Monday’s mid-day political debut of Kernan “Kerry” King, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, was a well-choreographed affair, extending from Carcieri advance man Aaron Guckian’s crowd-pleasing rendition of “God Bless America” to the repetitive preview of several simple GOP campaign themes: jobs are good; taxes are bad; big government is bad; and Democrats — particularly “agents of sleaze,” a not-so-veiled reference to Guy Dufault — are bad. The partisan crowd of more than 150 at the Providence Marriott, including such luminaries as the governor, Stephanie Chafee, and Republican National Committeeman Robert Manning, ate it up.
In many respects, King, a 62-year-old Providence native who enjoyed executive success in the private sector (insurance in his case) before turning to politics, is a reflection of Carcieri. He seems likely to rap his expected Democratic opponent, state Senator Elizabeth Roberts (D-Cranston) as a profligate liberal. But as evidenced by the Providence Journal’s front-page headline about the Republican’s campaign announcement — “Ocean State native King returns to run for office” — his longtime out-of-state residency offers quite a carpet-bagging bone to the Democrats.
Not surprisingly, Bill Lynch, chairman of the state Democratic Party, quickly scorned King, who maintained a residence in Narragansett while residing for many years in Massachusetts and Florida. In a news release, Lynch pointed out that King became eligible to vote in Rhode Island in December 2005, and that after using a 617 daytime area code while filing a notice of organization with the Rhode Island Board of Elections in November 2005, the notice was amended on January 26 to change the daytime phone number to a 401 area code. “Kernan King may think moving to Rhode Island and running for lieutenant governor is a good retirement hobby, but Rhode Islanders deserve a lieutenant governor who has made a full-time commitment to our state,” Lynch says.
Roberts, a policy wonk of the first order, has built a strong reputation during her years in the Senate. For his part, King touts his ability to help Carcieri as a loyal lieutenant. (Independent Robert J. Healey Jr., the founder of the Cool Moose Party, is also running for lieutenant governor.) Given the sharp ideological divisions between these candidates, the pending LG race promises a good measure of bombast and spirited debate.
