State Senator Felag squares off against Republican Allyn Meyers in Senate District 10 Forum

The forum was held by the League of Women Voters- Rhode Island

The League of Women Voters - Rhode Island held a forum featuring candidates for the State Senate District 10 (Bristol, Tiverton, Warren) at the Warren Town Hall Monday evening. The two candidates were, from left to right, Republican Allyn Meyers and incumbent Democrat Walter Felag Jr. Scott Pickering, General Manager at East Bay Newspapers, moderated.

Here's the video, followed by a transcript. The transcript, as best I could, has been edited for clarity. The video begins with opening statements.

Allyn Meyers: I reside in Tivertonon where I have lived with my wife for 34 years. Our daughter and grandson also called Tiverton their home. I'm a business owner and professional and have been a systems analyst and network engineer for the past 25 years.

I sit here tonight as a candidate for the Rhode Island State Senate because I believe that Rhode Island is heading in the wrong direction. Our schools are failing, our healthcare systems are collapsing, and our economic climate is on life support due to the debacle of the Washington Bridge closure and the ongoing construction - along with the pending relocation of companies such as CVS, Hasbro, and Citizens Bank, among others. Affordable housing in this district is virtually non-existent.

Tax overrides this year, resulting in a 42.5% percent tax payment increase in Warren have added to the tax burden we've already experienced in the district. Energy costs have skyrocketed. Undocumented immigrants numbering over 30,000 at last count, receive housing, monetary benefits, and driver's licenses while hundreds of our veterans are homeless in the street, receiving little to no vital services. This election year, Rhode Island stands at a precipice, and our elected officials, who have held power as a one-party super-majority for almost 80 years - like my opponent who's held public office for 46 of those years - will ask us, the electorate who have been suffering under that one party leadership, for the right to keep their jobs. Rhode Island needs change. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to show you that I'm the person who will effectuate that change.

Walter Felag: I'm a senior computer software engineer for SEACORP in Middletown, Rhode Island. My wife and I own a small business in Barrington called Feminine Fancies. My wife works there possibly every day, so I know the hardships that small businesses go through. We have two children, Jake and Zeke, and we were honored seven and a half months ago to have our first grandchild, Remy.

My election is about experience. I think it's important that we have someone who has demonstrated leadership and a proven track record. I sat here 20 years ago for 20 years as your Town Council President and during that time it was without a town manager. I was able to provide fiscal budgets and proven audit reports, and also put funds aside for various entities within the town, whether it be the Fire Department or the Sewer Commission, and ended up having a hundred percent of pension funds.

During my time in the General Assembly, I've worked diligently on the $13.9 billion budget that's proved to be [...] to all our individuals throughout the state. So with that, I'm accessible and I look forward to this.

Scott Pickering: If elected to serve in the General Assembly, what's one bill you will work the hardest to pass in the next session?

Allyn Meyers: What I would work on first would be the Office of Inspector General. I know this came up last session and it was unanimously, by the other party, voted down, which I don't understand. We have a history going back to 38 Studios. Now, with our Washington Bridge situation, we find that we're having companies who are being sued by our state - that did the work that hasn't been done since 2012 - some of these people received contracts to do the work for the future bridge. They're working right now, and they were just stopped, because [the state] allowed the people who were doing the work, who are being sued by the [state], to destroy vital evidence. They finally stopped.

This kind of silliness can't go on. If we had an Inspector General. We would probably do much better. Inspector Generals are a common thing. 34 states have Inspector Generals. Massachusetts, in 1984, was one of the first ones in our region to have an Inspector General. They always pay for themselves. They always use their money very wisely. I think it cost $85,000 the first year [Massachusetts] spent on the Office of Inspector General and they ended up uncovering $1.2 million. It's usually a $21 to $1 expense return on money.

Walter Felag: If Mr. Myers looked up my record, he would see that I was a co-sponsor of the Inspector General Bill.

