State Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch isn’t waiting for Governor Carcieri to provide answers on the state’s contracts with private staffing companies.

Yesterday, Lynch launched his own attempt to get answers, filing a Freedom of Information request with the state Department of Administration, seeking access to “any and all records” on contracts with private staffing companies back to 2003.

“These are public jobs, paid with taxpayer money,” Lynch said in a news release announcing his request. “Rhode Islanders deserve to know whether these positions were appropriately posted and advertised, or if the Carcieri administration contracted with private staffing agencies as a means of side-stepping public hiring practices.”

The request came one day after The Journal reported details of an $8.4-million, four-year contract with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., a Massachusetts-based engineering consulting company. Among the 36 workers provided by the company was a typist for whom the state was paying the company $102,858 a year.

Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said Lynch is playing politics and ignoring the fact that these types of contracts, sanctioned by federal law, did not start with Carcieri’s administration.

“The governor is pleased that we learned about this appalling contract and he is working to change it,” Neal wrote in response to Lynch’s request.