Candidate Survey Results

Results will be updated through November 2nd.

General Assembly Candidate Survey RESULTS

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As of November 1, 2010

Results currently received from Candidates for: House of Representatives Senate
While the following responses do not reflect all they have to offer as a candidate, the responses should help you by providing an indicator of their policy preferences.
State House of Representatives
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Name	Michael Chippendale	Thomas L. Clupny	Doreen Costa	Raymond E. Gallison Jr.	Al Gemma (Write-In Candidate)	Karin N. Gorman	Matthew A. Guerra
Candidate For	Representative District 40	Representative District 62	Representative District 31	Representative District 69	Representative District 20	Representative District 43	Representative District 46

Provide online access to legislative voting records	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
S3050 which provides cities and towns tools needed to reduce spending www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext06/senatetext06/s3050.htm	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislatively remove healthcare from collective bargaining agreements at the state and local levels	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more accessible for Rhode Islanders	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more affordable for RI businesses	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Reduce State spending without passing the burden to cities and towns	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legalize bi-weekly pay periods for RI private sector employers	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Restrict dedicated funds to designated purpose, eliminating transfers to the general fund	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Change RI unemployment insurance system to improve our 50th place position according to standards defined by the Tax Foundation	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Commit to mandating that state and local public pension programs for all employees who are not eligible to retire by June 30, 2011 be revised to prohibit compounded cost of living adjustments, cap cost of living adjustments at the lesser of the prior year Northeast Consumer Price Index or 3%, and apply benefit increases to only the first $18,000 of retirement income	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Initiatives to make Rhode Island a more business-friendly state	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Any additional comments or ideas that you would like to share	I am a small businessman who is running on the platform of tax reform, improving RI's business climate, creating jobs, and cleaning out corruption.	I support stronger E-Verify laws.			The Caruolo Act permits city and town school committees to sue municipalities they represent if they don't get the funding they requested from the taxing authority, along with the repeal of all unfunded state mandates are absolutely essential for reform. I have submitted this legislation many times over the years and I won't give up.	I believe there is tremendous waste in the Health & Human Service departments. I would like to focus on expanding the fraud units. We could save millions.	I believe Recertifying people collecting welfare can greatly reduce our state costs. Of course move to 401K plans
State House of Representatives Cont'd

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Back to top	Name	Arthur Handy	Robert Jacquard	Marco M. Lucci	Jan Malik	Anthony Mastrostefano
Candidate For		Representative District 18	Representative District 17	Representative District 41	Representative District 67	Representative District 74

Provide online access to legislative voting records		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
S3050 which provides cities and towns tools needed to reduce spending www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext06/senatetext06/s3050.htm		---	---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislatively remove healthcare from collective bargaining agreements at the state and local levels		Opposed	Opposed	In Favor Of	Opposed	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more accessible for Rhode Islanders		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more affordable for RI businesses		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Reduce State spending without passing the burden to cities and towns		---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legalize bi-weekly pay periods for RI private sector employers		Opposed	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Restrict dedicated funds to designated purpose, eliminating transfers to the general fund		---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Change RI unemployment insurance system to improve our 50th place position according to standards defined by the Tax Foundation		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Commit to mandating that state and local public pension programs for all employees who are not eligible to retire by June 30, 2011 be revised to prohibit compounded cost of living adjustments, cap cost of living adjustments at the lesser of the prior year Northeast Consumer Price Index or 3%, and apply benefit increases to only the first $18,000 of retirement income		Opposed	Opposed	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Initiatives to make Rhode Island a more business-friendly state		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Any additional comments or ideas that you would like to share				In anticipation of my victory I have already drafted legislation to limit the scope of collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, I have already prepared a Manufacturing Tax Incentive that will increase manufacturing activity in RI as well as increase overall revenues to the State.		I would also like to see the sales and income taxes lowered to below Mass and CT. I am terrified about the impact a possible 3% sales tax in Mass would have on Rhode Island businesses. I would like to see all inheritance tax in RI eliminated for direct descendants. I would like to see fiscal notes on all bills.
State House of Representatives Cont'd
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Back to top	Name	Daniel P. Reilly	Peter Petrarca	John A. Savage	Joel Tirrell	Richard Welch
Candidate For		Representative District 72	Representative District 44	Representative District 65	Representative District 59	Representative District 32

