Gubernatorial candidate Morgan lays out part of RI economic plan

WARWICK — On Wednesday morning at her campaign headquarters on Bald Hill Road, Rhode Island House Minority Leader and gubernatorial candidate Patricia Morgan announced the first segment of her economic plan to revitalize the state’s economy.

Fielding questions about whether she would consider running on a ticket with her Republican opponent, Allan Fung, the West Warwick resident says she’s in the race for the long haul and has no plans of slowing down.

Morgan’s “Blueprint for Rhode Island,” is an economic plan focusing on cutting regulations, taming taxes and holding state government accountable.

“To fix the harmful, failed policies of the past that have stagnated Rhode Island’s economy, it’s going to take a bold, new course of action,” said Morgan. “It’s time we stopped simply talking about igniting our economy and started putting in the work to make it a reality. Policies like the one I put forward today will help unleash our economy’s true potential and put Rhode Island taxpayers back on top.”

Morgan’s plan includes a number of initiatives to achieve her goals. She plans to end tolls, establish an Office of the Inspector General, eliminate the death tax and state income tax on military pensions, and to repurpose and revamp Commerce RI, which she said “has gone off the rails.”

“It’s become an agency where we give out corporate welfare,” said Morgan.

Commerce RI has focused on using tax dollars to lure outof-state companies to Rhode Island, she said, rather than focusing on advocating for small and large businesses already in the state. Part of the repurposing will involve creating three new State Business Parks: Quonset North, Quonset East Bay and Quonset South.

“I want them to work on real economic development that brings multi-layered job opportunities; we don’t need cranes in the sky, we need jobs on the ground,” she said. “Quonset has provided an incredible amount of growth. I want to replicate that throughout Rhode Island.”

Her plans also include creating a commission to get employers working with career and technical centers at high schools throughout the state on curriculum development, to better ensure that what students are learning in school is what they need on the job. She also plans to work with businesses to create more apprenticeships for students to get on-the-job training. She hopes to create a tax credit for companies to help employees pay back their college loans.

“There are a lot of kids who need a more robust pathway,” said Morgan. “If employers will take a chance on our graduates and hire and train them, I’m going to help them pay for those apprenticeships.”

A longtime staple of Morgan’s agenda has been to establish an Office of the Inspector General within the Executive branch, which comes with a cost of about $3.5 million. The IG would be charged with reclaiming misspent tax dollars. On average, Morgan said, an IG returns $12 to the taxpayer for every dollar spent on their work.

“We cannot waste any more time throwing taxpayers’ hardearned money at out-of-touch insiders or chasing unproven ideas hoping they will grow our economy — hope is not an economic policy,” she said.

Morgan also wants to end the practice of using “scoops” to balance the state budget. She said she will establish a ‘handsoff’ policy on money charged in electricity, telephone, cable, water, sewer and trash bills.

The total cost of her Blueprint plan is $80,500,000, but the savings, she said, will come in at around $110,500,000.

According to campaign finance reports, Morgan raised $101,111 in the first quarter of the year, including about $76,000 in donations and a personal $25,000 loan to her campaign. To date she has raised over $185,000. Her opponent, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, recently announced that he raised $191,557 in the first quarter, now totaling more than $315,000. Democratic Governor and incumbent Gina Raimondo raised $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2018, bringing her grand total to $4.3 million for the campaign.

“I’ve been outspent in every campaign I’ve run and I still win because I have better ideas and I speak to the people of Rhode Island,” Morgan said.

On Monday Morgan released her second TV ad titled “Right Way,” where she cites a bill offering $10,000 to entice new Rhode Island residents and calls it “a disgrace.”

“Only career politicians would try to bribe somebody to come here,” she says in the ad. “There’s a right way to get people to move to Rhode Island. Instead of bribing the people to come here, maybe we’ll pay the politicians to leave.”

Reporters questioned Morgan Wednesday morning about a court-ordered civil arrest recently issued for her opponent, Giovanni Feroce, for failing to appear for a court hearing on an unpaid judgement. Feroce owes $8,000 to a clothing supplier.

“I do think he should not be running,” said Morgan. “He has a lot of problems in his life now, and I think he would better serve himself and Rhode Island if he took time to straighten out his life.”