Online controversy surrounds photo of state senator, antiabortion activists at restaurant

PROVIDENCE 2019--PROVIDENCE -- A dinner at a popular Federal Hill restaurant paid for by a Blue Cross & Blue Shield board member to celebrate the defeat of an abortion-rights bill has landed Sen. Leonidas "Lou" Raptakis -- and the health insurer -- in the middle of an online controversy.

This was the reaction from Annajane Yolken, a drug-policy activist, on Twitter: "As a BCBS policy holder, I feel deeply concerned about Board Members who actively celebrate limiting reproductive health care. I don't want that 'expertise' and 'guidance' in my health care, thank you.''

There was also this tweet from Jeff Levy, husband of state Sen. Gayle Goldin, who sponsored the defeated Senate bill: "Note that @LouRaptakis has consistently lied -- he doesn't say he's anti-choice, just that he doesn't 'see the urgency' in passing the RHCA," referring to the Reproductive Health Care Act. "But then goes to dinner to celebrate an anti-choice victory with extremists..."

As the controversy bubbled to a boiling point, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island -- which has three lobbyists at the State House and tens of thousand of subscribers -- felt compelled to respond on Twitter:

"In response to some concerns shared on social media today, we would like to clarify the role of our Board. The views of any BCBSRI Board member are solely their own. The Board of Directors does not set BCBSRI medical policy and coverage."

Raptakis told The Journal that his friend, lawyer and one-time General Assembly candidate Nicholas Denice, invited him to dinner and paid for his dinner on the night of the vote, without telling Raptakis he would be dining with key members of the state's hard-line antiabortion lobby.

How much Denice paid for his dinner at Costantino's Venda Bar & Ristorante -- where the antipasti goes from $11 to $18, and entrees from $17 for the "Chicken Alla Parmigiana" to $25 for the"N.Y. Strip Steak Alla Griglia" -- Raptakis said he did not know.

"He took me out to dinner," Raptakis said. "Nick and I are very good friends. As a matter of fact I am going to his wedding on June 8. ... I was surprised because he said 'we're going out to dinner ... I thought it was going to be me, him and another person, and Larry Gillheeney, and then all of a sudden I got to the restaurant and there's all these people here."

Gillheeney is advocacy manager for the conservative Rhode Island Center for Freedom.

"What can I say? I sat down and had dinner. ... Nick paid for it, and if I have to file something I'll do that,'' he said, referring to the $25 gift limit in the state's Ethics Code.

As for the allegation he has not been fully honest about his stance on abortion, Raptakis said he supports abortion rights.

"I do. ... I support the status quo right now. But I made myself clear now, last night, the night before and also at the East Greenwich Democratic Town Committee ... when they asked me 'Do you support Roe versus Wade?' I said I will support, I will sign on to a bill sign, if Roe v. Wade is overturned in the Supreme Court I will support a bill to return the status quo as we have today in Rhode Island on May 16 at 12 noon.

"I am not going to go a period, a paragraph, a comma, a sentence above what we have now ... and personally I feel that Goldin's bill is above and beyond my beliefs."

Blue Cross & Blue Shield board member Denice sparked the controversy by posting photos on Twitter of the dinner at Costantino's Venda Bar & Ristorante along with this Tweet: "Celebrating big win for the pro-life movement in Rhode Island Senate tonight with @cateici @AUL @LGillheeney Senator Raptakis, @tylerrowley."

Celebrating big win for the pro-life movement in Rhode Island Senate tonight with @cateici @AUL @LGillheeney Senator Raptakis, @tylerrowley pic.twitter.com/r3jPSPGTMc

-- Nicholas Denice (@ndenice11) May 15, 2019The photos show Raptakis -- a Coventry Democrat who voted against the abortion-rights bill that went down by a 5-to-4 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday night -- with several of the most vocal antiabortion activists at the State House: frequent candidates Chris Young and his wife, Kara Russo; Tyler Rowley and Gillheeney. They also show Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, which describes itself as "the nation's premier pro-life legal team."

Foster said she was in Rhode Island to take part in a rally against the Senate bill on Tuesday. As to how she landed at the dinner table, at a restaurant owned by the family of state Rep. Greg Costantino, she said: "There was a group of people going out to dinner." Asked who paid, she said she could not say but "we weren't hosting."

Asked if her organization supports the "status quo,'' on abortion, Foster said: "We are called Americans United for Life. Of course, we would like to see abortion banned. That said, we would rather have the status quo than the reproductive health act that was proposed."

Denice, who was appointed to the Blue Cross board by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello in 2016, said he was not immediately available to talk.

Blue Cross spokeswoman Gail Carvelli said: "Board members receive a $10,000 annual retainer, something reviewed and approved by the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner. Nick Denice is not a registered lobbyist for BCBSRI -- I can't speak to his personal spending."

The day began with this tweet from Goldin's husband, Levy: "Good morning @BCBSRI ! Are you still paying @ndenice11 to sit on your board of directors even though he openly opposes basic health care for women?''

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