The biggest bill is the budget. As vice chair of the Finance Committee, I must work with my colleagues of 75 Reps and 38 Senators to put forth a document that represents the views of all [of us] within the state of Rhode Island. That budget is comprised of what we call $5.6 billion of general revenue expenditures, $5 billion of federal aid, and $3.2 billion of restricted funds and other funds. Those other funds are pass-through funds, like the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College. Those colleges passed through about $1.2 billion of that $3.2 billion. Another aspect [is] money we take in from the Lottery. The major aspect is increasing our general revenue expenditures. Those are the funds that we receive from the income tax of $1.9 billion, the sales tax of $1.7 billion, and the $450 million that we receive from the Lottery. That comprises probably about 72% of the general revenue expenditures.

Scott Pickering: This question came from the public. It starts with an opinionated statement, [they are] not my words.

There is not one law on gun control that can prevent gun violence. Do you believe that any gun control legislation can have an impact on gun violence? What would it be and why?

Walter Felag: Over the years we, as a General Assembly have [come out] in support of common sense gun laws, whether it be the high capacity ban, the safe storage of firearms, the red flag law, or the ghost gun ban. These were bills that we have put forward. If you wanted to add one more, it'd probably be [banning] the sale of assault weapons. Our neighboring states of Connecticut and Massachusetts have that particular law in place and I don't see any concern with it. The only thing would be to figure out the definition of assault rifles.

Allyn Meyers: In 2022, four laws were passed having to do with gun violence and the homicide rate in Rhode Island. I think 19 people died because of gun violence in 2023, and after those laws were enacted it went up to 28.

Gun violence is an illegal act. It's usually done by people who don't lawfully own guns. This year we hear the Governor talking about passing an assault weapon ban, and he wants to do it through the budget so it's sure to go through, but we have no definition of what assault weapons are. Any Senator or Rep that I've spoken to at legislative meetings to discuss that have no idea either. To violate our civil rights- a very strong civil right that goes back to the beginning- over something that you can't even define is problematic.

Scott Pickering: The housing crisis is acute in the State of Rhode Island. There is a bond issue on the ballot for funding. Are there specific measures that you would recommend to alleviate the affordable housing problem in Rhode Island?

Allyn Meyers: The affordable housing issue is exacerbated by not just the number of houses we have - the taxes make things unaffordable. Anyone here who's ever gotten a mortgage - they figure out what your bills are and they tell you what you can afford for a mortgage - and that includes utilities and all your bills. Everything has gone up crazy in the last two years. We have 55% energy costs go up and the taxes have gone up. They're going to have an override in Warren to get the taxes paid this year. We went to 5.7%, so it's a 42.5% increase in taxes. If it keeps going like this, how is anybody going to afford a house regardless of the supply of houses that are there? No one will be able to get a mortgage, especially when the mortgage rate is so high. The real thing would be just to start with the cause of the unaffordable housing, which is the taxes and the bills we have.

Regulations also. They just passed the crazy zoning laws in Tiverton and Warren. We have to get over that hump first. Most of it is man created, plus we have people from out of the state buying all the properties up. A lot of people are commuting to work from Connecticut, maybe even, some of them, all the way down in New York, and they're using it as remote locations for work in Boston. Until we get a handle on that, I don't know what we're going to do about it. Plus, Warren is so small. If you're talking about Warren there's just no place to put places anymore.

Walter Felag: First of all, I'd like to commend the Rhode Island House of Representatives for putting forth their housing package. At least someone has the gumption to put forth a measure that can be weighed one way or the other. ... I feel that we're unbalanced here. When we talk about low- and moderate-income housing, we're only talking about a small percentage of that - federally funded aspects. We're talking about 3.4% of the Town of Warren. If the legislature did what I wanted to do - pass a bill adding Section Eight housing, [low- and moderate-income housing] would be up to 9%. In the Town of Warren, if we encompass those rentals that assist people [such as] small cottages and those in assisted living, they would find that we would be well above that 10% threshold.

We put the $1.1 billion that we received in Covid funds in the budget. The [Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF)] fund $320 million towards that. I'm supporting the $120 million Housing Bond, Question #3, and we've taken the measure of having a cabinet position of Rhode Island Housing.

Scott Pickering: Looking at the state budget, do you agree with how Rhode Island is spending nearly $14 billion annually? Does the state have the right priorities and focus or would you shift how and where the state's resources are allocated?

