This week, I’m going one on one with Aaron Guckian, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor. I’ll talk with the head of the Economic Progress Institute about how low- and moderate-income Rhode Islanders are coping with high inflation. And with some surprisingly sharp debate about a temporary bike trail on Hope Street in Providence, we’ll hear about how that experiment went and what comes next for cycling in the Ocean State.
Aaron Guckian, Republican candidate for Lt. Governor of Rhode Island
Ian Donnis: Aaron Guckian, welcome to The Public’s Radio.
Aaron Guckian: Thank you Ian, thank you for organizing and I’m grateful for the opportunity here.
Ian Donnis: What makes you a better choice for Lieutenant Governor than the Democratic incumbent, Sabina Matos?
Aaron Guckian: Well, qualifications matter in this race. I have a master’s in business administration from Johnson & Wales University. I also have a master’s in music. As you know, I worked at the Rhode Island Foundation for five years and raise a lot of money to do more good. And it was very complicated transactions: estates, wires, and I interacted with the top advisors in the state. In addition, I was a vice president of a bank and bank Newport and then Washington Trust is where I cut my teeth and also as a special assistant to Governor Carcieri and the first lady. And I was proud for the time I served. And I was also the chairman of the Warwick sewer authority, which is a $300 million asset. I was on that board for about 10 years. And then I was also a certified public school teacher. So the qualifications are so important and who can take over in a crisis, or as we saw with this situation where Governor Raimondo was elevated to the Biden administration, and Governor McKee took over, you know, the impossible happened. And in this situation, who do you trust to take over a $13.6 billion budget, and I believe Aaron Guckian, for lieutenant governor will be the right person for this job.
Ian Donnis: Speaking of your former role as an assistant with former Governor Carcieri, what would you say your most significant accomplishment was in that role?
Aaron Guckian: Well, I was very grateful for the opportunity. I served Governor Carcieri and the first lady for two terms, we got a lot accomplished. I remember the Station fire six weeks into it, where Governor Carcieri and the first lady were just amazing, during that awful tragedy, and how they navigated the state through that crisis, and
Ian Donnis: I’m asking about an accomplishment that you had during your time as an assistant to Governor Carcieri.
Aaron Guckian: Well, I don’t do policy. And so I don’t have specific accomplishments, because I think of that as more policy related. I was his day to day person. And I felt I was very loyal. I was always on time, I always showed up. And I supported him and Mrs. Carcieri to the best of my ability. I organized the state of the state. I organized the inauguration, or was part of. I sang at them. As you know, I’m a singer and I sang the national anthem. But I think in politics, and people probably remember the West Wing with Charlie. That’s who I was. And if you don’t have a person that can help you day to day and be organized, then you’re lost. And I think that’s what I did for the governor.
Ian Donnis: One element of Governor Carcieri, his legacy that remains very debated is a tax cut that he signed into law for the richest Rhode Islanders that was meant to improve Rhode Island’s business climate. Can you point to any tangible ways in which that has improved the business climate? Because that seems to be an area where it still attracts a lot of concern.
Aaron Guckian: Well, great question. And again, I wasn’t part of his policy team. And, by the way, we’re going back a little ways. I do believe that the reason he did that is so many people are going to Florida, and we’re losing that revenue. So some of the ways that you try to do is to try to keep people in the state is to execute that type of policy. In regards to the success rate, I can’t speak to it. But I know one thing, a lot of people are moving out. We tax Social Security. There’s a lot of things that we tax: PPP money. All of these types of things you can’t do, because it incentivizes people to leave and we need to incentivize people to stay as best we can. But I don’t want to speak too much to that policy, because again, that wasn’t – I was part of the administration, but I was more in a support role.
Ian Donnis: How do you envision your approach to the Lieutenant Governor’s office? What are the biggest ways in which you would be different from Sabina Mattos or any of her predecessors?
