In an age when the Rhode Island electorate is clamoring for more transparency and government accountability, our esteemed Speaker of the House, Nick Mattiello, seems to be moving in the opposite direction from public opinion.

Last Thursday, April 30, Mattiello held a closed door meeting with Governor Gina Raimondo and the managing partners of the PawSox ownership group, Jim “Moral Obligation” Skeffington and Larry “Corporate Welfare Queen” Lucchino. Mattiello has also announced that the state Democrats will caucus in a closed door session today, May 6. Given that our House has only 11 Republican members, this is a de facto GA session without the votes. Oh, to be a fly on that wall…

Also in the news this week, Mattiello hired a consultant — at a rate of $225 per hour — to advise the members of the General Assembly on the merits of any proposal to spend taxpayer dollars on the construction of a new ballpark on the I-195 land on the Providence waterfront.

Unfortunately for the residents and taxpayers of this state, the consultant hired is sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, who was recently quoted on Rhode Island Public Radio as saying, “This ballpark is spectacularly situated. It’s close to downtown, it’s on the river, coming along with a riverwalk, it probably will promote hotel development there, there’s going to be a miniature baseball field, lots and lots of parking. It’s just a wonderful synergy possibility.”

Clearly, Zimbalist has already made his determination about the heavily taxpayer subsidized stadium proposal, and insofar, cannot be an impartial judge of the proposal on its merits.

I, for one, never questioned Mattiello’s commitment to government transparency. Bluntly, he has none.

What is transparent about Mr. Mattiello, however, is his clear disdain for the will of the people of this state, a complete disconnection from the financial realities faced by the vast majority of Rhode Islanders,  and commitment to the shady ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’ deals that invariably soak the taxpayer. 

Today, in a full-plumage display of ignorance, Mattiello said that there are people in this state who wouldn't spend a dime of taxpayer money on this stadium and that approach, "... is a race to the bottom, and we're not going to do that."  Just go ahead and Google tax subsidies race to the bottom, and you will see that the preponderance of evidence shows that, at best, massive tax subsidies put competing states and municipalities on an economic "see-saw", and at worst, are the real race to the bottom.

To even entertain the idea of a taxpayer subsidized stadium in Providence should be a poison pill to any elected Senator or Representative in the General Assembly. I imagine that there are people all over the state that are seriously considering running against any elected official that supports this absurd proposal. One does not have to search far and wide to find a person who is vehemently opposed to this project. Finding supporters, on the other hand, is the proverbial needle in the haystack.

Let we, the voters of Rhode Island, make a commitment to transparency on this one issue. The choice has to be clear to members of the General Assembly. Zero public dollars spent on this project, or zero chance of reelection. Call your Representatives and Senators and tell them as much.

Last weekend, our esteemed "papah of rekkid" The Providence Journal printed an article by Jennnifer Bogdan and Katherine Gregg on some pretty outrageous campaign spending by House Speaker Nicholas "Paulie Walnuts" Mattiello. Admittedly, there are very few restrictions on what a candidate or elected official can and cannot spend campaign funds on. Like many Rhode Island laws, the language in our campaign finance regulations is vague, broad, and open to a multitude of interpretations. You can read the laughably short rules and regulations here.

The article focuses on 2014 food and beverage spending by 'Speakah' Mattiello, and some pretty significant expenditures are outlined, including:

Two fundraisers at the Providence Marriott totaling $18,842

One fundraiser at Tommy's pizza in Cranston for $2,770

Eighteen 'Rep meetings' at the Capital Grille totaling $7,911 and,

Nine more 'Rep meetings' at Capriccio totaling $8,231

 Mattiello responds to Bogdan's inquiries with:

Maybe I'm off-base here, but aren't his campaign contributors taxpayers?

Unsurprisingly, the devil  is in the details. While the ProJo reports these expenditures in toto,  when you dive into Mattiello's quarter-by-quarter spending by date, the numbers get even uglier.  I've chosen a few of his food and beverage expenditures to  illustrate my point.

On December 12, 2014, Mattiello's campaign reports an expenditure of $75 at Capriccio in Providence for one of these 'Rep meetings.' For those of you who haven't  been to Capriccio, I can tell you that $75 will get you dinner for one, including tip. Was this a 'Rep meeting' or just Mattiello's way of charging his high-end dinner to the campaign account?

On November 18, 2014, $57.67 was spent on another 'Rep  meeting' at posh downcity eatery McCormick & Schmick. As with Capriccio, it's hard to imagine that 60 bucks will get more than one person fed at M&S.

On November 10, 2014, his campaign lists an expenditure of $36.61 at Bistro 22 in Cranston. It's not hard to imagine that one person can spend 36 bucks on a decent dinner. Two glasses of wine and a steak gets you there pretty quickly.

In addition to the over $18,000 spent on two fundraisers at the Providence Marriott, on Nov. 20 and 28 of 2014, Mattiello  charged $31.73 and $30.92, respectively, for food and beverages at the hotel. Again, not a stretch to think that these expenditures were less of a meeting with colleagues, and more of an "I'm hungry."

