Portsmouth Councilor to Run for Vacant Dist. 11 Senate Seat

After talking things over with his wife and reflecting on his nearly 12 years of service on the Portsmouth Town Council, James E. Seveney thinks he’s ready for new, bigger challenges.

Seveney, the son of a former three-term senator, said Friday that he is running for a seat in the Rhode Island Senate in the upcoming DIst. 11 sepcial election.

The seat was vacated by former Sen. Christopher Ottiano, who announced his resignation last week after accepting a high-profile and demanding position with Neighborhood Health Plan.

“I’m halfway through my fifth term and and the past couple of councils, especially the last one, got through a lot of the big issues, or at least, closing in on a resolution,” Seveney said in a telephone interview. “After 11 years, I’m ready for some new challenges.”

Seveney, a Democrat, said that he is eager to take more regional approach to the issues beyond the borders of just Portsmouth as the Dist. 11 seat represents Tiverton and Bristol in addition to his home town. He’d like to steer more state resources here and bring prominence to local issues at the State House, such as the defense industry, which has a strong presence on Aquidneck Island.

He’s also interested in focusing on infrastructure and the inevitable leap to the issue of tolling, which he opposed when they appeared on the Sakonnet River Bridge and were subsequently removed after public protest. Rhode Island’s crumbling roads and bridges need serious attention and Governor Gina Raimondo’s proposal to toll trucks to help finance her massive RhodeWorks proposal will likely take center stage when the General Assembly’s session begins later this fall.

He’s concerned about veterans issues, which he said touches him on a personal level as a career Naval officer who retired in 1998.

“There is a large population of veterans who have sacrificed so much for their country and that group of people is growing. Afghanistan is our longest war,” Seveney said. “It has lasted a year or so longer than the Vietnam war and it has taken a toll. It’s a huge issue.”

Seveney said he’s concerned about how the state will be able to take care of and support its veterans. While he and many others have had nothing but positive experience from VA hospitals, the glaring failures in some parts of the system in recent years, notably at Walter Reed where people died waiting for care, is troubling.

Seveney also said he’s eager to be in a position to effect change in town in ways he can’t as a council member, such as delivering legislative grants for specific projects and spearheading multi-town collaborations.

One area he’d like to focus on, he said, is Portsmouth’s lack of a robust recreation department. The town is still in early stages of building a department and has only recently hired a director and “started to wake up and realize we’ve got an awful lot of resources that in some cases are underutilized,” Seveney said.

And in other cases, they’re overutilized. For years, the town has leaned on the homespun efforts by individual sports leagues, businesses and community groups to create and promote family friendly activities in town. Meanwhile, across the border in Bristol, there is a robust town-led recreation department that manages to generate revenue at the same time it manages town facilities.

“We can leverage some of the great stuff happening across the bridge in Bristol and to the east in Tiverton,” Seveney said.

Seveney would also like to see Portsmouth do something with the old stone bridge and abutment from the old Sakonnet River Bridge. On the Tiverton side, it has been groomed and features a beach area. Situated with a nearby marina right next to a restaurant, it’s an inviting place where people can enjoy the view.

“When we look at our side, you see a chain link fence, asphalt is falling apart, cement walls — it’s a mess right now,” he said.

Though Ottiano is a Republican and Seveney is a Democrat, it isn’t a big factor in this election for a few reasons. The primary reason is that Ottiano cultivated a strong working relationship with his fellow legislators in the area and the entire State House. Upon announcing his retirement, he was publicly lauded for his bipartisan work on behalf of all Rhode Islanders.

Seveney said Ottiano was a strong advocate for his constituents and worked closely with local government, including the Portsmouth Town Council. He has a lot of respect for the outgoing senator, he said.

“He was a great senator and I understand why he’s leaving — he’s taking on a wonderful career opportunity, something he has really been aspiring for,” Seveney said. “It’s a shame he has to leave his seat, and if elected, I’ll try to follow his lead as a bipartisan, hard-working guy that just wants to help people.”

Seveney said that Ottiano was a “joy to work with” from the council’s perspective.

“He did right by the Republican party and did right by the citizens of Portsmouth, Tiverton and Bristol,” Seveneny said. “I would aspire to equal his worth ethic.”

Links to stories about other candidates running for the Dist. 11 seat will be added here.