Hopefuls push to eliminate RI lt. gov.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Robert Healey Jr. is running for Rhode Island lieutenant governor — not to excel in the position, but to eliminate it altogether.

He lampoons the office as a $1 million waste of taxpayer money, a "useless appendage" of state government whose sole reason for existence is for its occupant to step forward if the governor dies or can't serve.

"We're cutting programs left and right, and yet we need an office for a million dollars a year to advise people," Healey said. "I'd rather spend the million dollars feeding people."

Now, the state Republican Party has co-opted the message by running its own candidate on the same platform.

The theme is also being embraced by the state tea party -- whose president calls Healey a "longtime predecessor" of the movement -- and may also have broader resonance in an era of anti-incumbent
fervor and resistance to big government.

"The limited government message and brand and theory is all much more in the voters' minds than it was in the last couple of election cycles," said Giovanni Cicione, chairman of the state Republican Party. "People are tired of overreaching and overexpansive government."

Healey received 19 percent of the vote in 2002 and nearly 13 percent in 2006, a decline he attributes to facing a stronger Republican candidate.

Republicans were prepared to endorse Healey before settling on their own candidate, Heidi Rogers . Like Healey, she says she would not take a salary or hire a staff. If the position can't be eliminated, Rogers said, then the governor and lieutenant governor should at least run on the same ticket and share staff.

"There are no duties," said Rogers, 44, a small business owner. "I did my research on that and found that really there are no duties with that office except to wait for the governor to become incapacitated or die."

The current lieutenant governor, Elizabeth Roberts , a Democrat, disagrees. She says she is used the position to champion health insurance and create an initiative that encourages state residents
to buy goods made from independent, locally owned companies. She also leads the state Emergency Management Advisory Council.

"My office really functions outside of government gridlock," said Roberts, who faces a Sept. 14 primary challenge from Red Sox executive Jeremy Kapstein .

But she also has acknowledged shortcomings in the job. When a 2007 snowstorm paralyzed parts of Rhode Island while Republican Gov. Don Carcieri was out of the country, Roberts complained that
the state Constitution left her powerless to act, since the governor legally maintained authority.

The office currently has six full-time employees, and though it's allotted nearly $1 million in the budget, it routinely spends well under that, said Roberts' campaign manager, Dan Meuse.

Though Healey and Rogers preach the same message, Healey said it was likely only one of them would appear on the November ballot, to avoid canceling each other out.

Healey hopes more people will heed his warnings at a time of national attention to fiscal stewardship.

"You watch the dimes, the dollars take care of themselves," Healey said. "If people can't make the simplest cut for something that is so clearly a waste of money, then Rhode Island is doomed."