1. What qualifications would you bring to the Town Council? What has your involvement in town activities/politics been up to this point?
I have been an East Greenwich resident since 1984 and a homeowner in East
Greenwich since 1998. I have been a lawyer for 22 years and have been involved in
town programs for thirteen years. I have coached EGBA, EGSA, and EGLL for my three
children. I worked for Jack Reed in Washington DC before going to law school, and
have been active in local politics for years. I have made it a point to attend as many
town council meeting these last two years to keep myself well informed on all issues
facing the town.
2. What are your top three priorities if elected and how do you propose to achieve those goals?
My top three top three priorities if elected first is to eliminate the structural deficit in the
town’s budgets. The budget deficit in East Greenwich is caused by the fundamental
imbalance in town receipts and expenditures. This council fiscal irresponsibility will hurt the town in the near future and for a long time if not fixed. The second priority is to fund our East Greenwich schools properly. The schools will no longer be able to afford to
provide the programming that out students deserve if we continue to cut the programs
budgets. Finally, my third priority is to return to open politics, no more hidden agendas
and open meeting violations. I believe that our town should allow all its residents the
right to access to the documents and proceedings of the town, allowing for effective
public oversight.
3. What is your vision on ways to expand revenues and grow our local economy?
There are many ways to expand revenues and grow our local economy; first, we need to
develop our waterfront which is underutilized. We need to look at New England Tech
and other sources of revenue to keep our taxes down while maintaining a healthy town
atmosphere.
4. How will you ensure transparency and provide opportunities for constituent participation in local government? Does this include public access/scrutiny of the data and assumptions considered when making major policy decisions and structural changes? If so, how will you accomplish this?
To have transparency, one must simply be open and honest. The easiest fix in the town
will be transparency. Town council meetings will be open to the residents well as the
local press; all town business will be reviewed the residents and there will be honest and
open to discussion on all matters. Resident concerns will be heard before any
councilmember casts his or her vote so that the council can consider all points of views
when making important decisions.
5. Would you support amending the town charter to include a recall provision? Why or why not?
Although I normally would be in favor of recall elections, we have election every two
years. Therefore, the public has the ability to change the council quickly. To have a
recall election would be very expensive and by the time we had a recall the next election
cycle would be upon us. Also, how would it be done? Would the whole council have to
be recalled or just certain members? Based on the expenses and the fact that we have
elections every two years, I would likely be against it.
6. Do you feel lowering our taxes to be a priority? Under what circumstances would you be willing to raise taxes to the maximum of 4%?
No one ever want to raise taxes. However, I would rather choose to raise taxes than be
fiscally irresponsible and have structural deficit. To dip into a town’s rainy day fund, as
we did last year, will have a long term negative impact on the town. Having a rainy day
fund is critical, a lack thereof leaves the town vulnerable to the effects of a recession and
to one time emergencies. Therefore, I would not cut taxes if it will have a negative
impact on the future of our town.
7. To help determine whether East Greenwich taxpayers receive a good value for their money, do you think it would be worthwhile to conduct a comparative analysis of similar towns (i.e. Barrington, Portsmouth, Smithfield)? If so, how would you propose conducting that analysis?
Looking at other town’s budgets is a good starting point for East Greenwich. However, I
believe that each town is different in its assets and liabilities. Barrington and Portsmouth
have large waterfront areas, bringing in large revenue. East Greenwich, on the other
hand, has the nonprofit university, New England Tech, centered on one of the town’s
most valuable pieces of property. In conclusion, I believe that East Greenwich is a
unique town and must evaluate its budget, not solely based on other towns, but based
on the unique circumstances of East Greenwich.
8. Gayle Corrigan, our Town Manager and her appointment have been controversial. What is your position on her appointment, and how do you see us moving forward?
I was against the hiring of Gayle Corrigan as our Town Manager, and spoke out against
this at the town meeting at the high school. I do not like the direction the town is headed
and feel change is need on many different levels. Therefore, I would think it would be
very difficult to keep Gayle Corrigan as the town manager under these circumstances.
9. What are your thoughts on the five major labor contracts up for negotiation this year? Who should negotiate on behalf of the town and how do we safeguard the town’s interests while being fair to employees?
To maintain the status quo is likely not in the best interest of the town. However, I do not
feel that town employees are the enemies. We must treat our firemen, police and
teachers with respect. It is hard for our town workers to feel like respected members of
our town under these current conditions, seeing as they are under constantly under
attack. We must negotiate fair contacts for our town employees; there is definitely a path
to save money without turning our public servants into the enemy of the people.
10. What is your position regarding the Town’s relationship with the Fire Department, and what are your priorities relative to the Fire Department going forward?
The town’s relationship with the fire department is at an all-time low. Between the insults, the lawsuits and the childish rhetoric, nothing is being accomplished. I feel a new council needs to end the vituperative discourse. The next town council must engage in
negotiations in a respectful and fair manner; however, the council must ensure that the
contract is in the best interest of the town.
11. What actions taken by the current Town Council do you consider most effective/positive?
There are very little actions taken by the current Town Council that I consider effective or positive. We are in a structural deficit with our town’s budgets; our schools are
underfunded; there are no new revenue streams; we are spending money on lawyers
like drunken sailors; we are being sued; we are being fined; there is no transparency;
our council members insult town workers, the press, residents and other members at
town meetings. So the answer is none, there are no actions taken by the current Town
Council I consider effective or positive.
12. What new and exciting plans do you have for promoting East Greenwich as a great place to live and visit?
In order to promote East Greenwich, we need to undo all of the negative press that our
town has suffered over the last two years. East Greenwich was the shining town on the
mountaintop that all other towns wanted to emulate. Now, we have become the
punchline to a bad joke. In order for East Greenwich to go forward, we need to reset the
narrative surrounding our town. We must promote Main Street and its development. We
must market our waterfront and we must highlight the business opportunities on Route 2.
If this is accomplished, families will flock to East Greenwich because it once again will
become a town where people will want to live and raise their children.
13. And finally, the question that has been on everyone’s mind….what’s your current favorite TV show?
Game of Thrones and I am Jon Snow. 🙂
Engaged East Greenwich 