The Providence Democrat says he'll shun the traditional announcement, relying instead on TV and the Internet, as he enters the race today.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 18, 2006

BY SCOTT MacKAY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- State Sen. Frank Caprio, D-Providence, today will formally announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for state general treasurer with what his campaign is calling a "multimedia" blitz, using the Internet and television advertising but forgoing the traditional banquet-hall kickoff.

Caprio, 40, a lawyer and Harvard University graduate, represents a district anchored by Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood. So far, he has attracted neither Democratic primary-election nor Republican general-election opposition.

"The traditional campaign announcement is in a function hall or room with a familiar cast of friends, family and reporters," Caprio said in a news release. "The general treasurer has a very important job that impacts all Rhode Islanders.

"In that spirit, I wanted to reach out into as many homes as possible, to ask for the help and support of all Rhode Islanders in my campaign to be their next general treasurer," he said.

Incumbent General Treasurer Paul Tavares, a Democrat, is leaving the post after two terms in office.

Caprio's commercial to announce his candidacy will run tonight on the evening news on Channels 6 and 12, and will also be shown on NBC's Meet the Press, on Channel 10, next Sunday. In addition, it will be available on his campaign Web site at www.frankcaprio.com. It can also been seen on Cox Communication Channel One's "On Demand" service.

"I want to share my vision for the treasurer's office with as many Rhode Islanders as possible in as comfortable a format as possible," said Caprio. "By leverging the latest technology, I plan to make the Rhode Island treasurer's office one of the most user-friendly offices in government, and plan to show my dedication to this goal in my campaign."

Caprio, a lawyer, is the scion of a well-known Rhode Island political family. His father is Providence Municipal Court Judge Frank Caprio, and his brother is state Rep. David Caprio, of Narragansett.

Caprio has served in the Rhode Island General Assembly in both the House and the Senate, where he was once chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He is now chairman of the Senate Commerce, Housing and Municipal Committee.

He was a star athelete, both at Bishop Hendricken High School, in Warwick, and at Harvard, in Cambridge, Mass., where he was an all-Ivy League defensive back in football and captain of the Harvard baseball team.

As treasurer, Caprio pledges to make available via the Internet all state spending, "and I mean all $6 billion of it . . . open to you on your home computer."

"You shouldn't have to be an investigative reporter to know how our money is spent by the politicians," he says in his television spot. "After all, the state is spending our tax dollars."

In an interview, Caprio said other issues on which he would focus as treasurer include continuing to support the state's College Bound fund, to help Rhode Islanders save for college, and ensuring the growth of the state pension fund.

Pension-fund management is important, he said, because the better the interest rate the fund earns, the less liability state taxpayers have for state employee and teacher pensions.

"We really need to have the best and the brightest pension managers," said Caprio.

State employees pay about 8.75 percent of their weekly paychecks for their pensions, and teachers pay about 9.5 percent, he said. "The other side is the taxpayers -- who are contributing between and 11 [percent] and 16 percent. . . .

"The better that fund performs, the less the taxpayers have to contribute."

Frank Caprio

Party: Democratic

Office sought: State general treasurer

Previous office: State representative; state senator

Age: 40

Residence: Providence

Profession: Lawyer

Education: Harvard Univesity, B.A. (economics); Suffolk University School of Law, J.D.

Family: Married to Gabriella Caprio; two childen, Ashley and Frank II.

smackay@projo.com / (401) 277-7321