By Kate Bramson
PROVIDENCE -- Governor Chafee has now appointed 10 of the 12 directors who serve with him on the board of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.
He has replaced Keith W. Stokes, the executive director when he took office, with Marcel A. Valois.
And late last year, Chafee created a new EDC position and appointed longtime supporter John R. "J.R." Pagliarini as chief of staff.
Chafee says he has his "hands on the steering wheel" at the EDC, a control he didn't have when he inherited the agency.
"I want to be given the chance to drive," he said.
The EDC is the agency he needs, Chafee says, to rebuild the troubled Rhode Island economy, which has an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent.