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May 22, 2006

Meet Jim Haldeman, Candidate for State Representative, Part 2

Posted by Carroll Andrew Morse

As part of his answer of what is motivating his run for office in Rhode Island, Jim discusses some dangerous trends that are shaping the future of Rhode Island…

Right now, the kids who are graduating from college are not coming here. They’re not staying here. They’re going to Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Connecticut. And as I’m making my rounds and talking to the older generation, they tell me they’re leaving too. They stayed for only one reason -- because the kids were here. But now that the younger generation can’t find a job, the parents and the grandparents are deciding to leave Rhode Island, because they can’t take the tax burden.

Rhode Island is stuck with a younger generation not staying, an older generation that’s leaving, and a middle income tax base being forced to take care of all of the problems in Rhode Island. Changing this is going to take someone willing to go the General Assembly and talk about these things instead of talking about lemons and oranges at the package store.

But there’s more to leading -- and especially leading youth -- than economics. Jim discusses a special concern of his…
I am going to be a big advocate for youth physical education. I’ve played sports all my life. If you affect children’s health, there will be less stress on healthcare.

We have to break the cycle and get people to be healthy and stay healthy. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do it. There are a lot of issues, but we need to get kids away from the computers and TV for part of the day, and get them to be physically active. We need to educate the youth and break that chain of inactivity. I hope to find a way to be a big proponent on this.

Finally, Jim sums it all up…
My opponents can go hobnob with the all the big unions and the NEAs, and that’s fine, but the only special interest group I want to work with is called the taxpayers.

There’s a big transition taking place here in Rhode Island and I just happen to be fortunate enough to be able to ride the wave. Things are happening. Things are changing. You see it in the front pages. People want to really become educated and want to know answers and why what has happened to our state has happened. There’s going to be quite a few people hit-up in the General Assembly and asked, why is this happening?

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