Lincoln Chafee, the Labor Candidate for Governor?

Previewing this weekends Newsmakers show on WPRI-TV (CBS 12), Ian Donnis of WRNI's On Politics blog notes that George Nee, President of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, currently believes that Lincoln Chafee is the gubernatorial candidate currently looked upon most favorably by labor…

Pressed about the three most evident gubernatorial candidates for 2010, Nee, acknowledged that labor has some concerns about Frank Caprio, hasn't interacted greatly with Patrick Lynch, and looks relatively warmly at Lincoln Chafee.

Flanders Denies Any Interest in Running for Governor

Scott MacKay of WRNI's On Politics blog is reporting that Robert Flanders is denying any interest in running for Governor of Rhode Island, as a Republican, or a Moderate, or under any other party banner…

Flanders, a lawyer, says that he "has no intention'' of running and is focused on his legal practice and his post has chairman of the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education....Flanders also says he did not look forward to having to "raise the awful lot of money'' that a run for governor would entail.

Leadership Is Also About Timing

Ah, Frank:

Breaking new ground in Rhode Island's top political ranks, General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio has made public his daily calendars for the last 18 months, a move that not only shows how and with whom he has spent his time in office, but also the number of days he spent traveling outside Rhode Island on both state and political business.

His daily schedules reflect a range of state, political and family commitments, from an "8:30 a.m. UN conference NYC," to a noon luncheon meeting described as "Lehman's/Capriccio" to "dinner with Gabriella & Frankie."

My impression of Rhode Island Treasurer Frank Caprio is that he's an unimpeachably honest guy, and he seems intent on running his campaign for governor in precisely the manner not only of an honest guy, but of an affable one: making up for the disadvantage of clean hands by keeping them in constant motion. During his ubiquitous appearances at state-level events of all sorts, Caprio is always the last to sit down — working the room, as they call it.

In that respect, he (or at least his image) is a welcome relief in a profession characterized by scheming and sleaze. The question is whether it makes him the man that Rhode Island needs in its top executive chair, just now, and his case has yet to be proven. He strikes me as the sort of leader a polity wants when it requires rest from the hard work of cleaning up government — after cleaning up the government. In those circumstances, the "right thing" has been clearly defined, and the society wants a chief who will apply it fairly and openly and recoil from immediate corruption.

Truthfulness is better than deception, of course, and straight laces better than knots. With Caprio, we can add in a better display of the correct impulses, compared with the erroneous ones of his likely competition. But that only makes him preferable — not adequate. What we need is not somebody who's affably honest, but somebody who's contentiously honest.

Roberts to Seek Re-election, Not Governorship

At least, that's what I think the just-arrived press release indicates:

Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts announced today that she will seek re-election, pledging to use her position to make health care affordable for every Rhode Islander. ...

"I've spent the past few months exploring a run for governor, and I want to thank all of my supporters and let them know that I will continue to work to turn the page on politics as usual in Rhode Island," Roberts said. "I will continue to fight for quality health care for all; a stronger, more diverse Rhode Island economy; and honest, open and effective government. These have been, and will continue to be, the focus of my public service."

Widening the Field?

Is this Associated Press article (via the Boston Herald) talking about candidates for Governor, candidates for the general offices, or candidates in general?

Gov. Don Carcieri is a rare Republican governor in one of the bluest of blue states, a social and fiscal conservative who won re-election in 2006 even as fellow Republicans were swept from office.

It remains unclear who in the governor’s party, if anyone, will continue his political legacy….Republicans, however, are still searching for viable candidates, even as they hope to continue their hold on the governor’s office. So far, only Rep. Joseph Trillo of Warwick, a public access TV host best known for his outbursts, has publicly announced he’s considering a run....

Republican leaders including [Party Chairman Gio Cicione], Trillo, former state Rep. Carol Mumford and others met as recently as Tuesday to continue searching for additional candidates. Although the group has not divulged names under discussion, some are people who have approached the party while others would be newcomers to politics.

Will Ricci: Reaction to Endorsements of Linc Chafee for RI Governor

You will rarely, if ever, find me in 100% agreement with a press statement on behalf of the Rhode Island Democratic Party regarding anything, so savor the moment.

That a freshman Democratic legislator has endorsed a possible candidate for political office who is not a member of his own party, for an election which won't occur until November 2010, means less than zero in the grand scheme of anything political. If anything, it actually shows that there is neither broad, nor deep support for someone who may or may not be a candidate for governor in 2010. Given Linc Chafee's past record, I absolutely assume that, at some point, he will make up his mind and be a real candidate for governor. I certainly don't think he will win, but that's beside the point. Rather, I am more concerned about a politician who has been at the game for quite a while and who should know better.

Of course, my concern is in regard to the very premature endorsement of Linc Chafee for RI governor made by "Republican" Mayor of Warwick Scott Avedesian. Scott is widely presumed to be interested in seeking a higher office in 2010, so perhaps this is a strategic decision on his part, or perhaps it is purely personal. Scott can perhaps be forgiven his transgression on the basis of their longtime friendship. Of course, they both share nearly identical left-of-center political ideologies that are not within the mainstream of what is generally considered "conservative" or even "Republican."

