McKee starts putting the puzzle pieces in place for move up to governor – The Providence Journal

Katherine Gregg|The Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE Weeks away from his likely stepup to governor,Lt. Gov. Dan McKee has begun lining up his cabinet, his own replacement in the state's No. 2 spot, and his counter-arguments to legislators seekingto halt the expansion of "charter" schools.

In a wide-ranging interview on Sunday, McKee said he has been reaching out one-by-one to the members of Gov. Gina Raimondo's cabinet that he hopes to keep.

He said a handful, he declined to name, have already signaled their intent to leave their jobs soon. But he said state Health Department Director Nicole Alexander-Scott,Business Regulation Director Elizabeth Tanner,VeteransAffairs Director Kasim Yarn,Adjutant General Christopher P. Callahan and James Manni, the superintendent of the R.I. State Police, would remain at the helm of their respective agencies.

And he told The Journalhehad more calls to make.

At the same time, he confirmed that Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisenais leading his effort to screen the candidates seeking to replace him aslieutenant governor when Raimondo leaves for her anticipated new job as commerce secretary in the new Biden administration and he moves up.

Once he is governor, McKee will get to appoint his own replacement, subject to Senate confirmation. .

The mayor of Cumberland before his own election as lieutenant governor six years ago, McKee said Polisena, as a mayor, "knows me [and] that's a top priority."

Polisena has already stated his first choice out of the dozen or so applicants: former Central Falls Mayor James Diossa.

Im coming out publicly for Mayor Diossa,'' Polisena told the Johnston Sunrise."Hes a friend and I feel confident in his abilities."

"I think he would make a great lieutenant governor,'' Polisena is quoted as sayingin an article published on January 15,"because hes got experience in running municipal government... Its not a position for someone to start learning... Hes very bright, very articulate, he ran Central Falls and he left Central Falls in a better position than when he took over.

McKee said: "I talked to Joe about that ... I know that mayors like mayors and I like (James)Diossa as well, but that doesn't mean the decision is made."

Women'sadvocates have pushed for the appointment of a woman; Black advocates for the appointment of a Black person and Latinos for a Latino.

McKee said the most important characteristic to him is: "someone that is able to work with me."

As an example, he would like the next lieutenant governor to be someone who would keep the 39 city and town plaques he placed on the wall leading to his State House office. Put another way: "somebody who has an interest in including all 39 cities and towns in their efforts."

Asked how important "diversity'' will be in the decision, he said: "It's important ... but I don't think it is a disqualifier to be non-minority ... I think that would be discrimination as well, right?"

McKee said he's been briefed on the state's budget predicament, but will not be in a position to say how he intends to close the projected $513-million deficit in the budget until he has a clearer picture of how big the deficit really is.

"If you need to raise taxes to be solvent, you are going to do it,'' he said, while stressing he is not yet convinced that is necessary.

He is most clear, at this point, on where he stands on the latest in a series of annual bills to curb the expansion of "charter schools."

The latest championed by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and the top-ranked players on his leadership team is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday by the Senate Committee on Education.

Charter schools are publicly funded alternatives to traditional schoolswith more freedom from mandates.

The legislation says: "The state shall not approve or appropriate funding to any new charter school orto expand an existing charter school that had not been approved by the council on elementary andsecondary education prior to July 1, 2020."

McKee, who as a mayor helped found a type of charter school in which mayors chair the board of directors and teachers dont pay into the pension system, objectedto any effort to stop the sixcharter schools that won approval in December toexpand or open in Providence.

"The agenda there is pretty obvious,''he said. "The agenda is to stop charters."

He said he would be "open'' to discussing a "reasonable pause to take a look at it."

But he pushed back hard against the argument "an argument motivated by self interest" that the public dollars given charter schools come at the expense ofthe traditional public school system.

"It's public money that's going to a public school," McKee said.

"So the notion that it is taking away from kids' education is not accurate,'' he said, citing the overall improvement in schools in his hometown when "mayoral academies" were added to the mix.

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McKee starts putting the puzzle pieces in place for move up to governor - The Providence Journal