Guerra aims to lower the gas tax
Lincoln - Matthew Guerra, candidate for the House District 46 seat, stated, "Perhaps one of the most annoying taxes levied on Rhode Islanders is the gas tax."He said the state government taxes people to drive to work, school or anywhere important.
According to Guerra, Rhode Island's gas tax is 6.5 cents higher than Massachusetts, causing many people to fuel up over the state line.
Also, he said, cigarettes are taxed $3.50 per pack in Rhode Island, which is in line with Massachusetts' $3.51 per pack.
"Since 48 percent of cigarette sales occur at local gas stations, it would behoove us to lower our gas tax to a rate less than Massachusetts. Once our gas tax is lowered, people could purchase their petrol from Rhode Island stations and pick up cigarettes, lottery tickets, food items, coffee and other taxable items," he said.
Also, he said the increased economic activity would result in additional jobs in the Ocean State.
"This is a solution where lowering a tax could be revenue neutral to the state and put more money in our pockets," Guerra stated. "For unique, common sense solutions we need to elect people who are independent thinkers and not bound by special interests."
Lincoln - Matthew Guerra, candidate for the House District 46 seat, stated, "Perhaps one of the most annoying taxes levied on Rhode Islanders is the gas tax."He said the state government taxes people to drive to work, school or anywhere important.
According to Guerra, Rhode Island's gas tax is 6.5 cents higher than Massachusetts, causing many people to fuel up over the state line.
Also, he said, cigarettes are taxed $3.50 per pack in Rhode Island, which is in line with Massachusetts' $3.51 per pack.
"Since 48 percent of cigarette sales occur at local gas stations, it would behoove us to lower our gas tax to a rate less than Massachusetts. Once our gas tax is lowered, people could purchase their petrol from Rhode Island stations and pick up cigarettes, lottery tickets, food items, coffee and other taxable items," he said.
Also, he said the increased economic activity would result in additional jobs in the Ocean State.
"This is a solution where lowering a tax could be revenue neutral to the state and put more money in our pockets," Guerra stated. "For unique, common sense solutions we need to elect people who are independent thinkers and not bound by special interests."
Dear Voters,
Is it a coincidence my name is dragged through the mud only during election seasons? Once again, the Democratic opposition has stooped to colossal efforts in a ploy designed to retain control of Rhode Island taxpayers' money. If we continue buying into these despicable tactics, we all lose. When I decided to run for House Seat 46 many kind folks warned me about the dirty politics that would come my way. Well folks, you were right! However, my goal was to always have the people's back by disallowing Rhode Island to fall further behind. I will continue working through the proper channels to right this dastardly wrong so no other person will be subjected to escamotage.
Thank you all for your patience and support.
Matthew A. Guerra
Is it a coincidence my name is dragged through the mud only during election seasons? Once again, the Democratic opposition has stooped to colossal efforts in a ploy designed to retain control of Rhode Island taxpayers' money. If we continue buying into these despicable tactics, we all lose. When I decided to run for House Seat 46 many kind folks warned me about the dirty politics that would come my way. Well folks, you were right! However, my goal was to always have the people's back by disallowing Rhode Island to fall further behind. I will continue working through the proper channels to right this dastardly wrong so no other person will be subjected to escamotage.
Thank you all for your patience and support.
Matthew A. Guerra
Negative Campaign
Due to the allegations brought forth against me, I look forward to exonerating my name through the proper channels. The timing of such a story, along with the people involved, raise questions as to political motivation.
Attorney Kenneth Schreiber, who represents Guerra in an administrative process before the Rhode Island Department of Education said in an email “Guerra will have no comment with respect to any allegations against him which may be the subject matter of your story.”
“Instead, he would ask that you respect his privacy and allow the administrative process to take place to its conclusion,” Schreiber wrote. “He looks forward to having his case heard not in the court of public opinion but by an impartial and unbiased fact finder.”
Due to the allegations brought forth against me, I look forward to exonerating my name through the proper channels. The timing of such a story, along with the people involved, raise questions as to political motivation.
Attorney Kenneth Schreiber, who represents Guerra in an administrative process before the Rhode Island Department of Education said in an email “Guerra will have no comment with respect to any allegations against him which may be the subject matter of your story.”
“Instead, he would ask that you respect his privacy and allow the administrative process to take place to its conclusion,” Schreiber wrote. “He looks forward to having his case heard not in the court of public opinion but by an impartial and unbiased fact finder.”
Guerra plans to curb illegal immigration
Matthew Guerra, candidate for the House District 46 seat, stated, "Immigration policy is written nationally, through Congress and our Constitution. There are many risks associated with taking in illegal aliens who circumvent the proper procedures to gain entry into Rhode Island."
