BY JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — A group of conservative Rhode Island Republicans is moving to close GOP primaries in the state so that only registered Republicans could vote to nominate the party’s candidates for elective offices.

The Rhode Island Republican Assembly (RIRA), billed by President Raymond McKay as “the Republican wing of the Republican Party” voted last week to petition the state Republican Party to amend its by-laws to allow the change.
It is part of RIRA’s effort, McKay says, to “bring the party back to its conservative roots, to turn the party back to where it needs to be.” The organization conforms in many ways, he said, to the principles of former President Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican who, McKay points out, carried Rhode Island in the 1984 election.
“We are not a different party,” McKay responds when asked about the reputation of Rhode Island Republicans as being moderates. “Our goal is to resurrect and save the Republican brand. We work within the Republican Party to support Republicans. We support the Constitution, we support the amendments, we support life, we are conservative Republicans.
“We are not, as some might call us right-wing kooks or neo-cons, nothing of that nature,” he insists. “We believe in diplomacy, we believe in working through the system and educating the opposition, whether they be fellow Republicans or Democrats.”
It may sound funny, but McKay declares that the way for Republicans to win in one of the bluest of the blue states is to not compromise.
“You have to give the voters something different to get them to think differently. You can’t be Democrat and Democrat Lite. You have to be something different.”
That is at least part of the idea behind making GOP primaries Republican only.
“It is important for Republicans to get their self-identity back,” McKay told The Times, “to define who we are. We do not need people who do not have the fortitude to put an R next to their names. If you do not believe in us, then there is the general election for you. But if you want to be a participant and choose who the leaders of the Republican Party are, then by all means you are more than welcome to join us. We want you at the table, but if you can’t come to the table,
then you are going to have to wait for us to make the decision.”
 McKay does not think that reserving the primaries to party members will alienate non-affiliated voters to the point where they would not vote Republican in the general election.
“I don’t think they would go away,” he said. He believes that “Independents probably lean more right than left. They are conservative with their money, they don’t want government coming in and taking their wallets. Business, obviously, is all about smaller government and lower taxes. So when you get down to the day to day tactics, people tend to be more conservative fiscally.
“Social issues,” he adds, “that’s another issue we can work on. A lot of the people who come up here from the Third World up here tend to be very socially conservative.  But they are Democrats because their friends are and everything else.”
He says unaffiliated voters can be swayed to support Republicans “if we give them something to believe in.”
Giovanni Cicione, chairman of the state Republican Party, says he is not sure what effect a closed primary could have on the GOP’s candidates. While RIRA believes it could bring the party’s nominees to the political right somewhat, “there is also another camp that says it might draw Republican-leaning Independents into the party and drive the party more to the center,” Cicione says. “When people are forced to make a choice to register as Republicans or not be able to vote in the Republican primary, then they will register as Republicans. It will grow the party and bring it more to the center. “
Either way, Cicione says, he doesn’t think such a change will come soon.
“I don’t think there is an appetite for it,” he said Monday. “That’s one of those things that it takes people a few years to get comfortable with.” Talking with fellow Republicans, he said, “Nobody sees any hard evidence that it is going to improve our lot, so lacking that I don’t see any overall motivation to get it done. But it is always a possibility.
Cicione’s counterpart, Democratic Chairman William Lynch, says, “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with anything that is going to discourage people from getting actively involved in politics and the whole process.”
Pointing to the last election, Lynch said a lot of new people took an interest in politics, “and a lot of them were officially unaffiliated or independent, but they became involved and worked hard are participating in a way that didn’t happen before.”
 “I’m not oblivious to the idea that it is a party process and that is what primaries are supposed to be; they are not elections. The parties are choosing the people who are supposed to be the standard bearers of the party as opposed to winning an actual office. But I haven’t seen enough evidence that the process has been manipulated to want to resort to closing them completely, not at this point anyway.”
It is not clear whether the party could close off its primaries with a by-law change or if legislation would be necessary.
McKay says it is a by-laws issue and the Republican Party can pass changes that allow only Republicans to vote in their primaries. Lynch said he believes that legislation would be required before a party would be allowed to close its primaries.
The question was posed to the Secretary of State’s office late on Monday afternoon and a spokesman said more research was necessary than could be done by press time. A search of the RI General Laws concerning primary elections did not yield a definitive answer Monday
Currently, the law forbids voters who are registered members of a party to vote in any other party’s primary, but it seems to be silent on whether non-affiliated voters may or may not vote in party primaries.