Don Roach: Allan Fung Needs to be RI’s Next Governor

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Don Roach, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

 

I usually try to take a balanced approach at things. Sure, I’ve shared with you some of my opinions and maybe you didn’t agree. However, I never want to be closed minded to other folks’ way of thinking. Unfortunately, today I’m going to be departing from my standard approach and am instead going to do my best impression of Al Sharpton/Pat Crowley propagandizing!

Ladies and gentlemen Rhode Island has a disease and Allan Fung is the cure.

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An honest Rhode Island approach

Allan Fung is Rhode Island through and through. As a Jersey kid who married a Providence College alum, when I first met Fung he was as difficult for me to understand and had as thick a Rhode Island accent as my wife. He doesn’t just understand the city of Cranston, it’s in his DNA. When I campaigned with him in 2010 he knew someone on just about every street and had some kind of story – some stories went back twenty or thirty years. I say all of this to say that Rhode Island needs someone who understands the problems we’re facing and has a stake in the solution. Fung is that man. Yes, I understand Chafee has deep roots in Rhode Island but I’ve never figured him to be a ‘man of the people’…if you walk around the city of Cranston with Fung you’ll see that he is such a politician. That type of relatability and honesty is a refreshing change our state needs.

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Fung didn’t lie to residents in 2009 when he raised property taxes. With state funding getting cut, there weren’t any other alternatives. He’s unfortunately had to the same in subsequent years as well. However, while he was making these tough choices mayors like Cicilline were pilfering rainy day funds and not creating or even making half-hearted attempts to create sustainable fiscal infrastructures for their communities. That’s why Providence faces bankruptcy while Cranston does not.

As governor, we can expect the same mature and reasonable approach from Fung. He won’t sugarcoat the situation for us nor will he downplay the significance of our financial crisis. Again, look at what ‘beating around the bush' financial transparency has gotten the capital city.

An innovator who can negotiate

Fung was the first mayor in the state to negotiate a defined contribution plan with a major union. New city employees are now on this plan (per Fung’s Web site) and it’s significant for a few reasons. First, Fung is a politician who is not afraid to try things differently. If something’s been done for years but isn’t working he’ll try and actually advance new methods. In this instance, he saw the pension issue and that it was/is draining the system and he came up with an alternative solution that would save the city in both the short term and much more so in later years. Too often our leadership has been encumbered by stale ideas and, apologies, retread solutions/political thinkers to deal with what we’re facing today. Fung is not only not hampered by such thinking he continues to seek innovative ways to address our problems (See Mayoral Academy also).

But even more important than developing an innovative plan is getting others to buy into that plan. Fung was able to do that with the city union and didn’t have to lie to them to get there. Let’s take Chafee who promised the world to the teacher’s union only to pull the rug out from under them through pension reform. Yes, we all know the current system wasn’t sustainable but Chafee – if you listen to Bob Walsh, et. al. – was going to work for them and not do what Chafee’s opponents were suggesting, namely wide scale pension reform that impacted existing retirees. But, Chafee did support such legislation and while I agree it needed to be done that’s not the Fung approach. Fung will ‘tell it like it is’ and has demonstrated the ability to negotiate with unions, not seeing them as the enemy. Has he won every battle? No. Does he have the best relationship with the firefighter’s or teacher’s union? No. But he’s always willing and able to come to the table honestly and without the bait and switch political maneuvering we saw with Chafee.

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It’s about trust

If I haven’t convinced you just ask residents in Cranston. The word that comes to mind is ‘trust’. Cranstonians trust Fung to do what’s right and make the best tasting lemonade out of the economic lemons we’ve been living the last half decade. Chafee’s campaign slogan in 2010 was “Trust Chafee” and I wonder how Bob Walsh and the rest of the NEA feel about that right now. Fung made no promises he knew he couldn’t keep to get elected and if he runs for governor in 2014 I don’t expect him to start.

Can we put a price tag on that level of honesty?

Let’s pause for a moment. Would you rather a politician you could negotiate with, not always agree with, but always trust that you’d get an honest answer OR a politician who agreed to your face almost always, rarely took advice from others, and made decisions that caused you to scratch your head more than a few times?

It’s a rhetorical question because the answer is Allan Fung for governor in 2014. It’s not only the best choice for Rhode Island, it’s the only choice.

Don Roach is a member of the RI Young Republicans and is not on Allan Fung’s payroll. He can be reached at [email protected].

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