John Loughlin says public service is his passion. After serving tours in Bosnia and Iraq in the U.S. Army, Loughlin was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly as a State Representative in 2004. Upon leaving Smith Hill, he began a career as a talk show host. Now, Loughlin is looking to return to public service, running for Lieutenant Governor as a Republican. He’s facing off against incumbent Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos.
Loughlin sat down with Ocean State Media political reporter Ian Donnis to discuss his priorities.
Interview highlights
On why he wants to be Lieutenant Governor
John Loughlin: I hosted a radio show on WPRO for about a dozen years, and one of the things I liked to always talk about on my radio show was that it's important for people to get involved. It's important to step forward, run for office, have input, have a voice in your government. After 12 years of telling all of my listeners – all seven of them – to do that, I decided to take my own advice and run for office. (I) decided to run for lieutenant governor largely because it's an office that I think has been underutilized and could be utilized in a much more forceful way to be able to shape the debate and influence policy.
On the difference he can make as Lieutenant Governor
Loughlin: We're already making a difference. On May 12, I held a press conference at my campaign headquarters where I basically said, "Look, if the Rhode Island General Assembly is not going to give us an inspector general after 24 years of talking about it, then I will do it." The lieutenant governor's budget has about $1.4 million, and I could put together a pretty decent inspector general's office for that money. And lo and behold, within four days, the speaker announced, "Yep, we got a bill," and then a few days, like 10 or 12 days after that, it was passed into law. So that's the kind of influence you can have, and it's by surfacing those common sense ideas and having the ability to communicate those ideas on a much broader stage than even WPRO. The lieutenant governor has access to the media in ways that can really move the debate and make positive changes in the lives of Rhode Islanders.
On the struggles Rhode Island Republicans face in winning statewide elective office
Loughlin: It's hard to convince good people to run, especially on the Republican side, because your chances of success are de minimis, right? So if you're able to provide a success model, (if) you're able to finally provide a general officer who's a Republican, I think you're going to see the quality of candidates – both in House and Senate races and for statewide office – improve dramatically. I think you'll see us gain in places that we haven't before. And it goes back to your philosophy class that you probably had in college. It's the Hegelian dialectic, right? In the Hegelian dialectic, you have a thesis, and then you have an antithesis, and the compromise in the middle is where the best public policy comes from. Right now, we don't have that. We have one party that controls everything.
On the rise of Democratic socialists in Rhode Island
Loughlin: Well, I think the proof is going to be in the pudding, and we're going to see exactly what socialist policies bring in terms of actual outcomes for Rhode Island voters. I don't think they'll be pleased. Rent control (in Providence) is going to stifle the housing market; it's going to stifle the creation of new housing units in Providence. My opponent, on a debate, said that she wants people to pay for their electric bills based on how much money they make, which is classic Marxism. I think Rhode Island is going to say, "Well, wait a minute. We tried this. We saw it in Providence. It doesn't work. Let's go back to a traditional capitalist model and grow a real economy. Let's cut costs, let's cut expenses, and let's have a real economy that Rhode Islanders can thrive in."
