LWV EP Candidate Forum - RI Senate 14

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good evening everybody Welcome to The Forum tonight uh let us Begin by uh saying the Pledge of Bel

so good evening again and welcome to the Senate District 14 debate tonight uh we had expected Scott Pickering the general manager of the spay newspapers the Media Group gr to be here but instead we'll have Susan doing an able job this this forum is presented by the League of Women Voters in the East Bay Media Group the League of Women Voters has been holding candidates forums at local

state and National levels since women got the vote in 1920 the league never supports or opposes candidates the league holds voter registration drives and members study issues important to their in their regions we invite you to learn more about the league by visiting our website League of Women lwv.org pamplets on the table in the back and we welcome new members both men and women comparing candidates side by side

is one of the best ways to help you decide who will best represent you in presenting forums the league follows IRS rules which which consider it unfair if one candidate speaks when his or her opponent is not present we invited the candidates for house district 64 Jenny ferado and Ashley Pereira to debate tonight Ashley did not respond we would like to introduce Jenny who was willing to participate thank you

Jenny would you please stand up yeah thank you thank you tonight we are hearing from candidates for State Senate District 14 Valerie Lawson and Brian cougan our moderator Susan will ask questions which have been submitted in writing and which address issues that are important to you the voters questions may be combined or paraphrased at Susan's discretion each candidate will have the

same amount of time to speak each gets an opening and closing statement and will be asked six questions the other candidate will have the same amount of time to comment on the question or the response each candidate also gets eight wild cards of 30 seconds each that he or she can use to expand on any issue bring up a new subject or lengthen their closing statement your job as an audience is to

please turn off your cell phones and hold your applause till the end of the debate now Susan

welcome each candidate same oh hello that good hello hello hello oh there okay each candidate will get six questions and the other candidate will have exactly the same amount of time to answer and each candidate I believe gets eight wild cards which are 30 seconds in in length and they can use them anytime they want if they want to keep going on a train of thought they can just hold them up and use

them so I believe Valerie you are going first right what was the best piece of legislation you sponsored when you were in the are in the legislature just to clarify we're not starting with the opening statement oh I'm happy to answer that though thank you very much don't answer it now answer it later okay and that will be the first question sorry I have not done this before but go ahead each candidate gets a minute

opening statement thank you Susan good evening thanks to the League of Women Voters the East Bay Media Group everyone who um showed up tonight in the audience and those of you watching I've lived in this community my entire life I'm a proud Towny I care about this community I'm part of this community as a retired educator I was fortunate to work with thousands of students in their families

for more than three decades my career began as a social studies teacher at Mountain junor High and then as a Civics and history teacher at East Providence High School my alma Mada I've been an advocate for education in Working Families my entire life to today I'm proud to continue my service to improve education as the president of the National Education Association Rhode Island it's been an honor and privilege

to be your Senator and we've accomplished many great things including ending the car tax reducing taxes for retirees and Veterans expanding our state's Family Leave program to eight weeks creating a $2.6 million grant program to assist these Providence Bud uh businesses impacted by the bridge securing funds to help Lyn Rehabilitation Center secure job jobs and create a new memory care unit and

help provide funding for students in East Providence craft program but there's still much work to be done and I'm asking for your support so I can continue to work to expand leave for 12 weeks address the primary care provider crisis and strengthen our education system thank you Mr good evening I want to thank you um everybody for showing up tonight the uh thanks for the invite I appreciate it my name is Brian kougan

I'm born and raised here my entire life third generation I have five children um I Was A Boy Scout across the street a troop 29 in East Providence alter boy up the street Loretta Church um I was a Sho shine boy here um true towy that's why they actually called me Mr May um I'm sorry they used to call me Mr Mayor but they called me Mr EP as you know me as

um but um I I thank Val for the tonight and uh it's nothing against Val I'm actually running on not on taxes never going to lower your taxes it's never going to happen that's not good anybody I'm running on suicide um bullying and um mental health thank you all right that's fine thank you now we'll start with the first question which you already know what what is the are the most important issues oh

that's your priorities what are your most important important issues that you will fight for if elected I will continue to advocate for the residents of East Providence we have a lot of issues facing us at the state level one of them is the completion of the Washington Bridge I've um been in involved in numerous pieces of we passed a piece of legislation that requires a snapshot of

what's going on there we also um saw and received weekly meetings with the Department of Transportation as well as o oversight as I mentioned in addition to that I'd like to expand family medical leave to 12 weeks like our surrounding neighbors um and in addition to that address the the primary care crisis here everyone knows of someone who's having difficulty finding a primary care doctor and that's

something here in Rhode Island we need to address in housing we do have a housing crisis as well Mr kran would you like you have also 30 second 30 minute to address this question uh what are the most important what are the most important ISS usually will fight for if elected so if I'm elected one of the reasons uh I'm running also to help um I think the key issue to the state of

