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Speaker 1: Helena Bonnano. Focus is on the seaconk Supply hotline. Good

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Speaker 1: morning and thanks for being here.

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Speaker 2: Morning Kara, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 3: Sure did you you heard?

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Speaker 1: So we just want to make sure because people can't

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Speaker 1: be everywhere all the time. But I know you put

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Speaker 1: out a press release saying that your campaign is not

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Speaker 1: worried about quote hearing forcefully from Peter.

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Speaker 3: Alvidi, who has just resigned. What did you make of that?

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Speaker 2: Oh, it was bizarre between that and a letter. Honestly,

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Speaker 2: the letter being published on a taxpayer website. I thought

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Speaker 2: it was truly bizarre. And to me, I don't know

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Speaker 2: what he's talking about. I am certainly going to be

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Speaker 2: talking forcefully about the governor's lack of leadership on the

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Speaker 2: Washington Bridge because people are affected by this every single day.

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Speaker 2: There's been no accountability. But you know, it also sounds

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Speaker 2: like maybe alvid has beef with the governor. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: We'll let them figure that out. I'm going to be

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Speaker 2: focused on the people of island.

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Speaker 1: So you did kind of interpret that maybe he was saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, say it's you and him again, and unless

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Speaker 1: someone else gets in and you're doing your debating as

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Speaker 1: I'm sure we can expect. And then of course the

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Speaker 1: broken bridge is talked about, and maybe even you know

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Speaker 1: how long of a gap it would be where people

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Speaker 1: were just talking about Peter alvd and should the department

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Speaker 1: go in a different direction.

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Speaker 3: So you kind of heard.

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Speaker 1: In there that maybe he was saying, don't be using

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Speaker 1: me to the governor.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I think it's very strange. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the whole thing. Let's face it, Peter Alvdy leaving right now,

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Speaker 2: it's two years too late. But I also thought it

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Speaker 2: was very strange that the governor said he I think

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Speaker 2: he said he didn't sidor him. Buddy also didn't agree

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Speaker 2: with the letter being up. It was all very strange.

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Speaker 2: I mean, listen, if you're the governor of this state,

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Speaker 2: I've always said the most important thing is to have

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Speaker 2: great people working for you and hold them accountable. I

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Speaker 2: would have expected the governor in this particular situation to

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Speaker 2: have put a transition plan in place. You know, if

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Speaker 2: you don't want alvid in the role, you start to

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Speaker 2: plan for it. And two years in he hasn't done

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Speaker 2: anything to hold Alvid or anyone accountable. At least can

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Speaker 2: talk more about that, but it's amazing to me. Nothing

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Speaker 2: has happened, not one single thing has been changed after

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Speaker 2: this major failure. And now Alvid's leaving and he says

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Speaker 2: he's starting a national search. Who knows how long that takes.

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Speaker 2: I expect to be the next governor, and I don't

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Speaker 2: know what that will look like. I think it's really

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Speaker 2: a shame for the people of Rhode Island, because listen,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure you do, Tara, you certainly do. I hear

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Speaker 2: from people all the time on both sides of the bridge,

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Speaker 2: all across the state who feel so frustrated by this thing.

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Speaker 2: And now you have these two guys who seem to

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Speaker 2: be having beef with each other rather than focused on

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Speaker 2: the people of islands.

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Speaker 1: All right, So yeah, there's a temporary or interim, I

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Speaker 1: should say, gentleman who's been there for a long time

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Speaker 1: at the DOT. But I hear in your voice, you know,

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Speaker 1: if in fact it goes your way, and who knows

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Speaker 1: what's going to happen with an election, But then you're

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Speaker 1: going to have to deal with.

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Speaker 3: What the DOT being.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean it's not as if there's not somebody

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Speaker 1: at the helm, right, but you're going to have to

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Speaker 1: make your own decisions. Either you clean house or you

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Speaker 1: stay the course. Or is that what you're thinking about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, I've said I would do a

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Speaker 2: national search. I don't think listen, I don't think a

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Speaker 2: great person who's excellent at transportation is going to say, wow,

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Speaker 2: I'd love to come work with Governor McKee. He just

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Speaker 2: can't attract great talent. He's not the kind of person

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Speaker 2: people want to work for. And I don't think most

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Speaker 2: people do not think he will be governor a year

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Speaker 2: from now. So I don't know who would raise their

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Speaker 2: hand and say I'd love to come to Rhode Island

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Speaker 2: and take that job. So that will be, you know,

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Speaker 2: my opportunity to put a really good person in place,

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Speaker 2: and I look forward to doing that for the people

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Speaker 2: of Rhode Island.