These are just a few examples of questionable expenditures by Mattiello. Other 'grey spending' include costs of picture framing on more than 1 occasion, "xmas gifts for office staff" originating from Alex and Ani (Total: $359.52), and $10,000 for  a 'holiday party.' If you dig back into his historical campaign spending record, you  will find MANY more instances of this type of expenditure. I barely got through 2014 filings before I was disgusted enough to write this blog  post!

More disturbingly, Mattiello intimates in the article that, "This is no different than what is done in the business world. I also host small lunch and dinner meetings with my members in settings that provide an opportunity to collaborate informally to help us achieve consensus and better serve the public." Collaborating informally out of the public eye to "build consensus"  flies in the face of transparency and accountability.

According to campaign finance rules, a candidate has several options concerning campaign funds after the campaign is over, one of which is to return contributions to the donor.

If I were Mattiello, I'd put some serious thought into that option, because the people that supported his campaign this time around may not want to offer their monetary support in the next election.

As was reported by Jim Baron in The Woonsocket Call, newly elected House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello visited Woonsocket recently. While I only became aware of his visit after the fact, and was disappointingly not invited to the Rotary Club luncheon that he addressed, I should like to address the Speaker through this most public of forums, the interwebs.

Mattiello, with House Majority Leader John DeSimone in tow, was given a tour of the city by Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, and our delegation to the House of Representatives Reps. Stephen Casey, Bob Phillips, and Mike Morin. Stops on the tour included WWII Memorial Park – the only state park in the city – our barely breathing Diamond Hill retail district, Landmark Medical Center, The Plastics Group, and a visit to an Advanced Placement Government class at Woonsocket High School. After the tour, Baron reports that the Speaker said, “I got a good  view of Woonsocket today. You’ve got some great things going on, but there is also blight in certain areas.”

That comment makes me wonder if the tour wasn’t a bit sugar-coated by the Mayor and our Representatives because, frankly, the entire city is suffering from blight.

Even the city’s swankiest neighborhoods – the North End and East Woonsocket – are rife with homes that have been abandoned due to the foreclosure crisis and skyrocketing property taxes. The two largest commercial plots in the Fairmount neighborhood -which happen to be directly opposite one another on the banks of the Blackstone – look like a warzone. The spectre of non-resident tenement and corporate development owners looms large on streets like 3rd Ave., Pond St., Chester St., and many others. The decline of the city is no more evident than on Main St., where one of the most historic buildings in the city, the Commercial Block, is slated for condemnation.

While addressing the Rotary Club, Mattiello stressed the importance of infrastructure and education saying, “We have to stop having an infrastructure that our citizens complain about,” and that, “A well trained, well-educated workforce produces more and makes us better citizens.” I agree with Mattiello on these points, but have to ask, isn’t the lack of state funding in both of these areas a major driver of the decline of Woonsocket’s roads, bridges, and education system?

Baron admits in the story that the crowd at the luncheon was, “heavy with businessmen and women,” and toward the end of the article writes that when Mattiello was questioned on taxes, he responded, “I’m looking at the corporate tax. I want to get rid of the inheritance tax cliff.”

This ranks among the top three most tone-deaf things I’ve heard fall from the lips of any politician. The top two are Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comment, and George W. Bush’s, “Mission accomplished.”

First, most folks in Woonsocket, even businessmen and women, don’t give a damn about the corporate income tax. What Woonsocket businesses need – and I’d argue most businesses in any of Rhode Island’s four core cities –  is property tax relief. Besides, if you look at the corporate tax returns in Rhode Island, the majority of businesses in Rhode Island aren’t paying anywhere near the 9 percent that is written into our tax structure.

Second, does anyone out there think that the inheritance tax “cliff” of $921,655 matters at all to people in a city where the median income is $39,000/year?

Mattiello also said that Woonsocket is, “…a city that needs our attention right now.” Let’s file this one under, “No shit, Sherlock.”

Woonsocket has needed attention, not only from the state, but from our own elected officials for the last 30 years. We needed attention way back in 1991, when a young Dave Fisher had to protest outside of Woonsocket High School to keep our sports, music, and arts programs funded. We needed attention when – then city councilor, now council President – Albert Brien, sold a tract of land on the Woonsocket/N. Smithfield border to developer who then poached Wal-Mart and Lowe’s from our Diamond Hill retail district. We needed attention when we crossed the threshold of state mandated affordable housing, putting an onerous strain on our city’s education and human services budgets. We needed attention when our only state park was falling into disrepair, yet the budget for DEM continued to be slashed. Where was the state support in these instances?

What makes Woonsocket’s situation even more maddening is the fact that, for 150 years, Woonsocket was a key economic and social driver in Rhode Island. It was a place where blue-collar folks could go to make a decent living, and maybe afford that little beach house in Matunuck. Unfortunately, since the decline of the manufacturing economy in the state, it seems that our state government has written Woonsocket off as not salvageable; talk about adding insult to injury.

Please forgive my cynicism and compound metaphor, but the state has all too often pulled the rug out from under Woonsocket while simultaneously shoving us under the bus. For as little faith as I have in our newly elected mayor, I have even less faith that our state government will – or even can – help to save the once vibrant city of Woonsocket.