Aaron Guckian: Well, I decided to start a help center. And I want to help people navigate through the state system, cut the red tape and streamline government. What I found with a lot of lieutenant governors, is that they take on major policy and it’s not that that’s not important, but I feel that that’s the governor and the legislators job with this $1.2 million budget and seven to eight employees. You know, when elected that I will employ I feel that it’s best to help the small business people, long term health care and emergency management. So for example, when I go to around to people that own restaurants. It’s – there’s no guidance. Everything comes in paper bills, the licensing, the fees. And what I suggest is one single sign on, one username and password across all departments and help people navigate because and also with long term health care. The biggest thing right now is access to doctors. And we need to show up to our meetings. We need to have the meetings and also in emergency management as we talked about with the Station fire. And in addition with the hurricane season, we need to be activated. Right now I know Charlie Fogarty Lieutenant Governor Charlie Fogarty had 12 meetings. It was cut down to six, I believe this appointed lieutenant governor’s – will call it three. And that’s just not enough meetings. And I feel that if I can be in this role, support people, help people and get them answers, get that data from frequently asked questions and manage it up to the legislature. We’ve got great legislators, I got great relationships with the speaker and the senate president. And I feel that if you give them the right legislation, they will be able to pass it.
Ian Donnis: You’ve raised about $9,000. So that was your balance as of your last most recent campaign finance, filing about a third as much as Sabina Mattos, how is that going to affect the outcome of this race?
Aaron Guckian: Well, I’ve raised over $125,000, total, I put 10,000 in the game, I’m in matching funds there’s a lot of reporting to that. My opponent is not matching funds. And what it is quickly to listeners is, the state is incentivizing people to run that aren’t millionaires, nothing wrong with people that have money to run, but trying to incentivize people like me, and every dollar is matched. So by doing that, I was able to report those monies. And I got the matching funds, and it was in the paper just last week. So that’s helping me advertise my qualifications and addition to help center which I just touched on.
Ian Donnis: What do you consider the single biggest thing that is holding Rhode Island back from reaching its potential?
Aaron Guckian: Well, I don’t think we got the money’s out quick enough to especially our small businesses, the federal monies that came in. I think with inflation, we’ve received a ton of money, we meaning the state in regards to tax revenue, and that money should be going back to the small businesses into different departments to try to get people help now. I mean, our electric bills are up 47%. People are getting hit with all sorts of higher costs. And it’s unconscionable what’s going on, and we need to get the money out. And so that’s something I want to advocate. In addition, like I said, if you’re going to take people’s taxes and fees, that’s one thing. But if you’re going to take their time for a small business, that’s even worse. So we need to get people through, get that throughput going. And that’s something I’ll do as lieutenant governor,
Ian Donnis: What can be done to reduce the cost of energy and utilities in Rhode Island?
Aaron Guckian: Well, I think the first thing is you need to get experts, you need to convene, I learned that at the Rhode Island Foundation. You tell them to leave their stripes at the door, as I learned from the great Neil Steinberg, who is retiring this year. And you get – you listen, and you also have access to monies. Obviously, I’m not a decision maker. But once you get those people in the room, they can give suggestions, we can then manage it up to the Governor and the Speaker and the Senate President. And I know that we have very good people that for the most part that are trying to do the best they can to help people in the state and that’s something I would do as lieutenant governor: convene, listen, get one or two suggestions, and manage it up.
Ian Donnis: Neil Steinberg actually will be retiring early next year, just according to the foundation, but let’s move on. Did you vote for Donald Trump in 2020?
Aaron Guckian: Yes, I voted for him because he provided structure to the economy. Obviously, what happened afterwards, and on January 6, was just a terrible moment in our country. Donald Trump is very overboard. But what I thought was is, you know, we had some difficult choices in that election. We have a president right now, who is just not I think he struggles. And you can see our economy right now and everything that’s kind of gone wrong. And so therefore, it was a difficult decision. But that’s my answer.
