By Gregory Smith
Journal staff writer

East Greenwich lawyer Robert E. Rainville, a lobbyist and former probate court judge in West Warwick, announced Friday that he will be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Rhode Island attorney general.

A self-described "conservative Democrat," Rainville said he wants the office, in part, to demonstrate that it can be run in a nonpartisan way and in the public interest.

Rainville said the electorate must remember there is much more to the post of attorney general than crime-fighting, and he said that he would emphasize consumer protection on issues such as health insurance rates and fraud, as well as the prosecution of white-collar crime and political corruption.

Professionally, Rainville owns a real estate title company and is a sole legal practitioner who specializes in estate planning, litigation and government relations. He has been a registered lobbyist for, among others, the hospital company Care New England, a casino group associated with millionaire Donald Trump, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and the Rhode Island Pharmacists Association.

The 40-year-old Rainville married in December; his wife, Maria, is a law student. His father was the late A. Robert Rainville, a vice president at the University of Rhode Island, where the younger Rainville graduated in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

"I'm trying to uphold the name, the respect he gathered," the candidate said of his father.

"I'd really like to be a different type of elected official and not be the politician of old," he said, meaning someone who talks straight, without a script.

In a break with tradition, Rainville dispensed with the music, balloons and hoopla of a candidacy announcement in front of an arranged crowd and said that he would donate the money he saved -- $3,000 to $5,000 -- to Rhode Island families in need. Instead, he just issued a press release and said that he had made the necessary filing with the state Board of Elections to begin raising money for a campaign.

He joins a growing field of aspirants, which apparently includes state Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, who has hired a campaign management team; Smithfield Town Councilman Stephen R. Archambault, a Democrat who is Lincoln town solicitor and previously announced; Democrat Joseph M. Fernandez of Providence, the former Providence city solicitor; and South Kingstown Republican Erik B. Wallin, a lawyer and former state prosecutor.

The eventual winner would succeed outgoing Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch, who seeks the Democratic nomination for governor.

Winning the nomination would be a big step up for Rainville, who has made four unsuccessful runs for state representative in Kent County, the most recent being for the District 27 seat in Coventry, Warwick and West Warwick now held by Democratic Rep. Patricia A. Serpa