Fung slams Raimondo over ‘corporate welfare deals,’ but won’t say what he’d do

July 27--PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- With darts pointed at him for his refusal to take public stands on high-profile issues, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung -- a GOP candidate for governor -- tried Friday to shift the spotlight to health-care subsidies for employees of big companies that got tax incentives.

Republican Fung faulted Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo for allowing employees of Providence-based wholesaler United Natural Foods, in particular, to avail themselves of the state-subsided health-care benefits available to relatively low-wage workers from the state's RIte Care and RIte Share programs.

The household income cap for parents in a family of three to qualify would be 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

Tying his statement to the news this week that United Natural Foods is buying Supervalu, Fung said: "In yet another head-scratcher, we found out yesterday that United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI) was able to leverage $2.9 billion to acquire Supervalu. While this would normally be something to cheer about, when we pay attention to the details we find out the Rhode Island taxpayer is currently subsidizing this enormous corporation's employee healthcare."

"UNFI is one of several mega-corporations that have employees utilizing the state-subsidized healthcare programs RiteCare and RiteShare. This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in Rhode Island taxpayer-funded incentives given to UNFI via the Jobs Development and Distressed Areas Revitalization Acts...Why is Raimondo letting these mega corporations get away with deflecting the burden of their healthcare costs onto the RI taxpayer?

"Where is the oversight by the administration to make sure the taxpayers aren't getting taken for a ride with these hidden taxpayer costs that lie in her extravagant corporate welfare deals?' "

Raimondo's campaign spokeswoman, Emily Samsel, said, "This attack is inaccurate and misleading. Mayor Fung is playing politics with Rhode Islanders' healthcare.

"As has been the case since the early 2000s, all Rhode Islanders who have the option of employer-sponsored healthcare through their workplace could be eligible for a subsidy depending on their income and family size," Samsel said. "As an example, a pregnant employee with additional children at home making about $60,000 (annually) would be eligible for some help paying her monthly healthcare bills.

"The subsidy helps the employee, not the employer," Samsel said. "It is one of the many ways our government helps Rhode Islanders keep up and get ahead so they can compete in our state's economy."

There was no immediate response from Fung to questions about what he would do if he were elected governor: bar entry into these these health-care subsidy programs for lower-wage employees of any company receiving state tax incentives? (According to the same report that disclosed the subsidized employee-numbers, UNFI received a $20,160 in "job-development' tax rate reduction in 2017, in exchange for reaching -- and slightly exceeding -- its 200-job pledge.)

RIte Care is Rhode Island's Medicaid managed care program for families with children, pregnant women, and children under age 19. Families have a choice of three participating health plans-Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, Tufts Health Plan, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. RIte Share provides help paying for an employer's health insurance plan. The state will pay all or part of the cost for employee health insurance coverage, according to a state website.

Fung based his comments on a recent report by blogger and freelance journalist Alex Nunes about companies that benefited, as reflected in the state's latest Unified Economic Development Report. The report was titled: "Utilization of RIte Care and RIte Share benefits by tax incentive recipients, and it showed that 359 employees of five companies benefited at an overall cost to the state Medicaid progran of $2,272,579.

That included: 67 employees at Citizens, 163 at CVS Pharmacy Inc., 99 at Electric Boat, 8 at RIte Solutions Inc. and 22 at United Natural Foods.

"Earlier this week, Raimondo tried to scare Rhode Islanders that undoing these deals would lead to unparalleled destruction. That's ridiculous. If a company can leverage three billion dollars in a merger, they can pay for good healthcare for their employees without taxpayer subsidies," Fung said.

While he took aim at Raimondo, former Republican Rep. Joseph Trillo -- an independent candidate for governor -- slammed Fung's increasingly frequent "no comment," in response to media inquiries about his stance on issues in the news.

Recent examples: The Rhode Island gubernatorial candidates were asked in late June if they would sign the Reproductive Health Care Act, which would guarantee abortion rights by state law, if it is ever passed by the General Assembly. A Fung spokesman told the Journal: Fung is going to "politely decline to comment."

On Thursday, WPRI-TV polled the candidates on where they stood on Raimondo pledge to renew her push for free tuition at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. The station reported that: "Republican Allan Fung declined to comment."

Calling Fung "a coward," Trillo said: "Allan Fung is playing the state's best game of hide and seek...He's so clueless he has to wait for polling data to come back before he takes the side of an issue.

"The voters deserve to know where he stands on an issue, especially important ones," Trillo said.

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