By Jennifer Bogdan and Patrick Anderson Journal State House Bureau
PROVIDENCE — Gov. Gina Raimondo is walking back from comments she made Wednesday suggesting that General Assembly leaders pressured her to launch the state’s troubled public-assistance computer system before it was ready.
“She was not saying she was being pressured personally,” Raimondo spokesman David Ortiz said Thursday, explaining that the governor was referring to general political and public pressures.
She wasn’t referring to a specific person, nor was she suggesting that anything inappropriate took place, he said.
Here’s how it played out on Wednesday when Raimondo fielded a flurry of questions from reporters about the failings of the Unified Health Infrastructure Project, or UHIP, and why it was allowed to launch with so many problems.
“There was pressure, no doubt about it,” Raimondo told reporters. “High-ranking members of the General Assembly said, ‘Deliver this now.’”
Later that night, at a House Oversight Committee’s hearing, Raimondo’s comments took center stage when Chairwoman Patricia Serpa, D-West Warwick, demanded an explanation from acting Department of Human Services Director Eric Beane.
Beane, called to testify about his month-long probe of UHIP, tempered his answer, saying employees he spoke with at DHS and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services talked about pressure from former House Finance Committee Chairman Raymond Gallison and former Rep. Eileen Naughton, who chaired the finance subcommittee on health and human services.
Serpa called the response a bit of a head-scratcher. UHIP launched to myriad problems on Sept. 13, the same day Naughton lost a Democratic primary to Rep. Camille Vella-Wilkinson. Gallison, who is expected to plead guilty to nine felony counts, including fraud, next month, resigned his seat in May, well before the launch.
“So this is very troubling to me that anyone would listen to, frankly, two legislators whose opinion didn’t amount to a hill of beans,” Serpa said.
Naughton didn’t return a phone call Thursday. But Rep. Scott Slater, D-Providence, who was a part of her subcommittee, said he thought the characterization was unfair.
“I just don’t feel there was ever any pressure outside of normal questions you would ask in the oversight,” Slater said.
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello did have strong words about UHIP being delayed last June.
“I am disappointed that the launching of this computer program has been delayed by another two months, especially if this results in additional cost to Rhode Island taxpayers,” Mattiello told WPRI in a statement. “The people of our state need assurances that this system will be up and running in September.”
On Thursday, Mattiello, through spokesman Larry Berman, said he was not the source of any pressure.
“At no time did Speaker Mattiello ever speak to the governor or her administration about the rollout of the UHIP computer system,” Berman said. “He feels strongly that the governor is responsible and accountable for the administration of state government functions such as UHIP.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Charlene Lima, D-Cranston, a member of Mattiello’s leadership team, on Thursday called for the state police and attorney general to investigate whether UHIP contractor Deloitte should be criminally charged for its performance.
In an email statement from spokeswoman Laura Meade Kirk, Rhode Island State Police declined to comment.