Projo Politics Blog

In a recent interview, Robitaille said he intended to resign, and was in the process of working out a succession plan. “I did make that commitment to the governor,” he said.But he said it was not as easy as he might have thought. “I’ve never divested myself from a business before,” said Robitaille, citing a lot “more intricacies in doing that than I had anticipated.… I just want to make sure it’s done right, it’s done cleanly so there’s no possibility of any conflicts of interests or perceptions of that.”

Later, clarifying his intentions, he said: “I don’t believe I ever used the term ‘divest.’ I will be resigning as president and CEO of Perspective Communications but I will still hold stock in the company. This will continue to be reported on my ethics report in April as it was reported in ’06 when I ran for the General Assembly.”

Needless to say, GTECH is a major player at the State House, especially at a time when lawmakers are considering any expansion of gambling — such as this year’s drive to allow round-the-clock gambling — that could affect the company’s bottom line.

In the year that ended on June 30, 2007, electronic gambling at Twin River and Newport Grand generated a total of $36.7 million for the Rhode Island-based GTECH, including $24.6 million on the video slots, another $12.1 million for running the online communications system

But GTECH spokesman Robert Vincent said his company has not used Robitaille’s services since 2005, and would shy away from doing so again after he joins Carcieri’s staff because internal guidelines do not allow “that kind of relationship” with a person in a government position.

“Under our guidelines that we have for hiring consultants we would not engage in that kind of relationship… [with] any kind of consultant that may have a government position that would be, in effect, our customer…. We don’t think that would be appropriate.”

But that would not necessarily rule the company out as a bidder for state work.

The Carcieri administration paid the Perspective Communications Group $20,902 in 2004-05 for a series of jobs, including the production of publicity materials for the governor’s “Fiscal Fitness” initiative. An online blurb for the company said it also provided “Governor Carcieri: Communication Strategy.”

Robitaille said his first foray into the state government arena arose from knowing Carcieri’s first director of communications, Laurie White, in her roles at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce both before and after she worked for Carcieri. He said she called him seeking help on “employee focus communications.” Through her, he said, he met Department of Administration Director Beverly Najarian, and ended up donating what he recalls as “160 hours of uncompensated time” over several months.

When the next call came, Robitaille said he offered to volunteer his time again but Najarian said, “it needs to be contractual.” On Jan. 1, 2004, both he and Najarian signed an engagement letter promising him $5,000 a month — up to a maximum of $20,000 — for “communications planning and strategy to facilitate the implementation of the various Fiscal Fitness state improvement ideas; consultation for and development of communications and correspondence to various audiences regarding Fiscal Fitness state government improvement ideas; production of various media such as posters, brochures, Powerpoint presentations, videotape … [as] required by the Fiscal Fitness Implementation Team.”

It could not be determined whether the contract went out to bid.

In an interview, Robitaille said: “All my friends think I am absolutely crazy for leaving what is a very good company but they know… I ran for the General Assembly and once the bug bites you, you want to do some things.”

After losing his bid to unseat incumbent Rep. Amy Rice, D-Portsmouth, by just nine votes in 2006, he said: “I’ve disappointed some of my supporters who honestly believe — and I’ve got to tell you — I believe if I were to run against Amy Rice again, I would prevail. So I had to make a decision: where can my skills and experience better serve, being a state representative or working with the governor during his last two-and-a-half to three years… I think I’m a better fit to be in the communication field, which is what I have been doing for the last 25 years of my life.”

Asked where Governor Carcieri stood on Robitaille’s decision to retain financial ties to his company, spokesman Jeff Neal said: “The governor does not believe there is any conflict of interest, either real or perceived, for a member of his staff to hold stock in a company that several years ago had a $20,000 contract with the state. We will continue to be aware of the situation to avoid any potential false perception in the future.”

No word, meanwhile, on the governor’s plans for his current $126,541 director of communications, Steve Kass.