Documents from 2010 show that House Speaker Fox and Senate President Paiva Weed lobbied for positive bond ratings for the 38 Studios deal. Meanwhile, Governor Lincoln Chafee was using 38 Studios as campaign fodder. File photo.
By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
On the eve of the House of Representatives' consideration of the state budget – which includes $2.5 million in repayment of the 38 Studios loans – new documents have surfaced that reveal Senate President Paiva Weed and House Speaker Gordon Fox lobbied for positive ratings of the 38 Studios bonds.
The notes, published by the Providence Journal and obtained independently by the Dan Yorke Show, are handwritten documentation of conversations that Fox, Paiva Weed and then-Governor Donald Carcieri had with Moody’s and Standard & Poor's.
According to the Providence Journal, the state’s lawyer, Max Wistow, obtained the documents from First Southwest Company, the state’s financial advisor and also one of the defendants in a civil complaint filed by the state.
The notes (which can be read in full here) show that Fox and Paiva Weed showed confidence in the bonds. According to the notes, when asked if there was any controversy in the legislature regarding the bonds, Fox said “not in the legislature,” adding that the partial opposition came from the nature of the “silly season.”
Later in the conversation, Carcieri is quoted as saying, “All this publicity would not have happened if we were not in a campaign.”
The conversation, dated September 9, 2010, was only months before the general election for Governor, and candidates had been using the 38 Studios deal as campaign fodder.
"Governor Carcieri asked Speaker Fox and President Paiva Weed to participate in conference calls with two of the major bond companies almost two months after the EDC had already approved the loan to 38 Studios," said spokesmen for Speaker Fox and Senate President Paiva Weed in a join statement. "Please note that the Senate President did not participate in the call to Standard and Poors."
