1. What are your top 3 legislative priorities, and why do you feel that these are the most important on which to focus?
Ill-prepared workforce
High taxes
Intrusive government
2. How do you distinguish yourself from your opponent?
I am a better fit for the position because the things I am focused on are the important things that will keep people in Rhode Island – education, jobs, and an improved business climate. In my three terms in the legislature, I was a leader in the effort to mandate full-day kindergarten so that all children in Rhode Island can get a good start to their school career, and sponsor of legislation requiring federal background checks on contract employees in schools to ensure that kids are safe when they go to school. I am a strong supporter of ensuring that all schools have security measures in place and having a resource officer at school for the entire school day from before start time until after dismissal. I have been a strong supporter of tax policy to exempt retirement income, to make it easier for retirees to stay in Rhode Island instead of fleeing to more tax-friendly states. I have been a strong voice for the business community and a more vibrant economy, so our children don’t have to flee to other states looking for good jobs after high school or college. My “progressive” opponent has issues she cares about, but most of them do nothing to address our declining population, low economic standing compared to other states and that Rhode Island is perennially the first in and last out of economic recessions. Rhode Island has spent decades and millions of taxpayer dollars working to get the social contract figured out – now it is time to focus on economics if this state is to succeed as a great place to live and work and stay.
3. Our Governor has been very vocal in criticizing President Trump and his agenda. Do you agree with her, or do you feel we should be supporting him?
This is not an issue on which we should decide who represents us in other elective offices.
4. Do you feel it’s important/appropriate for our State Rep. to be involved in town politics/issues? Why or why not? If you do feel it is important/appropriate, in what ways would you be involved?
We elect a School Committee to oversee our schools. We elect a Town Council to oversee our town. We elect State Representatives and Senators to represent us at the state level. As a State Representative, I have no power over what the Town Council or School Committee (or State Senate for that matter) do, but these bodies occasionally need legislative help with their agenda or information from state agencies. I am happy and obligated to help in these circumstances. But the job of state representatives in the House and Senate is not to decide matters that legally must be made by elected town officials.
5. Do you have any plans on how to recruit more businesses to Rhode Island and, more specifically, our district? Do you have a vision on other ways to grow Rhode Island’s economy?
Business does not move to the South because the weather is better. Rhode Island is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and the center of manufacturing, but we have failed to prepare our workforce for the new economy. And for those companies doing manufacturing, we have made Rhode Island one of the costliest places in the U.S. to do business. A Rhode Island revival will be led by a demonstrably prepared workforce, a recognition that cost of doing business matters, and that key decisions can’t rely on an “I know a guy” mentality. In addition to being attractive to lure in outside businesses, we must do more to lower the tax and regulatory burden on existing businesses that are already here and helping us pay the bills.
6. Do you support universal healthcare and/or Medicaid for all Rhode Islanders? Why or why not?
No. Do the math, and the answer becomes clearer. In Maryland where a similar proposal was under consideration, experts calculated that the state would have to levy a 10 percent payroll tax and charge a $2,800 fee for every man, woman, and child in the state to raise the needed $24 billion a year.” With a $44 billion budget as it is, a plan like this would bankrupt the state. It would be ruinous, and the math is no different in Rhode Island however desirable such a system might be.
7. Do you support codifying Roe vs. Wade to protect a woman’s right to choose in R.I. in the event the decision is overturned federally? Why or why not?
I am not a lawyer, but I have spoken with several lawyers, both pro-choice and pro-life on this issue. They all tell me Roe is in little real danger of being overturned. Planned Parenthood v. Casey settled the legal issue in 1992. What is more likely is the passage of limited abortion restrictions that be upheld even while Roe itself is unchallenged. But Roe never prohibited abortion regulation – it just said there is a legal right to it in certain (typically early) circumstances. Personally, I think certain interest groups – on both sides – are using the issues to scare people and fund raise off it. Abortion is a deeply divisive issue with very passionate advocates on both sides. Very few do not have an opinion on the issue, but for most, it is not their main priority or even in the top ten and I feel my role should be focused on the state’s deep economic problems.
8. Taxes in R.I. are pretty high. Do you feel lowering taxes is important? How would you make up the missed revenue and/or maintain services?
Pretty high? The state and local tax burden in Rhode Island is the 9th highest in the country. And asking how to make up “missed” revenue or maintain services suggests that everything stays the same. Some things have to change if the tax burden is to change. We can’t always choose the most expensive way to do things – which we tend to do. We can’t continue to think we can solve every problem by throwing money at it – which we tend to do. If nothing changes, then nothing changes. We must improve our ability to think outside the box and make some hard decisions – which we really haven’t done in the past at any level of government. Bottom line, with the high tax burden already in place, Rhode Island has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Engaged East Greenwich 