Ian Donnis: As far as to the economy now is much of what’s happened due to the pandemic and its impact on global supply chains and consumer behavior. I mean, isn’t that a significant factor?
Aaron Guckian: Yeah, I mean, obviously concede the point. I mean, no one could predict that Russia would come into the Ukraine. No one could predict this pandemic and the problems that we had in supply chain, but let’s just see what they did with energy. And I think everyone agrees right, I’d say mostly, most people would say that we would love to be in a green economy right now, we’d love to have that innovation. But look at what’s going on in California. They’re telling people to plug in at different times. The grid isn’t ready. We’re just not there yet. And so if you’re not there yet, you can’t push policy that then basically makes everything go up. And natural gas and all these types of things that were in the previous administration, we’re really feeling it. And in New England, the weather is so unpredictable. And if you are trying to cut – if you are depending on just green energy, it just doesn’t work yet. And so therefore, that’s something that I would advocate.
Ian Donnis: Aaron, you’ve been surveying the political scene here in Rhode Island for a long time. We know it’s been an uphill fight, to put it mildly for Republicans in the legislature, for example, where the GOP holds only 15 of 113 seats. Most people would say, it’s not good for either party to have such overwhelming control of government. What do you think Republicans need to do differently in Rhode Island, to achieve more representation?
Aaron Guckian: Well the time is now this is the reason I ran this is the reason I left my job at the Rhode Island Foundation, because it’s apolitical so I had to run separately. I’m all in on this. I think that we had a very charismatic president in Obama, and he kind of went down the ticket. It was very difficult to run as a Republican. And, I think that what happened was we got very disorganized, we didn’t have the infrastructure. Now we’re providing that infrastructure. We’re providing the funding, and people are getting organized. And I think we’ve got some great candidates that have great credentials. And no matter what I don’t think a one party system is great, because the whole thing about corruption and absolute power, that whole saying, it’s just something that happens naturally. I’m not calling anyone corrupt. My point is, is just a one party system isn’t good for the state or the country. And I hope we get some more Republicans in come election day.
Ian Donnis: That’s all the time we have. So we need to leave it there. Republican candidate for Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor Aaron Guckian, thank you for joining us.
Aaron Guckian: Thank you very much and Aaron Guckian on election day. Thank you.
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, Executive Director of the Economic Progress Institute
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies was named executive director of the Economic Progress Institute last December. The institute conducts policy research and advocates for low- and moderate-income Rhode Islanders. Nelson-Davies is an alum of Roger William University School of Law and she worked as a Legal Aid attorney in Massachusetts before returning to Rhode Island.
Ian Donnis: Weayonnoh, there’s an old saying that if New England catches a cold Rhode Island gets the flu. I imagine the impact of high inflation has been similar for low and moderate income Rhode Islanders. How would you describe the effect?
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: Yes, so we definitely have the flu in Rhode Island. And just to put inflation in perspective, this is a global issue we’re talking about. So it’s not a United States issue only it’s not a Rhode Island issue only. However, there are a couple of things to consider: who is being impacted in Rhode Island, and what can we do about it? So the poorest Rhode Islanders are being affected in a few ways. Their income is lower than their expenses. And that’s what inflation does. And so sometimes people talk about well spend less on eating out or spend less on traveling for vacation. That is not the issue the poorest Rhode Islanders are facing, they’re facing whether they can pay for food, shelter, clothing, or energy. We just got a 50% increase in our energy costs. So Rhode Islanders are thinking about how to afford this. And so that’s the impact people can meet their basic needs anymore within the state of Rhode Island.
Ian Donnis: How would you describe the response by the state and federal government?
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: I think they are conscious of the issue. But I think there needs to be more push on making sure we can fill in that gap. So how do we help support families who need that between the gap of income and expense, and then also government investment. So there are a couple of ways the government can invest. One is increased income for people. And that can be through tax credits, that can be through increasing the minimum wage or wages for low paid workers. And that could be through government safety net programs. So increase in cash assistance for families, SNAP benefits, and other ways that families can now fill in that gap that it currently cannot afford.
