Published in Blackstone Valley Call & Times on October 6, 2026
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Buonanno Foulkes and independent candidate Ken Block squared off Friday, Oct. 2, at a gubernatorial candidate forum focused on issues affecting older Rhode Islanders, people with disabilities, family caregivers and those receiving behavioral health services.
Opening the forum, Carol Anne Costa, SACRI’s Executive Director, noted that Republican candidate Aaron Guckian, who had committed to attend, failed to show up after notifying organizers at 3 p.m. that same day. “We’ve adjusted the program, and we will move forward in a focused and streamlined way so that these candidates who have taken the time to be with this audience get the forum they deserve,” she said.
Introducing the Candidates
Foulkes, 62, a Providence resident, emphasized her 25 years at CVS, ultimately becoming president of CVS Pharmacy, where she worked on employment initiatives for people with disabilities and special needs. She said she doesn’t need to be “the smartest person in the room,” but wants to leverage community expertise. She highlighted her relationships with other governors, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, as sources of policy ideas. Her policy priorities include housing affordability and healthcare access, and she called for creating a “whole-of-government” approach to senior services.
Block, 60, a Barrington software engineer who founded Simpatico Software Systems, political reformer and author, is an independent candidate who describes himself as an “operational manager” with experience helping large multinational companies reimagine their business operations, contracting and delivery of complicated computer systems. He emphasizes a data-driven approach to problem-solving and decision-making and has firsthand experience with healthcare and aging issues as a caregiver for his mother, who had early-onset Alzheimer’s, and helping his in-laws with aging-in-place challenges.
Block, like Foulkes, has actively sought information from advocacy groups on aging and disability issues throughout his campaign. He focuses heavily on government efficiency, transparency and fixing “friction points” in state operations.
The forum, held at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston, was sponsored by the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island (SACRI), AccessPoint Rhode Island and the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island.
Unlike many gubernatorial forums held throughout the Ocean State that focus heavily on taxes, housing, education and the economy, SACRI’s forum allowed the candidates to address issues that often receive less attention during political campaigns: aging in the community, long-term services and supports, nursing home care, Medicaid, family caregiving, behavioral health and services for persons with disabilities.
Spanning more than an hour, the two candidates fielded questions on strengthening the state’s Office of Healthy Aging, creating a multi-sector plan on aging, establishing a state advocate’s office and expanding long-term care. They also discussed unpaid family caregivers, workforce shortages, accessible housing, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, economic security for older adults and transparency in human services.
Where They Stand
During opening remarks, Foulkes emphasized that seniors are an “untapped resource” of wisdom and expertise. She proposed creating a “senior corps”-style effort and intergenerational mentoring programs. Block shared personal caregiving experiences involving his parents and now his in-laws in their 80s, stressing the importance of advocacy organizations in helping families find needed resources and support.
At that point, the two candidates addressed a multitude of topics during the forum. Here is a sampling.
The SACRI forum highlighted that Rhode Island’s 2009 law setting a 50% goal for Medicaid home and community-based services remains unmet, with general home and community services reaching only 20.1%. The state ranks 44th nationally in community support spending for older adults at $28 per adult age 60 and older, compared with the $53 U.S. average and $222 in Massachusetts.
Regarding long-term care, Block called for cost-effective alternatives to nursing homes for residents with lower care needs, including housing options. He also recognized the possibility of severe budget pressures, including potential Medicaid cuts.
Foulkes highlighted the staffing crisis, fueled by low wages and lack of health insurance for many home-care workers. She also raised concerns about the impact of federal immigration policies on the pool of workers available to provide care.
The candidates were asked about a long-term care workforce crisis that includes 512 nursing assistant openings and only 132 trained applicants; Medicaid reimbursement rates; support for unpaid family caregivers who provide an estimated $2.8 billion in annual care; and the need for accessible housing throughout Rhode Island, with only 85 of 2,194 units under development being handicapped accessible.
Block supported elevating the state’s Office of Healthy Aging (OHA) to a cabinet-level position to ensure seniors have a direct voice to the governor. His rationale: A substantial portion of the Ocean State’s population has interests that align directly with OHA.
Foulkes advocates for a “whole-of-government approach” to providing senior services, with a potential cabinet-level position for aging, looking to Maryland as a model.
Foulkes emphasized the need for creating a master plan on aging with accountability and deadlines. Block also pledged to either issue an executive order or support legislation to develop the state’s aging policies, programs and services.