Rh island is is recycling whether it's Plastics oils mattresses there's a lot of money in it and I think that the city could bring in a lot of Revenue if we think outside the box and bring around table discussion a lot of the recyclable bins that go a lot of recycl that go into your have bins you can't recycle half the stuff that goes in there because they're contaminated with colors

if I was to get elected I would pass a law where you can only use a clear bottle and plastic stickers for the bottle um I think it's the key recycling is the key to to the state of Rh Island and actually the country so that's what I would do one of the first piece of legislation I would try to pass thank you thank you okay this question goes to Mr cougan first the housing crisis is

acute in the state of Rhode Island what actions would you take in the legislature to help eliminate alleviate the shortage of affordable housing the problem with housing is if if my neighbor sells his house for $600,000 and it's a three family he has to bring in the rents to cover that mortgage so I think the key to housing is bringing down the rates you know um I work personally with the teachers credit

and I've been there 30 years um they got better rates uh they do a little better because they're a a smaller bank and the the government gives them a little bit better rate so I would urge people to go to their um local um Community Banks but so how do you how do you stop the housing crisis for apartments I have multiple Apartments I got a couple of million dollars in in real estate myself and

thank God that um I could absorb uh not raising the rents my tenants been with me for years and years and years but when someone sells a house for a million dollars three family or 600 you have to bring in the mortgage to cover

that don't want me to stop yep then you you can use a wild card and keep going if you want I'm gonna hang on to the wild cards because I got a lot to say all right B send question the housing the housing crisis is acute in the state of Rhode Island what actions would you take in the legislature to help alleviate the shortage of affordable housing it absolutely we are facing a housing

crisis and we've done some work over the past couple of years to try and address that but we need to continue to remove barriers one of the bills we passed was an Adu bill that will help we've invested over $300 million here in Rhode Island but we need to continue to that remove the barriers so that money can have shovels in the ground in bring about affordable housing I was happy to

sponsor a resolution last uh session the previous session to provide uh State funding for affordable housing here in East Providence we need more projects like that uh the center city project which would provide 144 units uh affordable housing to people have wraparound services so we need to work together with local communities the state use that money and get those uh buildings built for people thank

you okay this question goes to Val first guns it's the occurrence of mass shootings has continued to be a horrendous and tragic phenomenon in the US the Rhode Island legislature continues to fail to pass legislation that would ban assault weapons would you vote to ban assault weap weapons why or why not I would vote to ban assault weapons I have signed on to to that bill uh numerous times I fully support it and

I fully support the legislation we have passed and as a a teacher I've been extremely worried about that situation across the country and here so we need to do everything that we can to make sure our kids and everyone in Rhode Island is safe and I would absolutely vote for that bill and have been advocating for it thank you Mr kougan read the question please the occurrence of mass shootings has continued to be a

horrendous and tragic phenomenon in the US the Rhode Island legislature continues to fail to pass legislation that would ban the most destructive weapons assault weapons would you V vote to ban assault weapons why or not why not I actually would vote to ban assault weapons um although I do have a permit to carry a gun myself but the problem with the guns is it's not just the assault weapons

because there's mass shootings even without assault weapon uh assault weapons the problem is mental health the m is the most powerful thing in the world who would go into a school and shoot kids somebody who's not right there should be legislation passed to hold the parents accountable if they get their guns there should be other legislation accountable for if if it's not the parents it's a friend's gun you

you need to report people with mental health and that that's some legislation needs to be re um looked at to how do we how do we help our loved ones with mental health um because it's it's an epidemic where people just get a gun and go and shoot people so it doesn't matter if it's a heavy assault weapon or a revolver a gun is a gun and people kill people because they got mental health

problems thank you thank you you spoke on that right okay the next one is about health lack the lack of primary care positions there is an acknowledged pay gap between Rhode Island and neighboring states for primary care physicians what do you do do you think the legislature can do to address this we have begun to address this but it's just been baby steps and as I mentioned earlier this really is a

crisis in Rhode Island um we began with uh providing taxes for student loans for Primary Care Providers there's a commission actually beating this evening to begin the conversation of what can be done to support them and keep them in Rhode Island because of those reimbursement rates in possibly creating a medical school here in Rhode Island at URI but we need to address and increase

