King Jace on Capitol Hill?

Bill Schneck’s unveiling as this year’s King Jace was a bit of a surprise, and prompted lots of questions on my part.  I’ve known Bill of the better part of 16 years and had no idea who the mysterious “King” was.  Believe it or not, that isn’t anything new when it comes to Bill.

We campaigned together for City Council a few times and, although we had some very distinct differences of opinion, the thing that always impressed me was that Bill always said what he meant and meant what he said.  He and I had several differences of opinion over the years but you always knew where he was coming from.  Bill wears his heart on his sleeve and he isn’t afraid to stand up for what he thinks.

During his tenure on our city council, those convictions brought him a lot of heat.  Taxpayers were incensed that he was one of the council members that voted for a tax increase to balance our city’s budget.  He always supported tag days (which I personally think should be banned!) because he thought the ends justified the means.  I could go on and on but I am somewhat limited on these blogs.

The bottom line is – I have the feeling that Bill is contemplating a run for State Representative in his district – and quite frankly, I hope he does.  What our city desperately needs are regular people in Providence representing us – the taxpayers of this city. For too long we’ve had “politicians” proclaiming their victories that – for the most part – are meaningless to most of the residents of our city.

Let’s think about the unfunded mandates that have crippled our school department… let’s think about the fiasco with the automobile taxes that caused many of us to scramble to find ways to pay up or not be able to register our cars… There is so much more that I could say but again, space is prohibitive.

Here is a guy that said he’d done all he could – for now.  He knows what our city needs, he knows the shortcomings of our legislature, and he’s been able to weave relationships that could help him to help us down the road.

Mr. Schneck isn’t a politician but he is a salesman.  And in my opinion, you can’t be one without being the other.  But, in Bill’s case, he tries to sell you on what he believes and not on what it will take for him to win an election.  Quite frankly, I’d rather have that than a greasy hand coming toward me hoping to garnish my vote.

I might be all wet on this and I’m sure that within an hour of him reading this, Bill will be on the phone to me.  But – what I really hope is that he will take up the gauntlet and make that run for a seat in the house on the hill.  He might be a part of a new wave that might actually do something to help the state and ultimately, the residents and taxpayers.