Oped: Washington Bridge response reveals authoritarianism and skewed priorities

Governor McKee's priorities are clear. And most of us are not included.

Part One:

On Thursday, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee prefaced his press conference on the Washington Bridge closing with the following warning to reporters:

[I had] “many conversations with friends that are calling me with good, collaborative suggestions. We continue to invite the general community to do that. You know, if you're out there second guessing what we're doing we're not going to put up with that...”

Governor McKee made good on his warning a few minutes later when the Sinclair Broadcast Group's Brian Crandall asked the first question of the press conference:

Brian Crandall: Despite saying that credit is due because lives will be potentially saved there's still a lot of frustration. Has there been any discussion of changes at DOT [Department of Transportation]? The potential resignation of the director [Peter Alviti]?

Governor Daniel McKee: Yeah, so I'm not going to answer those questions. We're here to talk about an emergency - that's out of line, okay?

Brian Crandall: People are interested - talking about it…

Governor Daniel McKee: No no. You may be talking about it, but the people I'm talking to are very pleased with what's happening and anybody behind me right now. That we're going to personalize this issue at this moment in time during an emergency? I think that is beyond the pale.

So we'll answer questions specific to this topic going forward. I don't want to hear any more of those questions. You can take it out on me later, Brian, but that's an inappropriate question and I'm not going to even entertain an answer on that. I have already indicated that I have full faith in the team that's sitting here and standing here with me and beyond me, and that includes the leadership at DOT.

Brian Crandall: Do you acknowledge that people are frustrated?

Governor Daniel McKee: I'm not going to go further on that.

Brian Crandall: Do you acknowledge -

Director of Communications Andrea Palagi: I'm going to go to Amanda [Milkovitz] for the next question.

Governor Daniel McKee: I'm going to stay on topic. I think that [Providence] Mayor [Brett] Smiley hit the nail on the head. We're here to service the people who live in the State of Rhode Island, and we have recognized that they have been certainly more than merely inconvenienced, and in East Providence and Providence in particular.

We'll stick to the topic at hand and the topic at hand is reopening the bridge. You've got some tremendous news because of the work that is happening by DOT and the contractors on the site that we are going to be open for travel both east and west this weekend. That's worth acknowledging - the leadership that is happening in DOT and beyond.

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Governor McKee's temper tantrums are just another strategy he employs to avoid managing an honest and open administration. Other strategies he employs include assigning large fees to Access to Public Records Requests, not allowing any press availability at all for weeks at a time, ignoring questions from the reporters sent in by email, or pretending to be [or actually being] too dumb to understand the questions put to him and responding with either unrelated information or a word salad tangle of sentences that convey no meaning at all.

Too dumb may sound harsh, but look at Governor McKee's response to Brian Crandall's question. Amid his childish ranting, Governor McKee answered the question put to him, even as he claimed the question was out of bounds.

“I have already indicated that I have full faith in the team that's sitting here and standing here with me and beyond me, and that includes the leadership at DOT,” said Governor McKee. A more patient and decent man could have answered Crandall’s question with that sentence alone and saved me the trouble of writing this oped.

The problem is that Governor McKee is an authoritarian. He began the press conference by saying he has heard from “friends” that he's doing a good job. He explained to reporters that maybe we're hearing from people frustrated by his administration’s handling of the bridge situation, but that his people think he's doing great. He even went so far as to tell reporters how to do their jobs:

“We'll stick to the topic at hand and the topic at hand is reopening the bridge,” said Governor McKee. “You've got some tremendous news because of the work that is happening by DOT...”

In other words, the Governor doesn’t need our questions because he just gave us the story we are to report. The press conference is just another press release. Copy/Paste.

Reporters are not mouthpieces for the government. That's what happens in authoritarian countries. Here, we are free to ask the questions we want to.

This isn't to say that elected officials will answer those questions. They may obfuscate, or even outright lie to you, as Providence Mayor Brett Smiley lied to me a week ago about police officers he is protecting who harassed unhoused people at an encampment and violated their civil rights. But reporters can still ask these questions, and with the help of the public, we can force true accountability.

Part Two:

“I want to emphasize that this is the top priority in the State of Rhode Island right now,” said Governor McKee at Thursday's press conference about the Washington Bridge closure. “Number one. And unless there's a life or death circumstance in some other area, it's all hands on deck and the people of Rhode Island should realize that this is the number one priority for me as governor and our administration.”

The bridge closure affects somewhere around 90-100,000 Rhode Islanders a day and is certainly an important issue to deal with. But should it truly be the “number one” priority “unless there's a life or death circumstance in some other area?” Suppose Rhode Island is already facing “life or death” issues?

Here are five life-or-death circumstances that Governor McKee blithely ignores:

1. The RIPTA fiscal cliff: If 90-100,000 people a day being inconvenienced by a bridge closure is the most important issue, certainly 40,000 RIPTA riders a day is at least half as important, given that the transit authority is facing budget shortfalls, a “fiscal cliff,” that may reduce the availability of buses and cancel some routes altogether.

2. Substandard educational achievement: The future of our children is at stake. But daily press conferences aren’t happening.

3. Record evictions: People are being evicted from their homes at record rates. Families with children are more likely to be impacted.

4. Record food insecurity: More people are facing food insecurity in Rhode Island than at any time in history. Fully a third of Rhode Islanders must decide between purchasing adequate food or paying other bills.

5. Record homelessness: Homelessness has gone up every year that Governor McKee has been in office. The Governor’s solution? Evicting people from their encampments.

Sure, we are investing some money in these areas, but where is the “all hands on deck” approach to these life-or-death issues? Why aren't we having daily press conferences to deal with things like hunger, rising utility rates, evictions, homelessness, and housing insecurity? Where are the appeals to our federal delegation for help?

Disasters, or near disasters, reveal our priorities. As the bridge situation unfolded, Governor McKee attended an expensive, private fundraiser for former City Council President John Igliozzi, who hasn't announced a candidacy for any position but has his eye on being Attorney General. Igliozzi is the Chief of Staff at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

Governor McKee's priorities are clear. And most of us are not included.