Republicans Endorse Healey for Lt. Gov.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Heidi Rogers dropped out of the race yesterday and endorsed third-party candidate Bob Healey for the office.
Rogers said she and Healey shared the same goal of eliminating the office and that it did not make sense for them to both run for lieutenant governor.
“In this election, Bob Healey and I believe in the same vision for the office of Lieutenant Governor. With both of us running on the same platform for the same office, the outcome would be to hand over the election to the incumbent Democrat,” Rogers said in a September 17 letter to party chairman Giovanni Cicione. “Splitting the ‘abolish the office’ vote by having two candidates simply does not make sense, and it is my firm belief that it would deny voters a clear choice.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDoing away with an office that Republicans say has no major responsibilities could save taxpayers an estimated $1 million a year.
GOP Chairman Supports Healey
“I understand the reasoning that went into this decision and I join my fellow members of the RI Republican Party and its leadership who are in support of Heidi’s decision,” Cicione said yesterday. “Bob Healey’s commitment to end the abuse of taxpayer dollars for personal political gain through this office—to the tune of $1 million per year—is entirely consistent with the principles of the RI Republican Party.”
Healey said he had been in talks with Rogers about the race for lieutenant governor well in advance of the June 30 state convention when the state GOP endorsed her for the office. Rogers defeated Kara Russo in the Republican primary just days before announcing she was withdrawing.
Candidates Deny ‘Bait and Switch’
Both Rogers and Healey denied that had been trying to pull a “bait and switch.” Rogers said she initially decided to run when she heard that there would be other GOP candidates who wanted to maintain the office. She said that she had wanted a Republican candidate who shared Healey’s vision of abolishing it.
“When I entered the race, Mr. Healey and I had agreed to speak after the primary to see if we could come to some common ground to avoid having our shared goals thwarted by a difficult three-way race,” Rogers said.
Healey has twice run for the office, in 2002 and 2006, under the banner of the Cool Moose Party. In 2006, he garnered 13 percent of the vote, while the Republican candidate, Reginald Centracchio, got 33 percent. “I think the people are angry I think the people are tired of wasting money on government I think the people have not seen the function that office has or could potentially have,” Healey said yesterday.
He will face Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Roberts in the general election.
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