Rhode Island’s Future reports that State Senator Chuck Levesque faces a tough race in his district of Bristol/Portsmouth.

I saw Sen. Levesque at the hearings on human trafficking, and he showed a real concern for passing laws that would really help people who are exploited. There was a lot of pressure, and anyone who questioned making indoor prostitution illegal was accused of not caring about victims of trafficking. We did get an anti-trafficking law passed in 2007, but we don’t have a constituency that cares about people who might be here illegally or might have trouble with the law. The problem of trafficking won’t be solved by putting a few women in jail. Sen.Levesque knew that and was slandered for saying so.

I saw the General Assembly in action a few times when going to testify about a bill. Chuck Levesque always made a good impression.

Most of the time I was encouraged to see how thoughtfully our representatives discussed each bill and the respect they showed for the citizens and the process. To just call them all corrupt is lazy thinking. More often than not, our government is as good as we make it.

See Rhode Island’s Future for more on this race. Chris Ottiano, the Republican candidate is a vascular surgeon. It amuses me that some commenters take it as a given that a doctor will automatically be a better legislator than a lawyer. I wouldn’t count on it, no offense to the good doctors I’ve worked with. Like in any other profession, there’s bad apples too.