Raimondo for Governor Campaign Calls for Comprehensive People’s Pledge Wants to ensure all third-party spending is kept out of the race

PROVIDENCE – Today, as representatives for the Democratic candidates for governor
meet, the Raimondo campaign is once again calling for open and transparent
negotiations and an airtight People’s Pledge that keeps all outside money out of the
race.

Let’s have Rhode Island be a leader in keeping all outside money out of this
election; this is a historic opportunity,” said campaign manager Eric Hyers. “And
there is no reason to do this behind closed doors. We are putting forth the
overarching principles we would like to see included in the Rhode Island People’s
Pledge and would ask that all the other campaigns do the same.”

“Outside spending is outside spending and we strongly believe that we should keep
all third-party money off of our airways, out of our mailboxes and away from our
phones and doors,” continued Hyers. “If other campaigns disagree, they should
publicly explain why third party groups should be allowed to fund expensive
advertising, mail or field operations.”

In order to ensure that campaigns are held accountable for third-party spending —
and that not a single cent is spent in the Democratic primary by anyone but a
declared candidate for governor — the Raimondo for Governor campaign is calling for
the following guiding principles:»
1. The Rhode Island People’s Pledge should have a complete ban on any and all
outside spending, including advertising by groups that have not endorsed a candidate
in this race in order to prevent outside groups from exploiting loopholes.
2. The Rhode Island People’s Pledge should cover all TV, radio, print and web
advertising, all direct mail, paid phones, paid canvassers and opposition research.
We need a pledge that has no loopholes and allows for no outside spending
whatsoever. Previous People’s Pledges in the Brown/Warren general election, the
Lynch/Markey Democratic senatorial primary and the MA-05 Democratic congressional
primary special election have allowed for hundreds of thousands of dollars to be
spent by third-party groups on mail and field efforts.

Some background:

• There was $8,085,026 in outside spending in the Warren/Brown campaign, mostly on
mailers, phone-banking and get-out-the-vote initiatives.
• Billionaire Tom Steyer’s NextGen political action committee spent $630,000 on
grassroots organizing and public relations stunts in the Lynch/Markey Senate
primary.
• The League of Conservation Voters spent more than $400,000 on field program
assistance in the Lynch/Markey primary.
• There was $211,913 in outside spending in the MA-05 2013 congressional special
election.