PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The chairman of the Rhode Island Senate’s finance committee says he’s being removed from his position by new Senate President Dominick Ruggerio.
Democratic Sen. Daniel Da Ponte, of East Providence, said on Facebook on Tuesday that he’s being pulled from his eight-year position leading the finance committee because he made calls to fellow senators in considering a run to be Democratic majority leader.
Ruggerio, the former majority leader, became Senate president on Thursday. Democrats held a caucus and chose Ruggerio’s preferred successor, Warwick Sen. Michael McCaffrey, to be the new majority leader.
No one else challenged McCaffrey.
Da Ponte says if this is a window into how Ruggerio’s new team will operate, it doesn’t bode well for the Senate or Rhode Island.
Ruggerio couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
