Lincoln Chafee has already expressed how he does not agree with the $75 million loan guarantee offered to Curt Schilling’s game development company and if elected Govenor he would stop deals like this from happening in the future. Most candidates have expressed concerns about the deal and have stated how they would do things if they were elected. That however is not enough for Chafee who appears to be trying to force the issue by requesting to speak to the EDC board at it’s Monday meeting. The request was denied by Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcier in a letter.

Lincoln Chaffee has already previously met with Keith Stokes and members of the EDC staff on two occasions to express his concerns and he was provided the research and analysis on 38 Studios and the interactive gaming industry. The board has also received his letters outlining his concerns so clearly he has made his views and opinion known to the EDC and the public. His response to being denied the right to speak at Mondays meeting was that this reflected an arrogance of power and incumbency.

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcier is doing the job he was elected by the people to do. The EDC Board of Directors is comprised of twelve of the state’s most successful business leaders and it was they who ultimately took months to review all of the information before making an informed decission to vote 11 to 1 to approve the deal. Everything was done above board and by the letter of the law. It was certainly not rammed through as Chafee has suggested. If you really want to know the full details of the agreement you can find them here.

Chafee appears to me to be the arrogant one by trying to force the EDC to do what he wants despite the fact he has not even been elected yet. Comments like this during a recent radio interview with WPRO show just how out of touch with reality he is.

In his interview Monday, Chafee responded to questions about the 38 Studios loan guarantees by raising doubts about Boston’s hometown hero. Chaffee said part of his concern was the “trust” that state development officials “have in him to deliver.” He continued: “I just remember his own teammates didn’t like him. They thought he was a bit of a salesman. I remember one of his teammates said he painted his sock, the bloody sock, he painted it. [His teammate] Kevin Millar, I think, said that. I don’t know if I trust Curt Schilling.”

A Chafee spokesman said later that Chafee’s mistrust isn’t because of the sock.

“We don’t trust Curt Schilling in that he doesn’t have a track record of running a business of this size, and as such we’re putting the taxpayers’ money in jeopardy. He’s not questioning Curt Schilling’s honesty and sincerity. He’s just questioning whether he can produce what he says he can.”"

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I guess they missed who was on the board of directors at 38 Studios? You know the success of 38 Studios is not just on Curt Schilling’s track record its on all 200 people currently working there. If anyone took the time to look you would see a pretty impressive group of people working there and that’s a credit to Curt Schilling to put all that together over the last 4 years.

Inspite of all this Chafee still plans on going to the meeting on Monday.

Independent Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee says he plans to speak out against a $75 million loan guarantee offered to Curt Schilling’s game development company.

Chafee says he’ll attend Monday’s meeting of the state Economic Development Corporation.

He has been a vocal critic of its arrangement with 38 Studios, a company founded in Massachusetts by the former Boston Red Sox pitcher. It plans to relocate to Rhode Island and says it will bring 450 jobs by the end of 2012.

Chafee says the loan guarantee risks taxpayer money and was not awarded in a competitive fashion.

The EDC does not let audience members speak at public hearings, but Chafee says he’ll go anyway to voice his objections.

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Is it me or does this guy not seem to like Curt Schilling and 38 Studios and doing everything in his power to try and scuttle the deal? On a positive note it appears he is now trailing in the the latest poll. A trend I can only hope continues.