Democrat Lynch declares
bid for attorney general
• The lawyer, lobbyist and former Brown University basketball star calls his candidacy "the greatest game of my life."
BY
KATHERINE GREGG
Journal State House Bureau
PROVIDENCE
-- Promising to "bring the hammer down on the bad guys," lawyer, lobbyist, former state prosecutor and onetime college hoop star Patrick C. Lynch formally announced his candidacy yesterday for attorney general to a cheering throng of Democratic party elite.
With no opponent yet for what amounts to an open seat at the highest ranks of state government, the 37-year-old son of former Pawtucket Mayor Dennis M. Lynch -- and brother of state Democratic Party chairman William J. Lynch -- pledged his "unwavering commitment to justice."
"My commitment to justice means I'll enforce the law fairly and firmly, without regard to race, color, creed, status, wealth . . . [and] without regard to an institution's power," he promised.
"I'll fight for our working people," he pledged. And, "I'll fight for our senior citizens . . . who expect the criminal justice system to work when they are wronged."
"That's a tall order, but I'm a relatively tall guy," quipped the 6-foot-5-inch St. Raphael Academy guard who later starred on Brown University's 1986 Ivy League championship team. .
He called this -- his first run for anything bigger than a seat at the Democratic National Convention -- "the greatest game of my life."
An assistant attorney general from 1994-99, Lynch takes credit for winning several high-profile murder cases, including the conviction of a ranking member of the national Latin Kings gang, Firlando M. Rivera, for the slaying of karate instructor Edward H. "Chipper" Wilson outside a Woonsocket diner.
He also takes credit for the conviction of Wesley "Squirrel" N. Hanes for shooting Jamel Palmer, during a street melee outside a downtown Providence rap concert in 1998.
His campaign biography makes no mention of some of the big-name clients on whose behalf he lobbied the General Assembly, after he went to work for Tillinghast Licht Perkins Smith & Cohen in 1999.
In his speech, however, he spoke of his stint as a lobbyist as a learning experience that reminded him "anew that a law is not just a piece of paper with words written on it, but a living thing that can improve people's lives."
For CVS, he lobbied against a bill that would have banned HMOs from limiting where their subscribers could buy their prescription drugs. Lobbying fees for Lynch and his firm: $10,000. For R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, he helped lobby against a bill to ban smoking in restaurants. Lobbying fee: $31,200, according to filings with the secretary of state.
For the owners of the greyhounds that race at Lincoln Park, he worked with veteran lobbyist Joseph Walsh to defeat efforts to cap at $7.4 million the amount the kennel owners derive from state-sponsored video-gambling at Newport Grand Jai Alai and the track. Lobbying fee: $10,000.
His other clients last year and the year before included Anheuser-Busch, Eastern Resorts, the Greenwood Credit Union, and Construction Industries of Rhode Island.
In his speech last night, he spoke of this experience as a plus: "With Rhode Island's projected $320-million budget deficit, our next attorney general had better know how to lobby the legislature and the executive branch, and to advocate for funding sufficient to protect your liberties and interests. I do."
He also promised to put his lobbying skills to work on his own agenda, which includes the passage of legislation giving school administrators more muscle than they have now to "ban bullying, harassment and intimidation.'
Another bill he says he would push as attorney general would tie "school attendance rates with the right to get a driver's license."
Earlier yesterday, before he strode to a podium in the rotunda of the convention center to strains of "Wake Up, Everybody," the still largely unknown Lynch talked about how much he reveres, but considers himself independent from older brother Bill, the party chairman, and father Dennis, the former Pawtucket mayor who once set his own sights on running for Congress and then settled in as state purchasing agent for then-Governors J. Joseph Garrahy and Edward D. DiPrete.
The elder Lynch is now the $114,879-a-year associate director in charge of real estate management and acquisition for the Department of Administration.
For starters, Patrick Lynch favors abortion rights for women and opposes the death penalty because no matter how compelling the case, "I just don't think it is a solution for our society."
He also voiced his distaste for a bill -- up for a House Judiciary Committee vote tomorrow -- that would reduce from 10 years to 5 the waiting period for a convicted felon to have his or her criminal record erased.
For now, Lynch is running unopposed for the office Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse is vacating to run for governor. Last week, another potential primary opponent -- Eva Mancuso -- endorsed him.
At last count, he had $165,220 in his campaign war chest, almost 75 percent of what he would need to raise to qualify for the maximum available in public matching funds.
His campaign team includes John Palangio, the director of administrative records for the secretary of state, as his part-time campaign manager, and a Washington, D.C., consulting firm -- Laguens Hamburger Stone -- whose clients have included the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Louisiana advocacy group "Yes for Video Poker," and 1998 Rhode Island attorney general candidate Bill Guglietta.
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