“The Gina Raimondo Files”: A New Release
Feel free to check out my past work on my Substack and Medium blogs, which feature past takes on the 2024 election cycle and exclusive write-ups on US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, among other things. Also feel welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn with any comments or questions. And share any posts or petitions (Change.org or MoveOn) you like.
Before I begin, here is some other news:
- Sad developments in the Arctic and across the world. We are seeing the impacts of a climate crisis that can decrease biodiversity and culminate in potential mass extinctions starting now. The Arctic is at the epicenter of it, with the dramatic decline of polar bears, seals, grey whales, and salmon. The communities will also be affected hard by their absence — including indigenous peoples in Alaska and Hawaii. But make no mistake: this will affect the continental United States and eventually the entire globe.
- 2024 is indeed a watershed moment for true generational leadership and opportunity, or more dysfunction. Congressional retirements are at record highs. All voters have a choice this cycle. We have an unprecedented opportunity to elect a new generation of growing leaders that can bring a new perspective to an aging federal legislative branch and aging state governments. 2024 can bring some much-needed changes.
- Should we really address 21st century issues with 19th century proposals ? Apparently, that is being considered as a real plan for abortion and even gun policies.
- Not much to go over here since Trump’s statement on Alexei Navalny — and his inability to call out Putin for murdering Navalny — speaks for itself. RIP Navalny. Your sacrifice and devotion will never be forgotten.
Which leaves us to the topic of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Thanks to her round-the-clock PR team, she has been regularly regarded as a rising political star in Washington D.C,.
But it is high time to pop this PR bubble. My blogs (on Substack and Medium; also see my LinkedIn posts) have discussed some of the issues at stake. The MoveOn and Change.org petitions have outlined this just as well — and maybe even more succinctly.
What the public does not know is that this body of work comes from a much more significant body of work. The files below — which I developed with the help of some great friends, who for the time being will remain anonymous — give a good sense of the much larger story. Additionally, I have retrieved more information of interest to these related concerns, and have been involved in regular conversations with local sources and national people who have indicated an interest in looking into these issues more. For anyone who does have an interest in the new information and testimony not featured in the files below, I am happy to send them over. I hope they will eventually be of value in the attempt to set the record straight on Commerce Secretary Raimondo:
The Full Record Of US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo 201KB ∙ PDF file Download
Gina Raimondo RI Local Media Catalog 101KB ∙ PDF file Download
So, what does all of this mean? First, the files reveal the problematic record the Commerce Secretary and her allies have sought to smother with PR. To the American public, Commerce Secretary Raimondo has branded herself as a hyper-efficient, hyper-competent public servant. The files tell a very different story.
Her rhetoric, needless to say, is dramatically at odds with her actions both in Rhode Island and in Washington DC. The disconnect could not be more telling, nor more dangerous for Raimondo’s national ambitions. Her trail of deceit is starting to be revealed.
Second, the attachments and the supplemental materials myself and others have retrieved raise ethical and maybe even legal questions about Raimondo’s conduct. Kudos, by the way, to the local & national stakeholders and partners for working so diligently on this on their own individual time.
But, to get back to the point, the documents raise questions of whether she has personally profited off of her time in public office. Her profits would have come in the midst of what would be several violations of conflicts of interest protocols, from Point Judith Capital’s state pension investments and state government contracts, to her active involvement in Commerce Department AI rules and Big Tech regulations.
They raise questions of whether her office(s) have consistently failed to cooperate with inquiries regarding potential conflicts and other matters at hand. This has been partly shown in numerous Rhode Island incidents, and in several documented public records battles with the U.S. Commerce Department by Senator Warren and Congresswoman Jayapal. The gist of these inquiries have concerned the revolving door between the Big Tech sector and her department.
The files raise questions not only of how dysfunctional her administration and offices are and have been throughout her time in public service, but also whether mass-scale abuse, negligence, mismanagement, and even fraud took place on her watch. This includes most notably the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital campuses for people with disabilities.
And they expose the broken Rhode Island state government and the broken institutions that Raimondo never confronted or seemed to care about. Federal and state laws were known to have been violated for many years on disability rights and ESL learning. Rhode Island state government was still a hotbed of wheeling-and-dealing and administrative ineffectiveness (the Washington Bridge traffic backlogs could be just the latest example). How could Raimondo really claim to have turned Rhode Island around, against all credible evidence?
The truth is far more concerning. Raimondo ultimately exploited “the system” to her own personal and political benefit, and worsened the problem for people who have to deal with it regularly today.
Finally, these files represent how attuned people are to this. The story of Raimondo is probably the worst-kept secret in the Beltway today. I have reason to believe that many people in Washington DC know the full existence of the information at hand, and about the calls for action documented here. With urgent matters on hand — like the development of AI guidelines and the implementation of the CHIPS Act — inaction is not an option. Oversight is not some over-the-top demand; it is a necessity.
People deserve to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth about who Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo really is, notwithstanding her PR machine blitz.
