Baldelli-Hunt, Brien Plead Dumb on 38 Studios Vote

The Cicilline-Gemma debate at Rhode Island College wasn’t the only question and answer session for candidates on Tuesday. In Woonsocket, constituents were invited to attend a candidate forum hosted by MyWoonsocket.com and WNRI radio to meet the candidates for General Assembly seats in the city.

Radio host Roger Bouchard moderated while local reporters Sandy Phaneuf of the Valley Breeze, Russ Olivo of the Woonsocket Call and Rob Borkowski of the Woonsocket Patch asked the questions.

While the candidates for Senate seats addressed the crowd first, the real fun began when the candidates for Representative came to the stage. Coming later in the questioning, Chris Roberts had the quote of the night when asked what he could get accomplished in the General Assembly as the only Republican running. “There are plenty of people in the the State House who are Republicans in hiding,” he replied while giving a slight glance back to the incumbents on the stage.

Rep. Baldelli-Hunt opened by stating she didn’t owe anyone anything, she was there as a watchdog and that you can’t spend what you don’t have. However, when she was called on her record later, she got very defensive about voting for the bill that authorized $75 million dollars for 38 Studios and the fact that she voted for tax breaks for the rich in 2010. More than once she complained that her opponent was misleading voters but her voting record is documented.

Michael Morin, her opponent in Rep. 49 admitted he would have voted for the supplemental tax bill if he had been in office because by not doing so, the members of the General Assembly, and especially those representing Woonsocket just kicked the can down the road and that he didn’t want Woonsocket to become another Central Falls, where the tax rate spiked to a 35 percent increase after they went into receivership. Despite Baldelli-Hunt’s protestations otherwise, Morin rightly pointed out that even if she never actually came out and advocated for bankruptcy for the city, her failure to act, along with the rest of the city’s delegation, led to a de facto course that would indeed lead to the city now being governed by a budget commission.

In the race for Rep. 50, Rep. Jon Brien pointed out the fact he championed the new Voter ID law and that he led the charge for pension reform but had to play defense on his role in co-sponsoring the 38 Studios legislation. His opponent, Steve Casey, pointed out that he would have worked to negotiate change rather than have pension change foisted upon employees and Morin jumped on the issue as well, stating that the mortality tables they used for firefighters were skewed, with legislators being led to believe the average life expectancy of a firefighter is 87 years old when in fact it is actually 72 years old.

Brien’s default position was that they needed “shared sacrifice” and that the taxpayers should be the last resort. Morin and Casey both jumped on that, saying that they should have worked over the course of the last two years to find $7.5 million in savings for the city. Roberts also jumped into the fray by stating that as a member of the school committee he’s been heavily involved in the budget commission hearings and that he’s not seen an elected Senator or Representative at any of the meetings. He even pointed out that the chairman of the commission has extended invitations to the General Assembly delegation from the city but none has taken him up on his offer to participate in discussions on the city’s future.

In a question about how they could bring more business into the city, Rep. Brien made a stunning statement that the city should do all it can to keep the right people while getting rid of the wrong people and that the first place to start would be to get rid of all the low income housing in the city.

Brien also stated later that Woonsocket, “was the Mill City,” and that they “should get back to their roots,” as he would work to enact legislation to get a waiver so the city could burn sludge in a waste to energy plant. There was no follow up on the question to ask Rep. Brien how that would lead to bettering the quality of life in the city.

Prior to the the House candidates, the candidates for the two Senate seats addressed the crowd. Roger Picard is unopposed and got two minutes to introduce himself and tell his constituents he’d be there if they needed him. After he left the stage to applause, the candidates for Senate seat 24 took the stage as incumbent Marc Cote and challenger Lew Pryeor answered questions.

