Lincoln Chafee - Independent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Good governance

Lincoln D. Chafee: My vision for Rhode Island's recovery

October 29, 2010

Projo.com
By Lincoln D. Chafee

I love Rhode Island, and know that our state has a bright future.

What we need to realize our full potential, however, is the right leadership, a pro-active leader with the experience to govern and the courage to speak the plain truth. Rhode Islanders deserve a leader who is independent, free from politics as usual and the partisan maneuvering that brought about our dire economic situation. The way we will recover is to come together and build consensus among Democrats, Republicans, Moderates and independents — to move Rhode Island on a new way forward.

Our state confronts substantial challenges. Some 65,000 of our citizens are unemployed. Tens of thousands more women and men are anxious — about our future and whether our children will be able to find good jobs here. The state’s budget deficit is projected to exceed $300 million next year. Federal stimulus money is exhausted. The tobacco-settlement money was squandered. Because of poor leadership we have fallen behind.

We also have an ethical crisis in Rhode Island. Each day we hear about corruption, cronyism and pay-to-play schemes that let insiders secure state business and provide no-bid jobs to friends and family. This is wrong and must stop. There is a direct connection between Rhode Island’s unacceptable economic condition and the disappointing reality that some of our public officials betray the public trust.

If we are going to move our state forward — create new jobs, fix the budget mess, improve our schools, repair our roads and protect our environment — Rhode Island must take advantage of its assets. My plan is centered on job-creating investments targeted at the following areas:

• Investing in public education: Better education of Rhode Islanders results in better-qualified workers, improving our opportunities to attract new employers to the state.

• Investing in the Knowledge District in Providence: I plan to be directly involved in working to bring thousands of new jobs to Providence as a result of Route 195 being relocated — health-care jobs, life-sciences jobs and high-tech manufacturing jobs.

• Investing in green, environmentally friendly technologies: I have a national reputation as a strong environmentalist and will use it to put the power of the governor’s office behind making Quonset a center for wind-power development, creating new jobs while increasing energy independence.

• Investing in the Station District in Warwick: T.F. Green Airport is being connected to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail line. Already a $300 million private development project with a retail, hotel and office complex has been approved next to the station, with the promise of creating hundreds of new jobs for our state. I conceived of this project as mayor, helped fund it as senator and will work every day as governor to make it a success.

• Investing in defense and high-tech manufacturing, tourism, marine industries and entrepreneurial enterprises: As governor I will make the expansion of, and support for, these vital home-grown industries a priority.

Throughout my career I have consistently demonstrated the core elements of effective leadership. Courage: I opposed the Iraq War, which has killed more than 5,000 brave U.S. servicemen and -women and wasted hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Foresight: I rejected the false promises of President Bush’s reckless tax cuts for the wealthy that have hurt our economy. Building consensus: I alone called for mediation to end the Central Falls teachers dispute. Independence: I called for an open and fair opportunity for our small businesses, instead of the risky gamble with 60 percent of the state’s small-business investment portfolio on a single company with no track record of success — the Curt Schilling deal.

I have always stood up for what I believe. I have a proven record of principled, independent leadership. Every day I do my best to demonstrate thoughtful, balanced and moderate leadership — to do what I believe is best for the people of Rhode Island.

Yes, our great state has tremendous potential. It is untapped, just below the surface, waiting for the right leadership to move our state forward. Rhode Island’s greatest asset has always been its people.

I know that our best days are ahead — with the right leadership team implementing common-sense solutions to the challenges ahead. Together we can make Rhode Island a great place to live, to raise a family, to build a better future for our children.

My dad taught me a valuable lesson: Tell the truth and trust the people. That is what I’ve done in this campaign, and what I will do every day as your governor.

Lincoln D. Chafee is a former U.S. senator and former mayor of Warwick running as an independent for the Rhode Island governorship.

Click here for original article.