Primary Care uh reimbursement rates that's why primary care providers A leaving to go to Massachusetts in Connecticut because they can provide the same service and be paid much more so we need to address that we've done that on other in other areas of healthcare we need to now do that in uh Primary Care there is an acknowledged pay gap between Rhode Island and neighboring states for primary care physicians what

but so I have medic medical I I lose my job I go to another job they they only excuse me I'm sorry they only gave me $2,000 I have to use several thousand before my medical kicks in so we need to rate we need to lower that um for the families number one number two is uh you got Troopers leaving here you got other police office fire department because other states give a better deal so we

need to sit down and figure out how to keep them here okay thank you nobody wants to elaborate on any of this no wild cards being used okay next question question is involves the the lack of participation in in voting in recent years and the lack of civic education and the need for students to understand and run-ups too to understand their duty to vote and pay attention to who they're voting for so the question goes

um currently in Rhode Island there's not sufficient funding for civics education in the school system would you advocate for a more comprehensive teaching of civics and support the critical funding necessary I believe you're first Mr P yes I would I would have yes can you elaborate any um no I it's just uh I I I I would I would support more I I don't you know again it's kind of hard in couple of

seconds to to go forward on that I'm G to use my time for some other stuff thank you absolutely as a a ninth grader at mon Junior High myself that's when I fell in love with Civics in government and then we were we in East Provence are one of those few communities that actually have a full year I support funding it I have signed on to that bill I've spent my life encouraging kids as a

Civics teacher I think it's so important to be part of the process and make kids understand how it works how they can be make a difference because they truly can because I'm airm firm believer that everyone's beliefs and collectively we can create good public policy so I think starting at a young age is so important and I was a primary sponsor in the Senate of a bill that would let

um those who were going to be 18 by the primary to vote um to who will be 18 in the general vote in the primary to encourage kids so whenever we have that opportunity we can in add addition to that I fully support the secretary States program he's going around to States across uh schools across uh the the state and encouraging civic participation in education and he's doing uh for those of you who are

familiar so there used to be an Insight program in Rhode Island that went away in the secretary of state is now has brought it back to life to encourage kids I fully support that our organization with is a prime sponsor of that and I think we need to do more things like that thank you thank you this one concerns the Washington Bridge everybody's favorite topic what suggestions would you make to

help small businesses affected by the future deconstruction reconstruction of the Washington Bridge I think it's Mr no so the what has happened on the Washington bu is an absolute failure I drive it every day to work I I know how that impacts all of these Providence residents on the highway in the streets and then that trickles down to Bri businesses was happy to Advocate with other East Bay legislators to double the

amount the governor put in the budget to equal $2.6 million for those businesses impacted to get grants not loans grants cuz that what that's what they need but I think we need to and I think the mayor's done a good job of promoting that businesses are open here in these Providence and we need to support them and continue to do that and at the state level we need to do that in any way we

can in Grants and other things and um that will be rolled out in the next week or two that whole grant program so we should continue that monitor how businesses are doing and continue to support them thank you so that's the other reason why I'm running I like to be at the table of that discussion for the new bridge um the new bridge they should whoever's involved we can't even get people to

rebuild because the people that are winning the bid are some of the people getting sued I think there's a there was some legislation passed and Val correct me that they can only go back 10 years to sue the contract is that true I I just was curious okay well there's a discussion to go that they only go back 10 years uh for the contractors I think we should sue this should be a class action lawsuit I

think several people should be involved um being sued and we should give that money to the small businesses I'm a small business I happen to be in the towing business um I'm actually ready to give my Towing up because I have to go over that bridge several times one way and several times back so I'm working two and three times more for the money um and it hurts so my trucks are $150,000 a

piece my insurance is $111,000 each yeah absolutely so my each that each truck is $1,000 so I'm impacted very heavily on the small business side now there's if you start to go over the other side of the bridge not to scare anybody but the bridge UTS are starting to get dips in them because it was designed for four lanes and not six so when all the traffic is sitting because it is an

