Now that the dust has settled on the outcome of the years-long probe into whether Governor Dan McKee abused his power as the state’s leading administrator while doling out a $5-million educational consulting contract, it is worthwhile to assess what lessons we have learned as a result of the investigation.

While Attorney General Peter Neronha found evidence that Gov. McKee had personally “steered” the contract in the direction of a consulting firm that had just been incorporated shortly after his rise to governor, which was led by people he had prior working relationships with, and which went against the recommendations of his own staff to award it to another bidder — the level of evidence did not ultimately satisfy the lofty requirements to bring about any criminal charges.

This, as Neronha explained, was because there was no clear evidence that McKee received any concrete favors or services in exchange for awarding the contract to ILO Group. Simply put, there was no smoking gun revealing a “quid pro quo” had taken place.

But to take the outcome of this situation as a victory and exoneration of the governor’s actions and approach to this situation — and for the governor to use it as an opportunity to throw shade at the attorney general for doing the job he is elected to do — amounts to a severe disservice to the people of Rhode Island who expect and deserve better out of their elected officials.

In this instance, the attorney general appeared to be stuck in between a rock and a hard place. The evidence showed at the very least that the governor exercised authoritative control that approached or breached into the realm of the unethical. However, such moral ambiguity does not make a compelling legal argument, and certainly does not provide enough assurance to pursue a scandalous criminal case against a sitting governor.

We are encouraged that Common Cause Rhode Island is pushing for an independent review of this case by the state Ethics Commission, which would have the authority to levy a penalty for a possible ethical breach that the attorney general is not at liberty to explore. For the sake of trying to restore public trust in government — which multiple studies show is at an all-time low among both sides of the political aisle — we urge the commission to engage in that exercise.

One thing is certain as the result of this whole ordeal. We need better legislation dictating how bid procurement occurs in this state. Enabling elected officials to wheel and deal behind the scenes in emails and text messages that are invisible to the public eye is not an environment conducive to transparent, trustworthy government work.

Seeing the words “fixed bid” in communications between people with direct ties to people of power who are seeking contracts worth millions of taxpayer dollars — regardless of whether it was poor humor, an exaggeration or whatever else you want to call it — will only serve to reinforce Rhode Islanders’ cynicism that our government will always function to serve the personal agendas of politicians and their allies rather than the people themselves.