Our goal could be to intentionally make our small state an expensive place to do business in, but make it worth every penny.

For every dollar in taxes paid, our citizens would reap benefits. The purpose of commerce is to support the people, not the reverse.

How could this come about?

It begins with the governor, speaker and senate president declaring that no longer will our state subsidize and pander to business.

Instead, we will insist that corporations, like citizens, contribute to the well being of our communities.

No longer will we bribe businesses with cash and tax cuts. Our government will take its share and use it wisely.

Money will be spent on those things that Government can do well, when it is not gasping for cash: improve the roads, build statewide infrastructures, contribute to the education of its citizens, protect our environment, and provide for public safety.

Our polity cannot predict or gamble on the industries of the future. Likewise, we must not allow ourselves to be cowed into beggardom by greedy national and international corporations.

We are a small and lovely state in a prime location on the East Coast. We have the wealth of the sea at our doorstep. Because of past failures, we are severely undervalued, yet those of us who have lived here for a long time know that this truly is a marvelous place, a home to live in for an entire life.

Of course there are problems in our body politic. No human system is perfect, but it is insane to funnel millions from taxpayers into for-profit businesses, or to cut taxes for large corporations to “encourage growth” or “attract jobs”. The wealthy have learned that the threat of scarcity prods politicians to fork over money from citizens. Failures are rarely blamed on the businesses, which have banked their gold, but on the politicians.

Rhode Island will never thrive if we depend on companies that require payoffs and “incentives.” It is illegal for a United States citizen to pay bribes in other countries, but here in Rhode Island campaign contributions and bills that grease a bottom line are considered legal and even necessary.

It is no longer acceptable.

The spigot from gambling is about to thin as more casinos open nearby. We cannot afford to give a single dollar to underwrite someone else’s profit margin. Our government is notoriously bad at picking “winners.”

We must begin tooting our horn, not in our own backyard, but around the world. We have natural beauty, localized industry, centers of higher education, a diverse population, and restaurants and arts that are world-class. No more government handouts for businesses. No more racing to the bottom to underbid our wealthy neighbors.

We will point to our resources: citizens who are eager for work, a coastline that inspires, deep water ports, real estate that is reasonably priced, and a long history of innovation in design, education, manufacturing and reinvention.

We will loudly disavow the efforts of the one percent to leach off the work of the average citizen, while simultaneously nullifying the powers of government to improve the common lot.

Our state can willingly offer companies an easier path to regulation and licensing, modification to roads, worker-training schemes in community colleges. We can rebuild our urban schools so that companies can feel comfortable knowing that their workers can accept reasonable wages and send their children to public schools.

We can acknowledge the shifts that climate change and global warming are likely to bring, and plan future building and growth carefully.

These changes will not see a quick stampede of business toward our shores.

Given our history of corruption, it will take time for them to believe. During that time, our government will have no choice but to learn to do more with less, to increase efficiency and eliminate redundancy and waste. We must continue to protect those who have little, and resist the idea that poverty is sin and an inescapable trap. We must teach our children for their benefit, not for the profit of an increasingly corporate education industry. We can encourage our existing small businesses to grow with confidence knowing that they’re getting the same fair treatment as the giants.

We only need to stop begging and bribing and change our philosophy.

Our new slogan could simply be, “Rhode Island: you want to be here.”

Now we must work to make it so.

©2015 by Mark Binder
393 Morris Avenue
Providence, RI 02906
(401) 272-8707
mark@markbinder.com

1. Raise the minimum wage. As a candidate, she pledged to lift the lowest legal hourly wage from $9 to $10.10 an hour and then adjust it for inflation going forward. The Economic Progress Institute says a single adult needs to earn $11.93 an hour to afford the most basic living expenses.

2. Outlaw payday loans. She’s been a vocal opponent of high-interest, predatory payday loans and Rhode Island is a regional outlier in allowing them – payday loans actually have a special carve out in state usury law. I suspect this will be the issue she will clash with House Speaker Nick Mattiello over, with former House Speaker Bill Murphy being a paid lobbyist for payday loans and a close friend of Mattiello’s.

3. Grab the I-195 project by the horns and turn it into the most exciting thing in the state. Providence is in the hugely unique situation of almost completely redesigning its downtown in one single generation – and long after people stop talking about 38 Studios and pension reform they will remember how the city changed after the highway was moved.

4. No more small ball when it comes to public education. Charter schools and high stakes tests are neither the cause of or solution to the systemic issues in public education – which is that inner city schools aren’t doing well. Rhode Island needs to have a big picture conversation about public education. Here’s hoping Clay Pell and Bob Healey are as much a part of that conversation as is the first gentleman.