accident there's a lot of weight um so a lot more needs to be done I think there could be a lot more to be done um and I actually went up to the state house a couple weeks ago and spoke to the government myself uh I didn't have to pass any legislation to talk them about it thank you keep going if you use the GL card no go ahead okay thank you very

hey this is the last formal question and then you get to use all your wild cards speak as much as you want so the what was the best piece of legislation you sponsored when you were in the legislature I can't remember who started I guess about no Mr um well there were there was several pieces of legislation it's kind of hard it was 24 years ago um but I know that

uh I was a when I was up the state house I was a good rep uh the matter of fact the former Speaker of the House endorsed me um because I I was I was so involved uh I was on several committees I was on uh L I was on Corporation I was on the um the the ri the uh the bus um board I also was on the box of athletic

commission um I'm looking to go forward I'm looking for new things what I learned then what I know now is we really need to get a handle on mental health so um I tried to push that the last time I was there and um it fell on De fears but you know uh things have changed and uh people are coming around to mental health it's more important thank you I think I mentioned earlier the tcii

bill so the bill that was passed this year increases the number of weeks also increases dependency allow allowance if you have a child from10 to $20 a week people who have to care for sick loved ones or if they've had a baby can extend their timeout in in receive payment for up to eight weeks I'd like to expand that to 12 weeks Rhode Island was one at one time a leader in this area we no

longer are we we've fallen behind Massachusetts and Connecticut and our Working Families deserve that another uh piece of legislation from this session that I'm proud of a constituent reached out to me about automobile insurance discrimination her spouse passed away and in addition to the devastating loss was going to be charged more because her demographic of how the rates change

because she was no longer married so we passed a legislation that takes care of that and that um discrimination can no longer happen I want um I'm going to use it while Cod one of the things I wanted to just um track back on the Washington Bridge I fully support um just about a week or so ago the um the state and the outside attorneys fing lawsuits against um those involved in uh many different

aspects of the bridge with it with the hope that if people are were negligent in the process that the state could recoup money fully support that I intend to continue oversight hearings too in demand and and ask for the forensic report thank you okay thank you both now you each get a minute for a closing statement but you also get the time that you did not use on your wild cards and the total of the

wild cards was four uh 4 minutes so um Mr cgan you should have one minute plus three and a half minutes so four and a half minutes then okay no I think if you went who spoke last what no if you went if you went first then I should go last stay right in order no she started for us she can ENT wor that okay say that again well that should have been the

beginning of the rules cuz that's where I was in the impression I was going to go last so no told me I will let Val go first ladies first anyways yeah we'll

flip take

okay so again my name is Brian Coogan uh born and raised in the city I raised my family here I run a business here I have Apartments here when people talk about um affordable housing I would like to know what is affordable housing because the tenants that I have I don't pray scouch I don't keep raising their rent and raising their rent they pay me for years I will continue to do that I love

this city with all my heart born and raised here um went to school here played at um uh all the all the golf courses sleding I'm not going to mention just one um you know you talk about the forensic audit for the the Washington Bridge it's been almost two years I don't see a forensic AIT now and I don't really see one in the Horizon but you know that bridge is out of control

actually somebody in this building right here this car crossed the Washington Bridge I mean it's it's a joke it really is you have US senators and US reps around the country talking about the 195 Bridge we need to uh get involved a little bit more we need if people can't handle it get out of the way I'll do it the other thing is when I'm if I'm elected you

will not see the amount of trash on the sides of the highways and the grass and the weeds these off ramps are horrible when I was a state representative Jim Capaldi I was call him on a weekly basis to get him cleaned up I had to call the dot myself even though I'm not elected to get 195 all the pigeon poop cleaned up underneath the highway it's disgusting those kids have to walk every day to

school school started I just got done a couple weeks ago calling a and calling there they finally came and cleaned it again I had it cleaned last year I went down there took the pictures the video um there's too many things wrong with this state uh people have been there for a long long time uh it's it's time for some new ideas and fresh ideas but our highways mental health recyclable there's just so many things

that we need to talk about suicide rate is out of control overdosing these Providence is out of control if you have a scan you constantly hear the fire department going out for overdoses we really need to help our friends and families if you see a friend or a family with want to commit suicide let somebody know because if they say it they're going to do it my nephew 6 months ago

