Rhode Island Government
Lynch Going for Another Round for Attorney General
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Attorney General Patrick Lynch said Monday he will seek to keep his seat as the state's top law enforcement official in 2006. "I am planning on running for a second term," Lynch told The Associated Press.
Lynch, a Democrat, had been attorney general for just weeks in 2003 when a fire at the West Warwick nightclub The Station killed 100 people and injured some 200 others. On Monday, Lynch said the fire has made his term so far "two of the toughest years any attorney general has ever had." Three people are charged with 200 counts each of manslaughter in connection with the blaze, and some victims' families were angered that more people were not charged.
The case is not expected to go to trial until January at the earliest. Lynch has also been an outspoken opponent of expanding KeySpan's liquid natural gas facility in Providence, and a plan by the energy company Hess to build a new LNG facility in Fall River, Mass.
Prior to being elected as attorney general, Lynch worked for a lobbying firm and, before that, spent five years as prosecutor in the attorney general's office. He focused on gang and drug crime prosecution.
|