Her spokespeople won't say, but she has some big, controversial contributors there.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island: Do you know where your governor is today?

Gov. Gina Raimondo's public schedule says: "No public events scheduled."

But in response to a Journal inquiry, the governor's press office confirmed that the Democrat is in Chicago for a fundraiser.

Asked who is hosting this out-of-state money-raising event for Democrat Raimondo's 2018 reelection campaign, spokesman David Ortiz referred questions to the governor's campaign finance director, Kate Ramstad. Ramstad responded with this familiar statement: "Contributions to the governor's campaign will be detailed in the quarterly report that will be released at the end of July."

These quarterly filings do not, of course, require disclosure of the names of people who have opened their homes or corporate offices to Rhode Island politicos to help them raise money, though notations for "in-kind contributions" sometimes give a hint.

In a statement issued in mid-day in response to media inquiries about the Chicago trip, spokesman David Ortiz said: "No members of the Governor’s staff are traveling with the Governor. One member of the Governor’s executive protection detail is traveling with the Governor.''



And the state will be reimbursed by the governor's campaign account for "non-official'' travel costs of the Governor and her security personnel.

Getting in his digs, state GOP Chairman Brandon Bell said it is no secret "that Gina Raimondo will travel anywhere in the world to collect a check--especially now--to get as far away as possible from the odor emanating from the Pawsox deal."

So what intersections do Rhode Island — and Raimondo — have with Chicago?

Since the start of the 2014 campaign year, she has raised $87,648 from people who list Chicago as their address. That includes the $1,000-a-year maximum allowed from any individual from Michael Polsky, the founder and CEO of Invenergy, in both 2015 and 2016.

Invenergy is the Chicago company proposing to build a controversial $700-million natural gas-burning power plant in woodlands off Wallum Lake Road in Burrillville, which has drawn heated opposition and a thumbs down from the town council.

While there is there is support outside Burrillville for the project — from Raimondo and the state construction unions — there is also opposition from environmental groups that include the Conservation Law Foundation, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and The Nature Conservancy.

There is legislation awaiting action, by Rhode Island lawmakers, to prevent the state's Energy Facility Siting Board from issuing a final hearing on a project if designated agencies are unable to write advisory opinions because of an applicant’s failure to provide information. The latter bill was introduced in response to the Invenergy proposal.

“The bill would restore the integrity of the Energy Facility Siting Board ... and would prevent stonewalling by companies like [power plant developer] Invenergy,” said Jerry Elmer, senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, in an interview last month.

In July 2016, Raimondo went to the Burrillville High School auditorium to hear what residents had to say about the proposed plant. But while she listened politely and showed sympathy for their concerns, she did not signal a reversal in her longstanding position that the facility would create much-needed jobs in Rhode Island and help temper the state’s electric rates, which are among the highest in the nation.

“I’m for green energy and moving as fast as we possibly can from fossil fuels and towards cleaner sources of energy,” she said. “But I’m also for keeping energy prices as low as possible for the people of Rhode Island.''

Asked what role if any Invenergy had in Raimondo's Chicago fundraiser, the company's state government affairs manager, Harry Godfrey, said the Journal inquiry was "the first we are hearing of it."

A second Chicago connection to the Raimondo administration: the controversial no-bid award the state police gave Terrance W. Gainer Sr. LLC of Chicago to identify strategies to increase diversity in the agency’s ranks.

State Board of Elections records indicate, too, that Gainer’s niece, Bridget Gainer, donated $1,000 to Raimondo’s campaign in 2014. The two had discussed pension reform on a Chicago TV segment two years earlier.

At the time, Ortiz said that the governor’s counsel had recommended Terrance Gainer as a person with “deep” experience in the area, but that the governor had no connection with him.

Other recent Raimondo contributors with Chicago addresses identified their employers as: Madison Dearborn Partners, Kirkland & Ellis, Svoboda Capital Partners, PSP Capital, Henry Crown & Co., and the MacArthur Foundation.