Almond Outruns Polls, Cruises To 2nd Term As Governor
The governor says he'll keep his promises
on child care, health care, the needs of senior citizens, affordable colleges and a new
arena for URI.
By KATHERINE GREGG and CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND
With staff reports from Tom Mooney
Journal State House Bureau
Nov. 4, 1998
PROVIDENCE -- Proving once again that it is tough
to beat an incumbent in good economic times, Gov. Lincoln C. Almond beat
back Myrth York's promises of new ideas and vision to win a second, four-year term yesterday.
The 62-year-old Republican defeated Democrat York in a replay of
their 1994 contest.
With 98 percent of the polls in, Almond had 50.9 percent of the
vote; York had 41.8 percent; Cool Moose Party Candidate Robert J. Healey Jr. had 6.6
percent; and Reform Party candidate John Patrick Devine had .8 percent, according to
unofficial Journal returns.
"Make no mistake about it. Rhode Island is
on the move," said a beaming Almond, as he took centerstage at the Marriott Hotel
ballroom, amid supporters shouting "four more years."
With his family and staff crammed onto the podium with him, Almond
promised to keep the issues that had dominated the campaign high on his second-term
agenda: child care, health care, the needs of senior citizens, and "affordable
colleges."
And, "we will have a new gym for that basketball team,"
said the University of Rhode Island alumnus, in his biggest applause line.
"I can assure you we will never ever do anything to let you
down, and we will continue to give Rhode Islanders honest, open government," he said.
York took Providence, but with no mayoral race, turnout was very
low. Almond won big in vote-heavy communities like Cranston, Warwick, Woonsocket. York
took Pawtucket, but not by enough to soak up Almond's huge margins in the
suburbs. In all, York won in only five communities.
York called Almond to concede the race at around
10:20 p.m., and to tell him she "would like to assist him in any way she can."
"It's better to win but it does matter how you play the
game," a thankful York told a loyal crowd of Democrats crammed into the Biltmore
ballroom. "And it does matter how you define success."
York said her campaign had managed to strengthen the Democratic
Party and raise important issues such as education and health care.
And saying she wanted to set the record staight
for "some people," York emphasized: "I do love Rhode Island. I care
passionately . . . I care about its future. "
The crying started outside York's suite before the final numbers
were in.
"I just knew it was going to be very close, but I thought
that we would pull it out in the end. When will Rhode Island wake up?" lamented
volunteer Connie Cathers.
"I've got to believe Rhode Island just isn't ready for a
woman governor," said York campaign operative Jack McConnell. "It's sad, because
I have two daughters. But I have no other explanation for this," he said.
Though York had an uphill run against Almond in
1994, the slope was even steeper this time.
York started strong. But she had to make a convincing case for
ousting a governor who had presided over a healthy economy, low unemployment and a record
$128 million state surplus without any major scandals.
She couldn't do it.
While he sought credit for "an historic
turnaround," she argued that Rhode Island was under-performing the rest of the nation
and that she had the "vision, energy and leadership" to make it do better.
While she tried to tap into middle-class discontent, he got to
boast: "24,000 more working." His claim was based on the jump, from 1995-1997,
in the number of Rhode Islanders working anywhere -- including Connecticut's
Foxwoods casino -- in both public and private-sector jobs.
Job growth in Rhode Island alone was
nowhere near that big.
No matter. He had an argument that was
tough to beat.
With no deep ideologic gulfs between them, she whacked him for
Rhode Island's below-par high school test scores; ridiculed him for spending $1 million in
road money to "beautify" a short stretch of Route 95 in Cranston;
questioned his judgment in giving 13.9 percent raises to state traffic court judges
working three days-a-week, on average.
She scored a direct hit with her criticism of
his administration's failure to take any action, over 17 months, to clean up known toxic
waste violations at American Shipyard. Less than two weeks before the election, the
state's environmental agency slapped the shipyard with $65,965 in fines.
But, York never convincingly explained her own vision in terms
that could be easily grasped, lapsing into bureaucratic jargon or esoterica from her own
campaign lexicon. She talked often, for example, about "Hope Scholarships," without stopping to explain that this was her name for the $500 college
scholarships she was offering students, with "B" averages in high school.
York also had trouble escaping the liberal
echoes of her Senate career.
As a senator in 1991-1994, she advocated the expansion of family
welfare benefits while opposing then-Governor Sundlun's attempts to limit the once costly
aid program known as General Public Assistance.
Welfare was a big issue in the 1994 race; a big
unmentioned issue in the 1998 race. But Almond sought in his TV ads to subtly remind
viewers that the "moderate" York they see in 1998 was far left-of-center the
last time she held office: "Myrth York. A risk we just can't afford."
Nonetheless, a race that should have been a romp for Almond turned
into a potential squeaker, with polls showing a neck-and-neck race until the very end.
Some said Almond waited too long to respond to
the persistent drum-beat of York attack ads on his record. Other pundits
attributed the closeness to the Almond style, which fans call "deliberative,"
and critics, "plodding."
Never an aggressive meet-and-greeter, Almond vowed when he came
into office that he would not let the job consume his personal life -- and he didn't --
eschewing the usual round of wakes, retirement parties, fundraisers and the like.
Early in his administration, after Almond lost his first big
battle with General Assembly leaders over his failed pension reform package, radio talk
show curmudgeon John Hackett delivered a blunt
assessment: "Governor . . . you got rolled by the Democratic lawmakers." The
image stuck.
In recent months, Almond sent out mixed signals. While taking
credit for every business-friendly move by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, he
unabashedly wooed organized labor.
Days after the September primary, he won a huge symbolic victory
when the state AFL-CIO -- which had backed York in 1994 -- decided to remain neutral this
year.
The decision did not foreclose
individual unions from backing York, both financially and with get-out-the vote efforts.
The National Education Association was among her key backers. She also had endorsements
from a hospital workers' union, printers, steelworkers, carpenters and teamsters.
Still, the loss of the AFL-CIO endorsement was a major
psychological blow to her, and boost to him. Crowed Almond: "It shows what can happen
when you have communication instead of confrontation."
The former U.S. attorney also courted the
endorsement of the Rhode Island arm of the Laborers International Union
of North America -- and its general president, Arthur Coia -- despite highly publicized
allegations of mob influence in the union.
"The vast majority of Rhode Islanders know Lincoln Almond,
know his record," then-campaign manager Edward Morabito said.
But Almond's courtship of organized labor
had its downside.
Weeks before the election, a group of 90
non-union construction companies went to court to try to block the Almond administration
from requiring the use of union-only workers on an $18.6 million state project in
Cranston.
In their suit, the contractors contended that new union-worker
rule would stifle competition, and jack up the price for construction of a new Department
of Labor & Training headquarters. They also accused the administration of ceding
design of labor agreements, for the project, to the AFL-CIO.
The case is still pending, and Almond administration
director Robert L. Carl Jr. has said the union-worker rule was aimed at averting potential
clashes between union and non-union workers that have bedeviled other projects.
But the front-page news of the lawsuit had folks at the corner
diner scratching their heads.