Episode Twelve: Candidate Chat with Ken Block

View the full transcript.

Independent RI gubernatorial candidate Ken Block joins Sarah and Elizabeth for an in-depth conversation about Rhode Island's most pressing challenges — and what it really takes to solve them.

Topics covered:

• Why Ken can't vote in the primary (and why it would be a news story if he did)

• How his wife went from "hard no" to letting him run again

• His work investigating voter fraud for the Trump 2020 campaign — and what he actually found

• Subpoenas from Jack Smith, Fani Willis, and Ruby Freeman's legal team

• The housing affordability crisis: why it's the hardest problem to solve

• Why RI should stop charging bus fares ($9M is a rounding error in a $15B budget)

• The education crisis: 25% teacher absenteeism in Pawtucket, 25% student absenteeism in Warwick

• Why K-3 is the make-or-break window for educational outcomes

• The Mississippi Miracle and what Rhode Island can learn from it

• Fire department consolidation: 6 fire chiefs in Lincoln making more than NYC's fire chief

• 161 ladder trucks in RI — more than Chicago

• Why RI's 911 system is dangerously slow (Sarah's personal 911 story)

• The Washington Bridge failure: clogged drains with actual trees growing in them

• The $5 billion Medicaid problem and why nobody knows where the money goes

• $44,000/year health insurance and his plan for a regional New England marketplace

• The pension system: why rolling back reforms now would be catastrophic

• His advice for young people considering running for office

• The perfect Rhode Island day (Beavertail, seafood, and RISD)

• The closing question: what would Ken fix with a magic wand?

Guest: Ken Block, independent candidate for RI Governor Hosts: Sarah LaFontaine and Elizabeth Hammond Website: kenblock.com Find us: nspubliccomment.com | Instagram @nspubliccomment | Facebook: Public Comment North Smithfield