5. Two-for-one: make the Ocean State the most resilient vacation destination. In the next four years, Rhode Island can expect sea level rise, devastating hurricanes, floods and even sustained droughts. Perhaps the best thing we can do to for the tourist economy is ensure it can survive any of that.

6. Rebuild Rhode Island. It’s not a super sexy issue, but it’s a necessary one. Fixing our failing infrastructure will not only help us get around, it’ll also put people back to work. And fixing our infrastructure isn’t just repairing roads and bridges – it’s also updating infrastructure for the 21st century, and this means more and better public transportation. A Narragansett Bay ferry could stimulate growth on many fronts.

7. Fill the Superman Building. See number 3. Get Roger Williams Law School to relocate here, and see number 8.

8. Double team the nonprofits. As goes Providence so goes Rhode Island, so it makes sense for the governor to work with Mayor Elorza in getting the property tax-exempt nonprofits to pay a fairer share for city services.

9. Sunlight. It’s no wonder Rhode Islanders don’t trust our government – they get to see so little of it.  Use your bully pulpit to end late night legislating, make elected officials more accountable to public records request and push hard for transparency wherever you see darkness.

10. What about jobs? I know this is supposed to be the first thing on everyone’s agenda, but if Gina Raimondo can take care of these nine issues, the jobs will fall into place and before we know it Rhode Island will be known for having the strongest economy in the country.

Congratulations, Gina Raimondo! You’ll soon be Rhode Island’s 75th governor, and you’ve also broken the so-called glass ceiling to become the Ocean State’s first ever female chief executive.

Raimondo is also the first Democrat Rhode Island has elected governor since 1990. That’s a really long time for a state some call the bluest in the nation. Since hope springs eternal, here’s hoping she will also be the most progressive governor since Frank Licht in the early 1970’s. He’s most famous for “push[ing] through a state income tax to end Rhode Island’s fiscal crises of the 1960’s” and is also said to have “approved more business projects than any other Governor in Rhode Island’s history.”

I’ll be happy if she’s as liberal-leaning as Governor Chafee.

Democrats swept the statewide offices last night, but only two of the five had the endorsement of the RI Progressive Democrats – General Treasurer-elect Seth Magaziner and Secretary of State-elect Nellie Gorbea. Only Magaziner had their endorsement in the primary. Still, most new statewide officers will move their newly acquired positions left with the noticeable exception of Dan McKee, who will replace Elizabeth Roberts as the lt. governor.

So does Rhode Island have many conservative Democrats, as the New York Times reported this weekend? Or is there a liberal majority in the Ocean State that doesn’t know how to play nice in the sandbox with each other? It’s pretty easy to argue that he greatest strengths of the Raimondo campaign turned out to be Clay Pell and Bob Healey.

Bob Healey was the big winner last night and, once again, is officially a Rhode Island cult hero. He spent $35 and won 22 percent of the vote. That’s amazingly hopeful news if you hate money in politics. He’s the ’73 PC Friars of Campaign 2014 – the irreverent underdog who broke all the rules and maybe, just maybe, could have even beaten the dynasty team if they got to go one-on-one.

Gina Raimondo has the best ideas about how to better Rhode Island – and her middle class-friendly campaign message is far more appealing than Allan Fung’s policy proposals of cutting taxes and shrinking government. Couple that with Raimondo’s track record of being able to move political mountains and it seems like an easy choice.

But it wasn’t.

Maybe I’m holding a grudge because of her ability to shepherd through landmark pension reforms, which I still feel were too one-sided, but I’d like to think it’s more than that. I’m not sure I want to contribute to The Narrative of ‘A Democrat Can Screw Unions And Thrive’. There may be many short and long term wins to be had there (lower unfunded pension liabilities, for just one), but ultimately I’m far from convinced that’s the best row to hoe if we really want to fend off increasing economic inequality, which I firmly believe to be the root cause of much of our social and economic ailments.

Then there’s Wall Street.

It’s not a place in lower Manhattan, it’s a sector of our economy. Maybe the biggest, depending on how you define it, certainly it’s the strongest, and the only thing it makes is profits. This can be harmless in times of growth but, ultimately, can only be predatory unleashed on a society that consumes more than it produces. As such, Wall Street is the glue that solidifies increasing income inequality as the New American Way.

I’m not sure Gina Raimondo shares my thoughts on these issues. But I’m pretty certain Allan Fung doesn’t either. And in the short term, Raimondo will be far better for Rhode Island.

Payday loans don’t stand a chance with Gina Raimondo as governor. I bet she can whip the legislature into raising the minimum wage. I’m confident she can attract vibrant new businesses to downtown Providence and that she’ll be a fantastic ambassador for our tourist economy. She will not only defend our pioneering healthcare exchange, but I’d be surprised if she doesn’t find a way to make it even better. She will prioritize preparing for climate chance and sea level rise, and someday soon Rhode Island will regret if we are not.

