Guest MINDSETTER™ Girouard: How Well Have Our Incumbents Led?
Tuesday, November 01, 2016
I have lived in Newport for more than 30 years, and have no plans to leave, not even for 6 months and a day. Driving over the Newport and Jamestown bridges always reminds me of what a special place our islands really are. One might even use the word paradise. I know I have. In many ways living in the magnificence of the Newport and Jamestown, and many other areas in Rhode Island shields us all from the reality of the crises that face our state.
We elect our legislators to represent us up on Capitol Hill and look out for our cities and towns. That said, these leaders have a much more ominous job which is to protect, sustain and grow our state. If Rhode Island is not fiscally solvent this will have a far greater negative impact on our cities and towns than anything our legislators could ever do directly for the district they represent.
How well have our incumbents led?
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhen we all go to the voting booths on November 8t we must ask the question >> How well have our incumbents led?
To best answer that question one must look at Rhode Island compared to other states, both regionally and nationally. The foundation for any state economy is the health of its business community. Rhode Island must be competitive in order to sustain her economic viability. When Governor Raimondo delivered her inaugural address in January, 2015 she stated the following: “ ... In just the last year, we've had the highest unemployment rate in the country for nine straight months. We've been 49th among states where companies want to do business … and dead last for helping entrepreneurs ...”. This was, and is, a true and sobering statement!
The CNBC study came out again this year and Rhode Island ranks 50th, a position they have held several times in the last 6 years. Sprinkle these data with the fact that Rhode Island is one of two states losing population, one of two sanctuary states, has one of the most generous welfare programs, its capital city is essentially bankrupt, and headlines of corruption continue to lace the front pages of our papers and newscasts, and this begs the question >> How well are we being led?
There does not seem to be any appetite for a change in Rhode Island’s culture from leadership as they continue to look for new sources of revenue, like tolls and gambling, to feed their insatiable appetite to spend, rather than run government more efficiently and business friendlier. Our state budget continues to grow every year, and is now set at $9Bn which represents nearly twice the per capita spending than New Hampshire.
Rhode Island’s reality must be placed squarely at the feet of leadership, especially on the heads of those leaders that have held high legislative positions for any length of time. For example, in the Jamestown/Newport district, this points squarely at Senate President Theresa Paiva-Weed. First elected to the Senate in 1992, and Senate President in 2009, she has done little to move the Rhode Island competitive needle. Her “tenured” position is buoyed by spreading around monies from legislative grants to endear her to local voters by throwing them a few bones in order to deflect their thinking from the more serious strategic issues that face Rhode Island.
Regarding other area incumbents, over the last session Rep. Lauren Carson voted with leadership 99.2% of the time, Rep. Marvin Abney 98.2% and Rep. Deb Ruggiero 87.7%. When you consider the report card of Rhode Island’s reality, senior leaders are not getting the job done, and their flock is following right behind them lock, stock and barrel.
Rhode Island is on life support! There is a significant amount of data from objective sources that support this statement. If you care about the health of our state, and subsequently the health of our cities and towns, consider these facts when you walk into the voting booth next month. How well have our incumbents really led?
Larry Girouard is a Newport resident and past President of the RI Taxpayers.
Related Slideshow: Seven Big Surprises So Far in the 2016 Election Season in RI
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