Carcieri riffs on his legacy

Less than seven days after last week’s election, Governor Carcieri weighs in with an upbeat ProJo op-ed delineating his accomplishments during two terms in office. Here’s a sample:

The sound fiscal management that we have exercised is working. We closed fiscal 2010 with an $18 million surplus and a Rainy Day Fund fully funded at $112 million. For the first quarter of the new fiscal year, state revenues are $38 million ahead of projections. This has been done without raising taxes, and our spending discipline allowed the most significant tax reform in decades, lowering personal-income taxes for most Rhode Islanders. This is all good news, and I am confident Rhode Island can close the anticipated 2012 deficit by continuing to control spending and save what is surplus.

While balancing the state budget is a major component of recovery, making the right investments to grow the economy of our state is critical. Although the nationwide recession has made our recovery slower, there are many positive indicators. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate is slowly improving. For the fourth straight month, we have seen an increase in private-sector jobs. Exports are up 30 percent from last year. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank forecasts Rhode Island among the top states for projected growth.

Part of the rap on Carcieri is that he got a better grasp on working with the General Assembly only in his last year in office, setting the stage for forward motion on Deepwater Wind and 38 Studios. Whether these two gambits prove successful (or not) won’t be known until well past Carcieri’s departure from office.