By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

NORTH SMITHFIELD — For North Smithfield residents, the ballot this November is going to look a lot like the ballot from two years ago.

Not only will there be a rematch between incumbent Robert B. Lowe and Ernest H. Alter plus two others for the position of town administrator, but town resident Brian C. Newberry announced Monday he will seek the District 48 state representative seat held by Democratic Rep. Raymond Church. Newberry, a Republican, challenged Church in the 2006 election, losing by 216 votes.
Newberry, a business litigator, is past chairman of the North Smithfield Juvenile Hearing Board and a member of the North Smithfield Library Board of Trustees. He is also a former member of the Rhode Island Lottery Commission.
Blaming the state’s fiscal crisis on the lack of leadership and sensible policies of the General Assembly, Newberry says he is running for the District 48 seat representing North Smithfield and Burrillville to provide new leadership.
“The fiscal crisis facing this state did not arrive out of the blue,” Newberry said. “It is a direct result of years of short-sighted policies and a complete lack of leadership in the General Assembly.
“Towns like North Smithfield are now faced with the ugly choice of either gutting our school systems or hiking property taxes beyond many people’s ability to pay,” he said, “in large measure because our state government has practically bankrupted itself and cannot provide sufficient support.
 “This situation was foreseeable years ago and yet our legislators refused to ever look ahead, preferring to live in the moment and find gimmicks and stop-gaps to put off the day of reckoning.  That is not leadership; it is political cowardice.”
Newberry charged the state legislature with “wasting tax money and disregarded the overall welfare of the people at the expense of certain special interest groups.”
“As a result, Rhode Island has a terrible climate for business and job creation, one that lags behind our closest neighbors and that has placed us in recession while their economies grow,” he said. “This has been fostered by an entrenched and seemingly unchanging block at the Statehouse that responds to lobbyists rather than taxpayers.”
Newberry says all Church has done is “toe the party line.”
“My opponent has done nothing in his time in office to fight this. Rather he has an unbroken record of doing exactly what the leadership tells him to do, never once standing up to them.
“North Smithfield and Burrillville do not need a machine politician,” Newberry said.  “It is not ‘other people’s representatives’ who are the problem. It is all of them and until we change who we send to Providence we can expect more of the same bad government we have been getting for years. We deserve better.”
Church, a North Smithfield resident for 32 years, has already announced he will seek a third term in the state House of Representatives.
“The record demonstrates that I have accomplished much in my first two terms and I want those achievements to be continued,” said Church, a member of the House committees on finance and municipal government. “Our state has many favorable characteristics, but we desperately are in need of good, high-paying jobs.”
Lowe announced his intention to seek re-election for town administrator in March, and about two weeks ago, Alter issued a press release declaring his bid for the administrator’s seat. Lowe won the 2006 election with 542 votes (54 percent) to Alter’s 461 (46 percent).
Last week, Donald Gagnon, who is chairman of the North Smithfield Conservation Commission, and political newcomer Paulette Hamilton announced they will also run against Lowe.
Other local offices up for grabs in the Nov. 4 election include five seats on the Town Council and three on the School Committee.
The declaration period for candidates begins later next month, according to an election calendar recently released by North Smithfield Town Clerk Debra A. Todd. Declarations of candidacy can be filed with the town clerk’s office Monday, June 23, through Wednesday, June 25. The deadline for filing declarations is 4 p.m. on the 25th.
Nomination papers will be available beginning July 1. A total of 50 signatures of qualified electors are required for municipal office. The deadline to return nomination papers is 4 p.m. on Friday, July 11.
A primary election will be held Sept. 9 if the number of persons declaring for office is more than twice the amount of seats available.