“Here lies where Rhode Island used to be…” I can only imagine a speaker at an event in the future pointing to an outdated map of the United States during a lecture on crime, corruption and the inevitable outcome of a state when voters continued to allow the same politicians and the same failed ideals to run a state year after year, election after election. Continual taxation, millions of dollars handed out to pet projects and the catering to and funding of whatever group can muster the most votes is a history in Rhode Island and who wants to change history. Instead of lowering corporate taxes and fees to attract business more taxes and fees are added to pay for a failed economy because cutting the pet projects, cracking down on the millions in welfare fraud, investing in solid investment funds and opening contract bidding doesn’t give you a guaranteed two more years in office. “What about the people of the state, the hard working tax payers” someone asks… “Oh them… well they either moved out of the state if they could or eventually all became dependent on welfare.”
Does this sound like a bad novel? It shouldn’t because it is exactly where Rhode Island is headed unless voters finally smarten up. We are yet again disgraced with the federal raid on the state house and the Speaker of the House’s home and law office. RI is the worst in unemployment, among the worst in income and property taxes and the most business unfriendly environment in the nation. We have State Representatives like my opponent that concern themselves more with making sure their own family members have state and city jobs, than standing up and fighting for the voters that put them in office. She and so many more on Smith Hill continually vote yes for more taxes, penalties and fees regardless of their promises to their constituents for fear they would fall from the grace of House leadership and their precious little spot on the floor of the General Assembly.
This is your wakeup call Rhode Island voters! A chance to end what mimics organized crime in our state house. One can only hope that more heads will roll with this investigation to give a breath of air to a dying state. It is time to vote for new blood in this September’s Democratic primary and in November in the general election. It is a time to vote for those that have no other intent except to fight for you the working man and woman that strive to provide a decent home and a future for your family. It’s time to vote for those that will stop pouring millions into the useless and favorited projects and organizations and put that money back into your pockets. It’s a time to vote for those that will eliminate and prosecute those that continue to defraud our welfare system, and it is time to vote for those that will speak out and fight for you regardless of how house leadership or anyone feels about it. It is time for integrity, perseverance and guts and this is your last chance, before someone somewhere in the not too distant future says… “This is where Rhode Island used to be.”