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Speaker 1: What would you be doing right now differently, because and

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Speaker 1: I think it's interesting that you just said he's not

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Speaker 1: the kind of person that people want to come to

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Speaker 1: work for.

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Speaker 3: What exactly does that mean?

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Speaker 2: Well, listen, you know, I've had a lot of bosses

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Speaker 2: in my life. I've led a lot of people in

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Speaker 2: my life. You lead people differently according to what they need.

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Speaker 2: But you know, what I have always found is the

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Speaker 2: best way to learn, especially as you get more senior

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Speaker 2: in any organization. And I, as you know, I started

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Speaker 2: in a cubicle at CBS and rose to the ranks

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Speaker 2: and became the head of the retail business when I

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Speaker 2: got more senior. What I learned is that you know,

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Speaker 2: you can have people around you who want to protect

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Speaker 2: you at some level from really knowing what's going on.

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Speaker 2: So I used to go to the front line all

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Speaker 2: the time and get my best ideas. I went alone.

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Speaker 2: I would talk to people. I'd get them to be

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Speaker 2: honest with me. Often what I would say is tell

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Speaker 2: me all the stupid things we're making you do, and

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Speaker 2: people would light up because they knew we in corporate

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Speaker 2: were making them do stupid things. And I think the

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Speaker 2: same holds for the governor of Hert Island. You got

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Speaker 2: to get out there, You've got to talk to people.

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Speaker 2: You got to understand without all your staff around you,

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Speaker 2: all your yes men around you, what's really going on.

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Speaker 2: And that is the first thing I would be doing.

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Speaker 2: I am doing it now. I'm learning a ton from it,

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Speaker 2: and I'm learning what people care about, what they want.

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Speaker 3: From their governor, and what is that? What do they

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Speaker 3: want from the governor.

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Speaker 2: First of all, they want people, they want someone who's

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Speaker 2: honest with them, you know, and I say this all

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Speaker 2: the time. When you lead a big organization, stuff goes wrong,

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Speaker 2: So you've got to admit it, you've got to call

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Speaker 2: it out, and then you've got to be a good

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Speaker 2: communicator about it. Why did it happen? We still don't know.

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Speaker 2: And if you remember at that hearing with ALVD here

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Speaker 2: he was. He couldn't even remember the name of the inspector.

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Speaker 2: This is two years after the situation happened. So you've

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Speaker 2: got to be really honest with people. You've got to

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Speaker 2: be all in. So you know, one of the things

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Speaker 2: that I would have done, and this is another example

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Speaker 2: where the governor puts politics over people, is you've got

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Speaker 2: to be all in on developing a great contract. Now

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Speaker 2: we have ultimately found I think a good contractor who's

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Speaker 2: building this bridge. But the people of Rhode Island lost

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Speaker 2: about a year because the governor played politics. And what

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Speaker 2: I mean by that is that he, for example, put

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Speaker 2: an rsp out and he really desperately wanted this bridge

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Speaker 2: built by this August before the election, so he put

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Speaker 2: these massive penalties in place for any company that bid

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Speaker 2: on it. If they didn't get it built. Of course

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Speaker 2: everyone looked at that and said, you know what, we're

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Speaker 2: not going to get it built in time. And six

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Speaker 2: months went by. And by the way, if I were

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Speaker 2: the governor, I would have been calling people who got

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Speaker 2: the bid saying, what do you think what? This is

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Speaker 2: a natural thing to do when you do an RFP.

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Speaker 2: People in your team can do this. But there was

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Speaker 2: radio silence at the end of six months. Guess what,

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Speaker 2: No one bid on the RFP. No one bid because

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Speaker 2: they knew they'd lose money. So then what does he do?

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Speaker 2: He starts over and so this again. This there's real

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Speaker 2: cost in aggravation and money for the people of Her Island.

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Speaker 2: And it's that sense of urgency that I think the

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Speaker 2: governor's missing. It's performative. It's showing up for ribbon cuttings.

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Speaker 2: It's telling people that you're doing a great job when

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Speaker 2: they know you're not. And it's not just rolling up

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Speaker 2: your sleeves and saying, I got to get stuff done

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Speaker 2: for the people of Her Island. And that's that's what

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Speaker 2: I know how to do, and that's why I'm.