Walter Felag: I believe it's allocated properly. For the past 26 years, I've been on the Senate Finance Committee. We've worked diligently in the Senate putting together a budget, as the House does, and then collectively we decide the budget based on the governor's recommendation, and the governor puts forth a budget based on the general revenue expenditures of the November revenue conference. The legislature finalizes it based on the May revenue estimate conferences. Those conferences can be different in terms of what the overall aspect is in terms of general revenue and things of that nature.

So yes, I believe it's appropriately spent. 45% is on health and human services. 25% of the total budget is on education and the rest is on general government, environment, and other aspects.

It is critically important that we increase revenues. If we look at the general revenue expenditures, back in 2019, it was probably like $3.9 billion and now we've got $5.6 billion. That means we've increased. We've increased our income tax, our sales tax, and those other aspects that allow us to provide more money for the municipalities. For instance, we eliminated the motor vehicle tax. The motor vehicle tax was $235 million. We give the communities that much money every year. In other words, the Town of Bristol gets $3 million, the Town of Warren gets $2 million, and the Town of gets $1.7 million. Last year we implemented the inventory tax exemption, which allowed up to $50,000 per business - which amounts to around $28 million. Then, our popular thing has been the 1% sales tax that the communities have that brings in to the state $40 million of which Bristol gets $700,000, Warren gets about $500,000, and Tiverton about $45,000. I could talk all day on the budget.

Allyn Meyers: Knowing where the money is going is important, but we have a $13.7 billion budget, the highest in our state's history. This year, across the state, many school systems were not reimbursed the same amount of money. Tiverton was $1.2 million in the red this year. There was a plan to close a school in Warren - I think they were level funded this year or pretty much close to that, in the Bristol Warren Regional School District.

But we have a problem with revenue. You can't keep taxing people to make up for the budget shortfalls. We have the highest sales tax in the region, which means that if we live close to - like Warren and Tiverton - a low-tax area - all that money flows out of the area. Sales tax is a compounding interest, it's like a 401k, the second that money leaves the district, it never comes back to a higher sales tax district. That's money made in Rhode Island that doesn't stay in Rhode Island. It just flows out of Rhode Island, right into Massachusetts and Connecticut. We have a big problem with that. Keeping the money we have is the most important thing. We need to lower our sales tax and increase the amount of support we have for our businesses. Our businesses are leaving on a crazy basis. I mean CVS and Hasbro - these companies are the staples of Rhode Island, and they're leaving. How are we ever going to retain jobs? How are we ever going to retain money when the money is blowing out of the state? That's where the revenue comes from. We can't just keep taxing people to death.

Scott Pickering: Do you approve of the job done by Governor Daniel McKee and Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti regarding the Washington Bridge situation?

Allyn Meyers: Should I just say No?

Scott Pickering: You have 58 more seconds.

Allyn Meyers: Okay. I'll use the 58 seconds to say that we need an Inspector General. I think if we had an Inspector General to look at what's going on, people would be going to jail already. These reports go as far back as 2012, [saying] this bridge was unsafe. Every single day. 90,000 cars are passing over that bridge and anything could have happened. We could have had a disaster. They've been kicking the can down the street for years and years. Now we got to a point where we have businesses closing in East Providence, Barrington, and Warren.

We're having all these problems. I attended a business meeting in East Providence and I think the only person who showed up was the Representative from East Providence. We had a great night discussing things, but no one else showed up. I [think] the one-party system is the reason that we don't have too many [elected] people mouthing off too much about this. Our Reps and Senators need to be much louder about this. It isn't just the inconvenience of driving to work, it's the hours you've lost out of your life. It's the businesses that will close and never recover. Plus, they've talked about [the new bridge costing] $200 million in two or three years. It's going to be $700 million to a billion dollars before it's over and it's going to be five to six years. I'm saying that today.

Walter Felag: Obviously, the East Bay residents have borne the brunt of the bridge closure, but if you remember correctly when the bridge was closed that particular evening, I gave a phone call to the Governor and the DOT director about things that should be taking place right away. The Governor mentioned it at his news conference the next morning. As far as the East Bay Reps and Senators not doing anything, as you all know, this is an executive decision. It's a decision from the Governor. The legislature can only get involved in terms of providing information to our residents, and we've done that. We've had weekly meetings with the DOT director at which time information is provided to us. We passed legislation and on a monthly basis, DOT provides information for the public. We made sure the DOT put up a website. We made sure that we had three lanes going each way. We've appropriated $83 million towards this particular project. And you have to remember that it's in the legal arena and when it's in the legal arena, the State of Rhode Island can receive shares from a particular vendor. In other words, it's not winner-take-all. It's a responsibility of how much fault DOT has and how much fault the contractors have. So that percentage is what we're going to receive in that lawsuit.

