with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and she abdicated any leadership for the state’s weeks-long budget crisis last year. Last October she even blamed the Rhode Island press corps for her inability to get her message out, calling them “not reliable.”

No matter how many things go wrong on her watch, Gina Raimondo refuses to take any responsibility for her failed leadership. Her repeated attempts to evade responsibility on systemic management issues with her administration and her alarming unwillingness to be held accountable for her shortcomings show that she is unfit to lead Rhode Island for another term as governor.

Related:

1 year, 10 months ago

Governors in Iowa, North Dakota and Alabama join GOP colleagues in banning TikTok for state employees

The Republican governors of three more states have joined the growing number of GOP governors who are banning TikTok among state government employees amid security concerns about the Chinese-owned social media platform

1 year, 10 months ago

Arizona Governor Creates Shipping Container Border Wall

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has had hundreds of double-stacked shipping containers topped with razor wire placed on the state’s border with Mexico

1 year, 11 months ago

Stacey Abrams’s Georgia Nonprofit Could Face Criminal Investigations for Unlicensed Fundraising

New Georgia Project's charity license has lapsed in at least nine states

1 year, 11 months ago

Biden says ‘more important things’ than border visit, despite 59 trips to Delaware, 8 stops for ice cream

Biden has yet to visit southern border despite historic crisis under his watch

1 year, 11 months ago

Governor Kristi Noem delivers annual Budget Address, says the state can afford grocery tax cut

In about thirty minutes of remarks, Governor Kristi Noem laid out her administration would like to see nearly $2.2 billion spent over the course of the next fiscal year and a half.

1 year, 11 months ago

‘A Clear And Present Danger To Its Users:’ South Carolina Gov. Bans State Employees From Using TikTok Amid National Security Concerns

South Carolina became the second state in the union Monday to permanently ban state employees’ electronic devices from using TikTok amid federal officials sounding the alarm that the Chinese-based social media app threatens national security