Today, Attorney General Peter Neronha and the Rhode Island State Police released a report in their investigation into the state’s awarding of a contract to the ILO Group finding Governor McKee “personally and directly intervened” to steer a multimillion-dollar contract to the ILO Group.

While the Attorney General ultimately chose not to bring charges under the state’s bribery statute, Common Cause Rhode Island takes issue with his conclusion that Governor McKee cannot be prosecuted under the state’s Code of Ethics. The Attorney General is not the state’s prosecutor of that law, rather the staff of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission serves in that role. The Attorney General’s legal analysis is incomplete because it only focuses on part of the Code of Ethics.

Statement of John Marion, Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director 

 “No Rhode Islander should feel good about what they read in this report. The Governor and every elected official are stewards of the taxpayer’s resources. That is why state contracts should be awarded to vendors who provide the best service to the people of the state, not to the politically connected.  

In the coming days Common Cause Rhode Island will look at whether Governor McKee may have violated other applicable sections of the Code of Ethics. 

There’s no question that we must curb the influence of money in politics and that important effort has been made more difficult by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent public corruption decisions, as described in the report. The Supreme Court continues to make it easier for politicians to do the bidding of the wealthy and politically connected at the expense of ordinary Americans. 

 But we are not without our own tools to break big money’s grip.  

 In 2024, Common Cause Rhode Island advocated for reforms that tighten up our campaign finance laws that could have addressed some of the issues at question here today. After today’s news, there is no reason why we shouldn’t work together to strengthen our laws to protect the taxpayers.” 

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