Permalink

Both Chafees had it right

October 15, 2010

South County Independent
By Rod Driver

Who remembers what happened to Lincoln Chafee's father 42 years ago?

Running for re-election in 1968, then-Governor John Chafee suggested that Rhode Island would eventually need an income tax to balance its budget. His opponent, Frank Licht, pounced on this and won the election.

A couple of years later, Gov. Frank Licht himself supported an income tax and signed it into law.

Of course Linc Chafee remembers 1968. But he went ahead anyway to suggest that, to help balance the state's budget, Rhode Island should consider a 1 percent sales tax on items currently exempt from the 7 percent and 8 percent taxes. And he is being attacked for this suggestion.

It would have been easy enough for Linc to avoid the subject. But he's too forthright for that. If he were not Lincoln Chafee, he might have concluded from his father's experience that honesty may not be the best policy for winning an election.

Legislators and the governor like to tell us they did not raise taxes. So why have many Rhode Islanders recently seen their taxes increase?

That's easy. Instead of "raising taxes," the legislature and the governor withheld money from Rhode Island's cities and towns. This forced municipalities to raise real-estate taxes and/or car taxes.

It is unclear that this is better than Linc Chafee's suggestion.

Click here for original article.

Permalink

Chafee promotes upgraded technology to allow for interactive, efficient government

October 13, 2010

Projo.com
By Mark Reynolds

PROVIDENCE — The state needs to modernize its information technologies to make government more transparent and efficient and government services easier to use, Lincoln D. Chafee said Sunday in a campaign statement.

The independent candidate for governor proposed an upgrade to the state government’s website — RI.gov. Residents would be able to schedule Division of Motor Vehicles appointments online and renew their drivers’ licenses online, Chafee said. The site would gain new content, including “clear information” about Rhode Island’s tax policies and the performance of government programs.

He said he would make those changes through executive order.

He promised to bring more openness to the procurement process by offering citizens a way to submit, comment on, and vote on ideas for making the process more effective.

“I will put an end to hurried ‘end of year’ procurements, which have higher costs and inadequate competition, and build a repository to share market research across government in order to eliminate the existing duplication of the same research efforts,” Chafee said.

Chafee also proposed the use of GovLoop, a social-network site for government employees that he said would allow “Rhode Island to learn from existing solutions and share best practices, both externally and internally.”

He also called for the use of SeeClickFix — a free mobile phone and web application that lets citizens identify non-emergency issues in their neighborhoods and report them to the government.

Click here for original article.

Permalink

RI Independent Gubernatorial Candidate runs on Open Government Platform

October 12, 2010

SeeClickFix
By Ben Berkowitz

It's a good sign for Open Government when Gubernatorial Candidates start speaking the gospel.

Lincoln Chafee, independent candidate for Governor, today announced that as Governor he will issue an Executive Order on Open Government, through which he will implement a plan to utilize modern information technologies to make government services easier to use, government operations more transparent, and government more efficient overall.

Chafee’s Executive Order will also set standards on the quality and accessibility of government information, ensuring that high-quality information is shared both internally within government, and externally between government and citizens.

On the plans are user friendliness of the State website and easier access to public information. Specifically Chafee intends to implement SeeClickFix for neighborhood problem solving as well as Govloop for connecting to Gov peers in other States.

To kick off the campaign supporters in Providence are organizing a SeeClickFix Storm to start documenting neighborhood concerns sponsored by Chafee for Governor.

Awesome!!!

Click here for original article.

Permalink

Chafee promises more government services online

Projo.com
By Mark Reynolds

WARWICK, R.I. -- The state needs to modernize its information technologies to make government more transparent and efficient and make government services easier to use, Lincoln Chafee announced Sunday in a campaign statement.

The independent candidate for governor proposed an upgrade to the state government's website -- RI.gov.

If Chafee is elected, he said residents would be able to schedule DMV appointments online and renew their drivers' licenses online, Chafee said in a news release.

