State Rep. Ray Sullivan has been hired to lead Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign operation in Rhode Island.

Sullivan, a Coventry Democrat, becomes the Obama camp’s first paid staffer in the Ocean State since the primary election.

Sullivan said more paid staff would be joining him at a campaign headquarters that will soon be established.

“The campaign has never really left the state; it’s just not had a formal office and organization on the ground,” Sullivan said Thursday. “This is a big day for Rhode Island.”

Sullivan said he would temporarily leave his position as communications director for the state Democratic State Committee to focus on the new job, which he officially started Wednesday night. He said the new assignment would not deter him from running for a third term in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, has no plans to establish a Rhode Island headquarters or bring in paid staff. His organization has only a New England headquarters, in New Hampshire, according to Rhode Island Rep. Robert A. Watson, the House Minority Leader, who also serves as McCain’s local chairman, a volunteer position

“We have no plans to start hiring politicians and pay them for their support,” Watson said. “We expect to do fine with a volunteer base.”

Democrats dominate the Rhode Island political landscape. In the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry received a higher percentage of the vote in Rhode Island than any other state except Massachusetts.

Nonetheless, “We’re going to run a real aggressive race,” Sullivan said. “We’re not going to take anything for granted.”

Obama’s Chicago headquarters issued a statement announcing Sullivan’s hiring.

Sullivan’s previous jobs include project coordinator for the Providence Community Health Centers, director of legislative and government affairs for former Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, communications director for the Myrth York for Governor Campaign, and press secretary for the Rhode Island secretary of state.

Roberts’ ‘staff meeting’

On a stroll past Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts’ office early Friday afternoon, Political Scene noticed something a bit unusual.

Roberts’ work areas were dark, the doors locked, and the morning mail still stacked in the hall outside. Signs alerted visitors that the office was closed “for [a] staff meeting off site.”

Curious what kind of off-site meeting necessitated the closure of an entire state office on a work day, Political Scene contacted Roberts’ press secretary, Michael Tanaka, on his cell phone.

Tanaka reported that the staffers spent the day at a Narragansett summer house that Roberts had rented for a pre-scheduled vacation.

The “staff meeting” was partly a thank-you to the departing summer interns and partly a chance to conduct office business.

“We were going over everything that happened over the course of the summer and getting feedback from [the interns],” the spokesman reported on his drive back from the shore.

The oceanfront outing wasn’t the only news to emerge from Roberts’ office last week.

A day earlier, the lieutenant governor announced that her senior policy analyst, Eli Zupnick, had just left to join presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Obama’s press team in Washington state.

Zupnick is the third person to leave Roberts’ office in less than three months. Chief of Staff Paul Tencher resigned in April, while Press Secretary Larkin Barker left earlier this summer to join the Obama campaign in New Hampshire.

“I am proud that [Zupnick] will be working to elect a candidate who will bring real change to our country, and who will make health care reform a national priority once again,” Roberts said in a release.

Sounds a bit like an Obama endorsement from a onetime Hillary Clinton supporter, no?

Not at all, Tanaka said. While Roberts is supportive of the presumptive nominee, her comments did not constitute an endorsement.

Zupnick came to work for Roberts in December 2005, serving as her deputy campaign manager during her run for lieutenant governor. He has worked in her office since her inauguration in January 2007. In February of this year, Zupnick took a leave of absence to serve as the deputy press secretary for Obama’s primary campaign in Rhode Island.

No word yet on who will replace him.

McCain’s mom to attend big-ticket R.I. fundraiser

John McCain has no plans to travel to the Ocean State this month. But his mother does.

Roberta McCain, 96, is scheduled to headline a Newport fundraiser Aug. 25, according to an invitation from the McCain camp, with the backing of Governor Carcieri.

“Governor and Mrs. Carcieri invite you to join them for an evening in honor of John McCain with special guests Roberta McCain ...” starts the invitation.

Interested in attending? Bring your checkbook.

The evening starts at 5 p.m. with a $10,000-per-person private reception and photo opportunity at the New York Yacht Club, on Halidon Avenue. (The price tag includes an 11 a.m. “morning sail” and luncheon the next day.)

For $2,300, attendees can enjoy a private reception and photo opportunity at 6 p.m. at the Astors’ Beechwood mansion. A main reception follows at 6:30 p.m. at the Bellevue Avenue mansion for just $500 a head.

The GOP presidential hopeful’s mother will be joined by other out-of-town guests: Texas First Lady Anita T. Perry and Robert Mosbacher, former U.S. secretary of commerce and the McCain campaign’s national chairman.

Individual donations to candidates are capped at $2,300 per election, according to federal law. But individuals may give a combined $10,000 to state parties, and as much as $28,500 to national party committees.

The fundraiser notes that its sponsors include the Republican National Committee, the Colorado Republican Party, the Republican Party of Minnesota, the Republican Party of New Mexico, and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Caprio on Martha’s Vineyard for conference

General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio is visiting Martha’s Vineyard this week. But don’t expect him to log much beach time.

Caprio is one of three state treasurers invited to deliver opening remarks at the World Pension Forum, a three-day conference which focuses on educating officials connected with public and corporate pension trusts and endowment funds.

He’ll join Massachusetts’ Tim Cahill and Connecticut’s Denise Nappier in offering welcoming remarks to this year’s participants. Caprio will also moderate a panel discussion titled “New Frontiers in IT,” according his office.

“The chance to moderate a discussion on advances made in Internet technology is very exciting,” Caprio said in a statement. “Advances in IT have streamlined government, while also offering a more efficient way of interacting with the public. It has been my priority in the Rhode Island treasurer’s office to modernize the way we do business through new technologies, which in turn saves taxpayers money.”

Speaking of money, Caprio’s office reports that no state funds will be used to finance his trip.

speoples@projo.com