The candidates split on how to provide sustainable funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Rhode Island’s 988 system has handled nearly 75,000 calls since its launch while maintaining a 98% answer rate.
Block explained his opposition to using a telephone fee to fund the program, citing the regressive burden such fees place on low-income residents. He has no opposition to the program itself. Foulkes supported a small monthly telephone fee, similar to 911 funding, to provide a dedicated funding source for the state’s 988 response system.
Both candidates emphasized government inefficiency and data-access problems. Block described himself as “an operational manager” who specializes in “understanding where an organization doesn’t work well” and called Rhode Island government “a target rich environment.”
He expressed frustration with “Rhode Island state government’s ability to provide data” and promised “dashboards and other things that will ultimately really let us understand much better than we can now where we’re spending the money.”
Foulkes similarly stated, “we need way more transparency everywhere in the state” and endorsed the Inspector General concept to track how government funds are spent.
Direct-care workforce challenges appeared across multiple questions. Foulkes identified “the gap in terms of the number of community healthcare workers” and how “low paid” the work is, noting that “most of them that I speak to don’t even have healthcare insurance themselves.”
Foulkes connected federal immigration policy to the state’s capacity to provide care, raising concerns about home-care providers and healthcare workers who are immigrants. Block pointed again to the nursing assistant shortage during the lightning round.
Foulkes proposed creating a state website to assist families in navigating the long-term care continuum, acknowledging “it’s really hard right now” to find appropriate services. She also called for helping Rhode Islanders at risk of losing Medicaid coverage, proposing a “Medicaid navigator system” using faith-based communities and senior centers to help people complete eligibility paperwork.
Both candidates warned about the severe stress on Rhode Island’s healthcare system. Block noted that Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital were “on life support,” stressing their importance to the state’s healthcare system. Foulkes pointed to Rhode Island’s more than $156 million first-year federal Rural Health Transformation Program award as an opportunity to strengthen healthcare delivery.
Foulkes and Block also supported creating a dementia services coordinator position at the Department of Health. They supported continuing the overdose task force’s progress and having dedicated substance-use and mental-health policy staff in the governor’s office.
Finally, in lightning-round responses, both candidates supported continuing Medicaid reimbursement rate efforts for direct-care staff; using 30% of state housing bond funds for accessible housing for older adults and people with disabilities; creating an Office of the Elder Advocate; and developing a multi-sector plan on aging.
While Foulkes supports eliminating the Medicare Savings Program asset limit and providing an annual cost-of-living adjustment to the state’s SSI supplemental payment, Block gave no answer because he did not have a cost estimate.
Here’s the Bottom Line
With federal funding uncertainty, the state’s ongoing structural budget deficit and fiscal limitations, will Foulkes and Block be able to make good on their policy commitments?
Block repeatedly declined to make specific funding promises on a number of policies, stating, “I don’t know what’s coming at us” and “my answer to you, with all sincere respect, is I just don’t know.”
Foulkes also acknowledged Block’s concerns about reduced federal funding and the fiscal limitations facing the next governor. “I need to understand at the end of the day what all of this costs and make sure that I’m not making promises to you that I can’t keep,” she said.
For older Rhode Islanders, people with disabilities and behavioral health issues, family caregivers and the organizations that serve them, that may ultimately be the most important question coming out of SACRI’s forum: not just what the candidates promise to do, but whether the next governor will have the resources and political will to do it.
Stay tuned.
Tag Archives for Ken Block
Gubernatorial Candidates Go Negative to Get Votes
Published in Pawtucket Times, August 22, 2014
With less than three weeks before the September 9th Democratic primary, gubernatorial candidates are working overtime to get their political message out by mailed campaign literature and bombarding the airways with their 30 second commercials and at debates.
As primary day quickly approaches, political new comer Clay Pell is staying on message in his campaign literature and television ads, claiming he has a “real plan” to fix Rhode Island’s problems, even claiming that he will bring a “real plan” and a “fresh perspective” to the Governor’s Office if he is elected. On the other hand, Mayor Angel Taveras and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo duke it out to take the lead. Taveras even takes pop shots at Pell as more voters begin to support him.
From the start, Businessman Ken Block and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung took off their gloves and began negatively blasting teach other in their campaign literature, TV ads and even at debates. Block was not a real Republican who had voted for Democratic President Barack Obama, he even supported his new ObamaCare program. On the other hand, Block went after Fung’s handling of Cranston’s ticketgate, calling him a political insider.
