State Rep. Steven F. Smith, D-Providence, made an informal but significant announcement on Federal Hill last week when spotted outside Venda Ravioli.

The 20-year State House veteran, who the president of the Providence Teachers Union, told Political Scene that he would not run for an 11th term in November, despite having filed a candidacy declaration for his District 13 seat by the June 25 deadline.

Smith said he would not return his nominating petitions with the required signatures. In a follow-up conversation, he cited mounting frustration with the direction of the General Assembly, and specifically its refusal to consider blocking tax cuts for high earners to help close a massive budget deficit last month.

“I didn’t get into this to make sure that the wealthiest 1 percent were given tax breaks,” Smith said. “I just think that my issues weren’t being addressed and I didn’t want to go through another budget cycle … I think that my energies would be better spent elsewhere.”

He said he respects House Speaker William J. Murphy although Murphy had pushed the tax cuts for high earners.

“Obviously we differ on the direction we’re moving in, and he’s the speaker. He has the votes,” Smith continued. “I believe he believes he’s making the right decisions. I just disagree and I don’t think I was going to be elected speaker anytime soon.”

Smith, 51, first elected to the House in 1988, said he would continue in his role as president of the Providence Teachers union, an elective post he will hold for at least two more years.

His decision appears to clear the way for John Carnevale, the only other Democrat to declare for the District 13 House seat, to appear on the November ballot.

And, technically, there is no Republican challenger, although the state Supreme Court may change that. The high court will probably decide whether five GOP challengers may run, despite opposition from local boards of canvassers and a negative ruling last week by the state Board of Elections.

If the Supreme Court overturns the rulings, Carnevale would face Republican Damien Baldino in November.

RIC poll: 75% support governor on immigration

Victor Profughi, head of Rhode Island College’s Bureau of Government Research and Services, has released a poll that reports the highest level of discontent among Rhode Islanders in recent memory.

A whopping 83 percent of respondents said the state was moving in the wrong direction.

But there was a lot more interesting information in the survey of 500 Rhode Islanders taken June 18-27.

The highlights (in no particular order):

•More respondents (41 percent) blame “Democrats in the state legislature” for the state’s fiscal problems than blame Republican Governor Carcieri (26 percent). Twenty percent blame both.

•If the presidential election were held today, 53 percent would vote for Democrat Barack Obama and 25 percent would vote for Republican John McCain.

•About 59 percent said they were less likely to travel outside Rhode Island by car for a vacation this year compared with last year, considering the cost of gasoline; 32 percent said they were just as likely to travel by car.

•Seventy-five percent agree with the governor’s executive order cracking down on illegal immigrants. The order, according to a vague and rather long survey question, “requires that the Federal E-Verify system be used to screen state workers and employees of companies doing business with the state and directs certain state agencies to work cooperatively with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in enforcing federal immigration laws.”

•Sixty-six percent are willing to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable resources such as the sun or wind.

The poll carries an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Bills arrive on governor’s desk by the bushel

The governor’s office scrambled to issue veto messages last week, in part because of an unusual move by the state Senate.

Late Friday afternoon, six days after the Assembly adjourned for the year, the Senate transmitted 201 bills — its entire roster of legislation approved in the final days of the session — to Governor Carcieri for his signature.

Typically, lawmakers transmit their legislation piecemeal in the days after the session. But Senate spokesman Greg Pare insisted there was nothing unusual about this year’s bulk move.

The goal, he said, is always to get all the bills to the governor by the July 4th holiday.

The late transmission of bills didn’t bother the governor’s staff.

John Robitaille, Carcieri’s communications director said “The governor’s office is capable of reviewing this number of bills within the veto deadline, considering that they are carefully followed during the session. This is mainly a final review.”

The governor ultimately decided to veto 49 bills last week, 3 fewer than he did last year. Spokesmen for the House and Senate would not speculate on whether the legislature would return for a special veto-override session.

House spokesman Larry Berman said the leadership would decide within the next few weeks.

New voices at the top

Political Scene caught up with a couple new faces in the State House last week.

Governor Carcieri’s new spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, started Tuesday, occupying the first-floor office that had been home to the governor’s longtime spokesman, Jeff Neal.

In between learning names and faces, Kempe helped distribute the governor’s many veto messages last week and issued eight news releases, by Political Scene’s count. Kempe comes to state government from the private sector, where Newport Grand was among her former clients.

Neal, incidentally, said he was enjoying his first week off. He appeared rested and sunburned at a lunch with Political Scene last week on Federal Hill. He’s yet to find a new job.

Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts also featured a new spokesman last week.

Michael Tanaka takes over for Larkin Barker, who left Smith Hill to work on Sen. Barack Obama’s New Hampshire team late last month.

Tanaka has lived in Rhode Island since coming to Brown University in the 1970s for postgraduate studies. Besides being a talented musician, he brings decades of national media experience to Roberts’ cramped first-floor office.

He has worked as a writer and producer for Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show and, most recently, MSNBC.

O’Reilly Factor features the governor

Speaking of national television, don’t miss Governor Carcieri tonight on Fox.

The governor is scheduled to appear with Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor. The interview will be taped early in the day and aired at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to the governor’s office.

“The topic of the conversation will be the governor’s executive order on illegal immigration,” according to the news release.

Carcieri was initially scheduled to appear on the national broadcast in mid May, but the taping was postponed without explanation. In April, the governor appeared on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss his immigration policies.

cneedham@projo.com