Barry Fain, a local community leader and co-publisher of East Side Monthly and Providence Monthly, is running as an independent against Democratic incumbent Rhoda Perry for the Rhode Island State Senate seat in District 3, which encompasses most of the East Side of Providence, including the Brown campus.
Fain considers himself a social liberal - he is pro-choice and favors gay marriage and other issues on the liberal agenda, adding, "As an ex-hippie, you don't have to ask my stand on medical marijuana and things like that."
But Fain also considers himself a fiscal moderate. "The danger of being an activist solely in social issues is that increasingly, as a society, we need to find the means to pay for it," he said.
According to Fain, among the biggest issues that need to be addressed are rising per capita tax rates, which are much higher in Rhode Island than in neighboring states.
Fain said he is concerned about the difficult environment doctors face because of the high costs of liability insurance.
According to Fain, Rhode Island has the sixth-highest tax structure in the nation, which he attributed largely to the pull of unions on issues like pensions and health care. Fain cited the dominance of legislators backed by unions and special interest groups as a cause of rising tax rates.
He was also upset that Democrats hold 85 percent of the seats in the state legislature. Regardless of which party holds power, he said, one-party domination leads to insider dealing, arrogance and inaccessibility.
Fain said he has "always supported" Perry in previous elections.
But Fain said Perry's votes in favor of construction of a downtown hotel and a casino convinced him to enter the race.
"This was a very spontaneous decision," Fain said. He filed his paperwork just before the June deadline after seeing Perry's last few votes in the spring. He said the final push came from his 18-year-old son, who said, "Well, you've been complaining about it and writing about it, and why the hell don't you do something about it?"
Fain, a Providence native, is married to a 1970 Brown alum. His children both attend the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater.
Fain was formerly president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association and is currently the group's secretary.
Fain said he would like to see more financial contributions to the city from tax-exempt institutions like Brown, RISD and Johnson and Wales University.
Fain added that he wants to increase economic development and create new jobs. "We give tax breaks to Brown as a non-profit to educate some of the best and the brightest kids in the country in Providence, so that's an investment we're making," he said. "These very kids, many of whom fall in love with Providence and want to stay here, have to leave because we don't have any jobs for them."
Fain said his priorities include improving the educational system through teacher testing and regionalization, which would address the fact that 39 cities and towns within Rhode Island each have to negotiate separate union contracts. "I think you have to have some middle-of-the-road people that realize that this is in the best interest of our state, our taxpayers and, most importantly, our children," Fain said.
He argued the importance of property tax reform for Brown students - a decrease in property taxes could potentially decrease the rent of apartments near campus, he said.
Fain said Brown students make up what he sees as the wildcard vote. "My horrible fear is that they're going to vote Kerry, as I am, and then see a woman's name under state senator as a Democrat and not knowing either one of us, possibly pushing that lever," said Fain, who said he hopes that students voting locally in next week's elections will either research this campaign or choose not to vote on the local level.
Fain is optimistic about the election. "I think I have an excellent chance to win, which would send shockwaves to the legislature," he said. "I think there's a real people's movement here, which is going to make this a very interesting race."
