Dave Barber, the host of Capitol TV, cheerfully brushes aside his GOP critics, acknowledging that “I do have a pretty good tan.”

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The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — Insomniacs know him as late-night entertainment. State House insiders recognize him as the guy with the year-round tan. And Rhode Island legislators see him as a way to up their political clout.

He’s Dave Barber, Capitol TV’s well-coifed host and in-house “reporter.”

Best known as the left-leaning former WPRO talk radio personality who was fired last year to make way for John DePetro’s return, Barber was hired by the General Assembly in January as part of its plan to make over the two-decade-old television station.

House Speaker William J. Murphy personally approached him, Barber recalled, and asked if he’d be interested in a $65,000-a-year job as Capitol TV’s first-ever personality. The job would mean developing several new talk shows to add to Channel 15’s longtime lineup of General Assembly hearings and session footage.

Barber jumped at the chance, stepping into the consummate Rhode Island job less than three years after moving here from his hometown of Flint, Mich.

He got to work taping two new shows: Straight from the Gavel, the half-hour Monday night program in which he interviews legislators about their work, and Capitol Spotlight, a series of five-minute interview segments.

But his arrival was laced with tension. Republicans railed against the leadership’s decision to add thousands of dollars to Capitol TV’s $1.28-million annual budget amid a multi-million-dollar budget deficit.

“It’s all propaganda and we can’t afford for the Democrats to be running this type of bologna any more — tans, diamonds and all,” House Minority Whip Nicholas Gorham said of Barber.

“He’s right about that, I do have a pretty good tan,” Barber said with a chuckle. “I work on it year-round.”

The host said he doesn’t take himself or his critics too seriously.

In protest of Barber’s hiring, Gorham and other House Republicans have refused to participate in either of the shows, wondering aloud what precisely Barber does to earn a full-time paycheck.

Their gripes have done little. Since January, the affable host with the shock of blond hair has been everywhere on Smith Hill, interviewing dozens of legislators.

Barber gets animated when he speaks of his work.

“I see Straight from the Gavel as no different than if a member of the General Assembly appears on [PBS talk show] Lively Experiment,” he said with a broadcaster’s broad smile.

The difference, of course, is that Barber is paid by people whom he interviews.

“If Dave Barber is hard on them, let’s see how long his job lasts,” said Arthur C. Barton, of the government watchdog group Operation Clean Government.

In this, a campaign season, it’s not just Barber’s objectivity that’s under scrutiny. His taxpayer-funded show has raised questions about election rules.

State election laws dictate that candidates may not use public funds “for any publication, advertisement, broadcast or telecast” within 120 days of any primary or general election. There is, however, one exception: candidates are not prohibited “from appearing on regular Capitol Television programming operated by the General Assembly or on television stations operated by the Rhode Island public telecommunications authority during the period of time or programming of regular or special meetings of city or town councils or any local governmental board, agency or other entity.”

The interpretation of that law is up for debate.

Republicans call it a clear moratorium on self-promotion shows, such as Straight from the Gavel, or any programming apart from “regular or special meetings.”

“Regularly scheduled means when the House meets, not when the leadership chooses to promote its candidates,” Gorham said.

But House leaders maintain that the show is part of “regular Capitol Television programming” and is therefore exempt.

Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, another frequent Straight from the Gavel co-host, appeared on a recent rerun of the show, telling an inquisitive Barber of the work he did on renewable-energy legislation.

Montalbano has since decided to stay away from the program. “Through the end of the campaign election he’s not going to be taping any more Straight from the Gavel episodes and he’s asked that [Barber] not rerun any past programs that he appears in until November,” said Montalbano’s spokesman Greg Pare. Is Montalbano concerned about election laws? No, Pare said. “He’s just too busy.”

Board of Elections Director Robert Kando said he interprets the program as falling under the exemptions category. The statute, he said, was intended to curtail candidates from using public budgets for political advertising.

In a recent interview, Barber was unfazed by talk of campaign laws, eager to speak instead of his upcoming plans for Capitol TV’s programming. He’s working on a series of documentaries about Rhode Island’s State Houses, past and present, with the goal of making them available to local schools.

Straight from the Gavel aired its first summer segment on Monday night, with Murphy as its co-host and House Majority Whip Peter Kilmartin as the featured guest. “I think Capitol TV is an excellent way for General Assembly members to get their work across,” Murphy said. He dismissed the Republican boycott of the show, suggesting they have faces better suited for talk radio.

This fall, Barber plans to begin filming biographical spots of lawmakers that take viewers beyond the State House and into their private lives. “We’re hoping not only to inform the public but to give some background and humanize what these legislators do,” Barber explained.

It’s too soon to gauge the success of that image overhaul, or know how many Rhode Islanders even watch the public access programming. The Assembly has never done a poll to determine viewership and can’t say for certain who makes up its audience.

GOP leaders have long been distrustful of the Assembly-controlled television station. Capitol TV, they say, should focus on getting cameras into all committee meetings rather than expanding its public relations machine.

Groups such as Operation Clean Government and Common Cause RI agree. “To have another news show format where people discuss the issues doesn’t mean anything. It’s actually the government that needs to be open,” Barton said. “Talk is cheap … actions and votes are what count.”

Barber believes he has a solution that might quell their complaints. The Assembly recently spent $17,437 on a video file server that he said will allow Capitol TV to rebroadcast hearings and shows throughout the night. Until now, overnight and weekend programming has been limited to text blocks, or privately funded segments. Reruns were possible only if a paid Capitol TV staffer was in the studio to put them on the air.

Gorham remains skeptical. “The chances of them rerunning floor debates where they look silly are about the same as them running old versions of the Partridge Family,” he said.

Barber brushes off the grumbling. “Could you tell him to come talk to Dave Barber?” he asks. “I’d like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with him.”

cneedham@projo.com