Charette, Pearson eye Dist. 19 Senate seat
Incumbent Democrat Ryan W. Pearson and his Republican challenger Billy J. Charette are facing off in the state Senate Dist. 19, Cumberland and Lincoln race to be decided on Tuesday.
Pearson, 30, first elected senator for Dist.
19 in 2013, has been highlighting his record from the past two years while seeking voters support for re-election on Nov. 6.
“I have been talking with voters about education funding and the work that we did in the past session benefiting both Cumberland and Lincoln in school construction,” Pearson said.
The General Assembly’s move to forward a school improvement bond to the Nov. 6 ballot would help Cumberland in funding
$83 million in school improvements also on the local election ballot.
If approved by state voters, the state’s
$250 million school funding bond would help reduce the overall cost of the local school improvement project to a total of $29 million, given the higher award of state aid Cumberland would receive on the project, a savings of $17 million, Pearson said. Cumberland’s typical award 40 percent in state aid would be increased to 65 percent for reimbursement on the proposed local school improvement plan.
Lincoln is also in contention for increased state support on its school improvement plans if the state bond issue is approved, Pearson said. “We were able to get Lincoln included in the school improvement bond as well and that will save them $8 million on the project. Lincoln voters have already approved $60 million in bonding for renovations and construction at Lincoln High School and would be eligible for increased state aid resulting in the $8 million savings if the state school bond is approved, according to Pearson.
“The town administrator and I worked a lot to ensure they were included and at the end of the day it’s a really good outcome for Lincoln,” he said.
Pearson has also worked to eliminate unnecessary rules and regulations affecting businesses in Rhode Island and noted more than 5,000 pages of regulations have been eliminated through the General Assembly’s review.
Pearson said he is now working on securing state funding for local road improvements and updates at Diamond Hill Park. The state has already committed $300,000 to the
study of Diamond Hill Park’s needs, and the next step will be putting a plan into place to address the issues that are found and secure finding to make improvements.
Initially, the park’s old ski lodge may be updated, and then eventually work will be done to improve the park’s band stage and little used-pond area.
Pearson has also been working to help small businesses in his district and noted there is “certainly more to do,” in that area.
The General Assembly has made changes in unemployment costs saving small business in the state more than $40 million a year and other efforts to lower energy taxes another $100 million, Pearson noted.
Pearson is a 2006 graduate of Cumberland High School, and earned a degree in finance from Providence College in 2010. He has worked in the financial services industry for the past 10 years.
Pearson served on the Cumberland School Committee
from 2008 to 2010. He is a resident of Circuit Drive in Cumberland.
Charette, a small business owner, and board member of the Cumberland Beagle Club and the Cumberland Crime Stoppers, has campaigned for bringing in new businesses to the state by reducing corporate regulations and decreasing the state’s sales tax rate to be the lowest in New England.
The candidate has also called for a repeal of the state’s new truck tolling law while arguing in his campaign that its costs will be passed “right back to us in the form of price increases for products and services.”
Charette also proposes to “clean up” state government and would pursue term limits on General Assembly members to encourage “citizen legislators,” and not career politicians.
He also supports assisting veterans in the state by seeking to exempt military pensions from the Rhode Island income tax.