Four months out from the November elections, state Republicans have turned their attention to the party's future in Rhode Island. After four years under the leadership of Giovanni Cicione, the party will pick a new chairman next month, and speculation has begun about potential challengers to Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in 2012.
The Rhode Island Republican Party will hold its biannual elections March 19 for five leadership positions. Kenneth McKay, a former chief of staff to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, and Patrick Sweeney, the former deputy campaign manger for Republican John Loughlin's failed congressional bid, are the two candidates vying for the chairmanship.
McKay resigned last April following a high-profile controversy over a $1,900 outing to a California lesbian bondage-themed nightclub attended by young Republican donors. The outing was billed to the RNC. He did not authorize the reimbursement of the expense.
McKay's resignation will reflect positively him as a candidate, because he accepted responsibility for a scandal in which he was not officially involved, Cicione said.
Cicione, who has filled the unpaid position since 2007, said he is stepping down to spend more time on his law practice and with his family. As chairman, Cicione spearheaded the 2010 Clean Slate initiative — a push to elect a group of Moderate, independent and Republican candidates to the Democrat-dominated General Assembly.
The chairman will be selected by more than 300 elected officials and delegates from around the state. One of the party leader's first challenges will be to address the GOP's dire financial situation. According to Cicione, there was roughly $5,000 in the Republican Party's bank account when he first took office. The GOP now has only "a few thousand" in its account, he said.
"Fundraising is always the number one priority — we spent all of our money and more at the last election," he said. "It's going to be a hard start." Cicione said he plans to make himself available to the new chairman in the hopes of "a smoother transition."
Sweeney said he realizes fundraising has to be "an immediate thing." Until sufficient funding is available, "you're spinning your wheels," he said.
But McKay is "better positioned" to raise the funds that the party desperately needs as it heads into the next election cycle, said Victor Profughi, Rhode Island College professor emeritus of political science and director of the polling firm Quest Research. McKay is "coming into this run as a seasoned veteran," he said.
Formally trained as a lawyer, McKay served as former Gov. Donald Carcieri's '65 chief of staff through two successful election cycles and worked as a campaign consultant for Florida Gov. Rick Scott. He also brings experience on the national level — from 2007 to 2010, he served as chief of staff to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Setting priorities
McKay, who has recently been making the rounds on local radio talk shows, was direct with his priorities when speaking with WPRO's Dan Towne. "I'm into campaigning, and I want to see more Republicans get elected," he said.
Sweeney, 14 years McKay's junior, said though he lacks national experience, his drive to successfully reorganize the party is just as strong.
"Our resumes are pretty similar," he said. Besides his experience as the deputy manager of Loughlin's campaign, Sweeney is also a practicing attorney and has served as an aide to Carcieri.
"Winning races is my number one priority," Sweeney said. "It's the sole reason for running."
One important advantage Sweeney has over McKay is his close association with the Rhode Island Young Republicans. He serves on the group's board, and "that potential base is a strength for him," Profughi said.
Travis Rowley '02, the Young Republicans chair, endorsed the young lawyer as the group's preferred candidate in early December.
Sweeney's recent accomplishments with the Young Republicans include helping elect Christopher Ramsden to the Barrington School Committee in early January.
Republicans now control the board three to two, which Sweeney said has not happened since 1972.
"We put our money where our mouth is," he said.
A ‘stealth movement'
Sweeney said he plans to accomplish Cicione's 10-year goal of gaining a Republican majority in the General Assembly in just six years.
He wants to immediately double the GOP's representation in the state legislature, which currently stands at 10 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate. Among Sweeney's first targets would be General Assembly races the party lost by less than five points and the 20 contests that did not have a Republican challenger in the last election, he said.
McKay, who did not respond to requests for comment, expressed his confidence that the Republican Party could eventually gain a majority in Rhode Island in a recent interview on former Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr.'s talk radio show.
"I think it can be changed or I wouldn't do it," he said.
Though the candidates may speak of grand plans to counter the long-standing Democratic majority, Profughi said the current number of General Assembly seats held by the Republican Party speaks for itself.
Republicans hold no statewide elected offices. Democrats occupy 29 of 38 Senate seats and 65 of 75 seats in the House.
"If they have some kind of a stealth movement going," Profughi said, "then those that are part of the movement don't know about it."
One of the most important priorities of the incoming chairman will be to rebuild the credibility of the party. Thus far, "it has not been seen as a very viable alternative to the Democratic majority," Profughi said.
Still, if the Republican Party works to "shore up its grassroots efforts in various communities across the state," there are certainly "populations that could conceivably be receptive to an alternative" he said.
In Cranston, Republicans gained three council seats and retained the mayor's office in the November elections. Cranston and Warwick are examples of communities the new chairman might effectively target, Profughi said.
Challenging Whitehouse
Potential Republican challengers to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse in 2012 have already been considered. The race is of critical importance to the state GOP as it hopes to increase its national prominance.
While both Sweeney and Profughi agree that it is too early to speculate credibly on the 2012 race, Carcieri, Cicione, Superintendant of the Rhode Island State Police Col. Brendan Doherty and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian have been suggested as potential candidates.
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, whose name also surfaced as a possible challenger, recently told WPRI that he is not considering a run in 2012, citing the sheer expense of the proposed campaign without the support of national Republicans.
"Unless the national Republican Party plunks down $5 million, it's going to be a very expensive race," he said.
As of this month, Cicione said he has made no plans to run for office. Carcieri, who recently finished two terms as governor, has publicly announced his intentions to spend more time with his wife in Florida. He has not discounted a 2012 Senate bid.
Profughi said Whitehouse has taken a step in the right direction by increasing his visibility. "He's out there, and he's going to have a good war chest," Profughi said of the junior senator's current fundraising efforts. "He's doing what he needs to be doing."