2020 Election Profile: Bob Wheeler, House District 61
GoLocalProv Political Team
2020 Election Profile: Bob Wheeler, House District 61
Read what he has to say about why he is running for office.
This is part of an ongoing series by GoLocal featuring each of the candidates for House and Senate.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST1. What do you think is the biggest political issue this campaign season in Rhode Island?
To me, the budget and our extraordinary spending is the biggest issue. Rhode Islanders are constantly being asked to pay more and more either in overt taxes or in hidden taxes (e.g. tolls, increased fees, etc.) and we never have anything to show for it. We have a blazing fire in our middle and high schools’ competency results, but there’s no one moving to solve that problem. Instead, we’re talking about giving taxpayer-subsidized college away. Our priorities need to get oriented quickly.
2. What do we need to do to improve Rhode Island's economy?
We need to do two things immediately: 1 – we need to have a feasible strategy for what kinds of businesses we want here. The COVID virus has exposed that there are too many people tied to the hospitality and government employers and not enough industrial diversity to help us when we hit rough patches. 2 – We need to do a top to bottom assessment of statutes and regulations that make RI an unfriendly state to do business in. Our government is riddled with policies designed to keep competition low (for the insiders) and generally make RI a place to stay away from for businesses.
3. What is the greatest challenge facing Rhode Island as a state?
I think our overall educational proficiency scores is the biggest challenge. We talk about developing a 4-year plan to resolve that, but what are we doing for the students now? Almost as serious of a problem: Lack of oversight / counter-voice. RI has been a single-party state for nearly 100 years. Political graft / secret spending / “know a guy” politics has to stop and the only way to make it stop is to start voting differently and making an influential minority party to question/stop the abuse of an unchecked majority.
4. Why are you running for office? What makes you uniquely qualified?
As a local business owner, I’m frustrated at what I see as a lot of unqualified people making incredibly sketchy/partisan decisions at the State House. 17% of existing Legislators have experience with small businesses. At the same time, 98.9% of businesses in RI are small businesses. Until we start electing people who understand what businesses need, we will forever be in a cycle of government dependency in this state. That dependency has shown time and again that it’s not reliable (e.g. UHIP, DCYF, etc.). Social unrest will be the inevitable result.
5. Who is your inspiration?
On a local level, I’m inspired by former Minority Leader Patricia Morgan, Representative Place, Senators Cano, Morgan, and de la Cruz. These are, in my opinion, people who are coming up with amazing ideas that help everyone while at the same time taking a genuine concern in the people that they serve. Have a conversation with anyone of them and you’ll walk away knowing you were heard and respected. Every citizen should be entitled to that level of care from their leaders.
Resume: Life long Rhode Islander. Graduate from East Providence High School and the University of Rhode Island. I worked for a large financial company for 18 years before deciding to open our own business, Friends of Toto. We’ve been operating for the past 4 years in Pawtucket, RI. I live in Pawtucket with my husband, Bruce, and my three dogs: George, Sadie, and Nugget!
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