Lt. Gov. Roberts won't challenge Chafee

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts won't be challenging independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee for Rhode Island's top job in 2014.

"I do not see a scenario where I would run against Chafee," Roberts, a second-term Democrat frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for governor, said Friday during a taping of WPRI 12's "Newsmakers." Roberts also opted not to enter the crowded field of Democrats who ran last year.

"I enjoy a very strong working relationship with the governor," Roberts said, citing her involvement in helping his administration set up the state's new health insurance exchange and deal with emergency management issues. "We need to keep working on that and not focus on our political futures."

Roberts, who is barred from seeking another term as lieutenant governor, was more cagey about the possibility that she would challenge Treasurer Gina Raimondo in a Democratic primary for governor three years from now.

"It's two or three years from now, and I think we need to focus on working well together," Roberts said of Raimondo. "She and I talk frequently. There's no way that we would surprise each other as that went forward."

Roberts said she does not feel eclipsed as the leading lady of the Rhode Island Democratic Party because of the treasurer's rising star. "I see us as partners, not rivals, and she and I work very closely together that way," she said.

The lieutenant governor said she may look into other forms of public service when she leaves her current office in 2014. She also said she is much more closely involved in running the state under Chafee's leadership than she was with his predecessor, Gov. Don Carcieri.

Roberts said Chafee deserves a higher approval rating than the 27% he received in this month's Brown University poll. "I think there is a lot that's been accomplished," she said. "But I think there's been a loss of a kind of focused message, and how those things have come across."

To hear more of Roberts' comments - including the major steps she and other state leaders are taking to put President Obama's health care law into action in Rhode Island - watch "Newsmakers" at 10 a.m. Sunday on Fox Providence or here on WPRI.com this weekend.

Ted Nesi ( tnesi@wpri.com ) covers politics and the economy for WPRI.com and writes the Nesi's Notes blog. Follow him on Twitter: @tednesi