Yes, as my good friend long-time Pawtucket resident Jon Anderson says, “it’s the silly season of politics.” Like it or not, negative campaigns are here to stay and they do work, say political pundits
Poll Numbers Shifting
Just as summer began, Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates began to get negative and the numbers began to shift.
According to an exclusive WPRI 12/Providence Journal poll, released two days ago, of 503 likely Rhode Island Democratic primary voters, Raimondo takes the lead at 32%, Taveras drops to 27%. Pell is closing in at 26%, the poll shows, conducted by Joe Fleming, of Fleming & Associates of Cumberland, Rhode Island. One percent of the voters give Todd Giroux their support. Only 13% of the respondents remain undecided.
Last May, a previous WPRI 12/Providence Journal poll showed a politically-unknown Pell had support of 12% of those polled. Huge infusions of his personal wealth on TV ad purchase and campaign outreach has ratcheted up his visibility. At that time, Taveras was in the lead with 33%, Raimondo at 29%. With a larger campaign war chest than the Mayor, she was able to chip away at his lead by focusing the voters on his City’s economic woes and spike in crime.
As to the Republican primary race, the universe of Republican voters is so small there are no public polls, says Chairman Mark Smiley, Rhode Island Republican Party. He notes that the Fung and Block campaigns are doing their own internal polling.
Negative Campaigning Works…
Negative campaigning works, says Wendy Schiller, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Brown University. In his book, Defense of Negativity, Vanderbilt Professor John Greer found that “not only do negative ads work to undermine the opponent, they also convey information about candidates,” notes Schiller.
“Even when an ad is completely negative, it almost always contains some element of truth to it about the opponent’s record or positions, adds Schiller, a frequent guest of Rhode Island PBS’s “A Lively Experiment.”
Schiller gives her assessment of the Block-Fung race. “Because Ken Block was formerly a moderate, he has the most pressure to jump into his race with energy and aggression and undermine the perceived front runner Mayor Allan Fung,” she says, noting that he may have well been successful in doing that at a time when the police scandal in Cranston was unfolding and now more recently, with the filming of an expensive ad in Ohio instead of being created in Rhode Island
“Fung has fought back by criticizing Blocks proposal’s and his lack of elected experience, but his first negative ad on Blockheads was perceived to insult Block supporters more than Block himself, so they pulled it, notes Schiller.
As to the Taveras-Raimondo contest, Schiller believes the Mayor had to go negative against his opponent because she was criticizing him for higher taxes and the rising crime rate in Providence, noting that of these candidates went negative on Pell’s inexperience. It was a mistake because they did not want to give him status as a contender but it allowed him to shape his own reputation among voters with unchallenged TV ads, she says.
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Schiller says that negative TV ads can backfire. “I think overly negative – or too much distortion of a record – can backfire more in Rhode Island because we are such a small state that most folks can spot an exaggeration when they see it,” she observes.
“We are already seeing Taveras go more negative on both Raimondo and Pell so expect to continue [in the upcoming weeks before the primary], adds Schiller. She predicts that the General Treasurer will “likely stay positive in effort to pull a few more voters from the undecided camps into her vote column. She says that Pell has responded to Taveras negative ads in a limited way, and expects him to stay above the negative fray in hopes of pulling votes from the other two Democratic candidates.
Can a political candidate win an election by not going negative? It depends on where you are in your campaign, says Schiller. For instance, a while back Raimondo went negative on Taveras, but only continues to do so in debates, not so much on TV ads. Pell thinks a positive strategy is also a winning strategy while Taveras is now on the attack. “We will just have to wait and see on primary night who wins,” she says.
Watching the Political Tumble from the Side Lines
From inside the Beltway, Darrell M. West, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, watches his former state’s gubernatorial races and gives this columnist his observations.
“The Ocean State’s GOP primary turned negative early in the campaign because it is only a two-person race. In this situation, once one candidate goes negative, the other person has to defend himself and go on the attack too,” says West, a former Brown University professor and a prominent Rhode Island political commentator, noting the complexity of negative advertising in three-person races. “If two candidates go negative, that sometimes benefits the third candidate who has stuck with a positive message,” he says.
West speculates as to Taveras’ use of negative TV ads. “Taveras has a problem on both flanks. Raimondo is more moderate while Pell is more progressive. So the Mayor went negative to prevent vote erosion on both sides of the political spectrum. His strategy hasn’t bought him much support and he has lost ground to Pell in the most recent poll, he says.