Ian Donnis: We hear debate sometimes about spending on social services in Rhode Island, there were some candidates with the progressive, Rhode Island Political Cooperative, who said the state doesn’t do enough for everyday people. But spending on social services is the second largest expense in the state budget. Some conservatives say these programs are too generous to the point where they draw people to Rhode Island from other states. What is your view of whether the spending on social services is at the right amount, and whether the spending goes in the right areas.
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: So if you speak to people who are currently on these services, they will definitely tell you it’s not enough. We have people who are spending almost 50% of their income on housing, people who are spending close to 55% of their income on childcare. So without assistance from the government, our families will not be able to survive. So I think there’s more we can do. We can also look at the budget and think of how to do it in a fiscally responsible way. And some of the ways you do it is how do you generate revenue, so you can provide those benefits for families that need them. And so Rhode Island has to do a better job at looking at revenue streams. And one of the proposals that we have put forward as the Economic Progress Institute is thinking about how we tax people. If we tax the 1% of Rhode Islanders who are making over $500,000. There are opportunities to generate revenue that way that can also assist families who are simply still not making it.
Ian Donnis: Legislative leaders seem reluctant to do away with that carceri era tax cut for the richest Rhode Islanders they seem sensitive to the perception about Rhode Island’s business climate what what do you say to that concern?
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: I’d say, we have to think of equity in the way we do policy. The poorest Rhode Islanders pay more taxes as a whole than the richest Rhode Islanders. It doesn’t make sense for our moral or economical point of view. And so I say if we’re thinking about how do we support our families, especially during a time of inflation, and we need to think about who are we taxing, who is taking the burden upon themselves, and it shouldn’t be the poorest families. So we have opportunities to generate revenue. We also have an economic development tax credit program, that is to help bring more jobs into the state of Rhode Island. I think we need to assess that program on a yearly basis and decide whether to cut or continue those economic development programs that can also help, again, to bring in the revenue we need as a state.
Ian Donnis: Beyond the tax issue. What are the top priorities of the economic progress Institute for the next general assembly session?
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: So we have a few policy priorities. One of them is definitely government supports because we know our families need, that gap is being felt. And so increasing cash assistance families get the benefit level was increased for the first time in 30 years in 2021. But it’s still not enough for families, it’s still at 40% of the poverty level. And then I think also for us, it’s really the cost of living adjustment, whether it’s through minimum wage, whether it’s through cash benefits like snap, we need to think of cost of living so we can keep up with inflation. So that is one of our top priorities. Also working families, we want to make sure people are being paid what they earn. And so we want to increase the minimum wage as a top priority for us, as well as providing opportunities for families to take care of themselves and their families. So paid leave, increasing the paid leave weeks from six to 12, as well as the wage replacement because I will help low pay families to be able to take advantage of that program. So those are a few of our priorities.
Ian Donnis: You worked as a legal aid lawyer in Massachusetts before returning to Rhode Island, what are your takeaways from how the kind of representation that a person can afford in a court, how that aligns with the quality of justice that they receive?
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: It definitely alligns. As a legal aid attorney, I turned away 60% of people who are eligible for our services. And I’ll tell you that having an attorney in any of our systems unfortunately matters. Their voices are heard their stories are heard in a way that the system understands. And so for families who have an attorney that can prevent them from getting evicted that can help a domestic violence victim leave their home and make sure people have the benefits they need. So I started direct work, but I understood how system and policies affected that and that really impacted my decision to sort of move from direct service to more impact policy work.
Ian Donnis: Weayonnoh Nelson Davies, Executive Director of the Economic Progress Institute. Thank you for joining us.
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies: Thank you for having me.
