Rhode Island Independent candidate for governor Lincoln Chafee (pictured) is continuing to utilize a $75 million loan used to lure Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios from Massachusetts to the Ocean State as a campaign issue, but is running into some closed doors.
Chafee had previously stated that Rhode Island’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) should suspend the 38 Studios deal and start a public process in order to see if the loan money might be better spent on other companies or proposals. On Monday, Chafee attempted to gain access to a meeting between the EDC Board and Governor Donald Carcieri, but, according to the Providence Business News, Chafee, after “a quick handshake” with Carcieri, was “waved off” in his request for a face-to-face confrontation.
A campaign representative for Chafee later delivered a letter to EDC attorney Robert Stolzman at a public meeting, but only after the current governor refused to accept it.
It was also reported that “Carcieri noted that the EDC board had two public meetings to discuss the loan guarantee, and Chafee had met with EDC Executive Director Keith W. Stokes twice.” This led the Governor to say that Chafee had “plenty of opportunity to have his voice heard.”
