Here's Why Hasenfus Says You Should Vote for Him

Here is the response by Jim Hasenfus, a Democratic candidate for the District 32 seat in the state Senate, to the question of why a voter should vote for him? All candidates were asked to respond to that question as an opportunity to make a final pitch to voters today. Hasenfus's response came in too late to include in the original story.

Jim Hasenfus (D)

The challenges we're going to face over the next couple of years are daunting.  Rhode Island has lost 75,000 jobs in the recession so far.  The experts tell us that 40,000 of those jobs are never coming back. 

The FY2012 projected deficit is currently projected to be about $420 million.  Employment growth is projected to be at a rate of 2.5% per year, through 2016. Ifwe make that target, over the next six years, by 2016, unemployment will have fallen – to 7%.

So there's a lot of work to do. But where should we start?  I think we start with the fact that we need jobs, and work backwards.  To grow jobs, we need to attract, keep and grow businesses in this state.  And to do that, we have to attack three problems:  Rhode Island has relatively high labor costs, high taxes, and high energy costs. We have to deal with the massive unfunded pension liability.  We have more work to do on the tax structure.  We have to fix the confusing, sometimes self-contradictory system of regulations that make it tough to do business here.

None of this is going to be easy.  I think the times require some new minds; some innovative minds; some minds that don't necessarily see the problems through the same set of glasses.  I think we ought to be trying to solve our problems collaboratively, base our solutions on best practices, and ask for help from the hundreds of experts we have in our local academic communities.  The answers we come up with should be long term answers, not quick fixes.

And once we know what they are, and we know they're not going to make everybody happy, we have to try to get them done.  We have to remember that we're all in this together and, like Dr. Franklin reminded John Hancock as he signed the Declaration of Independence, "We must indeed hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Our state needs help, and I think my background and skill set make me someone who could make a positive contribution that could help address some of our problems and help ensure that the kind of lives we've been able to lead will still be there for the next generation of Rhode Islanders.