And so should he. Governor McKee must be voted out in the next primary — we have other choices. Big thanks to WPRI for their work in first exposing Governor McKee’s shady contract with his pal’s ad hoc consulting entity, the ILO Group — “McKee advisor wrote blueprint for $5M contract won by his subordinate’s firm” (11.8.21), and keeping on top of the situation with last week’s update — “ILO Group no longer working for McKee administration” (1.28.22). They have already been paid $763K for doing . . . what exactly?
Never mind the procedural problems, even on its face, this deal didn’t pass the smell test. The company’s stated mandate was to “help reopen schools” but they immediately lied to the public about having helped the Westerly school system. Too bad Westerly immediately issued a statement:
One day after Gov. Dan McKee said he set up a highly paid consulting firm with the Westerly School Committee to help reopen schools amid the ongoing pandemic, the committee’s chairperson reached out to Target 12 saying the company isn’t working with them “at all.”
So . . . lying liars. ILO had no experience, and they were not needed.
[Rhode Island Association of School Committees executive director Tim] Duffy added that most of the reopening efforts this year have been guided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with officials from the R.I. Department of Health and R.I. Department of Education. He also noted the timing of the ILO news coming out, pointing out that school reopening now has already happened in most of Rhode Island.
“With the exception of Providence, all schools are now fully reopened,” he said.
The House and Senate Oversight committees, as well as the state AG Peter Neronha, are looking into this whole arrangement. Here is all you need to know really:
ILO incorporated two days after McKee was sworn into office on March 2.
Thank you Tim White, Eli Sherman, Ted Nesi, and WPRI.