1-on-1 With Filippi: IGT, Twin River, Marijuana, DCYF — and School Choice
1-on-1 With Filippi: IGT, Twin River, Marijuana, DCYF — and School Choice
Filippi, who was chosen by the House Republican Caucus as the Minority Leader in November 2018, is considered to be a potential GOP candidate for Rhode Island Governor in 2022.
“I think we have to see competing proposals,” said Filippi of IGT’s contract request. “Maybe not a formal bid process, you know, where you have to accept the lowest bidder, but if we’re entering into a 20 year deal worth over a billion dollars, I think we should be going out there and seeing if there’s a better deal to be had. Maybe there’s another company that would bring 2,000 jobs to the state.”
“I think [the 1,100 jobs] at IGT that they’re putting out there -- we have to consider, but we have to look at the premium we’re paying for IGT, and realize the premium that we’re paying is a subsidy for those jobs,” added Filippi.
Filippi also spoke to revenue concerns at Twin River, with increased competition coming from Massachusetts.
“It’s our third-largest source of [revenue] — we built our budget around projections that we’re not meeting so my concern is that we’re not going to be able to fund the budget we’ve passed [and] I think the long-term trend is that the gambling market’s becoming saturated, the pie is only so big and you only have so many gamblers,” said Filippi. “I think it shows the problem in the state where we’re using this revenue source from a single industry to backstop our improperly-budgeted budgeting — I think we need organic growth from the ground up and that would insulate us against certain things happening in the economy.”
“I think it’s going to be difficult to lower taxes — obviously we’re going to make the argument that when you lower taxes your spur growth…but there’s other things we can do like eliminating overbearing regulations.”
Marijuana — and More
Filippi said that the state’s budget issues should not be the driving factor in whether to legalize marijuana — or not.
“We shouldn’t be making a dramatic decision about who we are as a society based on our budget — I think our analysis of the legalization of marijuana should be one of personal choice. It’s a personal choice issue — it’s not ‘we need to squeeze more money out of people to balance our budget,” said Filippi.
“[And] we should not be empowering a few special insiders to make all the money off of it — it should be regulated like our alcohol industry, small businesses, and you can’t hold more than one license,” said Filippi. “There are ways to do it in a way that’s fair. I’m just concerned it’s going to be the Rhode Island insider way of doing things, with a few special interests who are going to make all the money. But it’s de facto legal now and we have to face that reality."
Filippi also spoke to the role of the House Oversight Committee demanding accountability at DCYF — and why he believes that the Committee should have subpoena power to force people to testify under oath — as well as the state taking over Providence schools — and why he believes empowering families with public school choice could be an answer.