By Katie Mulvaney

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The former legal counsel for the Rhode Island State Lottery Commission is the newest member of the nine-member panel that helps select the state's judges.

Governor Carcieri chose Robert M. Silva, of Middletown, from a list of three candidates sent to him by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed.

"Bob is very well respected," Carcieri's spokeswoman Amy Kempe said of the governor's pick. She added that all three candidates were "excellent." The others names forwarded to the governor were Patricia Breslin and Francis J. Flanagan.

Silva, who replaced Valentino D. Lombardi, has practiced law for about four decades. He was elected to Middletown's Town Council in 1969 and acted as its president for 7 of the 15 years that he served. Silva's firm, Silva, Thomas, Martland & Offenberg, was legal counsel to the Rhode Island State Lottery for 16 years, he said.