PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Gina Raimondo acknowledges she is still writing, and rewriting, the State of the State address she will deliver to lawmakers on Tuesday.
But she told The Providence Journal, in an exclusive interview this week, that she views the speech — her fourth since taking office in January 2015 — as an opportunity to highlight how far the state has come from the days when it had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and talk about what remains to be done.
"We have so much to celebrate,'' said Raimondo, a Democrat who is up for reelection in 2018 and already facing a crowded field of would-be successors.
"As I reflect about what we've done together, I am very mindful of the fact that just a few years ago we had the highest unemployment rate in the country, nearly 9 percent ... over 15 percent in the building trades. Many, many of our roads and bridges were falling apart. We didn't have a plan to fix them. ... Rhode Island was just sliding."
"It wasn't obvious that we would have so much to celebrate as we begin this New Year, so my primary message is thank you — thank you Rhode Island — for digging in, believing in Rhode Island, committing yourselves to our progress and, oh by the way, it's working. We have cranes all over the skyline in Kingston, in Johnston and Warwick, and Providence.
"We have cut our unemployment rate in half. Everywhere you look, we are rebuilding roads and bridges,'' she said.
"Yet, kids still live in poverty. We still have lots of things to work on. Too many people tell me they still can't find a good job, or they're working a minimum-wage job,'' she said.
With that, she segued into the second overriding theme of her speech: "Let's keep our foot on the gas and let's not get complacent."
In her speech, Raimondo said, she will talk more about her school-building reconstruction proposal; how she intends to "continue work on the opioid crisis, continue work on job training."
She said she will ask lawmakers to "protect our investments that are working ... . My mantra is going to be, we went from being ... highest in unemployment to middle of the pack. That didn't happen by accident ... . Whatever of those strategies that are working, I say we keep funding them."
As examples, she said: "Job training is working. I want to protect those investments in the budget. The economic incentives ... the revitalized, reworked Commerce programs are working. We've gotten away from the old-fashioned model of special deals for special people ... and the school building initiative."
As for details, she said: "That you've got to wait for."