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Speaker 1: Running Heileada Bonano folks is on the line Democrat candidate

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Speaker 1: for governor again did well in the last time. I

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Speaker 1: thought you did well in the debate because we'd never

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Speaker 1: really heard you, you know, in that role. And what

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Speaker 1: did you learn from you know, almost four years ago?

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Speaker 2: Oh, I learned a ton. You know, you can't go

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Speaker 2: through something like that and not be heartbroken. Obviously, I

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Speaker 2: threw my soul into it. I loved it. I met

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Speaker 2: amazing people, and you're right, we gained a lot of

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Speaker 2: traction those last three or four weeks. I won on

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Speaker 2: election day, but I lost by three thousand votes. So

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Speaker 2: what did I learn? I learned first and foremost. I

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Speaker 2: think the thing I did at the end is I

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Speaker 2: kind of threw caution to the wind and I was myself.

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Speaker 2: And I know that sounds pretty basic, but when you've

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Speaker 2: never run for office before, you get a lot of

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Speaker 2: great advice. It's well meaning, but sometimes you forget to

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Speaker 2: just be who you are. So I'm really trying to

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Speaker 2: remember that this time. The second thing is I learned

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Speaker 2: that I really didn't have enough time to listen and

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Speaker 2: learn from Rhode Islanders. It was an eleven month campaign.

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Speaker 2: Most of it I was stuck on zoom because of COVID,

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Speaker 2: and so I've really spent the last three plus years

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Speaker 2: getting out meeting people in their living rooms and their kitchens.

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Speaker 2: When I do, you know, when you're running for office,

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Speaker 2: people you walk in a room and people expect you

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Speaker 2: to talk at them. But what I've been able to

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Speaker 2: do is listen. And usually when I'm in these groups,

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Speaker 2: I go around the room and I say, I'd love

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Speaker 2: to know who you are, what you do for work,

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Speaker 2: and tell me one thing you'd really love the next

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Speaker 2: governor to do. And I mean the ideas are tremendous,

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Speaker 2: they're great. I've learned a lot from people, and so

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Speaker 2: that has been really uplifting and motivating, and I think

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Speaker 2: inspiring for me to work for the people of Rhode

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Speaker 2: Island and make sure we make this state as great

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Speaker 2: as it can be, because you'll appreciate this terror. You know,

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Speaker 2: if I do an hour hour session in someone's living room,

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Speaker 2: about fifty minutes of it is people griping. You know,

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Speaker 2: it could be like the little stuff, the big stuff,

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Speaker 2: really good ideas, but then about fifty minutes in someone

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Speaker 2: will always raise their hand and say, but gosh, I

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Speaker 2: love living here. You know, it's a great state. It's beautiful,

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Speaker 2: my family's here, and I just wish the state could

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Speaker 2: live up to its promise. You know, we have hope

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Speaker 2: on our flag. And so those are the stories that

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Speaker 2: are really motivating, motivating me as I run for this

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Speaker 2: office again.

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Speaker 1: So when when it's tough to you know, it's not

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Speaker 1: really affordable for a lot of people. So what's step

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Speaker 1: number one? If you get the job, how do you

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Speaker 1: make it more affordable than for people who are going

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Speaker 1: to work every day?

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Speaker 3: Specifically?

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Speaker 2: It's really true. Yeah, I'll tell you the number one

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Speaker 2: thing I've heard in all these sessions on the cast

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Speaker 2: and people feeling priced out is just the cost of housing.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I like to tell people that my

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Speaker 2: dad bought his first house in nineteen sixty three in

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Speaker 2: the Scranwich. He was a lawyer making ten thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: a year and he bought his first house for twenty thousand. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, you think of that the ratio of two

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Speaker 2: to one. And we now live in a state where

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Speaker 2: the average household makes ninety to one hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: a year and yet a house costs five hundred and

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Speaker 2: twenty thousand. I've met so many people who are my

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Speaker 2: age and their kids are living back home with them.

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Speaker 3: Right, But what can you do on day one?

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Speaker 1: And I can't stand that expression day one because nobody

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Speaker 1: gets anything done on day one. But what's the like

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Speaker 1: out of the gate? Say what specifically would you get out?

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Speaker 2: Be out of Yeah, and I'd love to come back

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Speaker 2: because I'm going to put a housing plan together very

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Speaker 2: soon with a lot of specifics, but is generally what

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Speaker 2: I would say is we need twenty four thousand more

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Speaker 2: units in this state, and I want to create a

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Speaker 2: much bigger supply of housing. Last year, we were fifty

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Speaker 2: feth in the country in the number of new houses

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Speaker 2: that got built per population. The governor loves to talk

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Speaker 2: about permitting and all these things, but the fact of

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Speaker 2: the matter is we were dead last. We've got to

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Speaker 2: produce more homes. I think there's a way to do

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Speaker 2: that that's different than the traditional method that provides homes.

