Why McKee is breaking with tradition and moving his inaugural swearing-in ceremony

PROVIDENCE − Gov. Dan McKee has decided to eschew tradition and hold the state's inauguration activities at the Rhode Island Convention Center on the first Tuesday in January.

Regardless of the actual forecast, McKee spokesman Matt Sheaff said the weather will be cold and the governor's advisers felt indoors at the Convention Center would be better than outdoors on the steps of the State House, where inaugurations are usually held.

It remains unclear whether the public will be able to attend, and if so, what the protocol will be for apportioning the limited space.

Sheaff denied that the encampment of homeless people outside the State House had any bearing on the decision, which was confirmed by the governor's office on Wednesday, the day state workers began delivering eviction letters to the tent residents and attempting to arrange places for them to stay at shelters or elsewhere.

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The tent encampment on the marble terrace of the State House's north entrance plaza has been growing steadily since late summer and by Tuesday included around 35 tents, some of them sheltering more than one person.

Sheaff told The Journal on Wednesday that there was no particular event or issue that determined the timing of the tent-removal effort other than that it has taken time to coordinate social-service providers and prepare.

Is there historical precedent to move the swearing-in ceremony?

Sheaff noted that the Convention Center was used in 1999 when Gov. Lincoln Almond was sworn in to a second four-year term. The explanation at that time: construction on the south steps of the State House forced inaugural planners to move the event to the convention center.

The south steps of the State House are open and easily accessible to the public from multiple directions; on the other hand, the Convention Center's indoor space has restricted the public's access in the past.

In January 1999, the swearing-in ceremonies for the state's top five general officers were public, but were marred that year by reports that four Black women − including then-Journal reporter Karen A. Davis and then-intern Alisha Pina − were "insulted by National Guard members and Convention Center security officers who seemed to regard the women as potential protesters or security threats."

"I have absolutely, at this time, no reason to believe that anything intentional was done," Almond later said. But he acknowledged that Guard members may have unwittingly given offense.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Dan McKee moves inauguration from State House to Convention Center