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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts is calling for an investigation by the attorney general into the Carcieri administration's promise to pay $370,000 to a no-bid, no-contract consultant on Medicaid reform that it had previously - and repeatedly - described as an unpaid advisor.
In a statement issued on the first work day after the late-Friday disclosure of the settlement agreement with the Lucas Group, Roberts said: "I call on the Attorney General to begin an immediate investigation to determine if this case constitutes a violation of state laws around purchasing and transparency.
"Conducting business in this manner erodes Rhode Islander's confidence in their state government. Circumventing procurement rules, bypassing contract procedures, misleading the public and employing cronyism at any level is unacceptable, and undermines the public's confidence in government, especially at this crucial time," she said.
There was no immediate response from the attorney general's office, or the governor's office to her call for a probe of the circumstances that resulted in the agreement to pay the settlement to "a consulting firm with personal ties to the recently confirmed state chief of health and human services.''
Until Friday, the Carcieri administration had insisted for months that John Stephen and the Lucas Group, the Boston company for which he works, had volunteered their time to the state's effort to win from the Bush administration a waiver giving it unprecedented freedom in how it spends its Medicaid dollars. Stephen is a former health and human services commissioner in New Hampshire and failed GOP candidate for Congress. Gary Alexander, Rhode Island's new chief of health and human services, campaigned for Stephen and helped raise money with a fundraiser at his home.
Roberts, the first official to speak out publicly since the settlement agreement surfaced, said: "I am gravely concerned at the actions of the Governor and the Department of Human Services that resulted in a no-bid contract for a personal friend of Secretary Alexander. In these times of budget crisis, the need for transparency is paramount to ensure that tax dollars are being used effectively and according to accepted standards.''
"I am equally dismayed that the public has been misled about the involvement of the Lucas Group in an exceedingly important negotiation process that affects nearly 1/3 of our state's budget and close to 200,000 Rhode Islanders,'' she said.
