paul w. fogarty (born january 8, 1957 in providence, rhode island) is an american politician and a democratic member of the rhode island senate representing district 23 since january 2003. fogarty served consecutively from january 1999 until january 2003 in the district 27 seat. he is the son of former rhode island state senator charles fogarty, sr., the younger brother of rhode island lieutenant governor charles j. fogarty, and the nephew of united states representative john e. fogarty.