Loughlin Pitches "One Office, Two Jobs" Vision in Lt. Governor Bid

​In a wide-ranging interview at the Cowesett Inn, Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Loughlin laid out an ambitious plan to transform an office he says currently delivers little value to Rhode Island taxpayers.
Loughlin, who as of the interview faced no primary challenger, has called Rhode Island home for nearly his entire life. His parents relocated from Washington, D.C. to Portsmouth in the early 1960s when he was just a year and a half old. He later spent the entire decade of the 1990s back in the nation's capital, working at NASA headquarters during the space shuttle program before returning home.
From the Airwaves to the Ballot
For close to 13 years, Loughlin hosted a Saturday radio show on WPRO, broadcasting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each week. It was that experience, he says, that ultimately pushed him toward a run for statewide office.
"Interview after interview, year after year, the same problems kept coming up," Loughlin said, recalling a recurring segment called Small Business Saturdays. He pointed to persistent complaints about state regulations, taxes, and skyrocketing electric bills—issues he could discuss on air but never fully solve.
"You talk a lot about civic responsibility," he said. "Why not take some and run for office?"
Reinventing the Office
At the heart of Loughlin's campaign is a rethinking of what the Lieutenant Governor actually does. By his accounting, the office has cost Rhode Islanders roughly $1.4 million annually over the past decade, despite having no constitutional responsibility beyond stepping in should the governor become unable to serve.
The legislature has layered on a handful of statutory duties—including the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council, a relationship with emergency management officials, and the Small Business Advisory Council—but Loughlin argues these obligations leave plenty of time for more meaningful work.
His solution? Replace political appointees with a team of auditors and investigators.
"Instead of hiring political cronies to come in and hold my hand to make sure I get to those meetings, why don't I hire a staff of auditors and investigators as a first line of defense for Rhode Islanders?" he said.
The plan, which he calls "one office, two jobs, zero new dollars," would task that team with combing through publicly available records—Access to Public Records Act reports, open meetings records, and state contracts—to root out waste and duplication in state government.
The math, he says, makes the case for itself. If the office can identify even 1% of the budget in savings, it would return roughly ten times its operating cost.
"For the first time, instead of costing us $1.4 million to go to ribbon cuttings, we would be able to return $15 million to the taxpayers," Loughlin said.
A Stronger Hand with an Inspector General
Loughlin also believes the state's newly created Inspector General position strengthens his vision considerably. Noting with a touch of humor that the role was announced just four days after his own campaign declaration, he outlined two key advantages.
First, when his auditors uncover evidence of wrongdoing, they could hand it directly to the Inspector General for immediate action. Second, when state agencies stonewall requests for public information, he could file complaints with both the Inspector General and the Attorney General.
"So we have two avenues now to pursue instead of just the one," he said.
Not Without Precedent
Loughlin was quick to note that using the office to champion government transparency isn't a new idea. He recalled former Secretary of State Jim Langevin, who partnered with Brown University's Taubman Institute on a report called "Access Denied," chronicling repeated open meetings violations across the state.
"By getting that information out to the public, we were able to get these organizations to comply better with the open meetings law," he said. "It's just, I think, a better use of $1.4 million than ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings—as important as those are."
A Background Built for the Role
Loughlin brings a deep résumé to the campaign. He served three terms in the Rhode Island General Assembly, representing all of Little Compton along with portions of Tiverton and Portsmouth. His professional background includes service as an Army helicopter pilot, including a combat tour in Iraq, as well as his decade with the space program.
That experience, he says, matters more than voters might realize. Rhode Islanders need only look to recent history: when Governor Gina Raimondo was tapped for a federal post, then-Lieutenant Governor Dan McKee stepped into the role and was later elected in his own right.
"You got to make sure you pay attention to who's getting in that position," Loughlin said, "and that they are qualified just in case."
Getting Involved
Voters can learn more about Loughlin and his campaign at loughlin4ri.com or by following him on Twitter at LoughlinRI1. A frequent presence at community events across the state, Loughlin says he's constantly on the move—from VFW halls to Fourth of July parades.
"I'll run into you somewhere, I'm sure," he said.