By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
Lincoln Chafee was formerly a member of the GOP, but Rhode Island Republicans have expressed their indifference about Chafee’s switch to the Democratic Party.
“It doesn’t matter to me that he slipped to the Democratic Party,” Cranston Mayor Allan Fung told WPRO’s John DePetro on Thursday. “For me, it’s one of these situations where it’s not about what party he’s in.”
Fung, a Republican who said he is “taking a serious look” at running for Governor in 2014, said his main focus is on Rhode Islandd’s lack of jobs and high debt. He said the state needs a new leader that has the right vision for Rhode Island.
By making the affiliation switch, Chafee becomes the first Democratic governor the state has seen since Bruce Sundlun left office in 1994. Fung said the recent string of Republican leaders shows that people put their trust in Republicans when it comes to fiscal values.
“I think I’ve got the right attributes from being Chief Executive in the third largest city,” Fung told WPRO earlier this week. “Doing what we’ve been doing in Cranston I think a lot of that could help Rhode Islanders as well and that’s why I’m taking a look at that Governor’s race.”
Before Chafee faces Fung, he’d have to make it through a potentially three-way primary. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo are both expected to run in 2014, and neither seemed too affected by the Governor’s party switch.
“I have been a Democrat and a Red Sox fan my whole life, and I don’t intend on changing either,” said Taveras in a statement. “I remain focused on bringing people together to make necessary but difficult decisions that will move our city and state forward.”
“As I have said before, I am seriously considering running for Governor,” said Raimondo in a statement. “The question Rhode Islanders have is who can provide the leadership we need to move our state forward. The Governor’s decision to change parties for a second time has not changed my thinking.”
Chafee made his switch Thursday at Warwick City Hall, where he spent many years as a Councilman and then as the Mayor of the city. Warwick’s current Mayor, Republican Scott Avedisian, has been a longtime endorser of Chafee, and tossed him support when he was a Republican and an independent.
“I think most Rhode Islanders know the Governor is a free and independent thinker,” Avedisian told WPRO Thursday. “This sets up an interesting situation where he will be in a primary and I will be unable to vote in it.”
Mark Smiley, the newest chair of the Rhode Island Republican Party, said Chafee’s switch “doesn’t really make a difference” to him.
Despite formerly being a member of the RIGOP and being named after Republican President Abraham Lincoln, Chafee said both his late father, John, and President Lincoln himself would have been “patting him on the back” while he signed his party affiliation change paperwork.
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Kim Kalunian
