…relax, it’s cool: he’s made a deal with the RI GOP. They’re supporting his candidacy, which is single issue: Robert Healey wants to… eliminate the position of Rhode Island Lt Governor, on the grounds that it’s an absolutely useless position that costs the taxpayers millions. It’ll require a constitutional amendment, but (assuming he wins) Healey won’t generate a budget or staff. As Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion notes (H/T, btw), probably nobody will even notice. Which is kind of the point.
No, really: the Rhode Island GOP is actively supporting this. The winner of the primary (Heidi Rogers) withdrew and endorsed Healey. Likewise, the state party refused to pick a replacement and is supporting Healey*, much to the fury of the Republican who came in second (who I will be kind to, and not name). This immediately elevates the Rhode Island GOP to the semifinals of the Coolest State Republican Party in 2010 contest; it’s nice to see a state party actually take this ‘smaller government’ thing seriously.
Moe Lane
*As Rogers’s own press release indicates, the original plan was for the RI GOP not put up anybody at all; but, of course, there’s always somebody who doesn’t want to play nice with others, and a couple of those somebodies ran for Lt Governor. Hence, Rogers’s run; and hence, her withdrawal.
Seriously, the way that they did this is the only way I’d sign off on it: I’m pretty hard-nosed about ‘support the Republican candidate.’ But this is pretty clearly how the local Republican candidate and group want to play things, and it’s also pretty clearly freaking out the Democrats…