Ken Block

Kenneth J. Block (born October 11, 1965) is an American businessman, software engineer, and political reformer.

Block began his career writing software for Wall Street trading desks during the late 1980s.

He was employed by the Bank of New England and worked at small software consultancy firms Dalcomp Corporation and LOBB Systems.

He graduated from Milford High School in 1983 and then attended Dartmouth College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science four years later.

In 1991, Block moved to Rhode Island to work for the Providence-based GTECH Corporation.

Although initially a one-year consultancy, he stayed with the company for another six years.

In 1995, Block was able to save the state of Texas over $1 billion by developing a new statewide debit card system.

From 1995 to 1999, Block was president of Kinetic Consulting, Inc., a software consultation firm that worked with state agencies to identify government waste and abuse as well as improving the overall efficiency of their spending programs, until the dot-com bust forced him to close the company.

In 2001, Block founded Simpatico Software Systems, a data mining service used by government agencies and private businesses to track waste and fraud.

Additionally, it supplies software services to the SNAP program.

Similar to his first company, Simpatico Systems also provided engineering and consulting services.

Its clients have included the EVERTEC and GTECH Corporations, Northrop Grumman, and the state government of Texas.

In Texas, Block's company developed a statewide debit card system for food stamp and welfare recipients that saved the state more than $1 billion.

Two years later he created a second company, Cross Alert Systems, which manufactures "intelligent" traffic systems for recreational trail and public road intersections.

In 2007, Block decided to enter the Rhode Island political scene.

In later interviews, Block said that he entered politics out of frustration with the state government's inability to solve Rhode Island's declining economy and education system.

He was particularly concerned that his children were not getting a quality education in public schools and, like many young Rhode Islanders, would eventually have to leave the state due to high unemployment.

He also noted the difficulty for small business owners to operate in the state and that the high tax rate forced many companies to relocate to Massachusetts and elsewhere.

As a longtime business owner himself, Block believed many of these problems could easily be fixed though basic fiscal responsibility and "common sense" leadership.

Disillusioned with both the Democratic and Republican parties, who he felt were more concerned battling over social issues, Block believed that starting a centrist-based third-party would be the best option.

His political affiliation is unknown before 2007, however, Block has stated his admiration for former RI Governor Bruce Sundlun.

His court battle to gain official state recognition for the Moderates in 2009 overturned several unconstitutional laws and made it easier for third parties to gain signatures and access election ballots.

In a highly contested four-way election, Block received 6.5% of the vote in the Governor's Race.

He is the founder of the Moderate Party of Rhode Island, the state's third-largest political party, and ran as the Moderate candidate for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2010 election.

While leader of the Moderate Party, Block was an advocate for economic, educational, and political reforms in Rhode Island.

Block emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the Rhode Island General Assembly in the aftermath of the 2010 elections.

He publicly opposed the controversial $75 million loan and subsequent taxpayer bailout of 38 Studios, the taxpayer-funded redevelopment the Superman Building, and introduction of the Sakonnet River Bridge toll.

Block has also called for the elimination of the "master lever" from election ballots which he argues creates voter disenfranchisement and unfairly benefits larger political parties.

He eventually created MasterLever.org to explain his position and enable the public to contact state officials via e-mail.

As a small business owner, Block has run several software companies which have worked with state governments to identify fraud and government waste in social service and welfare programs.

Shortly after the 2010 election, Block offered his company's help free of charge to find waste and fraud in Rhode Island's entitlement programs.

He was subsequently involved in the state's Medicare waste and fraud report as well as assisting the Providence Police Department's fraud unit to better access state records in late 2012.

Police investigators have claimed that the new computer software will help detect millions of dollars in fraud.

He also served as president of RI Taxpayers, a taxpayer advocacy and watchdog group, until his resignation in May 2013 when he announced his candidacy for governor in the 2014 election.

In October 2013, Block announced that he had joined the Rhode Island Republican Party and intended to challenge Cranston Mayor Allan Fung in the upcoming Republican primary.

He based his campaign on a plan to save Rhode Island taxpayers $1 billion by eliminating wasteful spending.

In November 2020, Block received a phone call from the Trump Campaign to hire him to find evidence of election fraud.

Block wrote a book about the experience, “DISPROVEN: My unbiased search for voter fraud for the Trump campaign, the data that show why he lost, and how we can improve our elections,” which will be published by Simon & Schuster on March 12, 2024.

Kenneth J. Block was born and raised in Milford, Connecticut.

The oldest of three children, Block's family lived in the same house as his grandparents.