Maguire’s move to DC a blow for RI GOP

Talking politics

December 12, 2007 4:13:37 PM

Spencer Maguire, who mounted an aggressive Republican challenge to state Representative Ray Gallison (D-Bristol) in 2006, has taken a job in Washington, DC — a move that RI GOP chairman Gio Cicione calls “a huge loss” as the party continues to gear up for next year’ legislative races.

Maguire started about three weeks ago in his new post as legislative counsel for DC Councilman David A. Catania. Asked how the job came about, Maguire, who graduated earlier this year from Roger Williams University School of Law, says, “There was a complete dearth of opportunity in Rhode Island.”

After spending about seven months looking for a law or policy job, Maguire says, he attended a wedding in DC and learned from a graduate school friend of the city council post. “I didn’t want go, but I came back with a job,” he says, adding that there’s “a very good chance that I’ll be back at some point. I didn’t really intend on leaving. . . . [But] there was zero opportunity. A lot of my law school classmates are still without jobs.”

When last November marked another bruising election for local Republicans (see “Déjà vu all over again for RI GOP,” News, November 15, 2006), Maguire was a partial focus of my story:

“As Election Day approached, Spencer Maguire was the kind of GOP candidate with a seemingly good shot of making it into the General Assembly. The Bristol resident, a former Marine attending law school at Roger Williams University, had worked for John H. Chafee and for Lincoln Chafee, and he was motivated to run for office by an instance in which Democratic Representative Peter Palumbo had voted for two absentee colleagues. . . . As it turned out, however, Gallison enjoyed a comfortable victory on the way to his fourth term, beating Maguire on a 57 percent-42 percent margin, or 2683 votes to 2008.”

Now, the departure of a strong candidate doesn’t help the RI GOP.

Asked about the significance of Maguire’s move, Cicione says, “It’s a huge loss, it’s a huge loss. Spencer was a great candidate. He ran a full-blown campaign by the sweat of his brow. That’s a huge loss for us, and I do hope he comes back and runs [again].” Cicione says Maguire was active in more than just his own campaign, helping to recruit candidates for other seats.

As we approach 2008, Cicione says the RI GOP is continuing to work on its policy agenda, and that candidates are starting to emerge.

As far as the RI GOP’s legislative hopes for 2008, “I think it’s going to depend on how many good candidates they can get,” Maguire says, “because I think the climate [for challengers] will be better than last time . . . I don’t think [Rhode Island Republicans] will have huge success, because it is Rhode Island — let’s be honest — but I think a lot of things are positive going forward.”

Material in this story was first posted December 7 at www.thephoenix.com/notfornothing .