PROVIDENCE — A lawyer for Republican Ashley Kalus, the Rhode Island newcomer running for governor, is seeking court mediation of Kalus's high-profile contract dispute with the McKee administration.
Court spokesman Craig Berke confirmed on Friday that Stephen Del Sesto, a lawyer representing Kalus's COVID-19 testing company, has invoked a contract provision allowing the two warring sides to appeal to the presiding justice of the Superior Court for mediation, even though there is no lawsuit pending at this point.
Berke said Presiding Justice Alice Gibney assigned the matter to retired Judge Michael Silverstein, who has arranged a first conference for next week.
The dispute centers on the state's decision to cut short the $7.9-million contract it had with Kalus's company to do COVID-19 testing at one or more sites, including in the Westerly police station, and give the work to other companies already working under state contracts.
Days after the dispute reached a boiling point in mid January, Kalus - who last called Illinois home – registered to vote in Rhode Island for the first time on the road to announcing her bid to replace Democrat Dan McKee as governor.
She has alleged unspecified "waste, fraud and abuse" and painted herself and her company - Doctors Test Centers - as the victim of retaliation against a "whistleblower."
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