Scandals shook a political culture that had tolerated corruption. Between 1986 and 2006:
- Mob connections entangled Chief Justice Joseph Bevilacqua.
- Pay-to-play contracts destroyed trust in Gov. Edward DiPrete.
- Insider conflicts-of-interest protected RISDIC (Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation) until the insurer collapsed.
- Special bills awarded state pensions at cut-rates to people who never worked for the state.
- Chief Justice Thomas Fay and Court Administrator Matthew Smith built a patronage mill in the Supreme Court.
- Two mayors and a judge were caught by the FBI and went to federal prison.
- A landfill administrator who stopped giving jobs to connected insiders was fired.
- A utility regulator who challenged an insider bill to restructure electric utilities had his pay slashed.
- A legislative leader drained a lake, pressuring the state to buy it from him.
- A special prosecutor and executive director of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission were thrown out.
- Redistricting revenge purged a faction of state senators, fractured communities, and cost millions.
- Abuses of power toppled House Speaker John Harwood.
- Secret payments flowed from CVS and BlueCross to senators who killed “pharmacy freedom-of-choice” legislation.