Chafee bows out to stay focused on ‘fundamentals’

TERM LIMITED: Aside from the expenditure of “time and energy,” campaigning also requires sitting politicians to “make compromises,” said Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, who will not seek a second term. / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN
TERM LIMITED: Aside from the expenditure of “time and energy,” campaigning also requires sitting politicians to “make compromises,” said Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, who will not seek a second term. / PBN FILE PHOTO/FRANK MULLIN

Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee bowed out of next year’s governor’s race extolling the same government “fundamentals” of infrastructure, education and workforce development he campaigned on in 2010.
But he said campaigning again while in office would distract from his work trying to improve those “basics,” and he would rather step aside in 2015 than lose his focus in the next 16 months.
“Obviously it is not just the time and energy, but in campaigning you need to make compromises,” he said at a news conference last week announcing his decision not to seek re-election. “You can’t be doing two jobs well at the same time. … I would rather be making my decisions outside of a campaign.”
Whether campaigning would really alter Chafee’s decisions, or even draw his focus from one priority to another, is difficult to tell.
Asked whether he would use any of the remaining campaign-free year-and-a-half to target any specific goals, Chafee said he wouldn’t elevate any particular issue above the others.
Nothing, he said, should change from the restrained path he’s taken over the past two and a half years, including in his bid to improve the Rhode Island economy.
While the slow climb out of Rhode Island’s employment and economic hole has been the backdrop for his term in office, the 38 Studios crisis will likely be seen as his defining issue.
Chafee’s opposition to the ill-fated $75 million loan guarantee marked his distaste with special job-creation incentives, many of which he’s scaled back or tried to scale back.
After 38 Studios collapsed, what had been a slight softening toward business incentives hardened further and much of 2012 and 2013 marked one of the slowest periods of activity for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
While Chafee had opposed 38 Studios from the start, the bankruptcy distracted his time in office more than anything, from questions about his monitoring of the deal to accusations from company founder Curt Schilling that he killed the video game startup intentionally. Yet as he announced he wouldn’t run for a second term, things were, at least for the moment, looking brighter for Chafee on 38 Studios.
His lawsuit to recover funds from architects of the company survived motions to dismiss at the end of August and the federal bankruptcy trustee began exploring a seemingly similar suit.
Other long-running Chafee priorities he promised to focus on over the final 16 months in office included encouraging renewable energy (especially hydropower), increasing state aid to local school districts, implementing the federal health care law and building on efficiencies at the R.I. Department of Motor Vehicles, where he made the announcement as a symbol of progress.
“They all lead to a better economy and that’s ultimately what we all care about,” Chafee said.
Speaking about the other high-profile issue of his governorship, public pensions, Chafee last month did not sound like a governor who was ready to give up his office as he called for settlement talks between the state and the public employees and highlighted his differences with presumptive election opponent General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo.
Looking ahead, Chafee gave few hints about his next project and would not rule out running for an elected office of some kind again.
He said he hadn’t done any polling before making his decision and thought if he did run he would win.
With Chafee out, only one candidate has officially entered the race, Middletown businessman Ken Block of the Moderate Party.
Raimondo and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, both Democrats, are still considered the frontrunners, with Cranston Mayor Allan Fung considering a run on the Republican ticket.
Chafee, who switched to the Democratic Party earlier this year, said he had no plans to endorse any of the primary candidates, but would support the Democratic candidate in the general election. •

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