The candidates for Governor owe it to Rhode Islanders to outline a plan that will revive the economy and lower our unemployment rate, believes Russell Moore.
I was having dinner with a friend last Thursday evening when I had the pleasure of meeting someone I consider a true Rhode Island public servant—a self-made businessman.
Sam Khouri is a Warwick resident who works about as many hours as there are in a day. An auto mechanic with a shop on Warwick Avenue, Khouri, with the help of a business partner, did what successful businessmen do back in 2008—he took a big, calculated risk.
At the height of the national recession, which plagued Rhode Island as hard as anywhere except for maybe Detroit, he threw everything he has on the line and opened up the Top of the Bay restaurant in Warwick’s Oakland Beach section.
Top of the Bay had previously been known as Cherry Stones, and had gone through several owners over the previous several years. Almost 5 years later, the restaurant is going strong as ever, employing people, turning a profit, and paying taxes. But don’t think for one second that it’s been easy.
Top of the Bay’s property tax bill was roughly $25,000 when he took over. Last year his bill was about $32,000. And those are just the taxes—not to mention the bills that go up. Like so many other businesses across Rhode Island, Khouri just has to do more with less.
“When taxes go up, I can’t just go and raise prices to make up the difference. That’s not how things work,” said Khouri. “It comes out of the bottom line.”
Despite challenges, just a couple months ago, Khouri took over another long-standing Warwick restaurant—Bassett’s Inn, and renamed it Sam’s Inn. Thus far, business is booming. But as Khouri will be the first to admit, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.
Khouri tells me the time away from his one-year-old is tough, but his wife is very understanding, which makes it not so bad.
All shapes and sizes
Public service comes in all shapes and sizes. Nobody can tell me that the government bureaucrat is a public servant but a private sector business owner isn’t. Without the private sector, and the risk takers that keep the engine of commerce running, we wouldn’t have a public sector.
There’s this notion out there that public service means working for the government or for a non-profit. And undoubtedly, working for the government or a non-profit can very well be excellent public service. (It can also be antithetical to public service, as we’ve seen in so many corruption headlines.)
Who has the plan?
I’ll take the candidates for Governor at their word when they tell us how much they believe in Rhode Island. But I’m certain that Khouri, and so many others like him, believe in Rhode Island the most. They’re the ones who've put their money where their belief is and opened up businesses that everything else relies on.
Of course there’s a huge need and place for government. Without quality infrastructure like roads, bridges and highways, business won’t be able to function properly. Absent quality public education, our citizens won’t have the skills they need to be functional and competitive in a global economy.
And of course we owe it to our fellow citizens to provide a strong, reliable social safety net in order to give a hand up to those who fall on hard times.
Interconnectedness
But far too often it seems like the needs of the private sector get lost in our political dialogues. At times, it seems like we’ve lost sense of the interconnectedness of the two sectors. When we enact a policy that hurts the private sector (ie, a business owner like Khouri), we’re hurting our public sector as well.
Without a vital, thriving economy, there will be no money to fund the public sector. We can ignore that economic truth all we’d like, but we’ll continue to suffer the consequences as long as we do.
But when someone starts a business and employs people, and pays taxes, there’s no doubting that that too is public service. That’s why it would be nice to hear our candidates for governor outline some specific plans to address how they’ll, in concrete ways, improve the state’s business climate. Without a vital, thriving private sector, Rhode Island will never be able to afford, and therefore, deliver the government Rhode Island citizens need and expect.
We must do better
Rhode Island currently has the second highest unemployment rate in the whole nation—second only to Nevada, which lost tons of jobs when the tourism industry was hammered by the national recession (what’s our excuse?). Our unemployment rate is currently 9.1 percent. That means we’re 26 percent higher than the unemployment rate of Massachusetts, which is now at 7.2 percent. New Hampshire, their neighbors to the north, has an unemployment rate of 5 percent.
Clearly, we can do better. And anyone who argues we can’t is nothing short of a pessimist. The candidates for Governor owe it to Rhode Islanders to outline a plan that will revive the economy and lower our unemployment rate. It’s imperative, especially for our social services, that we improve our economic climate for businesses.
We’ll never thrive if we leave business owners like Khouri behind.
A native Rhode Islander, Russell J. Moore is a graduate of Providence College and St. Raphael Academy. He worked as a news reporter for 7 years (2004-2010), 5 of which with The Warwick Beacon, focusing on government. He continues to keep a close eye on the inner workings of Rhode Islands state and local governments.
Related Slideshow: 10 Questions Taveras Has to Answer When Running for Gov of RI
Can Taveras Keep Up with the Big Boys and Girls in Fundraising?
In America today, one issue that is a factor in nearly every election is fundraising. To date, Taveras has yet to demonstrate any consistent ability to keep up with the leading fundraisers in RI.
Taveras will have to compete with General Treasuer Gina Raimondo, who has $2 plus million on hand and a likely run from Clay Pell (grandson of US Senator Claiborne Pell and whose wife is Olympic skater Michelle Kwan).
Raimondo is on pace to raise $5m and Taveras presently has just $692,000 on hand and would be on pace to raise less than $2 mliion.
