Lincoln Chafee Appointed U.S. Senator (posted November 2, 1999)

Warwick Mayor Lincoln Chafee has been appointed to serve out the U.S. Senate term of his late father, John Chafee. As the mayor of Rhode Island's second largest city, the only announced GOP Senate candidate for next year, and one of the few remaining Republicans holding elective office, Chafee was the most logical choice for a state and national Republican party bent on holding that Senate seat in the 2000 election.

According to his official biography, Mayor Chafee was born on March 26, 1953 and graduated from Brown University in 1975. After attending horseshoeing school in Montana, he worked as a blacksmith at harness racetracks. He served on the Warwick City Council and was elected mayor in 1992. Among his accomplishments are the fact that he "privatized the city solicitor's office, increased senior recreational programs, restored the summer playground and special needs program, secured passage of a bond issue to reclaim Greenwich Bay, opened two neighborhood police offices, increased fines for building violations, instituted a co-payment health plan for city employees and settled several city labor contracts."

Most recently, according to the bio, he has "served as president of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, developed an Airport Area Economic Plan and purchased 110 acres of land to be preserved as open space - the largest amount set aside for this purpose in over 30 years" and established "a Warwick Station Redevopment Agency to bring the airport economic plan to fruition." Right now, Warwick has "a $6.6 million surplus in the current fiscal year." (Source: Warwick Mayor's Office homepage)

Mayor Chafee's appointment dramatically alters the 2000 electoral landscape. As the appointed incumbent, it will be easier to raise money, attract media attention, and establish his own identity as an effective legislator. It generally is easier to run for the Senate from within the Senate because of the institutional staff and advantages that come with the office. Since Mayor Chafee will inherit his father's staff, he will start his term with experienced people to guide through the maze of the Washington establishment.

Look for national Republicans to go out of their way to help him. Realizing the rarity of a Republican Senate seat in Rhode Island, they will give him favorable committee assignments and help him bring grants and contracts back to the state. Although conservative Republicans resented his father's moderation, they understand a moderate Republican is the best they can do from Rhode Island given the state's liberal bent.

Among the strengths Mayor Chafee will bring to the office is an image as a nice and unpretentious individual who relates well to other people and is liked by those he encounters. His greatest challenge will be proving he is up to the job. Given his relative inexperience in politics, he still needs to master the issues and develop the political skills for which his father was renown.

The key for Chafee in next year's election is to build on his father's reputation for honesty and integrity and carve out his own niche as an effective legislator.