Provide online access to legislative voting records		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
S3050 which provides cities and towns tools needed to reduce spending www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext06/senatetext06/s3050.htm		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislatively remove healthcare from collective bargaining agreements at the state and local levels		---	In Favor Of	Opposed	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more accessible for Rhode Islanders		---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more affordable for RI businesses		---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Reduce State spending without passing the burden to cities and towns		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legalize bi-weekly pay periods for RI private sector employers		---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Restrict dedicated funds to designated purpose, eliminating transfers to the general fund		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Change RI unemployment insurance system to improve our 50th place position according to standards defined by the Tax Foundation		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Commit to mandating that state and local public pension programs for all employees who are not eligible to retire by June 30, 2011 be revised to prohibit compounded cost of living adjustments, cap cost of living adjustments at the lesser of the prior year Northeast Consumer Price Index or 3%, and apply benefit increases to only the first $18,000 of retirement income		---	In Favor Of	Opposed	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Initiatives to make Rhode Island a more business-friendly state		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Any additional comments or ideas that you would like to share						In these tough economic times the effect of S3050 on communities could make it impossible for them to do two things; keep up with asset protection because of deferred maintenance making it necessary for future asset protection to be funded by a bond. Communities that have reduced their budgets to zero or less than zero will be penalized by S3050 because they will not be able to raise the dollars needed on a smaller budget than those that raised their budget by the maximum amount. S3050 assumed that everything was in great shape and it wasn't and now communities will be bond for maintenance rather than having it in the budget. S-3050 also limits why a community would want new business since any new income from taxes would reduce the tax bill for the community but would not allow the community to cover any additional expenses caused by the new business for services. This is counter productive to what Rhode Island and our cities need, increased jobs and non-residential tax base to lessen residential property taxes. To make Rhode Island more business friendly to new business, especially from out of state, we must take care of the businesses that are currently in Rhode Island and not make better offers to those new comers than we would make to our present employers.
State Senate

Back to top	Name	Dave Bates	Geoff Cook	William Connelly	Stephen Gerling	Dawson Hodgson	Francis T Maher
Candidate For		Senate District 32	Senate District 13	Senate District 36	Senate District 18	Senate District 35	Senate District 34

Provide online access to legislative voting records		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
S3050 which provides cities and towns tools needed to reduce spending www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext06/senatetext06/s3050.htm		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislatively remove healthcare from collective bargaining agreements at the state and local levels		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more accessible for Rhode Islanders		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more affordable for RI businesses		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	---	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Reduce State spending without passing the burden to cities and towns		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legalize bi-weekly pay periods for RI private sector employers		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	---
Restrict dedicated funds to designated purpose, eliminating transfers to the general fund		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Change RI unemployment insurance system to improve our 50th place position according to standards defined by the Tax Foundation		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Commit to mandating that state and local public pension programs for all employees who are not eligible to retire by June 30, 2011 be revised to prohibit compounded cost of living adjustments, cap cost of living adjustments at the lesser of the prior year Northeast Consumer Price Index or 3%, and apply benefit increases to only the first $18,000 of retirement income		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Initiatives to make Rhode Island a more business-friendly state		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Any additional comments or ideas that you would like to share			Privatize services which the government have no right running.. RIPTA for instance. Making our sales tax structure competitive with Mass and Conn.	Who would not be in favor of accessible and affordable healthcare. Unfortunately it is more involved then a pro or con position and hasn't legislation created some of the accessibility and affordability issues.	I am in favor of S3050 in theory, but I warn that there are parts of the bill that allow obscurity as to the definition of an 'emergency' by which the cap can be over-ridden. (45-2-3.2) Questions 4 & 5: I am in favor of the underlined principles. This is not an endorsement of government-run health care or a single payer system.	Transition government employees to defined contribution retirement systems. Abolish the legislative grant program.
State Senate Cont'd

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Back to top	Name	Dr. Chrisotpher Ottiano	Dr. Mark Schwager	David Sullivan	William A. Walaska
Candidate For		Senate District 11	Senate District 35	Senate District 14	Senate District 30

