D’ALESSANDRO

SINGLETON

CUMBERLAND — In the District 52 state House of Representatives race, Republican incumbent Richard W. Singleton faces Democrat Amy D’Alessandro, and both candidates seek to address the rising cost of health insurance and to curb state spending.

Singleton, 53, is running for his second term in office after defeating Democrat Thomas Hefner in 2004.

D’Alessandro, 40, said she is “disgusted” by how things have been going in the General Assembly and is calling for a change.

She says too many representatives seek office for their own self interest, and they are too content with the political status quo.

“I don’t see any real progress coming out of this legislative session,” she said.

District 52 covers the northwest and center of town, the core of Republican voters in this largely Democrat town.

Singleton said that if reelected he would propose capping state government spending, much as municipalities are limited by the state to a 5.5-percent spending increase from the previous year.

He would also propose to increase the cigarette and alcohol tax and allocate a portion of speeding tickets to finance a special fund signed into law by Governor Carcieri last year that provides health-care coverage to low-income employers and employees.

Singleton also wants to band with other state representatives from suburban towns to appeal for more state aid for education.

“We need to stand up. The suburbs are suffering,” he said.

D’Alessandro, a divorce lawyer for the firm of D’Alessandro Law in North Providence, wants to limit government spending by setting purchase limits.

“We are spending more and more on everything, and it is out of control,” she said.

She proposed levying a tax on health-insurance companies as a way of financing state health insurance.

A six-year resident of town, D’Alessandro also wants the state to consider requiring security measures in schools and believes there are ways to make schools safer without being prohibitively expensive.

While she said she agrees with Singleton on many issues, D’Alessandro said “not enough is being done” with him in office.

Singleton, a partner in the East Greenwich insurance firm Group Benefit Advisors, was the prime sponsor of the Tobacco Cessation Coverage Bill, which offers health-insurance coverage for counseling, prescription drugs, and nicotine patches for people trying to quit smoking.

He also sponsored the Cumberland Senior Resident Property Tax Services Credit Program, a bill that allows qualified seniors in town to earn up to $500 off their residential property tax by working for the town.

Both those bills passed the General Assembly and were signed by Carcieri in July.

Singleton pushed a bill to make appointments to Beacon Mutual’s board of directors uncompensated and a bill that ordered municipalities to enroll in the state health plan if their plan cost more than the state’s plan.

Both bills never made it out of the House Finance Committee.

D’Alessandro, who graduated from the University of Minnesota and the Hamline University School of Law in Minnesota, is running for her first elected office.

For the past few years D’Alessandro said she has not been politically active.

She was not affiliated with any political party until she filed her nomination papers in July, and has not voted in the last three elections.

“I have been busy being a mom,” said the mother of two young children.

D’Alessandro said she never considered running for local office and sees the General Assembly as “an opportunity to implement positive change.”

Singleton, who graduated from Northeastern University, voted to reject the ballot question that, if approved by voters, would allow for an amendment to the state Constitution to allow the Narragansett Indians to build a casino in West Warwick.

He also voted to reject a proposal that would have made the state’s insurer, Beacon Mutual, a private company.

Singleton helped secure $5,000 for the Cumberland and Lincoln Boys & Girls Club, $3,500 for a town girl’s softball team, and $5,000 in state funding for the Arnold Mills parade.