The Insiders - with Ed Achorn

Iftikhar Ahmad. Mr. Ahmad is president and CEO of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, a position he has held since late 2016. He oversees T.F. Green International Airport.

Before that, Mr. Ahmad was director of aviation at Louis Armstrong International Airport since 2010. He previously worked for Houston’s Department of Aviation, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, the City of Dayton’s Department of Aviation and the New Orleans Aviation Board. He has master’s and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University. He was born in Peshawar Pakistan.

Sanzi talks about school choice, the damage done by teachers unions, Elizabeth Warren's hypocrisy, and her high hopes for Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green.

Blake Filippi talks taxes, doing business in Rhode Island, and the no-bid contract to IGT.

Blake Filippi, Rhode Island’s House Minority Leader and perhaps the leading voice of the Republican Party in the state.

Mr. Filippi was chosen by the House Republican Caucus as the Minority Leader in November 2018. First elected in November 2014, he has served three terms in office representing House District 36, which includes all of Block Island and Charlestown, and portions of Westerly and South Kingstown.

A graduate of Lincoln High School, he received his Bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Arizona in 2003 and obtained his law degree in 2007 from the Rutgers University Camden School of Law.

 

He talked about why the House should not approve a no-bid, $1 billion, 20-year contract for IGT, about why Republicans do so poorly in Rhode Island, blasted the "evergreen" contract bill, and knocked Rhode Island economic development efforts.

The continued success of the Quonset Business Park is a testament to the broad range of businesses that call Quonset home, the support of the community and of our elected officials at the local, state and federal levels. 

The continued success of the Quonset Business Park in 2018 is a testament to the broad range of businesses that call Quonset home, the support of the community and of our elected officials at the local, state and federal levels. 

Steven King is the man tasked by the State of Rhode Island to oversee the whole thing.

Our guest today is Marc Crisafulli, an executive vice president of Twin River Worldwide Holdings and president of Twin River’s Rhode Island operations. Before joining Twin River, he served as a global executive, a law firm managing partner and a public company general counsel. He was raised in Pawtucket and Providence.

Twin River has been in a contentious battle with IGT over the governor’s deal for a no-bid, $1 billion, 20-year contract with IGT. Twin River is exceedingly important to Rhode Island government because its third greatest source of revenue is from gambling.

Robert Vincent is the chair of IGT Global Solutions Corporation and senior counsel to IGT Chief Executive Officer Marco Sala.

Mr. Vincent is spearheading the attempt to secure no-bid, $1 billion contract, negotiated with Gov. Gina Raimondo, to provide Rhode Island's lottery services until 2043.

State Police Col. James Manni sat down with Editorial Pages editor, Edward Achorn, to discuss his recent appointment. In this wide-ranging interview, the head of the state police discusses everything from the department's relationship with I.C.E., whether standards have slipped in the department, and the recently released video of a state policeman assaulting a prisoner in a holding cell.

State Rep. Patricia Serpa, D-West Warwick, has served in the House since 2006, most prominently as the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight. From that post, she has looked into serious failures in the administration of state government, including the UHIP computer program, the failures of a company called MTM to transport patients, and most recently, the horrifying death of a child under the oversight of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.

Before becoming a state representative she served six years on the West Warwick School Committee and is a former public school teacher and administrator.

Angelica Infanté-Green, 48, is Rhode Island's new education commissioner. The daughter of Dominican immigrants, she grew up on public assistance, then became the first in her family to go to college. She started working as a teacher and rose to deputy commissioner in the New York state Department of Education.

She speaks English and Spanish, and is raising her children to be bilingual. As the mother of a child with autism, she understands the challenges of special needs education.