Tonight, Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo will deliver her annual State of the State address. While Raimondo will likely continue to paint a “rosy” picture of Rhode Island’s affairs under her failed leadership in hopes of convincing voters to give her another term in November, she’s unlikely to take any responsibility for the glaring failures her administration has presided over since she took office. Here’s a list of just some of the items Raimondo will not discuss in her speech this evening:
-Rhode Island’s consistent bottom ten state rankings for business under her leadership, including a dead-last rating by CNBC in 2016.
-Raimondo’s egregious mismanagement of Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families, which has been plagued by reports of neglect and worse by state workers after Raimondo refused to appoint qualified leadership.
-The state’s stagnant job growth under Raimondo with Rhode Island’s unemployment rate rising last month above the national rate while companies like Alexion Pharmaceuticals are leaving the state and taking high-paying manufacturing jobs with them.
-Raimondo’s puzzling attacks on Rhode Island media outlets, calling the Providence Journal “not reliable” and referring to her weekly interviews with NBC’s Rhode Island affiliate as a “fight” after she did not receive the positive media coverage she desired from them.
-Rhode Island’s repeated budget issues, including last summer’s month-long standoff, which Raimondo sat on the sidelines for, showing an incredible lack of leadership as the state’s Speaker and Senate President resolved it.
-The Raimondo administration’s total disregard for transparency. After pledging to make her administration the “most transparent” in Rhode Island’s history, Raimondo has become the least transparent governor in America, refusing to release details of her out-of-state fundraisers to the media and using phony job stats to bolster her administration’s lackluster results on the economy.
-Raimondo’s failure to follow though on bringing free tuition to Rhode Island after making it her signature initiative of 2017. Her proposal to do so was gutted by her own party in the state legislature, leaving just a “face saving slice” of her original plan.
-The state’s skyrocketing unfunded pension liability, which recently rose to over $5.33 billion in the previous fiscal year under Raimondo.
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