Bill Clegg Challenges Neighbor For Congress

Bill Clegg, who lives on Ives Road in Potowomut, wants to run against one his neighbors for elected office. His neighbor is James Langevin, Rhode Island’s Second District representative in Congress.

“I’m sure he’ll have a big sign and so will I,” Clegg said at his campaign kick-off event at T’s Restaurant on Thursday afternoon.

Clegg, a Republican, is making his second attempt at elected office. His first was an unsuccessful campaign for the state legislature in 1992. He recently retired from a 21-year career at Textron, and now that his and his wife Ruth’s two children are grown, he said he’s ready to test the waters again.

The economy, government spending and the recently enacted health care reform legislation have motivated him to run for office.

“Federal spending is my number one issue,” he said. “It’s out of control. I don’t want my children to inherit a pile of stuff they can’t handle. This election is all about the economy in my mind.”

He referred to himself as a conservative Republican and said he would like to be considered the candidate of the tea party movement “if they would have me.”

And, he added, he’s got his work cut out for him if he intends to unseat a popular incumbent, such as Langevin. Never mind that he’s also got to face two other Langevin challengers in the Republican primary.

“It’s going to be totally uphill, in hot weather with a lot of gear, if I can use a military expression,” said Clegg, a veteran who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, and spent a total of 28 years in the armed services.

Clegg said he’ll need to raise between $300,000 and $500,000 in order to be competitive. So far, he has $11,000 in his campaign coffers. He said he’s willing to put in some of his own money, but added that he “doesn’t want to spend blindly.”

Bill and Ruth Clegg, who met as undergraduates at the University of Rhode Island, have lived together in Potowomut for 26 years. They moved there after he finished law school at Syracuse University. They have two sons: Garrett is 23 and Alex is 26.