Providence - Rhode Island Gov.-elect Lincoln Chafee on Monday named Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts to lead a new task force to help implement federal health care reform, saying he hopes to work closely with her and turn around the sometimes adversarial relationships past governors have had with their lieutenants.

The governor and lieutenant governor run on separate tickets and are often in different parties, including Roberts, a Democrat, and outgoing Republican Gov. Don Carcieri.

Chafee, a former Republican senator who turned independent in 2007, referred frequently to the rift between those offices, including Carceri's decision not to tell Roberts he was going to go to Iraq ahead of a 2007 snowstorm that crippled the state.

"There is a long history in this state of not working well together," Chafee said. "In essence, we're going to work as a bracketed office."

Roberts is heading into her second and final term. Chafee said the lieutenant governor would on occasion represent him at official events, something she is not asked to do for Carcieri.

Roberts will also chair the Joint Healthcare Task Force, which Chafee said he'd institute through executive order soon after taking office.

Roberts described the initiative as the first effort the two will be taking on as a partnership.

The group will work to develop recommendations to implement the requirements of the federal health care overhaul authorized by Congress earlier this year. The recommendations could be used to help develop legislation in the General Assembly or to shape policies implemented by the administration, Chafee said.

Roberts holds an MBA in health care management from Boston University, and Chafee called her a leader on health care issues both during her time in the General Assembly and as lieutenant governor.

Chafee's task force will replace a different task force Roberts formed under her office, and she said they will build on the work that group has already done.

Both Roberts and Chafee support federal health care reform, in contrast to Carcieri, who signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief this month in support of a federal lawsuit arguing the law is too costly to states. Chafee called Carcieri's action a waste of time, and said he hoped his task force could make federal reform work for the benefit of citizens.