Posts Tagged ‘Rhode Island’

From projo.com:

The five candidates for attorney general were at Roger Williams University Tuesday night, each trying to make the case that he would be the best lawyer for the citizens of Rhode Island.

The quintet, Democrat Peter F. Kilmartin, Moderate Party nominee Christopher H. Little, Republican Erik B. Wallin and independent candidates Keven McKenna and Robert E. Rainville all noted that the office involves more than just criminal prosecutions, as they discussed immigration, health care and environmental issues.

Sponsored by Roger Williams University School of Law and the Rhode Island Center for Law and Public Policy, the event was held at the law school’s appellate courtroom lecture hall. The front of the room was built like an appellate courtroom, with a paneled wall stained in dark cherry and a matching judges’ bench, where the candidates sat.

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From projo.com:

Christopher H. Little, Moderate Party candidate for attorney general, is calling for a number of actions against Rhode Island’s drunken drivers in the wake of a front-page Sunday Providence Journal story that chronicled how Rhode Island’s laws fail to track repeat offenders in the way the federal government says it should.

Little, who last month advocated for the increased use of ignition-interlock devices to crack down on drunken drivers in Rhode Island, on Monday called for the immediate planning and scheduling of a Drunken Driving Summit “of all dedicated stakeholders in Rhode Island, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving.”

Little also called on the General Assembly to “unravel complex drunk-driving laws that make it too easy for those accused of drunk driving to refuse a breath test and get off. The legislature has clearly known of these issues, yet has not acted,” he stated.

Little also said that there should be better communication between the Department of Attorney General and the state’s city and town solicitors so drunken drivers “don’t slip through the cracks.”

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From turnto10.com:

State Rep. Peter Kilmartin won the Democratic primary for attorney general.

The 48-year-old Kilmartin, a Pawtucket native, defeated Smithfield Councilman Steve Archambault and former Providence city solicitor Joe Fernandez in Tuesday’s voting.

Kilmartin will face Republican Erik Wallin and Moderate Chris Little on Nov. 2.

Kilmartin served nearly 24 years as a Pawtucket police officer and has been in the General Assembly for 20 years. He earned his law degree from Roger Williams University.

He has said he wants to focus on preventing youth crime and fighting gang violence by doing more work in neighborhoods.

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From projo.com:

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has been weighing a big decision: whether to remain in the race for governor.

On Wednesday, a source close to Lynch said, the two-term attorney general was telling people close to him that he intends to announce at midday Thursday that he is withdrawing.

At this point, “it is when, not if,” the source said.

When asked directly on Tuesday night, as he was leaving a Rhode Island Young Democrats’ event, if he intended to drop out of the race this week, Lynch said: “That’s back again? Listen, you asked me on the way in and the way out. What job am I getting now with the Obama administration? I always thought ambassador to Ireland would be a good one.” But he did not deny it.

Lynch’s exit — the day before nomination papers are due — would free General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio to pursue the governor’s office against a crowded field of candidates that includes former U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, running as an independent, without having to first win a Democratic primary fight in September.

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From projo.com:

Erik B. Wallin, Republican candidate for attorney general, on Tuesday announced a detailed proposal to fight public corruption at the state level.

If elected, Wallin said at a news conference, he would ask legislators to enact his Honest Operation of Political Entities (HOPE) Act that would give state prosecutors new tools, both criminally and civilly, to go after dishonest public officials. He said his proposed legislation would create “some of the toughest public corruption penalties in the nation” — a mandatory minimum prison sentence with a maximum penalty of up to 20 years and a $750,000 fine for those convicted of offering or accepting a bribe, “a penalty as severe as Colorado, one of the least corrupt states.”

The legislation would also create civil liability for public corruption profiteering that could be pursued independently of any criminal prosecution against a person or business. The HOPE Act would also eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecuting public-corruption offenses.

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From Projo.com:

Former Providence City Solicitor Joseph M. Fernandez formally launched his campaign for attorney general Tuesday, unveiling a “Rhode Island Anti-Corruption Bill of Rights” that he said would make the state a better place to live in and do business.

Fernandez, a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School who was a classmate of President Obama, is one of three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed Patrick C. Lynch as attorney general. Lynch is running for governor. The other Democrats running to replace Lynch are Smithfield Town Councilman Stephen R. Archambault and state Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, who both have already made ethics in government key issues in their campaigns, as has Christopher H. Little of the Moderate Party. Also running is Republican Erik B. Wallin and independent Robert Rainville.

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From Projo.com:

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch says he will not join the 20 attorneys general who are challenging the constitutionality of the new federal health-care law.

Such a suit would waste tax dollars on “a political stunt” that has “no chance of success,” Lynch said in a statement.

The attorney general, a candidate for governor, announced his position Monday in response to a letter from Governor Carcieri that called on him to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation, which was signed into law by President Obama on March 23.

In his letter, Carcieri called the law an “unnecessary and probably unconstitutional intrusion of the federal government into the lives of Rhode Islanders.” The governor objects to provisions in the law that require individuals to purchase health insurance and the state to establish an insurance exchange.

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