It's all about the choices we make as a society. We can choose to have poor schools and parks and higher tuition at Rhode Island's colleges. But we should make an active choice.

My vision for a better Rhode Island starts with a simple idea - we are all in this together.

We have to get past this persistent negativity. The negativity has held Rhode Island back for a long time.

Before I was State Treasurer, my Rhode Island business helped create over 1,000 jobs, including here at Nabsys, a biomedical company. As governor, I'll use this as a model for how we create manufacturing jobs.

In many cases, Rhode Island is just not on the radar of a lot of companies. But once companies or people take the time to look at our high quality of life, low cost of living, great talent, good business environment, often people see it's an excellent place, and they want to take a harder look.

I want to show two things. One, that Democrats can solve big problems and get things done. And two, that as a public official, you can make tough choices, do the right things for the right reasons, and upset some people. And still get elected.