McKee announces top 5 Lt. Governor candidates
Woonsocket’s Rep. Phillips, a semifinalist, did not make the list
WOONSOCKET — State Rep. Robert Phillips, D-Dist. 51, Woonsocket and Cumberland, can now say he tried to be Lt. Governor – even if he didn’t quite make the final cut.
Phillips was among 10 semifinalists in the running for Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s appointment of a new Lt. Governor, but did not make the list of five finalists that was announced by the Governor’s Office on Wednesday.
Moving on to interviews with McKee himself will be Elizabeth Berretta-Perik, a state Democratic Party treasurer and fundraiser and national Democratic Party committee member; State Rep. Grace Diaz, D-Dist. 11, Providence, the first Dominican American woman elected to state office in the United States; former Mayor James Diossa of Central Falls; State Sen. Louis P. DiPalma, D-Dist. 12, Little Compton, Newport, Middletown and Tiverton and chair of the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics & Oversight; and Providence City Council President Sabina Matos.
The Governor’s office did not comment on the
remaining candidates beyond stating each will receive an interview with the Governor.
Phillips, reached at the Statehouse on Wednesday, said he had already been notified by McKee’s senior adviser, Christopher Farrell, that he would not be moving forward to the final round of interviews.
“I am disappointed,” Phillips admitted. “I thought I have very good qualifications and I felt the Governor and I would work well together,” Phillips, now in his eleventh year as a state representative, said of the news.
Phillips believes his background in business and finance would have given him an advantage when reaching out to the small business community had he become Lt. Governor. He expressed that view during the interviews he participated in with the two separate groups assembled to meet with the semifinalist candidates, he noted.
“I just know I gave it my best and I tried,” Phillips said, noting he has no regrets over putting his name in for the appointment.
In the end, Phillips said, the review panels must have found candidates with better experiences than his own to move forward in the process.
Regardless of who wins the Lt. Governor’s office from the finalists, Phillips said that person will have to be able to work closely with McKee over the next two years – and potentially campaign with him as a running mate if he seeks to run again.
Phillips himself believes that after the statewide primary, a Governor and Lt. Governor should run as a ticket. He has submitted legislation to that effect in the past three sessions.
That is not a requirement currently, and there have been cases where a Republican candidate was elected with a Democratic candidate in those offices, he noted.
It is better, Phillips suggested, if the Governor and Lt. Governor are elected as a team and serve with better communication between them than what may have occurred in the past.
For now, the next step will be for McKee to fill the position he vacated when he moved up to replace former Gov. Gina Raimondo, now President Biden’s secretary of commerce, according to Phillips.
Who that will be may depend on who is most likely to fit into a cooperative role for a future term, according to Phillips.
“I know the Governor wants to have a Lt. Governor who can work closely with the Governor and run with him as a team when it comes to 2022,” Phillips said.