Tobacco and the Problem with Letting RI Government Do Anything

Progressives and Democrats, including in their roles as members of the local news media, like to beat up on former governor Don Carcieri for things that he didn’t stop the General Assembly from doing, and sometimes that he helped legislators do.  Some of things, conservatives will agree were lapses in an otherwise good eight years.

Two obvious items on that list are 38 Studios and Deepwater Wind, one that we often neglect to include is using settlement money from a tobacco lawsuit to plug budget gaps.  That move was bad on principle and has thus far stood mainly as evidence that the people who govern Rhode Island aren’t serious about repairing its problems.  However, Kate Nagle reports on GoLocalProv, today, that the move is coming back to haunt the state in new ways that it can ill afford:

In a report issued by ProPublica — “How Wall Street Tobacco Deals Left States With Billions in Toxic Debt” — Rhode Island is now facing $2.8 billion in debt on capital appreciation tobacco bonds due in 2052, a revelation that comes nearly sixteen years following the landmark United States tobacco settlement intended to combat the adverse impacts of smoking.

There’s another a list that Rhode Islanders might keep if it didn’t make them shudder to do so: deals and decisions that are on a path to sour our future.  Think pensions and other post-employment benefits, gambling, years of transportation bonds, renewable energy mandates, and on, and on.

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