Pell's family has access to nearly limitless dollars - back in the 1990's Pell's grandfather was ranked as one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
For more than 60 years, no Providence Mayor has been successful running for Governor of Rhode Island. You have to go back to the 1950 election when Dennis Roberts was elected Governor.
Since Roberts, a number of Providence Mayors have taken their shot at running for Governor and each has failed mightily.
Most notably, Buddy Cianci's run against J. Joseph Garrahy - Cianci got less than 30% of the statewide vote.
Joe Paolino was expected to win the Democratic primary in 1990, but was beaten badly by Bruce Sundlun and then Warwick Mayor Frank Flaherty.
Sundlun went on to win the general election and Flaherty was later named to the state Supreme Court.
Can Teachers Trust Taveras - and Will Voters Trust His Relationship with the Teachers Unions?
In the midst of the city's political meltdown, Taveras just into his first few months in office fired all the teachers in Providence.
Taveras received strong public support, but within months he capitulated to pressure from the teachers' unions.
Three years later, he is emerging as the candidate of the teachers' union leadership. Will teachers trust him in a statewide race and will voters trust him if he is perceived as too close to union bosses?
Will Hispanics Vote as a Block in the Primary for Taveras? Are They Influential Enough in the General?
Conventional wisdom is that Angel Taveras will get a big boost from the Hispanic voting block in the primary, but more recently Council members Luis Aponte, Danian Sanchez and Sabina Matos have all openly battled with the mayor on his tax increases and efforts to close pools in low income wards around the city.
While Taveras can rebound and the impact may be large in the primary, the percentage of voters who are Hispanic in the general election is just 7% according to Pew Research:
Rhode Island’s population is 12% Hispanic, the 13th largest Hispanic population share nationally.
There are 54,000 Hispanic eligible voters in Rhode Island—which ranks 35th in Hispanic eligible voter population nationally. California ranks first with 5.9 million.
Some 7% of Rhode Island eligible voters are Hispanic, the 13th largest Hispanic eligible voter population share nationally. New Mexico ranks first with 39%.
Can Taveras Handle the Campaign Pressure and the Office Pressure of Governor?
Taveras had no experience as a chief executive in business or government before taking office in 2011 in Providence. He has increasingly gotten into some very non-productive scrapes.
In 2012, his law office delivered a document to GoLocalProv as part of a FOIA request and those documents included the social security number of every retiree of the City. Instead of taking responsibility he sent his lawyers to court to try to block GoLocal from writing about the mishandling of social security numbers. The judge ruled against Taveras.
In 2013, Taveras has tried to demolish a commuity swimming pool in South Providence because, according to Councilman Danian Sanchez, Sanchez would not vote for Taveras' tax increase.
Will Taveras be able to prove to voters he has the right stuff?
Can Angel Taveras Build a Political Base Outside of Providence?
While Taveras has a strong political base in Providence, it is unclear if he can build a strong political network in critical Democratic strongholds like Woonsocket, Pawtucket, East Providence, Johnston and North Providence.
It is well known that both Democratic Mayors in North Providence and Johnston have had a strained relationship with Taveras.
This strain has played out over critical matters like mutual emergency aid and in 2012, North Providence, Johnston and East Providence all cancelled emergency aid compacts with Providence.
When Taveras ran for Mayor he won the critical block of East Side Democratic women. Part of his success with this critical block of voters was the support he enjoyed from Democratic power Myrth York.
The two-time Democratic nominee for Governor went all in for Taveras in 2010, but she no longer is active in the inner circle and reportedly would have supported Governor Lincoln Chafee in the primary.
Taveras will need to compete with Raimondo who has already signed former EMILY's list bigwig Kate Coyne-McCoy.
In 2010, Taveras ran under the motto of "from Head Start to Harvard." His claim on the American dream proved a successful juxtaposition to two Democrats who had the same political base - Federal Hill (Steven Costantino and John Lombardi).
Now, Taveras may face the fresh-faced Clay Pell. His bio exceeds Taveras as he can claim the legacy of his grandfather's work and hit the circuit with his superstar wife, Olympian Michelle Kwan.
Can Angel Taveras Articulate a Vision for Rhode Island?
Taveras earned good scores for managing the City of Providence's financial crises, but never seemed to develop major policies for economic development, schools, parking, crime, reducing the cost of government or improving the efficiency.
The Superman building's closure happened on his watch, technology company Dassault Systèmes is moving out of Providence, and no major employers were recruited into the city other than the scrap yard on Allens Avenue.
Taveras will need to define a forward looking vision for Rhode Island.
Can Taveras Explain His Record on Crime and Education?
The biggest problem for Taveras is his record in Providence.
Most people care about the basics - their jobs, education for their children, how safe their neighborhood is. These vary questions could be Taveras' Achilles' heel.
The condition of Providence's schools may be worse. Of the 24 schools ranked as poor (de facto failing) in Rhode Island by the Department of Education, 6 of them were Providence Schools and in the rankings of the best high schools in the state, most of Providence's schools consistently litter the bottom of the rankings.
Taveras lead the city to win the $5 million Bloomberg award. But in a Governor's race one of Taveras' opponents is sure to ask, "Mr. Mayor, are you going to bring the same policies you used on crime and education in Providence to the rest of the state?"