Liza Burkin, Providence Streets Coalition
An experimental bicycle path on Hope Street in Providence was welcomed by cyclists, although not everyone was happy. Some business owners expressed concern about losing parking spots. Joining me now to discuss how the experimental bike path worked and what happens next is cycling advocate Liza Burkin, coordinator of the Providence Streets coalition.
Ian Donnis: Liza, you supported this experimental separate bike lane on Hope Street that is wrapping up this week. How would you describe the pros and cons of the experiment so far?
Liza Burkin: The pros and the cons? Well, I think, really, it’s just been about building it to spark a conversation. And so folks can imagine what a change might look like. The pros have been the movement building, by far and the ability for folks to experience in 3D what it might be like. You know, a lot of people have trouble when you go to a community meeting and you see a plan in 2D, a cross section of a street, or even like a 2D rendering of a change, it’s really more impactful to see it in 3D. So that’s the big pro. The con, I would say is that we can only keep it up for one week. This is a volunteer driven effort, and we just don’t have the capacity for for much longer than that. It’s really at the extremes of what our community can handle. And it’s been a beautiful thing. And I’m just so grateful to our community for helping us out.
Ian Donnis: Some business owners in the Hope Street – Rochambeau area expressed concern about the loss of more than 100 parking spaces, during the experiment. I know that concern might seem overstated to some, but this is a tough time for business with COVID and the recovery from all that what do you say to those people who are concerned about the impact?
Liza Burkin: Absolutely, we totally understand. Our local businesses are what makes our city great. And that potential loss of those spaces is exactly why we decided to do it for one week, years ahead of any formal public process with any real funding attached to it. We wanted to try out and see what it would be like so that folks can understand how far away you have to park and how long that walk is to your destination. And that those are exactly the questions that we’re trying to answer with this one week pilot.
Ian Donnis: What are the next steps for this project?
Liza Burkin: First, we got to clean it all up. And then we’re gonna go through our surveys, we’ve collected almost 500 surveys from folks, it’s really been beautiful to see how people are coming out and engaging and seeing. You know, again, the whole point of this is community engagement, not asking people to take a survey or go to a meeting, just come out and see it, and then give us their feedback once they’ve – with an informed decision. So first, we got to clean it all up. And we got to analyze the data, create a report and present back to the city and the community.
Ian Donnis: Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza is an enthusiastic cyclist. He will be succeeded in January by Brett Smiley, who has expressed some concerns about how some of these bike paths or bike lanes were implemented under Mayor Elorza. So what does the future of cycling in Providence look like to you?
Liza Burkin: I don’t know. Again, I’m not a predictor of the future. But I think that the the foundation and the community that we’ve grown over the past eight years of the administration and the progress that we’ve made are here to stay. And projects like this, I think are the right approach to really do a better job. Like we’re always trying to go above and beyond in engaging folks in these changes. And I think there’s still a long way to go with that and a lot more miles to be built and people to be to get involved. Yeah.
Ian Donnis: There’s some federal money that was recently announced to improve bridges on the East Bay Bike Path, a very popular destination, How do things look on a statewide basis as far as cycling?
Liza Burkin: Unfortunately, our statewide bicycle mobility plan continues to be pretty underfunded at the state level. And that’s something we really want to see changed. We do have some federal infrastructure dollars coming but it’s never quite enough compared to you know, the miles that get built over highways. So we’re definitely trying to pick that funding back up. Yeah.
Ian Donnis: What would it take to build more support and more funding for bicycle programs in Rhode Island,
Liza Burkin: I think just helping people helping more people ride and the way to do that is by building safe spaces to ride. Safety is the number one concern, period. And so projects like this Hope Street temporary trail, or, you know, creating or rebuilding those bridges on the East Bay Path, are ensuring a safe place and that immediately invites people out everywhere where this is built. It’s celebrated and used.
Ian Donnis: Liza Burkin, coordinator of the Providence Streets Coalition. Thank you for joining us.
Liza Burkin: Thank you so much.