The site would gain new content, including "clear information" about Rhode Island's tax policy and the performance of government programs, Chafee said.

He would make those changes through executive order, he said.

He also called for shining a light on the way the state acquires goods and services.

He promised to bring more openness to the procurement process by offering citizens a way to submit, comment on, and vote on ideas for making Rhode Island's procurement process more effective.

"I will put an end to hurried "end of year" procurements, which have higher costs and inadequate competition, and build a repository to share market research across government, in order to eliminate the existing duplication of the same research efforts," Chafee's news release says.

Chafee also proposed the use of GovLoop, a social network site for government employees that he said will allow "Rhode Island to learn from existing solutions and share best practices, both externally and internally."

Finally, his news release called for the use of SeeClickFix -- a free mobile phone and web application that lets citizens identify non-emergency issues in their neighborhoods and report them to the government.

"As part of announcing my Open Government platform," Chafee said, "my campaign will organize a SeeClickFix Storm, whereby we ask our supporters to spend a weekend logging local issues on SeeClickFix. Citizens will be helping us help them, and participating in the work of government in a meaningful way."

"My Open Government platform represents a symbolic shift towards freeing ourselves from the old, opaque politics that have crippled our state's economy," Chafee said.

"Together, with openness, transparency, and accountability, we can forge a new way forward for Rhode Island."

Click here for original article.

Permalink

Richard Walton's Pro-Linc take on RI Governor

October 11, 2010

WRNI
By Scott MacKay

Dear Fellow Rhode Islander

After these long, dreary Carcieri years, we need a good governor and the choice is stark. We can choose a man who has been in the state Senate for years and represents the “cronyism-who do you know?” school of government that has so long prevailed in the General Assembly and Rhode Island politics or a man who has long demonstrated his trustworthiness, his competence, his independence and his courage.

I’m not going to vote against Frank Caprio Jr., an intelligent and decent man, but for Lincoln Chafee. It is no secret that Chafee would still be in the U.S. Senate were it not that the only way to vote against President Bush in 2006 was to vote for Sheldon Whitehouse, who has turned out to be a pretty good Senator. It was not the way I voted that year but it was certainly understandable.

I’m going to vote for Linc Chafee in November for precisely the same reasons I voted for him in 2006. Assuming a candidate’s positions are within acceptable bounds, what is most important is his/her character. Politicians are often, and legitimately so, criticized for playing politics, for saying what they think will help them politically rather than what they believe. But Chafee is that rarest of politicians, one who speaks his mind; not what the polls say would help him politically.

No one can doubt his courage. I will, for the rest of my days, remember his voting against the Iraq War, the only Republican to do so when even most Democrats were voting to plunge us into a horror that has not yet ended. And he has called for a tiny 1% increase in the sales tax — hardly a politic thing to advocate — because he believes it’s much better than another round of increases in the property tax in RI’s cities and towns that so hurt the middle class.

Remember, too, that Chafee has demonstrated his excellence as an executive. He was, as is widely accepted, a fine mayor of Warwick even at a time when the City Council was overwhelmingly of the other party. He knows how to work effectively across the aisle. He demonstrated that as mayor and as U.S. Senator.

As the 2006 election neared, many, probably most, of my friends and acquaintances said they felt they had no choice but to reluctantly vote against Chafee. Well, this time they can vote for him.

His bumper stickers and yard signs say: Trust Chafee. I do.

Richard Walton of Warwick is a longtime local political activist and president of the union representing adjunct professors at Rhode Island College. He was the Citizens Party candidate for vice-president in 1984.

Click here for original article.

Permalink

Linc Chafee is a tested leader of unquestioned integrity and a strong independent voice. As Governor, he will work hard to create new jobs, rebuild our economy, solve our chronic budget problems, end corruption, and forge a new way forward for Rhode Island.

Lincoln Chafee Press Bio

Press Releases