Lincoln Chafee - Independent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Lincoln Chafee - Indepedent Candidate for Rhode Island Governor

Media

Chafee denied access to speak at EDC meeting about 38 Studios loan guarantee

August 24, 2010

PBN.com
By, William Hamilton

PROVIDENCE - Gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee made a last-ditch effort Monday to talk to the R.I. Economic Development Corporation board of directors, waiting outside the EDC offices for Gov. Donald L. Carcieri to arrive at the board's monthly meeting.

It was for naught.

After a quick handshake, Carcieri waved off Chafee's face-to-face request to talk to the EDC board members about the $75 million loan guarantee they had approved last month to woo 38 Studios LLC, the Massachusetts video game company owned by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, to Rhode Island. Carcieri told Chafee that the answer was the same as the one the governor had given him in an exchange of letters last week: No.

Chafee didn't bother going into the public meeting, but campaign representative Stephen P. Erickson, a retired district court judge, hand delivered a letter to EDC attorney Robert Stolzman, raising legal questions about the meeting agenda's reference to executive session. Erickson first had attempted to give the letter to Carcieri as he walked into the EDC offices, but the governor refused to take it.

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Chafee denied bid to protest RI offer to Schilling

August 23, 2010

Turn to 10

PROVIDENCE -- Lincoln Chafee was rebuffed Monday in his effort to address a Rhode Island agency about his opposition to a $75 million loan guarantee approved for Curt Schilling's video game development company.

Chafee, a former U.S. senator who is running for governor as an independent, had hoped to speak at the board meeting of the state Economic Development Corporation, which last month approved the loan guarantee to bring 38 Studios from Massachusetts to Rhode Island.

The company, founded by Schilling, the former All-Star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, promises to bring 450 jobs to the state by the end of 2012. Proponents, including Gov. Don Carcieri, say the company's relocation could help revitalize Rhode Island's foundering economy, tap into the brainpower of technology-minded local college graduates and give the state an investment in an emerging growth industry.

The candidate's appearance at the meeting, albeit an example of political theater, underscored how the loan guarantee has emerged as a hot-button issue in the governor's race. Chafee and other critics see the deal as too risky, especially since 38 Studios does not have a proven track record, and say it would leave taxpayers on the hook if the company fails.

He appealed to Carcieri, the corporation board's chairman, to speak at the meeting. But Carcieri, a Republican, brushed aside Chafee as soon as he entered the front door, reminding him that he had previously told him in writing that Chafee would not be permitted to speak.

Continue reading "Chafee denied bid to protest RI offer to Schilling"

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Chafee Would End 'Special Deals' For Companies

August 19, 2010

GoLocalProv
Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv Politics Editor

Independent candidate for governor Lincoln Chafee yesterday promised to end special deals for companies like the $75 million loan guarantee the state gave to Curt Schilling's video game company, 38 Studios.

"It is inappropriate for a quasi-public organization to put Rhode Island taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars on very risky deals with unproven companies," Chafee said.

The loan guarantee was approved by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. If elected governor, Chafee would serve as the chairman of the EDC board--and, in that role, he said he would make sure that it did not make risky deals that "gambled" away large sums of taxpayer money.

Chafee has been an outspoken opponent of the deal between the EDC and Curt Schilling's company. Earlier in August, he wrote a letter to EDC Executive Director Keith Stokes urging him to suspend the deal and search for other companies more deserving of the loan.

When that failed, he sent a letter on Tuesday to each of the board members--again making his case for revoking the deal.

"Why the rush to judgment - over a period of just a few months - to determine that 38 Studios is the one company around which to develop a video game industry in Rhode Island?" Chafee wrote.

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The Global Observatory predicts Chafee Win

August 17, 2010

the Global Observatory
[Excerpt]

Rhode Island - Lincoln Chafee, an independent, should win comfortably and is leading in polls. Even though he lost in 2006 partly because of his GOP affiliation, Chafee should do well without a party behind him, with high name recognition and a political dynasty to boot.

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DGA accusation of Lincoln Chafee: Manipulative and Mischaracterizing

August 16, 2010

PolitiFact Rhode Island

The Democratic Governors Association, through its website SenatorChafee.com and via Google ads promoting it, continues to attack Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican now running for governor, asking "Is Chafee Really Independent?"

The website says, "Senator Chafee supports the conservative economic policies of President Bush and opposes action that would really benefit the working families of Rhode Island. In fact, while in the Senate, Chafee voted with President George W. Bush and the conservative leadership 76% of the time."

As a measure of loyalty, 76 percent doesn't strike us as being particularly supportive of then-President Bush and the conservative leadership. Are we talking about the same guy who refused to vote for Bush's reelection in 2004, who was attacked as being in RINO (Republican in Name Only) and who was chastised by the conservative Club for Growth for abandoning "Republicans to side with liberal Democrats"?

Democratic Governors Association spokeswoman Emily Bittner told us that the 76 percent comes from averaging the percentage of votes Chafee made against Bush, as compiled by Congressional Quarterly, and subtracting that number from 100. From 2000 to 2006, she said those figures were 12 percent, 16 percent, 7 percent, 23.1 percent, 24 percent, 44.4 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

But that comes out to 77.8 percent support, not 76 percent. Bittner was unable to explain the discrepancy.

The math is dead wrong for another reason: you can't get an accurate average by averaging individual percentages based on a voting record in which the number of votes differs from year to year.

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Democrats for Chafee Emerges

August 8, 2010

RIFuture.org

Subtly, not quite like the humidity of early August, the first cracks in the Democratic party coalition's drive to retake the Governor's office are starting to appear. A nascent Democrats for Chafee Facebook group has emerged. Given Senator Chafee's continuing strong performance in real polls (no, that does not include the Brown Poll), and obvious ground game superiority (getting people to run up the numbers on the Projo poll better the than the Caprio team, for example), this has to be another worrisome trend for Team Caprio.

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Lincoln Chafee has forged a path of independence and he is now prepared, with your support, to bring his unquestioned integrity, proven record of working together for the common good, and ability to represent our state at the highest levels of business and government to the Governor's Office.

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