Nesi's Notes: Dec. 14
Dec 14, 2024
Happy Saturday! Here's another edition of my weekend column for WPRI.com -- as always, send your takes, tips and trial balloons to [email protected] and follow me on Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook.
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Nesi's Notes
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1. When was the last time a Rhode Island governor felt the need to call a last-minute Friday evening news conference about anything but a looming snowstorm? The fact Governor McKee took that step last night gives you a sense of just how concerned he and his aides are about the newly revealed cyberattack targeting RIBridges, the state's computer system for managing a host of key programs like SNAP, Medicaid and HealthSourceRI. You may remember RIBridges by its old name: UHIP, which became synonymous with governmental IT failure after its disastrous rollout during Gina Raimondo's first term. Now the same system has apparently jeopardized hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders' personal data, which has fallen into the hands of international hackers who are demanding an undisclosed ransom sum to forestall its release. "I understand this is alarming," McKee said Friday. It's too early to judge how much of a problem the hack will be, but it's already proving disruptive, with state agencies reverting to paper benefit applications while the system is down. And the same private contractor that was responsible for the failed launch of UHIP -- Deloitte -- is now the one the state is relying on to deal with the hack. That will undoubtedly raise questions about whether the administration made the right decision to renew Deloitte's contract in 2021, rather than move on to work with a different contractor. A Deloitte spokesperson told me Friday night the company "will continue to work around the clock to resolve this matter."
2. The cyberattack has briefly overshadowed the crisis that required an emergency evening news conference on this same week last year: the sudden closure of the Washington Bridge. And it comes just as state leaders seemed to be finally turning the corner in managing that issue. Governor McKee and RIDOT Director Peter Alviti exuded cautious optimism at a news conference Tuesday, when they announced two well-regarded construction companies have been selected as finalists to build the new westbound span. "We are moving in the right direction," McKee said. There is still a long road ahead -- the winning bidder won't be chosen until June, and there's no timeline yet for when a new bridge to actually open -- but the state does appear to be back on track after the failure of the initial bidding process. (It probably doesn't hurt that the losing bidder will still get a $1.75 million payment just for participating.) McKee and Alviti announced the two finalists on the day before the one-year anniversary of the bridge's closure, in an effort to focus Rhode Islanders more on the future than the past. Yet McKee's decision not to emulate Bruce Sundlun by releasing a postmortem report on what went wrong -- or to replace any transportation officials -- has left unresolved questions about accountability for such a major failure. McKee is adamant that all such accountability belongs with the private companies hired by RIDOT to work on the bridge that are now being sued. That litigation remains in its early stages, but as with the 38 Studios fiasco, court filings by the defendants could lead to revelations about state government, too.
3. Tim White got new clues about the Washington Bridge failure from a European satellite.
4. One of the most important documents on Rhode Island public policy is out: the annual Medicaid expenditure report. While it's not exactly a beach read, the cleanly designed PDF includes a wealth of charts and graphs that offer insights into the single biggest program in state government. During the 2022-23 federal fiscal year, Rhode Island spent $3.9 billion on Medicaid, accounting for about one-third of the entire state budget. Federal funds covered nearly two-thirds of that cost, but $1.4 billion in state funds was also spent. About $2.3 billion of Medicaid spending was on mandatory benefits, while $1.05 billion covered optional benefits that state officials have also authorized, such as prescriptions or community services for the developmentally disabled. Enrollment in Medicaid has jumped from about 300,000 Rhode Islanders in 2020 to 366,000 as of 2023 -- about one in three residents -- driven by the COVID-19 public health emergency that temporarily stopped the state from terminating most beneficiaries. And it's always striking to see how concentrated Medicaid spending is: just 3,000 beneficiaries accounted for over 20% of all Medicaid costs, averaging more than $200,000 per patient, because they generally suffer from multiple complex health conditions.
5. It's sounding more likely than ever that Peter Neronha's name will be on the ballot in Rhode Island in 2026. During his monthly interview on 12 News at 4 with Kim Kalunian this week, Neronha said the likelihood is now "pretty high" that he will run for lieutenant governor in partnership with a candidate for governor. "The only circumstances under which I would run for that office is if I could do it in partnership with someone who saw the world the way I saw it, made sure that I had the resources and the authority to move forward issues that I really care about -- health care being first and foremost among them," he said, adding, "I would not run for lieutenant governor in a vacuum." While the AG didn't name names, he is almost certainly contemplating a partnership with Helena Foulkes. Of course, there is already an incumbent lieutenant governor in Rhode Island -- Democrat Sabina Matos, who has repeatedly said she's running for reelection in 2026 despite weak poll numbers. My colleague Ray Baccari scooped that Matos held a fundraiser last week at the Laborers union's Washington headquarters, co-hosted by all four members of Rhode Island's congressional delegation. Another co-host was New York Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who made a memorable appearance on the campaign trail with Matos during her unsuccessful run for the House last year.
6. Congressman Magaziner is taking on a tough task: trying to get his fellow members of Congress to ban themselves from trading individual stocks. Magaziner's office announced this week he is taking over as the lead Democratic cosponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act now that the current one, Virginia's Abigail Spanberger, is leaving the House to run for governor. "The time has come," Magaziner told CNN in an interview about the bill. "Trust in Congress is at an all-time low, and members of the public need to know that when they send their representatives to Washington that their representatives are going to be making decisions based on the best interest of their constituents and not the best interests of their bank accounts." Magaziner's sponsorship of the bill fulfills a promise he made in a TV ad during his 2022 run for Congress, and it's also noteworthy since his predecessor Jim Langevin himself faced scrutiny for his stock trading. The lead Republican sponsor of the measure is Texas Congressman Chip Roy.
