James R. Seveney, Portsmouth Town Council vice-president and a Democrat, will run for the District 11 — Portsmouth, Bristol and Tiverton — Senate seat held until now by Christopher Ottiano.
“It’s a whirlwind sort of thing … the schedule doesn’t give you loads of time to think things through but I believe the moment is right for me.
“It’s such a foreshortened process” — signing deadline on Oct. 22-23, primary if needed on Dec. 1, election on Jan. 5. “I don’t even know if I need to order signs.”
He said that Sen. Ottiano called him Tuesday night to tell him of his decision — “He is following his career aspirations and has a big job opportunity … He has served his district well.”
Although they are from different parties, Mr. Seveney said he has always had the utmost admiration for the job done by Sen. Ottiano.”
“He transcended that partisan stuff,” and was effective enough that local Democrats saw no reason to oppose him last time out. “I’ll tell you flat out — I voted for him.”
By running for state Senate, Mr. Seveney is attempting to follow in family footsteps.
His father, Gardner “Scup” (he was an avid fisherman) Seveney was a state senator during the 1980s at a time James Seveney was mostly away as a Naval aviator.
He returned to Rhode Island to do aerospace engineering-related work at Raytheon and later at BAE Systems, a program director job from which he is now retired.
He’s in his sixth term on the Portsmouth Town Council since first being elected in 2004. Before that he served two years on the Portsmouth School Committee.
Mr. Seveney said he thinks the timing is fortunate to leave the council because “the town, I think, is in a good place right now.” Some long-time nagging issues, among them decades-old septic/sewer issues, the Prudence ferry and bridge tolls, have been largely resolved in ways favorable to the town.
He is driven to run, he said, by several matters critical to the three towns in his district, foremost among them “our transportation infrastructure.”
“We got a pretty thorough scare with the Sakonnet River Bridge experience,” for whose outcome he said the local House and Senate delegations deserve considerable credit. “They showed what can be accomplished when people and their representatives in one small area get together.”
But road and bridge issues remain, he added.
Mr. Seveney said his “knee jerk reaction” to a proposal to toll truckers is, “I don’t like it. If you toll one thing, then you toll another and another … that (Sakonnet River Bridge) toll gantry is still standing.”
He also said he supports “nurturing the defense industry on the island. That just serves everyone’s interest” in terms of jobs, tax base and economic impact. “There are 100 reasons why we need to keep that healthy.”
And he would keep focus on pending west-shore land transfers from the Navy to the tree island towns.
As for other issues, there’s not the luxury of time that campaigns usually offer to get out and listen to people, “but I’m going to do my best in all three towns during the little time we have.”
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