Rhode Island Gov. Chafee insists on ‘holiday tree’

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Rhode Island lawmaker is calling Gov. Lincoln Chafee “Governor Grinch” after he defied lawmakers and decided that the state would have a “holiday tree” instead of a “Christmas tree.”

The governor defended his decision by arguing that it is in keeping with the state’s founding in 1636 by religious dissident Roger Williams as a haven for tolerance — where government and religion were kept separate.

But Rep. Doreen Costa called the governor a “Grinch.”

Costa sponsored a resolution last January declaring the tree customarily erected in December be referred to as a “Christmas tree and not as a ‘holiday tree’ or other non-traditional terms.”