Guerra said illegal immigrants take away approximately 20,000 jobs in Rhode Island.
"Unscrupulous business owners are often employing undocumented people in an effort to avoid paying health care costs and higher wages to U.S. citizens," he added. "While illegal aliens are ineligible for social services, they find indirect ways to gain access to these benefits. They also bypass the health checks required to ascertain if they may be afflicted with diseases that would prevent their entry into our state."
According to Guerra, illegal aliens cost the state tens of millions of dollars and pose a possible security threat to citizens.
"What can Rhode Island do to curb the number of illegal aliens that move into our state?" asked Guerra.Guerra said to preserve the integrity of Rhode Island, these measures must pass:
* Restrict access to social services,
* Reinstate e-verify,
* Deny privileges reserved for United State citizens, such as driver's licenses and in-state tuition at state colleges.
Matthew Guerra, candidate for the House District 46 seat, stated, "Immigration policy is written nationally, through Congress and our Constitution. There are many risks associated with taking in illegal aliens who circumvent the proper procedures to gain entry into Rhode Island."
Guerra said illegal immigrants take away approximately 20,000 jobs in Rhode Island.
"Unscrupulous business owners are often employing undocumented people in an effort to avoid paying health care costs and higher wages to U.S. citizens," he added. "While illegal aliens are ineligible for social services, they find indirect ways to gain access to these benefits. They also bypass the health checks required to ascertain if they may be afflicted with diseases that would prevent their entry into our state."
According to Guerra, illegal aliens cost the state tens of millions of dollars and pose a possible security threat to citizens.
"What can Rhode Island do to curb the number of illegal aliens that move into our state?" asked Guerra.Guerra said to preserve the integrity of Rhode Island, these measures must pass:
* Restrict access to social services,
* Reinstate e-verify,
* Deny privileges reserved for United State citizens, such as driver's licenses and in-state tuition at state colleges.
Guerra focuses on funding public, charter schools in RI Questions arise about how we fund charter schools that run concurrent with our existing public schools. Public school officials argue they could offer students more services and opportunities if some public funds were not spent on charter schools. Charter schools operate on shoestring budgets yet their students manage to perform extremely well academically. Further, parents are eager to enter their children into lotteries for the chance to gain admission. One role of our state government is to provide our students with the best possible choices for education.
The ideal way to ensure the vibrancy of both charter and public schools is to appropriately fund each. Rhode Island spends over $200 million on questionable projects such as 38 Studios, Deep Water Wind, the Garrahy Parking Garage and Healthsource RI. The General Assembly could make the decision not to fund the expensive projects and instead funnel the money into our cities and towns to properly educate our youth, fix our infrastructure and lower our tax rates. I would rather see Rhode Island use money to promote our youth than gamble on risky projects fraught with corruption. With reorganization of funding, our future, our children, and our economy will be much better served.
The ideal way to ensure the vibrancy of both charter and public schools is to appropriately fund each. Rhode Island spends over $200 million on questionable projects such as 38 Studios, Deep Water Wind, the Garrahy Parking Garage and Healthsource RI. The General Assembly could make the decision not to fund the expensive projects and instead funnel the money into our cities and towns to properly educate our youth, fix our infrastructure and lower our tax rates. I would rather see Rhode Island use money to promote our youth than gamble on risky projects fraught with corruption. With reorganization of funding, our future, our children, and our economy will be much better served.
A unique look at my campaign.
Corruption Stems from Government Created Jars of Money
We need to say no to the creation of these pots of money in Rhode Island. History has shown that often the wrong people have their hands in these jars and we all pay for them. Democrats are often very creative in how they create these pots of money to sound like things that will benefit Rhode Islanders. If these entities were beneficial for Rhode Islanders than private companies would have created them all rather than our state government.
- 38 Studios ($75 million)
- Deepwater Wind (+$100 million)
- Garrahy Parking Garage ($45 million)
- Healthsource RI ($23 million/year)
We need to say no to the creation of these pots of money in Rhode Island. History has shown that often the wrong people have their hands in these jars and we all pay for them. Democrats are often very creative in how they create these pots of money to sound like things that will benefit Rhode Islanders. If these entities were beneficial for Rhode Islanders than private companies would have created them all rather than our state government.