Scott Pickering: What role should charter schools or vouchers play in the educational system?

Walter Felag: Charter schools play a vital role, but when I look at charter schools, I look at them as more of an urban type of alternative, not something that should be within the suburban communities. We have public schools and the suburban communities do their job, but if you have a charter school, you're taking away money from those suburban schools...

Schools now are going toward Career and Technical Education classes, which allow individuals to move from one community to another if they want to look at a certain discipline.

Allyn Meyers: Charter schools are a great idea. Private schools are a great idea. It allows parents an opportunity to have a choice in their kids' education. We know that Rhode Island schools are on the bottom tier in the country. I mean, this is Rhode Island - we have Ivy League schools but what we have now is Rhode Island scores are lower than places like Mississippi and Arkansas. You traditionally think that scores in the Deep South are not that high, but they are. We have people in the inner cities who are dealing with the chaos of schools. In the inner cities, some of the kids are threatened and bullied. Not giving these people the same opportunities to have charter schools and private schools that some of us in the communities out here have, I don't think it's fair. Everybody has a right to a good education and they should have the same abilities everywhere else in the state.

I think that charter schools should be expanded and private schools should be expanded. We're seeing a huge uptick in homeschooling now. It started with covid and now it's just continuing. If our public schools don't get their act together, we're going to see our schools lose a lot of funding.

Scott Pickering: What is your opinion of the government's role in protecting our environment?

Allyn Meyers: We have legislative committees that handle all walks of things in our, we have water, we have the DEM, we have all the different things that handle the waterfront. The government always has a place in protecting our green spaces and our environment. The Act on Climate 2021 goes too far. It has created a situation where our electric rates are skyrocketing. Look, Rhode Island is the greenest state per capita in the country and has been for a long time. The crisis that they are creating in this state doesn't exist. We are absolutely the greenest. We use natural gas, which is very clean burning anyhow, but we are spending a ton of money on our offshore wind farms and solar panels. We've seen last week the devastating effects a hurricane could have. It takes one hurricane to wipe out our entire wind farms and our solar panels in one shot. What will we do? Usually, when we have coal-burning, gas-fired, or oil-burning things our power goes out for a couple of days. What are we going to do when we lose our entire infrastructure? How long will we have no electricity? That's what I'm worried about.

Walter Felag: I'm very proud of my environmental record. I've been able to receive awards ... the Earth Day Award over the years, and I was proud to work with Representative June Speakman on the PFAS legislation that addresses our drinking water during the year. I've been to two dedications of solar panel developments, one in Bristol and one in Warren.

The East Bay is ripe for climate change, and I'm glad to see that this is going to be a joint issue that requires attention from the municipality, the state, and the federal government. Warren received a grant, I believe, the other day, relative to URI, to look at their low-lying areas. It takes each of us to do our part in terms of addressing this ongoing issue.

Scott Pickering: Should the General Assembly be doing more to address the critical shortage of primary care mental health and medical providers in the state? If so, what should be done? And as a tangent, what do you think about the idea of building a medical school at the University of Rhode Island?

Walter Felag: The medical school at URI is something that's just being initiated. Senator Pamela Lauria from Barrington is heading that up for us on the Senate side and the commission will gather all the information they can to provide an informed decision.

Do we have a big concern? Yes, we do. As far as the physicians are concerned, we're providing tax credits for student loans of primary care providers. We're funding training sites for primary care providers. We're providing funding, purchasing, and eliminating medical debt for those individuals. And we've commissioned the medical school commission. My concern right now is at the Veterans Home because we can't find enough CNAs to house the veterans that we have on the waitlist. That's a shame because we should be able to afford that opportunity to have our veterans have a place to stay.

