Lincoln Chafee - Independent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Media: July 2010 Archives

Chafee Says State Is Wasting Money on Leases

July 27, 2010

GoLocalProv
By, Stephen Beale

Independent candidate for governor Lincoln Chafee yesterday said it doesn't make much sense for the state to spend $11.9 million a year on leasing privately-owned buildings, while leaving 400,000 square feet of buildings it owns vacant. As governor, Chafee promised to shift more state operations to state-owned buildings.

"I find it incredible that our state--which owns approximately 1,500 buildings and 80,000 acres of land across the state--has no plan in place to minimize, if not eliminate, the costly practices of commercial office leases in the private sector," stated Chafee.

"Worse yet, many of these buildings--which I view as valuable taxpayer assets--have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair for no reason other than neglect," Chafee added.

Chafee said the state has dozens of unoccupied buildings, totaling more than 400,000 square feet of space. Meanwhile, it is spending $11.9 million on 33 leases. That money is going to private landlords to renovate and modernize their own buildings, instead of being used to improve state buildings, the Chafee campaign said.

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Rhode Island Governor: Chafee (I) Holds Slight Lead

July 23, 2010

Rasmussen Reports

Independent candidate Lincoln Chafee holds a slight lead over Democratic State Treasurer Frank Caprio in Rhode Island's race for governor.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Rhode Island finds Chafee with 37% to Caprio's 30% if John Robitaille is their GOP opponent. Robitaille, a former top aide to current Governor Don Carcieri, gets 23% of the vote. Two percent (2%) would vote for "some other candidate" and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

If former State Representative Victor Moffitt is the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Chaffee earns 36% support to Caprio's 33%. Moffitt nets 18% of the vote. In that match-up, 4% prefer another option and 9% are undecided.

Generally speaking, these numbers are little changed from late May and suggest a very competitive election may be in store.

Last week, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination. He expressed concern about a divisive primary that he said "would most likely result in the wrong leadership at a pivotal moment in time for Rhode Islanders."

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Poll: Chafee still leads RI gov race

WPRI.com
By, Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Lincoln Chafee remains on top in the race to become Rhode Island's next governor, but Democrat Frank Caprio is not far behind, according to a new poll released Friday by Rasmussen Reports.

Chafee, the former Republican senator now running as an independent, was backed by 37 percent of likely voters, compared with 30 percent for Caprio, if the Republican candidate is John Robitaille.

Robitaille, a former aide to Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, would get 23 percent of the vote, with 8 percent of voters undecided and 2 percent saying they would vote for "some other candidate."

Against the other potential Republican candidate, state Rep. Victor Moffitt , Chafee would get 36 percent of the vote to Caprio's 33 percent, with Moffitt getting 18 percent. With Moffitt as the G.O.P. standard-bearer, 9 percent of voters were undecided and 4 percent backed another individual.

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Poll shows Chafee leading in race for RI governor

Projo.com
By, Tatiana Pina

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Rhode Island shows that independent candidate Lincoln Chafee holds a slight lead over Democratic State Treasurer Frank Caprio in Rhode Island's race for governor.

It's the first poll since Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination last week.

The Rasmussen Report finds Chafee with 37 percent to Caprio's 30 percent if John Robitaille is their GOP opponent. Robitaille, a former top aide to current Governor Carcieri, gets 23 percent of the vote.

Two percent would vote for "some other candidate" and eight percent are undecided.

If former State Representative Victor Moffitt is the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Chafee gets 36 percent of the vote, while Caprio gets 33 percent. Moffitt nets 18 percent of the vote.

In that match-up, 4 percent prefer another option and 9 percent are undecided.

Rasmussen said, "Generally speaking, these numbers are little changed from late May and suggest a very competitive election may be in store," Rasmusssen said.

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Chafee's independent RI governor bid no easy road

July 22, 2010

Boston.com
By, Michelle R. Smith

PAWTUCKET, R.I.--There are no campaign signs, no crowds around former Sen. Lincoln Chafee. He's standing, sometimes alone, as baseball fans stream toward the stadium before a Pawtucket Red Sox game.

If not for the occasional supporter who asks to take a picture with him or stop for a chat, Chafee might go unnoticed as the independent candidate for governor of Rhode Island.

Chafee is making his first run for office since 2007, when he left the Republican Party after losing his Senate seat to a Democrat. And while he's forging his own identity, he's taking a gamble: waging a campaign without major party funding and manpower.

Chafee is one of several high-profile independents running in a year of voter discontent, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who's leading in the polls after leaving the Republican Party for his Senate run; Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill, a one-time Democrat running for governor; and Eliot Cutler, running for governor of Maine.

Independent candidates -- particularly well-financed ones -- have had some high-profile successes. Sen. Joe Lieberman won re-election in Connecticut after leaving the Democratic Party, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has been getting elected as an independent for years. Billionaire Republican-turned-independent Michael Bloomberg waged the most expensive self-financed bid for office in U.S. history -- $109.2 million -- to win a third term as New York mayor.

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Major union backs Chafee in bid for governorship

By Katherine Gregg

Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee has won the first major union endorsement in his campaign for governor from the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch had been an early favorite of organized labor.

But with Democrat Lynch now out of the race, Chafee appears to have been an easy choice for the federation which represents 10,000 workers across Rhode Island, including roughly 7,000 public school teachers in 11 districts, including Chafee's home city of Warwick, and 1,000 state employees.

Chafee described the endorsement as a recognition of his "long record of support of public education," his role in settling the teacher dispute he "inherited" when he first won election as mayor of Warwick, his resistance while he was still in the U.S. Senate to "some strong Republican pressure to support [school] vouchers," and his call for the appointment of a mediator to help settle the standoff between the teachers union and the administration in Central Falls.

"Central Falls was really one event that, I think, crystalized the union support," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

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Linc Chafee is a tested leader of unquestioned integrity and a strong independent voice. As Governor, he will work hard to create new jobs, rebuild our economy, solve our chronic budget problems, end corruption, and forge a new way forward for Rhode Island.

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