Republican Matthew A. Guerra announces his bid for State Representative District 46, Lincoln
Key issues of the 2014 election include funding for 38 Studios, Rhode Island’s $8.7 billion budget, unemployment, health care costs and education. Rhode Island’s core issue has been corruption in the House of Representatives. Sensible bills such as discontinuing funding for the bondholders of 38 Studios, expanding ethics commission oversight to include the general assembly and reducing any tax are all held for further study despite the public clamoring for their government to pass these measures. The bill to eliminate the master lever, which is universally popular, took over 50 years to pass committee; however, we must wait another election cycle before implementation. These are the typical delays Rhode Islanders can no longer afford.
In the past 6 years, District 46 has been subjected to representatives (both Democrats) who have placed their own agenda, whether political or personal, ahead of the needs of our community. It would be an honor and a privilege to represent the constituents of District 46. If elected, I will support legislation that is necessary to elevate our state from last place, keeping taxpayers at the forefront.
With your support, I will bring ingenuity to the House of Representatives on behalf of the citizens of District 46. Currently, I’m a mathematics teacher, Secretary of the Lincoln Republican Committee, delegate to the Rhode Island Republican Committee and a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of Hearthside House, Inc. In my previous experiences, I owned a small business, worked for an accounting firm and did consulting work. I have an MBA in accounting from Bryant University, a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Providence College and graduated from Lincoln High School class of 1998.
I will advocate for a transparent government and a prosperous, vibrant economy. We can create an environment where businesses and schools are able to flourish by reducing taxes and regulatory burdens. We need to tackle the fraud, waste and abuse in our state programs and return the savings back to the taxpayers. To obtain further information on my plans for RI and campaign, please visit www.matthewaguerra.com.
Key issues of the 2014 election include funding for 38 Studios, Rhode Island’s $8.7 billion budget, unemployment, health care costs and education. Rhode Island’s core issue has been corruption in the House of Representatives. Sensible bills such as discontinuing funding for the bondholders of 38 Studios, expanding ethics commission oversight to include the general assembly and reducing any tax are all held for further study despite the public clamoring for their government to pass these measures. The bill to eliminate the master lever, which is universally popular, took over 50 years to pass committee; however, we must wait another election cycle before implementation. These are the typical delays Rhode Islanders can no longer afford.
In the past 6 years, District 46 has been subjected to representatives (both Democrats) who have placed their own agenda, whether political or personal, ahead of the needs of our community. It would be an honor and a privilege to represent the constituents of District 46. If elected, I will support legislation that is necessary to elevate our state from last place, keeping taxpayers at the forefront.
With your support, I will bring ingenuity to the House of Representatives on behalf of the citizens of District 46. Currently, I’m a mathematics teacher, Secretary of the Lincoln Republican Committee, delegate to the Rhode Island Republican Committee and a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of Hearthside House, Inc. In my previous experiences, I owned a small business, worked for an accounting firm and did consulting work. I have an MBA in accounting from Bryant University, a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Providence College and graduated from Lincoln High School class of 1998.
I will advocate for a transparent government and a prosperous, vibrant economy. We can create an environment where businesses and schools are able to flourish by reducing taxes and regulatory burdens. We need to tackle the fraud, waste and abuse in our state programs and return the savings back to the taxpayers. To obtain further information on my plans for RI and campaign, please visit www.matthewaguerra.com.
Matthew A. Guerra is running for State Representative District 46 in 2014
The State of Rhode Island continues to go down the wrong path for prosperity. I am running to be your next state representative to give the general assembly a new perspective of what people are experiencing. Currently the men and women representing Rhode Island are either Lawyers, Business Owners or people who work for government agencies such as HUD. These people don't have the comprehensive experience I have in multiple fields. I have been a business owner, a business employee, a high school teacher, worked with community groups such as the Hearthside House and been involved in politics. Being able to synthesize the needs and wants of each group I've been a part of allows me to see the interconnectedness of society more than someone who has been in the same line of work for their adult life.
Education is extremely important to me, and it upsets me to hear people running for or holding public office and they talk about education as if they have spent time in a classroom. It is obvious we need to achieve greater success from our students, but how we go about that is important. Too often politicians want to measure success of students based on their scores on NECAP or SATs when those tests are not designed in a manner that everyone will succeed. Someone can do poorly on those tests yet be an excellent student who excels either in the military, at business ownership or a variety of other lucrative careers. I believe schools should be measured based on the success of their students after graduation. First I would not have the NECAP test results be tied to a student's ability to graduate. I believe this requirement was invalidated when being accepted to a closed enrollment college was allowed as a means to bypass the NECAP test. The teacher evaluation system is loaded with corruption opportunities along with easy ways to generate positive results that are not indicative of teaching ability. This system needs to be addressed before teachers wrongfully lose their jobs because they didn't design their curriculum to fit an arbitrary assignment to show they are proficient teachers.
