Despite probe, Caprio stands by work

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Former Democratic General Treasurer Frank Caprio is defending the work of his old office amid an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into the state's bond offerings during his leadership.

The SEC has probed several states and municipalities about how they disclose their pension liabilities to bond buyers, and in January informed new state treasurer Gina Raimondo it was looking into the offerings in Rhode Island. In his only interview since the investigation was made public, Caprio told The Associated Press this week that people outside his office were responsible for making proper disclosures to bond buyers.

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"We rely on legal firms that are charged with drafting and standing by those documents. It's not something that is worked on by a team of bureaucrats inside the Statehouse," he told the AP.

He said he has not been contacted by the SEC and added that he encouraged the agency's work to ensure a more standard disclosure process for bond offerings, which he said had already been productive in other states.

Caprio also praised Raimondo, who is working to come up with a more accurate estimate of the state's unfunded pension liability, which Caprio's rivals accused him of understating during the campaign. Caprio said he feels part of the effort because of work he did last year to launch a review.

"The work that we did in the treasurer's office, I'll stand by," he said. "I look back on those years as very productive years."

A spokeswoman for Raimondo's office did not return messages seeking comment.

Caprio's Republican opponent in last year's gubernatorial election, John Robitaille, told the AP this week that Caprio failed to use his four years at the helm of the general treasurer's office to raise the alarm about a looming pension crisis in the state. Caprio said that to the contrary, he took several steps to fix the system, including promoting a new hybrid system that would combine elements of a 401(k) plan with a pension plan as a way to save the state money.

"I raised the alarm loud enough that I had every teacher's union, and most of the state employees not willing to support me," he said.