Issue Position: Economic Development in Rhode Island

Issue Position

I have seen the failed attempts of reviving our state's economy over the past several years. There have been "EDC Loan Guaranty Programs" in an attempt to lure "new industry" to our state, there have been initiatives taken my the majority party who controls the state that have been given titles like "Moving the needle", "Solving RI's Job Crisis" and other such initiatives. The one common element in all of these efforts has been that they do not seek to address the CAUSE of our state's economic devastation, but rather seek to find a "silver bullet" to miraculously bring us out of the economic mess that we are in.

I believe that these efforts have all been wasteful of time, taxpayer money and have all failed our citizens greatly. My personal approach to problems like these - and I am grateful to have a group of like-minded individuals in the small Republican Caucus who share my approach, is to seek out the route cause of the problem - fix that, and let the symptoms go away on their own.

For the past 3 years the Republican Caucus has used the time between legislative sessions to study reports, audits, articles, studies and other data backed resources to isolate the areas where Rhode Island can make changes to current laws or policies and by doing this, we will create a fertile environment for prosperity.

Make no mistake - I believe that personal prosperity is a good thing. I believe that our towns, and our state should be more interested in getting out of the way of businesses and letting them do what they do best - make money. While many people spend a lot of their focus on "hating the rich" and blaming successful people for all of societies woes, I have a different viewpoint. I understand that when individuals are successful in their business ventures, then they breed prosperity and success to those around them.

The House Republican Caucus has introduced bills that if passed, would address several of the key issues that study after study has shown to be the problems in our state. We believe that attacking that route cause will make RI more attractive to businesses and that will allow us to lower our taxes, retain more of our residents, retain our college grads, and rebuild Rhode Island into the great state it once was.

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