West agrees with Schiller that negative ads can backfire. “Negative ads can backfire if the candidate is seen as mean-spirited and overly negative. That can redound to the benefit of the candidate who has stayed positive,” he adds.
Look for more nasty TV ads in the upcoming weeks, says West. You often see more negativity as you get closer to election day. With the margin of victory very close among the Democratic candidates, that primary runs the risk of turning into a slugfest in its closing days,” he says.
Finally, West says that positive ads might push a political candidate to victory. “Candidates can win by staying positive in a three-way race. Lack of negativity becomes a distinguishing factor with the other two candidates, he notes.
Your Vote Counts
Historically, older voters from across the country have played a major role in electing political candidates because they consistently-voted in larger percentages than other age groups. The political fate of Rhode Island’s statewide and congressional elections and ballot initiatives may well rest on the shoulders of aging baby boomers and senior voters.
By now, the Ocean State’s political candidates have mailed campaign literature, debated, attended debates and gatherings, hoping to effectively deliver their political messages and ultimately influence their vote.
While negative ads may sway voters, take control of who you will vote for at the upcoming primary. Spend the next three weeks to read between the lines of campaign literature and negative ads, learning more about a candidate’s background and issues. You must separate political rhetoric and negative innuendoes from the substance of issues. Put time into determining who can best represent your interests.
If political candidates do not know the power of the educated voters, hopefully they will after the polls close at 8:00 p.m. on September 9th.
Herb Weiss, LRI ’12, is a Pawtucket-based writer who covers aging, health care and medical issues. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com
Raising Minimum Wage Reveals Partisan Divide
Published in Pawtucket Times, January 31, 2014
On January 28, 2014, President Barack Obama gave his 2014 State of the Union (SOTU) a whopping 6,778 word speech, calling on both Chambers of Congress to either work with him to move the country forward or forcing him to use his presidential powers to enact policy.
“America does not stand still, — and neither will I,” the President told a jam packed Chamber. If Congressional gridlock continues, the President warned, “So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.” This would be accomplished by using executive orders, presidential memorandums to enact policies if lawmakers choose not to act on.
Congress to Debate Merits of Minimum Wage
In a little over an hour, Obama rattled off dozens of policy initiatives for Congress to consider this session, including immigration, emergency unemployment, manufacturing, trade, environment, education, closing Guantanamo Bay, closing tax loop holes, job training, family policies, and retirement savings. But the President also called for an increase in the nation’s minimum wage to provide America’s worker’s a living wage. With Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates gearing up their campaigns to take the Ocean State’s top General Officer seat, look for ratcheting up the state’s minimum wage to hotly debated throughout the nine month political campaign.
While Obama’s push to raise the minimum wage was derailed last year by the GOP House and its Tea Party Faction, the Democratic president noted that five states have already passed laws to raise theirs (including Rhode Island).
With corporate profits and stock prices climbing, average wages “have barely budged,” observed the President. “Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by – let alone get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all,” he said.
The President used his speech as a very visible bully pulpit to call on States to not wait for Congressional action to raise the nation’s minimum wage, to give people a living wage.
Until Congress acts, it is up to businesses to voluntary give their employees a living wage or State legislators to mandate an increase. Obama urged the nation’s business leaders to follow the lead of John Soranno, the owner of Minneapolis-based Punch Pizza, who has given his employees a raise to $10 an hour. Large national corporations, should join profitable companies like Costco, the President urged, that “see higher wages as a smart way to boost productivity and reduce employee turnover,” he said,
Through an executive order the President announced in his SOTU address last Tuesday evening that he would ratchet up the minimum wage of federal contractors to $10.10 per hour, “because if you cook for our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.”
“Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here,” the President quipped, noting that legislation to increase the nation’s minimum wage to $10.10 has been introduced by Senator Tom Harkin, a Iowa Democrat who is retiring after serving almost 40 years in Congress, and Democratic Congressman George Miller, from California, also leaving office after 20 terms.
Two Sides of the Coin
Although creating jobs will be one of the top campaign issues that must be addressed by the State’s gubernatorial candidates (Clay Pell was not available for comment by press time), look for the minimum wage issue to pop up for political discussion with the Democratic and Republican views being like two sides of a coin.
When he announced his bid for governor, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras he told his supporters that increasing the minimum wage is a step in building an economy that supports higher paying jobs, puts people back to work and gives Rhode Island families the opportunity for a better life. There was a time when his mother worked at the minimum wage to support three children so he knows firsthand how much raising it can help a family, he stated. He is also pushing for statewide universal pre-kindergarten.
