James Thorsen, the now-former administration director, and David Patten, Rhode Island’s director of division of capital asset management and maintenance.
One of the officials accused of making racist and racist comments while visiting Philadelphia on business, has resigned, according to the Boston Globe.
David Patten submitted his resignation as director of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance on Thursday at the request of the Rhode Island governor.
Last week, Rhode Island Governor Dan Mckee's administration released an email alleging inappropriate behavior by top state officials during a business trip in March.
According to reports from WJAR, the email alleged that the behavior was “blatantly sexist, racist, and unprofessional." and that it "reflects incredibly poorly on the state of Rhode Island and their leadership.”
An executive at Scout, the company that has a redevelopment contract for a project in Providence, sent the email to administration officials.
“We are writing to you to outline a series of bizarre, offensive and unprofessional actions for Director David Patten and Director Jim Thorsen on their visit to Philadelphia on Friday, March 10th. We are embarrassed, shocked, and quite frankly at an impasse for how to work with people who are so blatantly sexist, racist and unprofessional. This reflects incredibly poorly on the State of Rhode Island and their leadership. There were many off-color, bizarre, and concerning remarks, but we are going to focus on the two most egregious racist examples to hopefully shed light on the situation,” the email said.
The emailed continued describing the demands by Thorsen and Patten to the company which included asking for beverages, and reservations for a Michelin Star restaurant while making references to "$55M in funding" to every demand.
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“During our visit Patten stayed speaking with an employee and they offered him a pair of sneakers from their stock. Upon receiving the sneakers, he apparently said ‘Are these made in China? I hope not, because I really hate China’ – and then proceeded to direct his attention to a female Asian staff member in the room ‘no offense, hun.’ The CEO is livid and has asked for their information to file a public complaint if these are government officials. He is also married to a Chinese woman and has two half-Chinese children,” continued the email.
Patten had been on paid leave since March 13 and Thorsen left his position at the end of April, according to WJAR.
The Governor's Office said in a statement that “Our office has reviewed the Attorney General’s decision and we appreciate the acknowledgment that ‘the record indicates that the Governor’s Office applied the balancing test in good faith.’"
