Campaign Trails Converge at DiPalma Vineyard Reception

The scent of a campaign trail was picked up at Newport Vineyards and Winery Tuesday night at a Democratic Party reception for District 12 State Senator Lou DiPalma, also attended by Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, who's running to fill the state's 1^st District Congressional seat vacated by Patrick Kennedy, and local Town Council candidate Richard "Dick" Adams. Other elected and municipal officials in attendance included Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, Incumbent Portsmouth Town Councilor Jim Seveney, Middletown School Committee Member Kellie DiPalma, Middletown Planning Board member Jan Eckhart, Portsmouth Planning Board member Ed Lopes, and former State Senator J. Clement "Bud" Cicilline, who currently chairs the Newport Democratic City Committee.

A state Senator since 2008 and former Middletown Council member, Lou DiPalma is running unopposed Nov. 2, but the fundraising event gave him the opportunity to talk about ongoing issues and priorities for his next term. The event also gave both Cicilline and Adams more face time with local Democrats and to encourage greater voter turnout.

At the top of DiPalma's list of concerns remains shared municipal services, often referred to as "regionalization" of local government services, for which DiPalma has served on a state commission to study the issue.  It's an issue that often comes up among neighboring municipalities, but legislators saw it as a statewide issue. "It's a discussion that needs to be centralized," said DiPalma. "We've come up with a short-term strategy and a long-term strategy, and this coming term, I'd like us to take this issue to the next step."

That next step involves a three-year plan to collect data, and gather facts as well as "thought-filled" input from personnel who work in the areas eyed as the first positions to share among cities and towns, namely Information Technology (IT), Public Safety Dispatch, Tax Assessment, and Tax Collection, said DiPalma.

"All are backroom services," explained DiPalma, noting that none demand that personnel be physically located in one area over another and all are largely technology-based. He added, "I'm a data person and I need to see the facts and the numbers to see if it makes sense, and that's what these next phases are all about…At the end of the day, it's the property tax that we all look at."

He added, "There's also a lot of minutia to be looked at. For example, dispatch—Middletown might have a truck number 12 and so does Portsmouth. How do you handle that? It's probably a simple fix…but all of these details have to be looked at with the people who do these jobs."

Other key issues for DiPalma are funding for vocational education schools throughout Rhode Island, municipal pensions, and local school funding, including "Race to the Top" funds.

"2011 is going to be a very challenging year for local schools' funding," said DiPalma. "We're coming up to that cliff when state funding runs out."

Voter and local business owner Denise D'Amico said that as a taxpayer, she sees merit in shared municipal services. "In this economy, you can't just keep going like you are. You have to at some point cut back," she said.

Richard "Dick" Adams, a current Planning Board member making his first run for public office, is one of 13 candidates this year seeking one of seven partisan at-large Town Council seats.

Besides Tuesday night's reception, his campaign trail so far has brought him door-to-door and neighborhood-to-neighborhood, armed with a tri-fold campaign flyer that outlines his resume and positions on a number of key issues. Holding fast to an unofficial agreement among most candidates throughout town, he is not dispensing lawn signs.

"I'm not calling people. I'm just knocking on doors. You can't get any more grass roots-y than that," he smiled. "I just try to talk to people and see what's on their mind."

Adams said that most people he's encountered have been concerned about wind turbine construction, quality of life issues, conservation, maintenance of open space and parks, and, of course, taxes. Many of the issues are among those listed in his flyer.

Adams also advocates long-term (5- to 10-year) municipal budgeting, construction of public and private wind turbines "in appropriate locations which conform to our town ordinance," non-partisan elections, open space preservation, and "carefully planned, appropriate regionalization of island schools."

Adams opposes further development of "big box" retail stores, extending retail stores further north on West Main Road, and the Hess Corporation's proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Mount Hope Bay, according to his flyer.