DEMOCRAT ESTABLISHMENT HAS FAILED OUR NEEDIEST CITIZENS

Warwick, RI – Rhode Island Republican Party Chairman Brandon S. Bell commented
today on the disastrous situation involving the more than $364 million new computer
system designed to serve Rhode Island’s neediest citizens:
«This system has disserved many citizens this month by not delivering their benefits
on time, and has caused cost and inconvenience for that population by requiring
them to go to DHS offices multiple times to stand in day long lines to try to restore
their benefits.» Bell is questioning who is accountable:
(1) Is the Governor going to hold someone responsible for the UHIP fiasco? The State’s
inability to complete the project on time and within budget raises serious questions
about the stewardship of hard earned taxpayer dollars. How can the Governor say
RI is attractive to the innovation economy when the State cannot implement a basic
user-friendly customer service system to serve some of RI’s most vulnerable citizens?
2) Is Speaker Nick Mattiello too busy trying to smear his opponent than to do his
job? We have known about the drastic UHIP cost overruns for months. Yet the Speaker
has not initiated meaningful oversight hearings to get to the bottom of the Governor
and EOHHS’s handling of this project in orderto protect taxpayers and better serve
the needy. Mattiello seems to be more concerned with providing political cover for
the Raimondo Administration than doing the people’s business.
3) Where are the advocates for those who rely on Rhode Island’s social service safety
net? The silence from these advocacy organizations is deafening.
Bell concluded: «Had a problem like this occurred during a Republican Administration,
advocacy organizations would likely have been hanging the Republican Governor in
effigy. Instead, there has been nothing but crickets.»