7. David Cicilline has had a relatively low profile during his first year and a half as the Rhode Island Foundation's CEO, at least compared with the level of visibility he had while serving at City Hall and on Capitol Hill. Now, though, that's starting to change. The foundation just released a new five-year plan that charts its future course under Cicilline's leadership, rolled out at a well-attended Rhode Map Live event Wednesday night moderated by The Globe's Dan McGowan. On Thursday, Cicilline was back in the news for sharply questioning state officials about the pallet shelter mess as a member of a housing panel. And on Friday he joined Tim White and me to make his first appearance on Newsmakers since leaving Congress. The new plan identifies five key priorities for the foundation over the coming half-decade. Three reflect clear continuity with the organization's past priorities: education, health care, and economic opportunity (including housing). But two are newer: climate resiliency, and civic health. Those are both issues, Cicilline said, that foundation officials heard about from Rhode Islanders "time and time again" as they prepared the plan. And notably, at a time when a growing number of organizations are abandoning DEI programs, the foundation is doubling down on a stated commitment to what it calls DEIA -- diversity, equity, inclusion and access. "That word has taken on a certain meaning," Cicilline said. "But when you ask most Rhode Islanders -- and I think most Americans -- whether they think we should have programs that include everyone, that have diverse voices, that include people of different abilities -- people say yes. So that's central to the work of the Rhode Island Foundation. We're here to serve all Rhode Islanders."
8. Leading the Rhode Island Foundation isn't the only new role David Cicilline has taken on since leaving Congress. President Biden recently appointed him to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, a board established by Congress in 1980 to build and maintain the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Cicilline and other new members of the council were sworn in this week by another Rhode Islander, Sarah Morgenthau, the former congressional candidate who currently serves in the State Department. (Her grandfather, Henry Morgenthau, helped push FDR to do more for Jewish refugees when he served as Roosevelt's treasury secretary during World War II.) "It's a tremendous honor," Cicilline said on Newsmakers. "I was delighted the president appointed me to it. It's a great opportunity to reinforce how important it is to combat hate of any kind and what the consequences are to democracies when that is allowed to permeate."
9. Josh Perez was the kingpin of arguably the biggest fentanyl drug ring in the region, and now prosecutors say he was aided by his uncle's position in the Providence Police Department.
10. Sexual harassment and antisemitism are being alleged in the Warwick Water Division.
11. Dartmouth has become quite a draw for statewide elected officials in Massachusetts. First it was then-Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who bought a $1.8 million beach house there in 2021. Her predecessor Tim Murray has a summer place there, as well. And now we learn they're being joined by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, who just laid down $865,000 for a spacious colonial. Considering her deep ties to Boston, where she ran for mayor just three years ago, Campbell's move sparked instant speculation that she has her sights set on Bill Keating's 9th Congressional District seat. But the AG's team dismissed that idea, and a friend of hers suggested to me it was more about finding a place in ever-pricier Massachusetts where she and her husband could afford a house for their family of four. As I reported in this story, Campbell would also face at least two Democratic rivals for the seat who have much deeper ties to the region: New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and state Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro. Of course, Keating allies are finding all this chatter a little presumptuous considering he's only 72 and has given no indication he plans to retire anytime soon. Then again, you can forgive people around here if we're on guard for surprise retirements -- Keating's is the only one of the region's four House seats that hasn't turned over during the last four years.
12. Veteran politicos, do you remember the name Raymond "Nels" Nelson? He was an acclaimed Providence Journal reporter, then an aide to the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell. But his life ended tragically when he was murdered in 1981 -- and the perpetrator has never been named. Kim Kalunian will take a closer look at the search for Nelson's killer in her latest Cold Case story this Monday at 5 p.m. on 12 News.
13. The last New England Mafia boss from Rhode Island has died at age 97.
14. The news that AT&T is phasing out its copper landlines got me thinking about telephones, and specifically the future of Rhode Island's iconic 401 area code. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year about efforts by officials in New Hampshire to retain its lone 603 area code, which is running out of numbers. Rhode Island and New Hampshire are two of the 11 states left with a single area code, down from 35 when area codes made their debut in 1947. For now, though, Rhode Islanders still have nothing to worry about: the latest analysis suggests there are enough numbers available to keep 401 for the whole state for another 27 years. That's quite striking to me as a Massachusetts native (508!) who lived through the traumatic switch to 10-digit dialing back in 2001.
15. Jonathan Rauch argues Americans need to radically rethink our approach to old age.
16. Did you catch Attleboro native Sarah Robertson on "60 Minutes" last Sunday night?
17. Christmastime always makes me think about the many holiday seasons I spent selling books and DVDs at Borders, first at store #202 (North Attleboro) and then #382 (Providence Place). No offense to Barnes & Noble, but I still miss Borders. If you feel the same way, you'll enjoy this essay on Borders' rise and fall.
18. And don't miss Marc Myers' Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame on JazzWax.
19. A programming note: Nesi’s Notes will be taking the next two weekends off due to the holidays. See you back here Jan. 4 -- when this column will kick off its 14th year!
20. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers — Rhode Island Foundation CEO David Cicilline. Watch Sunday at 5:30 a.m. on WPRI 12 and 10 a.m. on Fox Providence, or listen on the radio Sunday at 6 p.m. on WPRO. You can also subscribe to Newsmakers as a podcast via Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you back here next Saturday.
Ted Nesi ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi's Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook.
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