However, any political party — in this case, the Rhode Island Republican Party — is supposed to stand for something, is supposed to believe something, and this honestly deserves a timely response by it. I would certainly think that any potential Republican candidates for governor, including the one who also hails from Warwick, must feel a certain sense of betrayal. However, I honestly doubt that anyone is actually surprised by this act.

Regardless of the motivation behind Scott's endorsement, I would sincerely hope for a similarly worded statement by an official representative of the Rhode Island Republican Party. Given our past record as a state party — and its precarious state at present — I am not exactly holding my breath. There are any number of reasons to expect neither talk, nor action, including but not limited to the fact that the RIGOP headquarters in Warwick is in the very same building as Scott Avedesian's campaign headquarters and that the only remaining member of the RIGOP office staff formerly worked for Linc Chafee when he was in the U.S. Senate. These should not be obstacles to action, but rather inconveniences.

As a longtime member, I've come to expect little from the party, and my expectations are almost always exceeded in a bad way. I want the party to succeed — if I didn't, I wouldn't have been involved in it for so long — but it isn't going to succeed at anything if it doesn't stand up for even the most basic of Republican principles.

Despite that, I still hold out a tiny glimmer of hope the party will act. Paging Gio...

The RI Democrats' statement to the press read in part:

"I wasn't surprised to see that Rep. Fierro was sitting alone when he announced his decision to support former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee. I would have advised Rep. Fierro to have considered Senator Chafee's record before so hastily and haphazardly announcing support for a candidate, who for so long embraced the ideals of the Republican Party, but who has suddenly labeled himself an 'independent' because he finds it politically expedient. If Chris had a little more gravitas and experience I believe he would have ultimately made a better and more well-informed decision. Much like his endorsed candidate, I wouldn't be surprised if Rep. Fierro changed his mind a few more times before the election. If Chris Fierro endorses a former Republican candidate in the middle of the woods and nobody cares, did it ever really happen?" [Democratic Party executive director Tim] Grilo said.

While I don't believe that I have heard or seen anywhere where Mayor Scott Avedesian has literally said the exact words "I endorse Linc Chafee for Governor," he has done everything humanly possible to demonstrate strong support of his candidacy, including but not limited to being a prominent member of the host committee for Linc's upcoming "exploratory committee" fundraiser. Whether the RIGOP manages even a mild correction remains to be seen.

Will Ricci is a Delegate of the Rhode Island Republican State Central Committee, a Director of the Rhode Island Republican Assembly, and the Editor of The Ocean State Republican blog.

Officially, He is Not Officially Running for Governor

Former Senator Lincoln Chafee claims that he has not yet officially begun his gubernatorial campaign.

Someone needs to let his web-team know this, because this is what the masthead of the Chafee for Governor website reads as of 3:00 pm today…

Lincoln Chafee: Independent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Rhode Island needs a bold new direction.

Chafee Makes It Official

Richard C. Dujardin of the Projo reports...

Ending several weeks of “exploration” into whether he would run for the job, former U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee announced Tuesday night that he is an independent candidate for governor of Rhode Island.

Chafee put the news out on a Web site, www.chafeeforgovernor.com, as well as in an interview on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show.

Yeah. The Candidate of "Fiscal Responsibility"

All one needs to know about Lincoln Chafee and his pending run for governor (including his status as a garden-variety left-wing Democrat) is revealed in this:

The Republican-turned-Independent Chafee has been out and about seeking support from George Nee, secretary-treasurer of the state AFL-CIO, among others. Late last week, Nee said he had lunch with Chafee six or seven weeks ago and told him that a year and a half out is way too early to make a commitment to anyone. But, Nee said, "I think that Linc Chafee has had a very good record with the labor community and I think he would be given very, very serious and respectful consideration."

He can run or not, as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not so sure that the common wisdom that he'd split the Republican vote is accurate. At best, he'll split both parties, but I imagine he'd cost the Democrats more, especially if they run a candidate who pleases the state's progressives.

Laffey WILL NOT Run for Governor in 2010

Former Cranston Mayor and Senate Candidate Stephen Laffey has announced that he will NOT run for Governor of the State of Rhode Island in 2010. More coming on WPRO's Dan Yorke show shortly.

UPDATE:
Laffey spoke to Dan Yorke and elaborated on the reasons why he chose not to run. He stated he based his decision on a few factors. First, he clarified that his decision leaked out before he had been fully prepared to discuss it. He then stated that for the last two years, he's been out of politics and has enjoyed being with his family. However, the primary reason is that, as he sees it, there still isn't a real, broad-based movement striving to improve RI State Government and the current way of doing business (budgets, pensions, reforms, etc.). Therefore, he has concluded that not enough people want to really fix things yet and that a few people here and there, including himself, aren't enough to effect real change without broad support. Basically, he thinks that more Rhode Islanders need to wake up before the effort of individuals like himself will be able to do any real good.

It seems his thinking was affected by the recent elections where some good candidates were run on the GOP side and still lost. He also offered that, in his opinion, the GOP (both the state and national) "is a disaster." He was also influenced by seeing his work in Cranston undone over the last two years (presumably, until the election of Alan Fung). There is also, obviously, some disenchantment with the national party's role in his own Senatorial election. He also stated that he did no polling or the like that could have influenced his decision.

In short, Stephen Laffey has given up on Rhode Island...for now.