Great press conference today. Here’s the text of my remarks.
Across the country, the news media reports that voters are angry and they want change. The story is no different in Rhode Island. On November 2nd, voters in Rhode Island’s first congressional district will have the opportunity to vote for me or to vote for my opponent, embattled Mayor David Cicilline.
I am the candidate that wants to chart a new course for Rhode Island. My opponent will be for the same disastrous policies that have gotten us into the dire straits that we are in. My opponent has pledged to support Speaker Pelosi if elected to Congress and this would be just one of his many bad votes to advance her left-wing agenda.
To show what we know we can expect from a Congressman Cicilline, I have this simple illustration. 
He and Nancy Pelosi are like peas in a pod.
Like Nancy Pelosi, my opponent has a history of raising taxes. He favors repealing some of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and raising taxes on the investors and entrepreneurs whose success is key to our economic recovery. His campaign has brushed these tax cuts off as “trickle down” economics while leading economists agree that extending the tax cuts would help the middle class and grow the economy.
As mayor of Providence he has shown a propensity towards raising taxes – even when he said he wouldn’t. In his state of the city speech this year he promised “No hidden fees, no phantom taxes, not even a dime’s increase in parking meter fares.” And he added, “People can’t be asked to pay higher property taxes.” Just a few months later when it was clear he would leave Providence with over $50 million in debt, he balanced the budget on the backs of Providence property owners.
I believe that we should cut taxes – and maintain the existing cuts – and give employers access to their own money so that they can invest in their businesses, create jobs and grow the economy. My record as a state legislator stands in stark contrast to my opponent’s tenure as mayor. I have voted against tax increases at every opportunity and been a champion for lowering the tax burden on all Rhode Islanders.
Like Nancy Pelosi, my opponent would favor additional stimulus spending, driving us further into debt and putting an unsustainable burden on our children and grandchildren.
I believe that we need to stop the outrageous spending that has cost us more than $787 billion. No more bailouts, no more stimulus packages that don’t work.
Like Nancy Pelosi, my opponent believes that illegal aliens should have a “pathway to citizenship.”
I believe in legal immigration – and that the only path to legal immigration begins at the immigration office in one’s home country. We are a nation of immigrants but we are also a nation of laws and it is the role of the federal government to secure our borders and adopt a fair immigration policy that allows us to protect our sovereignty and control our borders.
Like Nancy Pelosi, my opponent supports the health care bill that CBO estimates will cost more than $1 trillion – more than $115 billion more than was estimated when the bill was rammed through Congress with bipartisan opposition.
I believe that we need to repeal and replace the most onerous parts of the health care bill, particularly the aspects that have nothing to do with improving health care. Clearly our health care system is broken but instead of taking steps to control costs, the health care bill is home to hidden taxes and penalties for small businesses.
The citizens of this district deserve their own vote in Congress and I am the only candidate in this race that will go to Washington with no sworn allegiances and an agenda that is focused only on improving the lives of the people I will represent. As I talk to voters across the district, they tell me that Washington isn’t working for them.
Today I ask, do you want someone different, or just another pea for Nancy Pelosi’s pod?