Both Raimondo and Fung will support charter schools more than me. But I can see Raimondo turning the focus to a Constitutional right to an adequate and equal education for all. If one thing is obvious about education politics in Rhode Island it’s that we need someone to lead a high level conversation about where it’s going. I hope whoever is the next governor will pick up Bob Healey’s idea to fund education statewide as a way to offer both property tax relief and education equity. Raimondo is the only one who could pull this off.

I wanted to vote for Bob Healey, but it’s just too close with too much at stake. I think he’s the only one telling the truth on the campaign trail, even if he’s sometimes mumbling it. He may well be more popular if he had shorter hair, but instead he chooses to mock our political process. He’s the only one who earned my respect. But I think Rhode Island needs my vote, so it’s going to Gina Raimondo.

Raimondo’s support has been relatively consistent, though it’s dipped slightly. Fung seems to have had a rough first half of October but has since rebounded. Meanwhile, Moderate Party candidate Bob Healey (combined with other independent candidates) have plenty enough support to make a difference.

Today we wrote letters to the party nominees and asked them to negotiate another Pledge. While we didn’t literally offer our table again, we stand ready to facilitate a negotiation between the candidates. Last time we called for a Pledge we were armed with evidence from the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senate race. Common Cause research showed that the Pledge reduced the amount of negativity, the amount of undisclosed money, and increased the percentage of small dollar donors. Now we have evidence from Rhode Island that the Pledge keeps outside money out of the race. And there is a great survey by Lake Survey Partners showing bi-partisan support for the People’s Pledge.

Let’s hear from the candidates between now and November 4th and insist on a People’s Pledge!

“We can details on time,” Pell told NBC 10’s Dan Jaehnig, who responded: “You don’t know that firsthand.”

Jaehnig stopped Pell, who has disavowed negative campaigning, from turning the focus from his party affiliation to his opponents.

Here’s the NBC 10 segment:

I met up with Taveras at Monihan’s, where he was enjoying a burger. Then we sat on the sea wall and talked about the campaign for a few minutes – including what he’ll be doing for the last week, the importance of tourism in our state and the mayor’s favorite beach.

After a summer of spending millions to attack and fact check each other in TV commercials, the three leading Democrats running for governor took the opportunity to do so once more at their last debate before the primary.

“My campaign alone has created more jobs in Rhode Island than Narragansett Beer,” Clay Pell quipped of Gina Raimondo’s pseudo-claim in a TV ad that her venture capital investment in Narragansett Brewery helped create more than 1,000 jobs in Rhode Island.

This was the line of the night. But a close second was when moderator Tim White pushed back about Pell’s talking point about not taking any money from lobbyists or PACs. White pointed out that Pell is independently wealthy and that several high level NEARI employees are volunteering their time for him. Rarely does a debate moderator win applause, but this was a question begging to be asked that was unlikely to be addressed by any candidate.

The big lie of the evening came courtesy of Raimondo when she was accused of standing with Wall Street. She replied, “I’m from Smithfield, I’ve never worked on Wall Street.” Wall Street, of course, in this context, is not a physical address.

Angel Taveras’ watershed moment may have been when he asked the TV camera “would you hire someone who has had nine jobs in eight years?” He spent much of the debate on the attack against both Pell and Raimondo, but did not  – notably – dispute Pell’s claim to be the “progressive Democrat” in the race.

The surprise of the evening, for me, was that all three pledged to support the primary winner. It may be a good exercise for all Democrats to spend a few minutes each day until the primary envisioning their preferred candidate campaigning for the others, and vice versa.

“Progressive values are Democratic values,” he told me, “and that’s why I talk about being a Democrat, and beliving in core Democratic values. I believe the party should be about helping people who want to be a part of the middle class.”

In a pretty wide-ranging 25-minute interview, my big take-away is that Pell sees himself as a change agent for Rhode Island who will focus on improving public education, perhaps looking to build on his grandfather’s legacy.

But what I really wanted to know was why should one support him rather than Angel Taveras, the progressive mayor of Providence from whom Pell has siphoned crucial liberal support. Here’s what he told me when I asked him:

Rhode Island’s path to economic strength involves building on the industries that play to the Ocean State’s natural strengths like maritime-related business, Pell said.

As is the case whenever one speaks with a candidate for office, some of our conversation veered off into the real of platitudes. But I must admit, I really like his idea of a future Rhode Island.

And I really liked how he showed a strong commitment to restoring state aid to struggling cities and towns.

You can listen to our whole conversation here: