Chafee names Licht 1st dept. director

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island independent governor-elect Lincoln Chafee has chosen former Democratic Lt. Gov. Richard Licht as his first nominee to lead a state agency.

Licht has been nominated the next director of the Department of Administration, replacing Rosemary Booth Gallogly, an appointee of outgoing Republican Gov. Don Carcieri.

• Nesi's Notes on Chafee's nomination

Chafee, a former Republican U.S. senator, was announcing his selection at a Statehouse news conference on Monday. The state Senate must approve the nomination.

Licht was lieutenant governor from 1984 until 1988, when he ran for Senate against Chafee's father, John Chafee. He lost that year and ran again for the Senate in 2000, losing in the Democratic primary. Lincoln Chafee won that year.