URI associate professor runs for RI representative

10/30/08 - As a liaison between the University of Rhode Island and the state Department of Health, Dr. Anthony "Tony" Cirillo, said he has worked to bring his knowledge about health care from the department to the students at the university.But after starting out as an adjunct and moving up to an adjunct associate professor in URI's College of Nursing, Cirillo is ready to take the learning process to a new level: teaching Rhode Island how to manage its economy, provide better health care and progress in the field of renewable energy.

And if he wins the state's vote on Nov. 4 for state representative of District 33 - Narragansett, North Kingstown and South Kingstown - Cirillo might just get his wish.

Cirillo, a North Kingstown resident who is running against 19-year incumbent Donald Lally Jr., said Rhode Island needs to encourage better business incentives to boost the economy, and would advocate lowering the tax rate for businesses, linking a tax credit for those that would use renewable energy practices.

"It's the quality of life that really makes you want to stay here, but you've got to have something for people to stay for," he said. "Incentives for businesses should be tied to helping people."

Cirillo, who is running on a Republican platform, compared the state of Rhode Island to a spendthrift, and added he is worried about the future of the state. Rhode Island currently has an 8.8 percent unemployment rate - the highest in the nation.

"We're like those people who live paycheck to paycheck and every credit card is maxed out," Cirillo said.

As an emergency physician at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn., Cirillo said one of his other primary focuses involves health care. He cited that 57 percent of Rhode Islanders do not have health insurance through their employers.

"Every ranking that comes out, we're at the bottom of the pile again," Cirillo said. "Things can be better but you need to elect people who are willing to stand up and say we cannot do things the same way."

To sum up his platform, Cirillo alluded to a poster made famous by Democratic strategist James Carville, who successfully led former U.S. President Bill Clinton's campaign.

"It said three things: 'The economy's stupid, change versus more of the same, and don't forget health care,'" Cirillo said. "Sixteen years later, he's still got it right. He was right then and he was right now. It's always about the economy."

Cirillo acknowledged the negative effects of the economy on students, particularly his own children who are ages 9 to 14. He said they are the reason he is running for representative.

"I want them to have a future here as well," he said. "I hear too many times of families where their kids grew up and went to school ... and said, 'Well now where am I going to work?'"

Alluding to the budget crisis at URI, Cirillo's thoughts on privatizing the university echo President Robert L. Carothers' take on the matter.

"The state has to make a decision," he said. "Either you're going to fund the university so it can be a world-class university, or you say 'Look, we can't do this,' and let the university off the hook of all the rules and say 'OK, you go out and be competitive.'"

Cirillo also touched upon the retirement incentive at URI, comparing it to retirement incentives across the state.

"It might have saved some money in the long run, but the reality is that we're losing all the institutional knowledge and the people who know how to problem-solve," he said. "You've put the people back at risk to save a couple of bucks."

Though Cirillo said he has been a Rhode Island resident for about only 10 years - living in New York and Vermont, among other states - he has grown attached to the Ocean State.

"We are small, but we have a lot of potential," Cirillo said.