McKee fails Watergate test - that the cover-up is worse than the crime
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
Corrosion and section loss are visible in this inspection photo of exterior tie-down rod for cantilever beam F at Pier 6 on the Washington Bridge, taken July 21, 2023. (Photo from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. report)
Legislative leaders on Monday called for yet another oversight hearing on the handling of the 2023 closure of the westbound Washington Bridge, three days after the release of a long-awaited forensic audit of what led to its failure was made public.
Then on Friday evening, the 64-page report by Illinois-based engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. (WJE) was posted online by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office, which is actively suing 13 of the vendors contracted to conduct maintenance. Contents of the analysis were first reported by WPRI-12.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Valarie Lawson said late Monday afternoon they were “deeply troubled by the findings” of the audit, which identified decades worth of failures by the state and its contractors responsible for maintaining the westbound span of Interstate 195.
“Rhode Islanders who rely on the Washington Bridge have had their daily lives disrupted for too long,” Shekarchi and Lawson said in a joint statement. “The General Assembly intends to conduct an additional rigorous oversight hearing.”
Their statement did not indicate when a hearing would happen, but Lawson and Shekarchi promised “all options remain on the table” such as putting state officials, including Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director Peter Alviti Jr., under oath.
McKee’s office acknowledged multiple requests for comment from Rhode Island Current, but did not send an official response as of 5:20 p.m.
Lawmakers from the House and Senate oversight committees last met on Feb. 13, but couldn’t press for accountability then because of the state’s ongoing lawsuit.
“There’s no question that we felt handcuffed when we held our previous oversight hearings,” Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat who chairs the chamber’s Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight, said in an interview Tuesday.
Rep. Patricia Serpa, a West Warwick Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Oversight, said she believed the decision to withhold the report was worthy of a hearing.
“It just blows my mind that this report existed all of this time, and no one disclosed it,” Serpa said in an interview Monday. “What the actual hell is going on here?”
McKenney said he would like to see a hearing scheduled before the General Assembly reconvenes in January.
Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, said in a statement she is convinced that an oversight hearing is the only way to get the truth from the governor and RIDOT officials about the Washington Bridge.
“If the executive branch is not held accountable, Rhode Island will remain at the bottom of every infrastructure ranking, and the Governor’s promised ‘day of reckoning’ will be a pledge as empty as taxpayers’ wallets,” de la Cruz said.
While the new report could invite further questions, Rep. Jason Knight, a Barrington Democrat, said he’s unsure how cooperative McKee’s administration will be.
“I haven’t seen any attempt to have a public reckoning or accountability from the DOT or the executive,” he said.
Weekend reading
The forensic report is dated April 5, 2024 — three days after McKee indefinitely postponed its release in order to conduct its own public records request for the audit.
Timothy Rondeau, spokesperson for the AG’s office, said WJE produced the report for defendants in the state’s case as part of the discovery process. It was posted publicly after the office learned an “unknown party” was releasing portions of it on Instagram, he wrote in an email to Rhode Island Current Monday afternoon.
“It has never been our intention, nor do court rules anticipate, releasing discovery materials publicly prior to trial,” Rondeau wrote.
WJE’s audit does not single out one party for the bridge’s sudden failure. Instead, it faults all those responsible for the highway’s condition — including state officials — for not recognizing the bridge’s problems before the emergency closure.
“Greater attention needed to be paid to the importance of the post-tensioning systems in overall structural performance and stability of the bridge,” the report states. “The deteriorating condition of the cantilever beams and corbels was clear.”
It’s a stark contrast to McKee’s message that contractors who worked on the bridge in the past two decades are the sole entities responsible for the bridge’s failure — a point his critics were quick to seize on.
“If you read this report in any detail, it’s obvious that what they’ve been telling you time and again has not been true,” Kansas-based geotechnical engineer and Kansas-based Casey Jones, who regularly posts YouTube videos about infrastructure topics including the Washington Bridge, said in a video posted Saturday. “They’ve done it for political reasons — it’s unfortunate because this should strictly be the realm of engineering.”
Locally, Rhode Island GOP Chairman Joe Powers called the decision to keep the report private a “political betrayal” from the governor.
“Our state leaders knew the bridge was failing for years, yet they kept Rhode Islanders in the dark while thousands of lives were put at risk every single day,” Powers said in a statement Monday. “We deserve leaders who will confront hard truths, not bury them.”
Former CVS executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes, who is challenging McKee in the 2026 Democratic gubernatorial primary, said in a statement Monday that Rhode Islanders “deserve honesty and transparency.”
“Every day, Rhode Islanders are stuck sitting in traffic caused by the Washington Bridge debacle,” Foulkes said. “Governor McKee should immediately explain why the forensic audit was not released and provide clear answers to the decisions and actions of his administration.”
She called for Alviti to be fired as the state’s transportation chief and for the General Assembly to hold oversight hearings.
The westbound Washington Bridge is expected to be rebuilt by November 2028 and cost up to $427 million. Chicago-headquartered Walsh Construction Company was awarded the state’s contract on June 6 after two attempts by Gov. Dan McKee’s administration to secure a bridge builder.
The state’s lawsuit is scheduled to head to trial in late 2027.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
