Should Gov. Chafee ask the national government to investigate fraud in federally-funded, state-administered social welfare programs?

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee found himself in a bit of hot water after acknowledging the existence of a report produced by former Moderate Party gubernatorial candidate Ken Block that identified potential waste and fraud in federally-funded but state-administered social welfare programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps.

Eventually the governor released a redacted version of the report (with potential targets of criminal probes blacked out so as not to alert them to being the target of an investigation), saying that it was only another tool that he is going to use to combat fraud in state government, something he claims to have done since 2011, the year he came into office.

Is it possible that the state can do a credible job of investigating potential fraud in some of its programs and agencies?