Which GOP gubernatorial candidate's plan is better?

[Blue3]

Rhode Island is in the middle of its most competitive race for Governor with the most competent candidates in recent history. There are two Republicans and three Democrats running.

Below are the two Republican plans, summarized from their own websites. (I'm still reading the Democats' plans, which are about 150 pages each, while the Republicans' plans are about 10 pages each).

I'm probably going to vote Democrat, and a Democrat is probably going to win (RI hasn't elected a Democratic Governor since 1990, though Chafee did recently change his party after being elected and then decided not to run again.)
But it's still good to at least consider the Republicans and their stated plans. What do you think of them?




PLAN A
1.   Cost savings by encouraging cities to share services (ex: public safety, tax collection, coordinated procurement of goods/services)
2.   Increase the minimum car tax exemption from $500, and lower the car tax
3.   Eliminate the $500 minimum corporate tax for new businesses in their first 2 years
4.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $2.5million
5.   Create a “reduced sales tax zone” in border communities
6.   Exempt from taxation any capital gains realized on investments in RI-based businesses
7.   Target fraud in the Temporary Disability Insurance program
8.   Eliminate Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Workers
9.   Create a line-item veto
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
11.   Switch state workers from paper-based to electronic timesheets
12.   Identify any Medicaid fraud/waste
13.   Stop law that mandates teacher layoff notices on March 1
14.   Focus on bringing all potential 4th graders up to 4th grade level, allow more retentions

PLAN B
1.   Lower corporate tax from 7% to 5%
2.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $5.25million
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50
4.   Lower sales tax from 7% to 5.5%
5.   Make the Commissioner of Education accountable to the Governor first, instead of General Assembly
6.   Re-split the Education board into K-12 and Higher Education
7.   Defund the Post-Secondary Education Commissioner
8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI
9.   Create a Jobs & Education Cabinet, to discuss the skills that students need to compete for jobs
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
11.   Create a line-item veto
12.   Term limits for state legislators
13.   Establish a Voter Initiative process










(I'll probably do a Democratic version once I'm done reading their plans)

[Blue3]

Rhode Island, like many states in the Northeast, provides less state funding to public universities/colleges because there are so many other private ones around, like Brown/RISD/Harvard/Yale/MIT/etc. State funding for URI is at an all-time low, which keeps raising tuition for students. That one item makes Candidate B unacceptable to me.

And I think Republicans really want a line-item veto because the Democratic Party has been in control of the state legislature since the 1930's, and has really weakened the governor's power. Even though I'm a Democrat, I know our money could be spent more efficiently than our one-party state. I'd rather the Republicans gain control of the General Assembly for a term, but that's highly unlikely to ever happen. So I can see the appeal for a line-item veto.





PLAN A
1.   Cost savings by encouraging cities to share services (ex: public safety, tax collection, coordinated procurement of goods/services)
Good.
2.   Increase the minimum car tax exemption from $500, and lower the car tax
Good
3.   Eliminate the $500 minimum corporate tax for new businesses in their first 2 years
Good
4.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $2.5million
Unnecessary
5.   Create a “reduced sales tax zone” in border communities
Unnecessary
6.   Exempt from taxation any capital gains realized on investments in RI-based businesses
Good
7.   Target fraud in the Temporary Disability Insurance program
Good
8.   Eliminate Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Workers
Good
9.   Create a line-item veto
Undecided
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
YES!
11.   Switch state workers from paper-based to electronic timesheets
YES!
12.   Identify any Medicaid fraud/waste
Ok
13.   Stop law that mandates teacher layoff notices on March 1
Ok
14.   Focus on bringing all potential 4th graders up to 4th grade level, allow more retentions
Good



PLAN B
1.   Lower corporate tax from 7% to 5%
Ok
2.   Increase the estate tax threshold from $1.5million to $5.25million
Unnecessary
3.   Change minimum corporate tax from $500 to $50
Ok
4.   Lower sales tax from 7% to 5.5%
Ok
5.   Make the Commissioner of Education accountable to the Governor first, instead of General Assembly
Unnecessary
6.   Re-split the Education board into K-12 and Higher Education
Unnecessary
7.   Defund the Post-Secondary Education Commissioner
NO.
8.   Create a Board of Trustees or Regents for the University of Rhode Island (URI), to further privatize and reduce state funding for URI
DEALBREAKER.
9.   Create a Jobs & Education Cabinet, to discuss the skills that students need to compete for jobs
Unnecessary
10.   State Legislators should be subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight
YES!
11.   Create a line-item veto
Undecided
12.   Term limits for state legislators
Unnecessary
13.   Establish a Voter Initiative process
Undecided/unnecessary

[Blue3]

Just so everyone knows...

The candidate with plan A is... Ken Block. He is a software engineer, businessman and political reformer who got several state laws declared unconstitutional in court. He formed the Moderate Party in RI a few years ago, becoming the third-largest party in RI, but was unsuccessful. His software is aimed at identifying government fraud and waste. In 1995, his software company was able to save the State of Texas over $1 billion by developing a statewide debit card system. He offered to assist the Providence Police Department and State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, free of charge. He was the President of a RI-based taxpayer advocacy and watchdog group until resigning to run for Governor again.
http://www.blockforgovernor.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Block_(politician)


The candidate with plan B is... Allan Fung. The first Chinese-American Mayor in Rhode Island, he's been Mayor of the city of Cranston. He was a prosecutor for the state's attorney general before being elected Mayor in 2008, and worked for the life insurance company MetLife. His campaign has come under attack in RI for being very negative, calling the opponents' followers "BlockHeads." Fund accidentally killed someone while driving in 1989 and had his record expunged.
http://www.allanfung.com/home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Fung

[Blue3]

Fung (candidate B) has won the primary.

Sorry I never had time to do the Democratic version, they all had a crazy amount of info)