Carcieri Says State Budget is "Out of Control" (posted August 17, 2002)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Don Carcieri said today that the state budget is "out of control". Appearing on the WPRI television show "Newsmakers" with Jack White and Scott MacKay, the GOP aspirant criticized the increase in state spending and reliance on what he called short-term fixes that did not address longer-term issues.
When asked what he would do as governor to deal with the state's financial crisis, Carcieri indicated he would oversee a "big audit" of the books. It is important to go through the budget item by item, he said, to find out where the state could "do it better and cheaper." As part of this plan, he would ask the people who run departments to find savings in their area and then reward those who came up with reductions extra money for their area.
Carcieri also described his plan to create a "taxpayers bill of rights" in Rhode Island. One part of this would be to propose a new amendment to the state constitution mandating that state spending could not exceed the rate of inflation without the approval of voters. "We have no fiscal discipline in this state," he complained.
Under intense questioning from MacKay, Carcieci admitted that as CEO, he had laid off company workers, but said it was the most difficult thing he had to do.
