CORE VALUES

Marie may have many accomplishments, but "Mother" is the highest role she has achieved. Even those of us who do not have children must recognize that they are the future.  Today's kids are tomorrow's citizens.  We are the architects of the America they will occupy.  
 
Legislation, public initiatives, and governance must always be approached with an eye on the future, and lessons from the past, so that we can guide, lead, and nurture those who will someday guide, lead, and nurture the nation they will inherit. 
 
Support of families, DCYF oversight, educational reform, and protection of the struggling middle- and working-class children is a foundation of Marie's value system.

Service men and women, and their families continue to give and risk every day to protect our liberty and democracy.  We owe it to current members of the armed forces,  veterans, and first-responders to provide them with the benefits and accolades they deserve as American Heroes. 

These public servants, whether in civil or military uniform,  are the protectors of the American Dream. We as Americans must protect them also. 

Race, Color, Creed, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Culture, and Ethnicity are all categories that are dividing Americans in our present political sphere. As a fourth-generation Italian and Irish immigrant, Marie knows the stories of the struggles that lead to accomplishment in pursuit of the American Dream.  

Marie served as Editor-In-Chief of Options RI. Magazine, an LGBTQ resource. She is an ally to others, and as a conservative, she supports marriage equality. As a psychiatric nurse, she recognizes the unique struggles of marginalized individuals. She also recognizes the sanctity of the family, which comes in many shapes and sizes, and vows to protect parental rights. 

Marie's core beliefs reside in the concepts of personal responsibility, hard work, ethics, and acceptance without division. Access to opportunity is the only right form of equity. Marie does not support agendas, she supports individuals. She does not support the progessive ideologies that children and thier parents are confronted with today. She She does not support "safe injection centers" but recognizes the need for greater long-term care of addiction and mental illness.

These social crises are at the forefront of our culture wars, and the time has come to lay these battles to rest.

Our world is fast-paced and disposable.  We face great concerns over plastics (a petroleum product), waste management, and global pollution.  

The mantra to reduce and reuse serves us well, but legislative initiatives that are punitive to the end-user are not the way forward.  Reducing industrial waste, holding distribution and packaging companies accountable to the environment, and getting manufacturers to reduce excess waste is our best step toward a cleaner tomorrow.  Legislation to reduce carbon footprints must be directed at corporations, not consumers.  

As the daughter of a former Cranston Police officer, Marie was raised to uphold the Second Amendment.  

She will vote against legislation that infringes on this constitutional right, while protecting the people of RI with regard to appropriate gun safety regulations.

Marie advocates the right-to-life. While Roe V Wade is establised law in Rhode Island, it bears consderation that we live in a society where LGB couples, single parents, non-nuclear families, and infertile couples are looking for expanded access to adoption.  Our knowledge of conception has changed, and Marie envisions a health care structure that provides greater education and support to mothers facing the fear and uncertainty of an unplanned pregnancy.

As a nurse, Marie is uniquely poised to traverse this controversial landscape with compassion.