Patrick Lynch Brings His Campaign Message to Newport

Mayor Richard Sardella, Gubernatorial candidate Patrick Lynch & John Bach Sorensen

As the guest of Mayor Richard Sardella, the first announced candidate for the Democratic Nomination for Governor of Rhode Island (Frank T. Caprio, Rhode Island General Treasurer, has since joined the race), Attorney General Patrick Lynch spent a day in Newport, addressing local business leaders at a forum at Asterisk Restaurant, attending a fund-raising cocktail party at Sardella’s restaurant, then meeting with the Young Democrats from Salve Regina University, where he was asked tough questions on welfare reform, abortion and the economy.

Wendy Hayes & Patrick Lynch

Articulate and energetic, candidate Lynch told business leaders that the state “needs leadership”, and that it is worth “standing up for people.” He stressed his background, and his attending Brown, for which he played basketball, and did not shy away from controversial, specific questions. Ross Cann, of A-4 Architecture, spoke about taxation difficulties. “We are a small state in terms of capabilities, why should there be a tax on things that aren’t sold?” eliciting discussion from the group, which included Steve Cundy, President of the Lower Thames Association, Deborah Bower of Luniverre Gallery, Asterisk’s John Bach Sorensen, and Dorothy Watson of the Newport Chamber of Commerce.

The candidate with Laz Pujol & Ellen Plunkett

The discussion ranged over low-income housing, privatization of certain governmental functions and offices, and unequal taxation. Mr. Lynch concluded that there are “great opportunities here”, and that the changes should be “transformative.”

A reception at Sardella’s upstairs drew Newporters Teddy Aspegren, Rob Bailey, and young Democrats Christopher Hebert, Michael Cahill, and Angela Wheeler. State Representative Peter Martin was there, along with Rhode Island State Senator Louis diPalma, Newport Mayor Jean-Marie Napolitano, Emilie Aries, President Barack Obama's Rhode Island Director for "Organizing for America", and Carolyn Drumm, founder of Skating for Joy, who drove down from Providence. The party adjourned to the intense discussion with the Young Democrats in the proverbial “back room.”