Providence city solicitor quits; considers AG run

PROVIDENCE—The Providence City Solicitor is quitting his job because he’s seriously considering running for Rhode Island attorney general.

Joe Fernandez, a Democrat, tells The Associated Press that he’s leaving later this month because he wants to devote his full consideration to whether he should run for attorney general.

He says he’s already begun limited-scale fundraising, and his next steps will be forming a finance committee and seeking input from members of the legal, business, social service, public policy and faith communities.

Fernandez started the job in 2003, being appointed by Mayor David Cicilline at the beginning of his first term.

He was a classmate of President Obama at Harvard Law School and co-chaired Obama’s Rhode Island campaign.