By Katherine Gregg
and Ed Fitzpatrick

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Stay tuned for a "major announcement'' shortly after New Year's Day from former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee about the next step in his "exploratory campaign'' for governor.

As to what it might be, his latest fundraising appeal provides a pretty good clue: "Only with your financial support can we elect Lincoln Chafee as Governor. He will bring to the State House a record of promoting teamwork, energetic and consistent leadership, and the highest ethical standards... Be on the lookout for a major announcement and brand new website in the New Year!''

And then there is this: on Friday, Republican-turned-independent Chafee confirmed that John R. "J.R." Pagliarini will start work in January as his campaign manager.

Pagliarini, 48, of Warwick, was director of Chafee's Rhode Island office when he was a senator. And when Chafee was mayor of Warwick, Pagliarini served as his communications director (1993-97) and his community development coordinator (1997-98).

"We have worked well together as mayor and senator," Chafee said Friday. "He's got terrific attention to detail, and he knows Rhode Island very, very well. He knows how the State House works -- something I do not. I have local and federal experience, but I don't have that great knowledge of the State House."

In recent years, Pagliarini has been a state associate commissioner of higher education and was listed as interim executive director of the RIC Foundation, the fundraising arm of Rhode Island College. He was Governor Carcieri's deputy chief of staff for about a year (2007-08), an associate-deputy chief of staff for former Gov. Edward D. DiPrete (1986-90) and lobbyist-director of government relations for UnitedHealthcare of New England (1999-2003).