Provide online access to legislative voting records		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
S3050 which provides cities and towns tools needed to reduce spending www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext06/senatetext06/s3050.htm		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislatively remove healthcare from collective bargaining agreements at the state and local levels		In Favor Of	Opposed	In Favor Of	---
Legislation to make healthcare more accessible for Rhode Islanders		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legislation to make healthcare more affordable for RI businesses		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Reduce State spending without passing the burden to cities and towns		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Legalize bi-weekly pay periods for RI private sector employers		In Favor Of	Opposed	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Restrict dedicated funds to designated purpose, eliminating transfers to the general fund		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Change RI unemployment insurance system to improve our 50th place position according to standards defined by the Tax Foundation		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Commit to mandating that state and local public pension programs for all employees who are not eligible to retire by June 30, 2011 be revised to prohibit compounded cost of living adjustments, cap cost of living adjustments at the lesser of the prior year Northeast Consumer Price Index or 3%, and apply benefit increases to only the first $18,000 of retirement income		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	---
Initiatives to make Rhode Island a more business-friendly state		In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of	In Favor Of
Any additional comments or ideas that you would like to share		I am running against Senator Levesque in district 11 of the State Senate. He is one of the most business-unfriendly legislators and I hope to push for many of these initiatives when we replace him.	With regard to Question #7 (bi weekly pay period), I presently favor keeping the current law. I think it is important in this economy and with so many businesses closing their doors that workers are also protected. There needs to be a greater synergy during this time of crisis to ensure that the needs of both employers and employees are met. I would, however, be in favor of revisiting the law once we see the ship of state right itself and employment numbers increase in RI and foreclosures start to decrease because I understand the need for businesses to have flexibility as well. With regard to second to last question, the amount of $18,000 should be studied further. I wholeheartedly agree with the other measures. Additional comments: As a two-term town councilor in East Greenwich, I have the necessary background in municipal governance that will be critical this coming year when it comes time for the General Assembly to tackle aid to municipalities. As the lone Democrat on the council, I have demonstrated my ability to reach across party lines and work in a bipartisan way to promote good policies that benefit the taxpayers first. We have a lot to show for that: the state’s highest bond rating, building projects on time and under budget, and favorable contracts with our municipal employees. Our town council has consolidated services with the school district and maintained the full car tax exemption for our taxpayers. As the former president of a medical group in our community, I had to navigate the red tape confronting small businesses. I understand the problems small business owners face when it comes to the issues surrounded fees and permitting, and I have concrete ideas on how to solve these issues. Lastly, as a physician with an expertise in healthcare policy, I understand how important this issue is for families and senior citizens. With so much of our state budget invested in healthcare-related costs, it is time for someone in the General Assembly.	What ever is necessary to make Rhode Island competitive with our neighboring states!	I am a small businessman and I've worked to make Rhode Island more competitive, reform taxes, cut red tape, improve access to capital and workforce development.

Back to top	Name
Candidate For

Provide online access to legislative voting records
S3050 which provides cities and towns tools needed to reduce spending www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext/billtext06/senatetext06/s3050.htm
Legislatively remove healthcare from collective bargaining agreements at the state and local levels
Legislation to make healthcare more accessible for Rhode Islanders
Legislation to make healthcare more affordable for RI businesses
Reduce State spending without passing the burden to cities and towns
Legalize bi-weekly pay periods for RI private sector employers
Restrict dedicated funds to designated purpose, eliminating transfers to the general fund
Change RI unemployment insurance system to improve our 50th place position according to standards defined by the Tax Foundation
Commit to mandating that state and local public pension programs for all employees who are not eligible to retire by June 30, 2011 be revised to prohibit compounded cost of living adjustments, cap cost of living adjustments at the lesser of the prior year Northeast Consumer Price Index or 3%, and apply benefit increases to only the first $18,000 of retirement income
Initiatives to make Rhode Island a more business-friendly state
Any additional comments or ideas that you would like to share

6 Blackstone Valley Place, Suite 301, Lincoln, RI 02865
401-334-1000

Participating Chambers of Commerce
Central Rhode Island, East Bay, East Providence, Newport,
North Central, North Kingstown, Northern Rhode Island,
South Kingstown, Westerly-Pawcatuck

While every effort has been taken to ensure accuracy in the reporting of the candidates responses, if you are a candidate and your information has been listed incorrectly please email changes.