Even as the newcomer, when asked, Pryeor was the one with quick answers, calling for more neighborhood participation, just like he organized in Warwick when he served on the City Council there. He stressed the need for involvement from the whole community and pushed for the formation of neighborhood associations that would build understanding. He offered that Fifth Avenue School could have been saved if the school department hadn’t hired two administrators for $200,000 but stated that since it was already done, he accepted it and would move forward.

Senator Cote, on the other hand, described his greatest achievements, among them being Woonsocket no longer being a toll call because of legislation he sponsored. He also touted his bill to alleviate taxes on businesses in the city. There was no follow up question about how that had worked out since there are many fewer businesses in Woonsocket since he sponsored that legislation.

In closing, Cote stated his opponent hadn’t made the case for change and that the voters should vote to keep things the same while Pryeor followed him by stating that after 18 years with the same man in office, nothing had really changed and that re-electing the same man would lead to no change.

While the candidates for Senate seats addressed the crowd first, the real fun began when the candidates for Representative came to the stage. Coming later in the questioning, Chris Roberts had the quote of the night when asked what he could get accomplished in the General Assembly as the only Republican running. “There are plenty of people in the the State House who are Republicans in hiding,” he replied while giving a slight glance back to the incumbents on the stage.

Rep. Baldelli-Hunt opened by stating she didn’t owe anyone anything, she was there as a watchdog and that you can’t spend what you don’t have. However, when she was called on her record later on, she got very defensive about voting for the bill that authorized $75 million dollars for 38 Studios and the fact that she voted for tax breaks for the rich in 2010. More than once she complained that her opponent was misleading voters but her voting record is documented.

Michael Morin, her opponent in Rep. 49 admitted he would have voted for the supplemental tax bill if he had been in office because by not doing so, the members of the General Assembly, and especially those representing Woonsocket just kicked the can down the road and that he didn’t want Woonsocket to become another Central Falls, where the tax rate spiked to a 35 percent increase after they went into receivership. Despite Baldelli-Hunt’s protestations otherwise, Morin rightly pointed out that even if she never actually came out and advocated for bankruptcy for the city, her failure to act, along with the rest of the city’s delegation, led to a de facto course that would indeed lead to the city now being governed by a budget commission.

In the race for Rep. 50, Rep. Jon Brien pointed out the fact he championed the new Voter ID law and that he led the charge for pension reform; reform that is now in question. His opponent, Steve Casey, pointed out that he would have worked to negotiate change rather than have it foisted upon them and Morin jumped into the fray as well, stating that the mortality tables they used for firefighters were skewed, with legislators being led to believe the average life expectancy of a firefighter is 87 years old when in fact it is actually 72 years old.

Brien’s default position was that they needed “shared sacrifice” and that the taxpayers should be the last resort. Morin and Casey both jumped on that, saying that they should have worked over the course of the last two years to find $7.5 million in savings for the city. Roberts also jumped into the fray by stating that as a member of the school committee he’s been heavily involved in the budget commission hearings and that he’s not seen an elected Senator or Representative at any of the meetings. He even pointed out that the chairman of the commission has extended invitations to the General Assembly delegation from the city but none has taken him up on his offer to participate in discussions on the city’s future.

In a question about how they could bring more business into the city, Rep. Brien made a stunning statement that the city should do all it can to keep the right people while getting rid of the wrong people and that the first place to start would be to get rid of all the low income housing in the city.

As for the production of the forum itself, it was very difficult to hear the questioners and Russ Olivo was barely audible. Several of the questions were duplicated and one from Rob Borkowski about accessibility was roundly criticized by several in the crowd as a softball. The questioners also did a disservice to the voters who attended by not asking Rep. Baldelli-Hunt if she would pledge to serve out the entire two year term and not run for mayor next year.

The one thing taken away from this forum is that incumbents Brien and Baldelli-Hunt cried foul over and over again and did so in very loud and accusatory tones while their opponents remained humble and stated fact. In the end it will all come down to if the assembled voters recognized the loud, bullying tactics of the experienced incumbents for what they were.