NORTH SMITHFIELD – Former House Minority Leader and State Rep. Brian C. Newberry, Republican in District 48 North Smithfield and Burrillville, has announced his intention to run for re-election to the seat.
“I am proud of my record in recent years and hope it is sufficient to convince voters to give me two more years as their representative,” he said in a release.
On the positive side, he said, he:
• Organized and led the group of northern Rhode Island legislators in 2018 that finally forced RIDOT to fix Route 146, a problem that “had festered for decades.”
• Authored and lead-sponsored the bipartisan 2021 Rhode Island Civics Education Act and the 2023 Campaign Finance Reform Act, both of which became law.
• Brought more than $200,000 in grant funding to his district in the past four years, mainly for North Smithfield High School’s “We the People” program with the balance for local road repaving.
“By the same token, I maintain, as I always have, that we do not have a taxing problem in this state, but a spending problem,” he said. “I have always opposed tax increases and supported attempts to reign in bloated government spending while remaining an advocate for getting my legislative colleagues to adopt a different perspective on many issues.”
Beyond that, he said, “as the leading voice of opposition in 2016 at the time of passage, I correctly predicted the truck toll program would be found unconstitutional, and while it has been partially salvaged, the net result has been a fiscal disaster for the state. Likewise my dire warnings about the 2021 Act on Climate’s potential impact on our economy and way of life are starting to prove true as well, as evidenced by the governor’s proposals in this year’s budget to begin to walk back the massive regulatory overreach and intrusions on the bill he previously championed and signed into law. As these examples attest, the Statehouse needs voices willing and capable of openly challenging the lopsided Democratic majority when needed.”
Added Newberry, “We need less regulation, less interference, less government and less corporate welfare for well-connected insiders. If we do not unshackle ourselves our economy will continue to slowly strangle and our children will continue to grow up and leave for greener and more affordable pastures.”
Newberry, who is married to wife Beth and has three adult children, said, “I believe I have been a consistent advocate for the people of our rural corner of the state and I am hopeful the people of North Smithfield and Burrillville have been happy with my efforts on their behalf and will see fit to return me to office this fall.”