I'd like to ask for your support in claiming house district 46 for the people of Lincoln. This election is vitally important because having someone that is looking out for the folks who can articulate his ideas and frame them as the workers, the taxpayers, the students or from another perspective will be key in turning the tide of Rhode Island. The speaker of the house is the most powerful position in Rhode Island politics by far (much more than the governor). If elected I will not be voting for the current speaker like our current state rep has done. Please visit the donate/contact page to let me know how you'd be interested in helping the campaign. Together we can put a person in the state house who isn't a yes man.
Education is extremely important to me, and it upsets me to hear people running for or holding public office and they talk about education as if they have spent time in a classroom. It is obvious we need to achieve greater success from our students, but how we go about that is important. Too often politicians want to measure success of students based on their scores on NECAP or SATs when those tests are not designed in a manner that everyone will succeed. Someone can do poorly on those tests yet be an excellent student who excels either in the military, at business ownership or a variety of other lucrative careers. I believe schools should be measured based on the success of their students after graduation. First I would not have the NECAP test results be tied to a student's ability to graduate. I believe this requirement was invalidated when being accepted to a closed enrollment college was allowed as a means to bypass the NECAP test. The teacher evaluation system is loaded with corruption opportunities along with easy ways to generate positive results that are not indicative of teaching ability. This system needs to be addressed before teachers wrongfully lose their jobs because they didn't design their curriculum to fit an arbitrary assignment to show they are proficient teachers.
I'd like to ask for your support in claiming house district 46 for the people of Lincoln. This election is vitally important because having someone that is looking out for the folks who can articulate his ideas and frame them as the workers, the taxpayers, the students or from another perspective will be key in turning the tide of Rhode Island. The speaker of the house is the most powerful position in Rhode Island politics by far (much more than the governor). If elected I will not be voting for the current speaker like our current state rep has done. Please visit the donate/contact page to let me know how you'd be interested in helping the campaign. Together we can put a person in the state house who isn't a yes man.
Calendar of Events
- February 18, 2014 - Website updated for the 2014 campaign
- March 22, 2014 - My first advertisement of my campaign is released (more details to come)
- May 5, 2014 - Campaign Kick-Off Party Lincoln Country Club 6PM
- May 26, 2014 - Memorial Day parade
- June 23-25, 2014 - Official declaration of candidacy
- June 26 - July 11, 2014 - Get signatures for ballot placement (I'll go well beyond the 50 needed)
- September 9, 2014 - Primary day.
- November 4, 2014 - Election Day
Matthew A. Guerra outlines education philosophy
Improving Rhode Island's education is an important part of my decision to run for state representative. I am a high school math teacher working closely with students who are affected by the erroneous graduation requirements recently implemented. There is a conflict of logic when students are said they need to achieve a certain score on one of many tests to get their high school diploma. These tests are chosen to prove a student is prepared to either enter college, the military or the work force. However, acceptance to a 4 year college is now considered in lieu of a passing score on one of these tests. This entire NECAP process was put in place because colleges may or may not know if our students are ready to attend college, but now, before they get to know our students, the colleges can bypass this erroneous system and a student can get a HS diploma? The NECAP website specifically states that their test should not be used as a graduation requirement. I want the highest level of accomplishment for our students but if tying test results to graduation was a good idea, adding in the acceptance to college would not be necessary. This system has already been proven to be terrible and should be abandoned immediately.
Unfunded mandates have ransacked our cash-strapped communities of millions of dollars that taxpayers can't afford. These mandates range from putting our students and their personal information into databases to implementing flawed programs like the teacher evaluation system. These concepts are taking teachers out of classrooms and causing them to rearrange their instruction to achieve beneficial results for their own advancement rather than spending time with students.
The Democratic party claims to be the party of education, however, under their control, teaching jobs have been disappearing at an alarming rate. My approach to educations is that teachers need to be educating in a manner that affords every Rhode Island student equal access to a rigorous curriculum.
"Economic recovery requires proper education and I want to ensure that students have the best in Rhode Island's public schools." I say.
Unfunded mandates have ransacked our cash-strapped communities of millions of dollars that taxpayers can't afford. These mandates range from putting our students and their personal information into databases to implementing flawed programs like the teacher evaluation system. These concepts are taking teachers out of classrooms and causing them to rearrange their instruction to achieve beneficial results for their own advancement rather than spending time with students.
The Democratic party claims to be the party of education, however, under their control, teaching jobs have been disappearing at an alarming rate. My approach to educations is that teachers need to be educating in a manner that affords every Rhode Island student equal access to a rigorous curriculum.
"Economic recovery requires proper education and I want to ensure that students have the best in Rhode Island's public schools." I say.