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Lynch insists Carcieri turn contract investigation over to independent auditor

'The Governor has lost all credibility with regard to this issue'

PAWTUCKET- Amidst new revelations of failed accountability and transparency in the Carcieri Administration, Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch is calling on the governor to immediately remove himself and all department of administration officials from any investigation of the state's private staffing contracts.

Instead, Lynch is suggesting that the entire matter be immediately referred to the auditor general's office or an independent auditor to work in conjunction with Gerald Aubin. Mr. Aubin is the director of the division of lotteries who has been charged with leading an investigation into all state contracts, and reporting back to the administration and the State Senate by June 22nd.

"The governor has lost all credibility with regard to this issue," Lynch said.

PROBLEM, WHAT PROBLEM?

• There is no good reason for department employees to waste valuable taxpayer time and money photocopying these documents." - Gov. Carcieri in a 5/4/07 Providence Journal story about his response to the Senate Government Oversight Committee's request for documents related to the private staffing contracts.

SHOCK AND AWE

• "Governor Carcieri is surprised and very disappointed to learn that this federal law requires the state to pay such an artificially high markup on these federally funded engineering contracts." - Gubernatorial spokesman Jeff Neal in a 5/9/07 Providence Journal story exposing the now infamous $102 thousand typist at the DOT.

SO, SOMEBODY'S GOING TO LOOK INTO THIS, RIGHT?

• "No investigation is needed." - Gubernatorial spokesman Jeff Neal in a 5/9/07 Providence Journal story, when asked if the revelation that that state was paying, in some cases, 145.99 percent markups would warrant an investigation from the Bureau of Audits.

APPARANTLY, THE GOV WAS ONTO THIS FROM THE BEGINNING

• "Governor Carcieri recognized early on the one problem with this system." - Director of Administration Beverly Najarian, in a 5/10/07 opinion piece penned for The Providence Journal.

ICEBERG, RIGHT AHEAD

• In a 5/12/07 Providence Journal story detailing the administration's plans to launch an internal investigation into the awarding of state contracts, the governor tells us examples like the $102 thousand DOT typist may just be the "tip of the iceberg."
• "I want to get to the bottom of these concerns so we can determine if there are any inappropriate relationships and ensure that all tax dollars are being spent effectively." - Governor Carcieri, 5/12/07, The Providence Journal.

FINALLY! SOMETHING WE CAN AGREE ON

• "The public understands exactly what's going on." - Director of Administration Beverly Najarian, 5/10/07, opinion piece appearing in The Providence Journal.

"Governor Carcieri has admitted he had no idea how these contracts were awarded and even more shockingly - how much they were costing the taxpayers. It's time to open the books, and let an independent auditor tell us how much the governor allowed these staffing firms to get away with under his watch," Lynch said.

"By picking a member of his staff to lead the investigation, Governor Carcieri now wants to control and filter what information is released to the public. At this point, the governor appears more concerned with repairing his tainted image than with answering the tough questions of how he let this happen in the first place.

We just can't trust the governor to investigate himself. Only an independent outside agency or special auditor can adequately determine if there was any impropriety or malfeasance associated with how these contracts and jobs were awarded," the chairman said.

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