Lincoln Chafee Promises that the General Assembly Will Pass His Tax Increase. But Do Current General Assembly Members Agree That He Can Speak on Their Behalf?

I also had the opportunity to ask a sitting General Assembly member running for re-election, State Senator Frank Maher (R-Charlestown/Exeter/Hopkinton/Richmond/West Greenwich), what he thought of independent gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee speaking for the General Assembly by saying...

"If the governor is leading the way on the tax increase, the General Assembly is going to go along," Chafee said. "That's the governor's leadership. They're going to go along."

...with regards to a proposed expansion of the sales tax.

Senator Maher responded that...

I find it interesting that Senator Chafee feels confident enough to speak so positively about the General Assembly supporting his proposed tax increase when he has no idea what the outcome of the elections are going to be.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity and the pleasure to be re-elected on Tuesday. Should I have the pleasure of returning to the State House, I can think of no reason why I would support any tax increase of any kind to resolve our current fiscal difficulties.

Thank you for the opportunity to answer this question. I wonder if my union financed and endorsed opponent would answer the same way.