December
13,
2005
ROLL
CALL
At
The
Races
Rhode
Island:
Club
for
Growth
Makes
Laffey
Support
Official
By
Nicole
Duran
After
telegraphing
its
intention
for
months,
the
Club
for
Growth
officially
endorsed
Sen.
Lincoln
Chafee's
(R)
primary
challenger
Monday.
Cranston
Mayor
Stephen
Laffey
(R)
can
now
count
on
the
club's
well-heeled
donors
to
fund
his
insurgent
campaign
next
year.
In
an
opinion
piece
in
Monday's
Wall
Street
Journal,
former-Rep.
Pat
Toomey
(R-Pa.),
the
club's
president,
wrote:
"
Sen.
Chafee
has
consistently
opposed
tax
cuts.
Steve
Laffey
makes
a
stark
contrast."
Toomey
described
Laffey,
a
former
investment
banker,
as
Cranston's "rescuer" and credited
him
for
"ruthlessly"
attacking
the
"mismanagement
that
had
caused
Cranston's problems."
Chafee,
the
National
Republican
Senatorial
Committee
and
the
Republican
Main
Street
Partnership,
which
helps
elect
centrist
Republicans,
view
Laffey's
tenure
as
mayor
of
Cranston
differently.
"I
guess
that
fiscal
conservative
now
means
raising
taxes
without
cutting
spending,"
Ian
Lang,
Chafee's
campaign
manager,
said
in a
news
release.
"While
Mr.
Laffey
may
talk
a
good
game,
talk
is
cheap,
and
his
actions
just
don't
live
up
to
his
rhetoric."
The
NRSC
already
has
run
two
television
commercials
in
Rhode
Island
seeking
to
portray
Laffey
as
anything
but
a
true
conservative
- as
well
as a
hypocrite.
Laffey
has
raised
taxes
and
Cranston's municipal budget has grown
significantly
under
his
stewardship.
Laffey
has
argued
that
the
tax
hikes
were
necessary
to
save
Cranston
from
bankruptcy
while
Toomey
called
those
statistics
a
"red
herring.
"I
know
some
of
the
folks
on
Sen.
Chafee's
side
in
this
race
have
been
harping
on
the
fact
that
Mayor
Laffey
raised
taxes,"
Toomey
said
in a
telephone
news
conference
Monday.
"That
is a
rather
disingenuous
argument
...
when
Sen.
Chafee
has
voted
to
raise
taxes."
Toomey
added
that
Cranston
was
on
the
"brink
of
bankruptcy"
and
that
Laffey
acted
in
the
only
prudent
manner
available.
Toomey
then
sought
to
portray
Chafee
as
the
candidate
with
a
poor
record
on
taxes.
"Chafee
is a
tax-and-spend
liberal
and
Steve
Laffey
is a
believer
in
limited
government,"
Toomey
said.
Sarah
Chamberlain
Resnick,
executive
director
of
the
Republican
Main
Street
Partnership,
said
the
club's
efforts,
if
successful,
will
only
help
the
Democrats.
"We
just
don't
need
this
in
seats
that
we
could
lose
for
generations,"
she
countered
in a
telephone
press
conference.
"Rhode
Island
without
[Lincoln]
Chafee
is a
Democratic
seat
and
obviously
this
is
really
upsetting
to
those
of
us
who
are
real
Republicans."
Resnick
said
her
group,
which
often
spars
with
the
club
and
its
"limited-government"
candidates,
will
spend
at
least
$1.2
million
to
defend
Chafee.
Chafee
is
the
second
incumbent
Republican
in
Congress
the
club
is
seeking
to
oust
next
year.
-
Nicole
Duran