Allyn Meyers: It seems that the lack of practitioners - we have a mental health issue in Rhode Island - is based on the reimbursement rates of other states. Rhode Island is, of course, at the very bottom of reimbursements. We are number 50 out of 50. Massachusetts and Connecticut hover around the 25th on the list. What happens is we have many practitioners here who choose to open their offices in Massachusetts, right over the border to our district, which is half of the problem of borderlands. They can just open their practices right over the district [line] and the money is so much better than [here].

Even if we create more and more practitioners in a college, they're going to do the same thing. We have to address the fact that we have the lowest reimbursement rate. Maybe we can do something like we talked about with the tax credits or the credits for schools and this kind of thing for our practitioners - student loan forgiveness or something for practitioners when we need people. But just putting in a school to bring more people in isn't going to help because they're going to go outside the district when they're making twice as much money.

Scott Pickering: Is there anything we have not talked about tonight that you would like to talk about?

Allyn Meyers: There's a million things. We need to address the chaos in society today. The mental health issue dovetails right into that. We have people who can't afford groceries, gas, or anything. Now we have businesses closing around the bridge. We have kids in schools being bullied. The chaos in society is what increases the need for mental health professionals. Unless we start pinpointing the causes of mental health illness issues we have in our state, we're not going to get anywhere. So we need to start fighting against those issues.

Walter Felag: I think that what's missing is my proven track record, over the last the last couple of years, in terms of legislation. I was been able to pass seven bills last year and nine bills the year before - but more importantly, I've been able to pass what are called budget amendments. Those are things in the finance committee that you don't get credit for passing as bills, but you get credit for putting those particular things in the budget, like increasing the earned income credit for our hardworking low-income individuals from 16 to 17%, and adding the exemption on the pension system for our military people so they don't have to pay a tax on it. That's a bill I've had for about 15 years. We finally got it over the finish line. A pension exemption, from $20k to $50k for those individuals that are single, that have under $101k or $126k - or helping our teachers out in terms of retirement from the higher of five years to three years.

Scott Pickering: Closing statements

Walter Felag: President Theodore Roosevelt said it best. “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena.” It's easy to throw darts when you're on the other side. When you're one of 113 legislators with the Governor, your opportunity is to do what you can do for the community. I'm accessible. I replied to over 600 emails and correspondence from individuals. I help individuals daily. That's my role. I've dedicated my adult life to the town of Warren and the East Bay community. I coached Little League for 25 years, ran and coached an indoor soccer league for 25 years, was on the Town Council, and had favorable budgets. And guess was? $1,000 a year.

I had no town manager, but I had a great staff. I had a great town clerk and more importantly, I had a great treasurer working behind the scenes to assist the community in having those favorable budgets and not having any issues at the legislature. I've worked diligently on behalf of those constituents. I can listen and learn from people and d.people. More importantly, I have connections with the Rhode Island DOT, DEM, DLT, Commerce, and DMV to help our constituents when they run into an issue. I don't just pass it on. I call up those individuals and ask for their assistance and they usually respond to me.

My opponent, on the other hand, is more of a gloom and doom type of individual who doesn't have solutions, and he's going to be one of 113 [legislators] and I don't think he's going to have the effect that he thinks he's going to have.

Allyn Meyers: We spent a lot of time tonight hearing about experience. My opponent asked that you vote for him because of his experience, but what has your experience been with Walter Felag as your senator? How was your experience at the supermarket checkout? How was your experience when you paid your utility bills? How was your experience at the gas pump today? How has your child's experience been in their failing schools? How has your experience been in finding a doctor for healthcare? How has your commute over the Washington Bridge been? How has your experience in finding affordable housing in Rhode Island been?

Many issues were discussed tonight and to be sure they are important issues. But in 1992, to use another president's statement, James Carville coined a phrase for his boss, Bill Clinton's Presidential Campaign. I'm not usually in the habit of quoting Bill Clinton, but we all remember it. The phrase was, “It's the economy, stupid.”

People are hurting in Rhode Island. We need leaders with real-world experience to fix the problems, with their neighbors, they face every day. If elected, I promise to represent you in the Senate. I will work with our town councils, neighborhood groups, and advocacy groups to identify the needs and concerns of District 10, not the schemes of big money in Providence. I will bring back town hall meetings where local issues can be discussed and concerns can be brought to Smith Hill. With that, I ask for your support and vote in this election.