Frank T. Caprio (born May 10, 1966) is the General Treasurer of Rhode Island. He was the first political candidate in the United States to use on-demand television to reach voters and one of the first candidates to launch an Internet TV channel for use in a political campaign in 2006.
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Frank T. Caprio is the eldest child of Joyce and Judge Frank Caprio, and he is the brother of Rhode Island State Representative David Caprio. He attended public schools in Narragansett, Rhode Island, and graduated from Bishop Hendricken High School in 1984, where he was a Providence Journal All-State Football and Baseball player. He earned a degree in economics from Harvard University in 1988. While at Harvard, Caprio was captain of the Harvard baseball team. He was an All-Eastern League outfielder in 1988,[1] and an All-Ivy League defensive back on the championship Harvard football team in 1987.[2] He played against Roger Clemens in a 1987 exhibition game[3] and was scouted by Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams. Caprio earned a J.D. at Suffolk University Law School in 1991 and passed the bar exams in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
As a lawyer, Caprio focused on corporate, tax, and finance issues. He worked as an in-house counsel at Cookson Group plc, a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange.
Caprio began his political career while a senior at Harvard, when he was 21 years old. He was elected a delegate from Rhode Island’s Congressional District 2 and attended the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. In 1990, while still attending law school, Caprio was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives for District 14 (Providence). He served two terms as a state representative, traveling by train between classes in Boston each morning and legislative sessions in Providence each afternoon.
Following those two terms, Caprio spent the next 13 years serving in the Rhode Island Senate, where he chaired the Senate Finance Committee in 2001–2002. In this position, Caprio saved an annual $5 million affordable housing program from being cut by the governor in 2001. He then proposed and implemented a plan to expand the $5 million to $10 million through an affordable housing bond. In 2006, he co-sponsored a bill to increase the annual $10 million bond to a $50 million affordable housing fund. The housing fund was approved by voters in 2006.
Caprio also led the debate on phasing out Rhode Island's capital gains tax, which would allow Rhode Islanders to have the nation’s lowest tax rate on their stock and real estate profits. This tax change became law in 2007. He was removed from his chairmanship by Senate leadership in 2002 as a result of his outspoken advocacy of the Separation of Powers amendment. After some of the Senate leaders were removed from office in 2003, the amendment passed the legislature and became law after a statewide vote. In 2004, Caprio was named chair of the Senate Commerce, Housing, and Municipal Government Committee.
On November 7, 2006, Caprio, the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party, was elected General Treasurer of Rhode Island, receiving 73% of the vote. He won by a larger margin than any candidate for a contested statewide office on the Rhode Island ballot in 2006.[4]
Caprio made Rhode Island history as the first candidate in the state to officially announce his candidacy via a multimedia broadcast that included television, Web, on-demand cable, and radio. This was done, he explained, because he wants his "vision for the treasurer’s office" to be accessible to "as many Rhode Islanders as possible in as comfortable a format as possible." [5]
Caprio was the first political candidate in the United States to use On-Demand Television in a campaign.[6] His television documentary, Caprio, the Biography, was available for free viewing throughout Rhode Island via Cox Communications's On-Demand program. He also launched one of the nation's first campaign internet TV channels.[7] Both the website and his television ads garnered awards.[8][9]
As Treasurer, Caprio has spared Rhode Island’s pension portfolio from the brunt of the current financial crisis. Months before the subprime mortgage crisis began to take a toll on banks, financial services companies and public pension funds, he began to minimize the State’s exposure to asset backed securities. Steps included conducting a competitive bidding process that expanded the number of qualified investment banks underwriting the State's bond transactions, and minimizing the State’s exposure to companies such as Bear Stearns.[10]
As part of his effort to ensure the health of Rhode Island’s pension system, Caprio proactively moved $1 billion from Quality D money market funds (with loose terms that could have allowed for investment in CDOs and SIVs) into Quality A institutional money market funds. This occurred before the subprime crisis began to shake financial markets. At the same time, Caprio moved approximately $150 million in high-yield investments into safe Treasury bonds, before the high yield market began to decline. Those moves paid major dividends as several other states face financial crises related to defaults and downgrades on subprime-related investments. [11] Rhode Island’s pension fund has maintained its 5-year average on investment returns in spite of the current economic turmoil.[12]
Caprio’s proactive approach to assessing and managing risk has helped ensure that the public funds managed by his office avoid the investment losses now plaguing other states.[13] In the midst of the 2008 market collapse, Caprio established a financial “SWAT team” of Rhode Island’s top financial minds to ensure the State’s protection from AIG’s collapse. [14]
Amid widespread recession in the United States, Treasurer Caprio was credited in April 2009 by regional newspaper the South County Independent with assisting South County Hospital through financial turbulence that left the hospital with substantial debt and a significant increase in interest expenses. With Treasurer Caprio's guidance, South County Hospital "increased payment rates and contributions, had higher patient volumes and controlled expenses -- leading to a more than $5 million increase in operating income over the last year."[15]
In 2007, Treasurer Caprio led Rhode Island's movement for economic divestment from the African nation of Sudan, whose governing power in Khartoum was accused by the international community of sponsoring genocide against citizens in the Darfur region.
Caprio made the legislation a top priority upon taking office,[16] and legislation requiring Rhode Island to divest from companies doing business with the Sudanese government was signed into law on July 26, 2007. [17] The new law made a bold statement against the companies facilitating genocide in Darfur, while maintaining a sound investment portfolio for Rhode Island. [18] Because of Rhode Island’s innovative divestment legislation, Caprio was called to testify before the United States Congress regarding federal legislation enabling state divestment from Sudan. [19]
Upon becoming Treasurer, Caprio signed on as a member of a national effort by a coalition of investors, state officials and environmental groups petitioning the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require publicly traded companies to assess and disclose the risks they face from global climate change. [20]
As Treasurer, Caprio has also overseen the CollegeBoundfund, Rhode Island’s 529 college savings plan. Under his leadership, the CollegeBoundfund received one of the country’s highest ratings in a 2008 national review of college savings vehicles.[21]
Caprio is married to Gabriella (DiGiacinto) Caprio and he has two children, Ashley and Frank II.
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  | Rhode Island Office of General Treasurer - Frank Caprio: Office of the General Treasurer: |
| | Project Vote Smart - Senator Frank T. Caprio (RI) - Project Vote Smart - Frank T. Caprio - Biography |
| | Follow the Money - Frank T. Caprio - Follow The Money | CAPRIO, FRANK T |
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