CAMPO challenger and Town councilman

EAST GREENWICH — Veteran Sen. J. Michael Lenihan, who is running for a 10th term, says the state’s imperiled finances are the biggest challenge facing Rhode Island government.

And Steven A. Campo, the landscaper and North Kingstown Town Councilman who is challenging Lenihan in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, couldn’t agree more.

With Governor Carcieri in a pitched battle with public labor unions over sharing health insurance costs, and a potential deficit for the current fiscal year pegged at $425 million, Lenihan says, “I don’t know what is going to happen.”

He tells constituents in his District 35 — which also includes the Potowomut section of Warwick — “to be prepared as we go forward,” Lenihan says. “You are not going see any immediate radical improvement. You will see improvement steadily.”

Lenihan is the chairman of the legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, which has investigated purchasing practices. He was in the forefront of the successful move for separation of powers and is a champion of the Open Records Law and Open Meetings Law.

He was active in helping to secure passage of the law capping annual increases in local tax levies.

Campo, who was elected to the North Kingstown council in 2006, says, “I’m looking to give people a choice and bring about change.”

“It took a long time to dig us in the hole we are in,” he says. “We need to get some reform. We need to get some new people. We need some new blood.”

Among other things, he proposes more centralized purchasing, more creative ways to keep businesses in Rhode Island and, perhaps, regionalization of some municipal services.

“The taxes are just too high. We are un-business friendly state,” he said. “First and foremost you can’t fix the budget by raising the taxes. … I think these people who have been in [government] for a long time are not a part of the solution. If you’ve been in for 20 years, what have been doing to make it better?”

Says Lenihan: “While I’ve seen huge improvements, I see there is more to be done. It’s been privilege to serve in the Senate. I feel enthusiastic to go to work everyday.”

Lenihan, 65, is a native of Scituate, where he enjoyed a career as a high school English teacher; he is retired. Before winning election to the Senate, in 1990, he served on the East Greenwich Town Council for a total of 12 years.

He has a bachelor’s in history from Rhode Island College and a master’s degree in English from Brown University.

He and his wife, Patricia, have a daughter, Meghan.

Campo, 50, a Providence native, grew up in North Providence and has lived in North Kingstown since the mid-1980s. The owner of Rhode Island Green Corporation, a landscaping and lawn business, he has a degree in economics from RIC and a master’s degree in business administration from Bryant University. He teaches courses at Bryant.

The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face Republican John A. Pagliarini Jr. in November.

lsparks@projo.com