Tarveras quoted from a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute that indicated that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would increase the wages of 65,000 Rhode Island workers and indirectly benefit an additional 26,000 more, totaling nearly 20 percent of the work force. He cited another study that found that moving to a higher wage would boost the national economy by as much as $22.1 billion, creating as many as 85,000 new jobs.”
“I’m a Democrat who believes in raising the minimum wage and indexing it with regular cost of living adjustments,” noted Treasurer Gina Raimondo, in her announcement to run for Governor at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket.
According to Eric Hyer’s, Gina Raimondo’s Campaign Manager, “Gina strongly believes that we need to increase the minimum wage and she was pleased to see President Obama call for increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour during the State of the Union this week. No one who works full time should live in poverty. As the President said, it is time to give America a raise.”
“But let’s not wait for a dysfunctional Congress to act; we can take action right here in Rhode Island,” states Hyer.
“Gina is calling for us to take action on this now and raise the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2015 and then index it to the cost of living so that politicians can’t play games with people’s lives. Two-thirds of minimum wage earners are women so a raise would immediately help women across Rhode Island and their families, adds Hyer, noting that people are really struggling and there is an urgency to help out working families.
But, the Rhode Island’s GOP candidates, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and Businessman Ken Block, are not buying the Democratic candidate’s solution that minimum wage is the way to go.
“Democrats continue to recycle bad ideas. It’s time we consider some new ones so people have the opportunity to succeed and thrive, and not rely on government coercion to dictate wages. Increasing the minimum wage will result in higher unemployment, reduced job opportunities, reduced customer spending, and will reduce net job growth because of the effect on expanding companies,” says Mayor Fung
Mayor Fung states “At a time when we are tied for the highest unemployment in the country, we cannot put more hurdles in front of the companies we have here in Rhode Island; we need to remove them. Further, Obama Care is already hurting workers because employers are transitioning employees to part time work because they cannot afford the healthcare premiums. An increase in the minimum wage would only increase the burden on small business owners who are already working on thin margins.”
“The real issue in Rhode Island is unemployment and getting our workforce prepared with the necessary skill set for the ever changing workforce. It is quite evident that raising the minimum wage would not solve these problems,” adds Fung.
Gubernatorial candidate Ken Block agrees with Fung, noting in a recent statement, “”As I said the other day when it was announced that Rhode Island has the worst unemployment in the country, raising the minimum wage is a job killer.”
Block adds, “President Obama seems to believe that government can just order the economy to improve. Republicans and Independents know that government has a critically important, but limited role in the growth of jobs. Government’s role is to regulate fairly and only where necessary, and to control its spending so people and businesses are not taxed to death. President Obama continues on the wrong track to fix lagging employment, just as the Democratic leaders of our General Assembly continue on the wrong track to fix Rhode Island.”
But Edward M. Mazze, Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration, at the University of Rhode Island, has entered the policy debate, too.
On the one hand, “Raising the minimum wage does not create jobs and can reduce the number of hours worked for existing workers and the number of jobs for part-time workers. There could also be an impact on the number of internships offered to high school and college students. And, just as important, raising the minimum wage will also raise the price of products and services, observes Mazze.
“The minimum wage is not the entry point to middle class, it is the jobs that pay over $20 an hour and have a “career” future, says Mazze, noting that Rhode Island recently increased the minimum wage.
But, Mazze believes that the state’s minimum wage should be adjusted every number of years to keep up with inflation and other economic events. “The best way to create living wages in Rhode Island is to prepare workers for jobs for the future, have an economic development strategy that creates jobs and attracts businesses, and have affordable housing and a fair sales, property and personal income tax program,” he notes.
With the Rhode Island General Assembly geared up to pass legislation to make the Ocean State an easier place to do business, lawmakers should not forget their constituents who cannot pay their mortgage, utility bills, or even put food on their tables. Until the State’s tax and regulatory system primes the economic pump to create more jobs, giving a little bit more money, say $10.10 per hour, will go a long way for tens of thousands of poor or working poor Rhode Islanders who struggle to survive.
How can Rhode Islander’s currently making a weekly paycheck of $320 (minus taxes), receiving a minimum wage, support their families? This is not the American Dream they were brought up to believe in.
Herb Weiss, LRI’12 is a Pawtucket-based writer who covers, aging, health care, medical and business issues. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.
