5Q: Ken Block |
Founder, Simpatico Software Systems
1. Why did you want to write the book “Disproven,” about your experience looking into Donald Trump’s election fraud claims? It is essential that the country understands the work I was asked to do, the results of that work and the actions taken by those who received my results. During the televised Jan. 6 hearings, I realized that my role in all of this would become public knowledge at some point and that I wanted my story told with my framing and not someone else’s. My work has been subpoenaed by prosecutors working for Jack Smith and Fani Willis, so my work will be in the public domain.
2. Do you miss running for office in Rhode Island? If I could have as much fun running for office as I did in 2010, I would run again in a heartbeat. The 2010 election, for me, was about ideas. My 2014 race was not. … We live in an uglier time now for those who serve in office. I’m not sure that the effort to win a job that is not enjoyable is worth it.
3. As a waste/fraud expert, where do you see problems with the current state government? Have things gotten better or worse over time? I have seen no obvious improvement in how our state government operates. Our government works hard to make it difficult for the media and public to get information. The Washington Bridge debacle clearly shows how unwilling our leadership is to bring accountability to those who fail in their public service jobs.
4. What is one egregious example of waste or fraud you found? A very public example that I can discuss is the work I participated in with the state of Texas SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] system – a debit card system for food stamps and other social service benefit programs. As a result of this work, we helped Texas save over a billion dollars in waste and fraud in those programs over a few years. … Rhode Island’s most recent implementation of this system, UHIP [Unified Health Infrastructure Project], appears to have cost the state more than half a billion dollars in cost overruns and incorrect payments.
5. What are the major challenges for entrepreneurs or business owners navigating the state’s business bureaucracy? Businesses continue to fear what harms the General Assembly will next create for companies and those who own and run them. Aside from Rhode Island’s well-documented high cost of doing business relative to other places, the threat of increased costs and burdensome new mandates threaten companies. Uncertainty is an enemy of businesses’ stability and makes for a poor business environment.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect title for the book Ken Block has written. It is titled "Disproven.")