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Speaker 2: Let's say in the three hundred and fifty thousand dollars range.

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Speaker 2: Still a family making ninety to one hundred thousand can

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Speaker 2: afford it. And that's the focus that I'll be having,

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Speaker 2: along with many other ways, just to take the burden

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Speaker 2: off people. I've met families that have been kicked out

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Speaker 2: of their apartments because they missed a rent payment. There's

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Speaker 2: a lot of things that we can do, and I'm

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Speaker 2: really looking forward to talking about all those ideas and

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Speaker 2: having all the specifics.

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Speaker 1: And while the governor has to deal with everything that's

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Speaker 1: going to get thrown at him with you know, the

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Speaker 1: Washington Bridge saga, You've got the CVS and I'm seeing

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Speaker 1: people on the texting line say, you know, well, she

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Speaker 1: was involved with the opioid crisis, and you know, how

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Speaker 1: do you get around that or.

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Speaker 3: Just push through it. I've asked you this before, but

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Speaker 3: I don't know if it's shifted.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. No, it's so important, and this is an example

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Speaker 2: where that the governor always puts politics over everything else.

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Speaker 2: It's politics crazy season every session. I share with people

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Speaker 2: that under my watch when I took over in twenty fourteen,

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Speaker 2: the crisis was raging. Under my watch, we had an

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Speaker 2: almost forty percent reduction in opioids that we dispensed because

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Speaker 2: we did more than anyone in the country. I'll give

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Speaker 2: you two quick examples. We cut off over six hundred

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Speaker 2: pill mill docks that we knew were pumping bad prescriptions

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Speaker 2: into the system Sadly, those patients could walk down the

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Speaker 2: street when we stopped them and get them at other stores,

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Speaker 2: but we cut them off. We had the biggest drug

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Speaker 2: take back the country's ever seen. Also, under my watch,

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Speaker 2: we walked away from two billion dollars in cigarette sales.

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Speaker 2: So the idea that we put profits over people when

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Speaker 2: we were willing to do that just flies in the

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Speaker 2: face of the facts. And I think as people hear this,

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Speaker 2: they understand it's politics. The governor loves to say it

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Speaker 2: was me, it wasn't CBS. That's crazy. Never you know,

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Speaker 2: I've never been named in any of these things. And

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Speaker 2: I think it's also dangerous to go after the biggest

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Speaker 2: employer in the state. You know, he ran, has bro

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Speaker 2: out and now he is threatening CBS. But mostly I

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Speaker 2: want people to know that I took this incredibly seriously.

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Speaker 2: This is something I've met and I have friends who've

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Speaker 2: lost kids to the crisis. This is not a political thing.

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Speaker 2: This is something we should all care deeply about. And

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Speaker 2: driving an almost forty percent reduction under my watch is

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Speaker 2: something that I am in fact quite proud of because

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Speaker 2: we did more than anyone in the country, and.

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Speaker 1: Just real briefly, the last time I spoke with you,

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Speaker 1: I just wanted a yes or no, really, and you said, yes,

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Speaker 1: you will have an inspector general.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, absolutely. Look you look at our there's so

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Speaker 2: many things that we really need to get under the

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Speaker 2: hood on. But we're a state where we got millions

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Speaker 2: of dollars during the Biden administration and COVID and we

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Speaker 2: have nothing to show for it. When I ask people,

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Speaker 2: how do you feel about this? No one knows where'd

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Speaker 2: that money go. That's such a simple thing we should

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Speaker 2: expect an inspector general to look at for us. Never

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Speaker 2: mind the fact that our budget is now up forty

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Speaker 2: percent from five years ago, and so there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of opportunity with an inspector general. Many many ways we

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Speaker 2: can structure. It doesn't have to be expensive. We just

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Speaker 2: have to make sure that the money we're spending is

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Speaker 2: actually going to the people who need it.

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Speaker 3: All right, listen, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: I know you had some things that you wanted to

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Speaker 1: get out, so I think you did, and we'll have

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Speaker 1: you on again and as the world turns here in

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Speaker 1: Rhode Island politics. Appreciate you time, Helene Vano.

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Speaker 2: Folks, Thanks Sarah, take you guy,