hung himself and slay his park that's why I'm running I'm not running to go after Val her Val I got no beef with her my problem is suicide prevention it's serious overdose alcohol people abuse alcohol then they get guns and they shoot their family members happens on a daily basis our police officers are getting shot that's why I'm running it's nothing against Val personally I wish you the

best I ask for your support hold hly if you really want a person that you and you could reach me 24 hours a day I carry three phones I have five phone numbers I'm supported also by uh former teachers Mrs Frank's cavalo one of my biggest supporters she understands about suicide people with cancer people in our buildings getting cancer because they've been there for years and there's a

problem with the mold we're building we're putting good money off the bat over Martin Junior High we built a building on a swamp and what are we doing we're rebuilding and putting an addition on the other part of the swamp what the hell's going on so I ask for your support I'm not a joke I'm not playing around I want to do the right thing in this state I'm not looking to

hurt anybody but do the right thing I care about the city a couple years ago the Weeds on tooran Avenue were 5 feet high I had to go live on Facebook in order to get them cut there was a sink called at Pi field I mean Hall Street Park 5 feet deep a kid fell in it and parents called and complained you know what they said we're busy we get around

till we get it filled I had to put a recyle bin on it most of you follow me on Facebook you see me I had to put a bin in there so kids didn't get hurt I love this city with all my heart I love my five children with all my heart I want nothing but the best for them and your family please vote for me on September 10th Val I wish you the

best how Val you have and one other quick thing I finance my own campaign I didn't take 10 cents from anybody I got several thousand dollars in checks at my house you're more than welcome to come see them I finance my own campaign no money from anybody so when I get elected if I get elected God willing up that state house I am my own person most you people know me I'm pretty

aggressive I don't answer to anybody but the taxpayers check my finance campaign report nobody donated I put my own money in there sorry thank you B you have your one minute I'm sure six and a half wild cards which would come to three and a half minutes so four and a half minutes thank you thank you everyone for attending thanks to the league for sponsoring this debate the East Bay Media Group all of

you here in the audience those of you watching on TV and anyone else who participated in the process as I me mentioned earlier I'm a towy I have a deep connection and understanding of our community lived here my whole life I've taught here for over 32 years I've been extremely fortunate to have worked with so many students families here in these Providence and to serve as your Senator since

2018 I'm very proud of my record as your state senator and as I mentioned I've shared many of these accomplishments with you but there's so much more work to be done we need to help small businesses here in East Providence we need to make sure that people can age in their homes we need to continue to invest in education this year the general assembly increased uh funding for Education by $70 million at

one point here in East Providence with the governor's budget amendment we were slated to lose a million. one but we advocated for that to be restored so it's so important that our kids are taken care of in the state budget as you know I care deeply about this community I believe in public service and the question on the Civics is a perfect example for me it's something I truly believe in as an

educator as someone as an elected official and I believe collectively we can all come together we have the ability to make a difference I ran in 2018 uh to create good public policy grateful that I've been able to have this opportunity to be a part of it and to protect Women's Healthcare along the way but I still think we can improve the lives of townies in Rhode Islanders and that's why I would like to

continue to work together with all of you and listen to your feedback back and Advocate and fight for you at the State House in the general assembly so with your support I hope to continue to work for you and bring these initiates forward initiatives forward and make our lives better so I hope you'll join me in this effort and I'd be honored once again to have your support on September 10th thank you so much thank

you thanks to both candidates

for not being a professional you did an excellent job thank you to Susan who pinched hit for Scott she did a great job and thank you to Lisa Becky and Laura for timekeeping and scoring uh thank you to um obviously to Valerie and and Brian and thank you to Chris over there who's doing all the recording for us and thanks to the city for um allowing us to use this very nice space

um oh we doing that so there are two dates that we want you to remember on October 9th the league and the East Bay Media Group have invited candidates for school board in Ward one that's Charles sonis and Ryan queenan and inward Four Jessica Baine and Chrissy Rossy to debate here in City Hall that's October 9th the other we hope to get Scott for that one other local race affecting East

Providence is for house district 66 so Jennifer boin and Janine wolf have been invited to debate at the barington library on September 30th so good night encourage your neighbors and your friends to tune in to the league ofwomen voter.org web site and you'll be able to access the debate tonight um we urge you to vote in the primary on September 10th and to vote in the general election on November 5th so

thank you all you're a great

audience for