TALKING POLITICS GOP's legislative quest comes up short BY IAN DONNIS

Even though Rhode Island Republicans assembled their largest and most impressive slate of legislative candidates in 20 years, and even though Governor Donald L. Carcieri and the state GOP made an energetic push to support them, it didn’t amount to much. Looking forward, something that I wrote two weeks ago remains just as valid: the real question is whether leaders of the state’s perennially anemic minority party will be able to maintain their organizing efforts through future election cycles (see "Baby steps," News, October 29).

GOP chairwoman Patricia Morgan tried to put a positive spin on the November 2 election results — in which Republicans gained four House seats (three of them in open contests) and lost one in the Senate, for a net gain of three — telling me last week on WPRI-TV’s Newsmakers, "The Democratic Party lost seats . . . We’re starting. We’re building . . . We’re a party on the move."

The slight increase in Republican representation pales in comparison, though, to how the GOP tripled its membership, from seven to 21, during a 1983 special election after a redistricting scandal. Carcieri and Morgan deserve credit for trying to bring about a more active two-party state in Rhode Island, but the less than overwhelming reaction to their efforts suggests the magnitude of the challenge facing Rhode Island Republicans, in large part because the minority party has been moribund for so long. Although Morgan hails this campaign season as a foundation upon which to build, things might not be much easier in two years, when Carcieri will likely be involved in a reelection campaign.

In Cranston, Republican Jim Davey defeated Representative Frank A. Montanaro, the son of one of the state’s most powerful union officials, but this seemed idiosyncratic to local politics and the way in which public-employee unions unsuccessfully tried to target Mayor Stephen P. Laffey. Elsewhere, Republicans won open House seats in North Kingstown, Cumberland, and the Little Compton-Tiverton-Portsmouth area, but Democratic challenger Amy Rice defeated Representative Christine Callahan (R) in the Middletown-Newport-Portsmouth district, and Democrats won eight of 11 open House seats. In the Senate, the Republicans lost one seat.

As it stands, House Speaker William J. Murphy, who is facing a leadership challenge from Representative John DeSimone (D-Providence), seems secure. Even if Republicans were to side with Democratic dissidents, Murphy appears to have the votes to maintain his powerful post. In a surprising rebuke to Carcieri, the editorial page of the Providence Journal called on the governor last week to remove himself from the leadership fight. Such commentary gives General Assembly Democrats ammunition for their line that Carcieri is more interested in dictating to the legislature rather than working with it.

Although the popular governor had some notable successes in the last legislative session — effectively blocking a casino referendum and discouraging legislators from backing a $20 million hotel subsidy for former lawmaker Vincent Mesolella — the lack of GOP legislative gains will likely be a recipe for continued partisan warfare on Smith Hill.