Sparks Fly Over Raimondo's Welding Program Remarks

COVENTRY, RI — State Rep. Sherry Roberts on Friday asked the governor to correct an impression the Raimondo administration helped Coventry voc-tech students find jobs in welding. Citing Gov. Gina Raimondo's State of the State address delivered Tuesday, Roberts said the governor had not given credit where credit was due. In fact, Roberts was the one who asked Electric Boat to help Coventry High students learn skills that would qualify them for upcoming jobs.

But Raimondo's office said not to expect any apology from the governor. According to Mike Raia, the governor's communications director, Raimondo gave the credit to the people of Rhode Island.

"The Rep’s baseless, political statement merits no response," he said. "As the Governor said on Tuesday night, the people who deserve the greatest credit for all of the progress we’ve made are the people of our state. Here’s the line from the State of the State about the Coventry program Austin Ferrera graduated from:

We’ve also expanded more than two dozen career and tech programs in our high schools, like the welding program at Coventry High School. … Tonight I’m proposing that we expand our job training initiatives and our technical training in high schools.

And from earlier in the speech:

We’ve made this progress together, and I want to thank everyone who’s been a part of it: the legislature, mayors and town managers, member of my cabinet, state employees: Thank you for your hard work and commitment to our state. But of course, the real credit goes to the people of Rhode Island.

But Roberts said Raimondo had "touted Coventry High School's Job Guarantee Program with Electric Boat as her own economic development initiative." She went on to say, "While I am happy to see progress being made, credit should not be taken by those not responsible for the program."

Sure, Roberts conceded, Raimondo ultimately approved the funding, but that only happened after the work was all done.

"Our hard work was unfairly overlooked by the Governor, simply because it was she that ultimately approved funding – one of the last steps in the long road traveled to get this done,” Roberts said.

After Electric Boat was on board, Roberts said, she worked with the Coventry schools superintendent and the high school staff to make the idea a reality. They applied to the state education department, which worked out the permissions, Roberts said. A Prepare RI grant sent $198,000 to Coventry to start up, and welding in the Shipbuilding and Marine Trades and Advanced Manufacturing program began in the 2016-2017 school year.

“After this plan was launched, it caught the attention of the Governor who eventually folded it into her own economic development plan, and she is now unfairly using it for her own political advancement," Roberts said. "While our community knows the members of our team that put this successful program together, I don’t want other citizens of this state to be misled about what happened. This isn’t about recognizing me, this is about unethical behavior. If the governor wants to seek re-election she needs to begin with being honest and transparent to the citizens of our great state.”

Courtesy Photo