In the state Senate, where debate is rare — and dissent even rarer — Sen. Leonidas P. “Lou” Raptakis, D-Coventry, has done the unusual. He has launched a political grenade aimed at taking out Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed.

Raptakis, in a statement issued late last week, said he “can no longer support” the Newport Democrat as majority leader because she “failed to live up to her word in terms of promoting” several of his bills, including one to increase the penalties for drunks who continue driving after their licenses have been suspended or revoked.

Raptakis also blamed Paiva Weed for the end-of-session pileup that he said forced Senate votes on “150 bills in the final two days of the session.”

“To me that’s a sign of ineffective leadership and a willingness to push through bills with little or no public input,” Raptakis said. “I had hoped for much better from Senator Paiva Weed and I think the time has come to give someone else a chance to run the Senate floor in a manner more consistent with the public interest.”

He didn’t say who he felt would do a better job.

Raptakis sponsored a number of high-profile bills this year, including a failed measure to raise the state’s $7.40-an-hour minimum wage. But the only one he cited in his call for Paiva Weed’s replacement was a measure that would have made it a felony — punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine — to drive with a license that has been suspended for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or refusing a Breathalyzer test. It stalled in the House Judiciary Committee after clearing the Senate in May.

In response, Paiva Weed said: “Many pieces of legislation are introduced, pass one chamber, don’t pass the other ... It appears that this year, I am being held responsible for every piece of legislation, pass or fail, which is just not true.”

With respect to Raptakis’ drunken-driver bill, she said she “absolutely, very strongly supported this legislation,” but “the House leadership conveyed to me that the committee had concerns about it.”

Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano came to Paiva Weed’s defense. He said he was in a room with House leaders when Paiva Weed advocated for Raptakis’ bill, so to blame her for the demise of the legislation in the House was both “ludicrous” and “absurd.”

Montalbano attributed Raptakis’ statements to frustration that he couldn’t get more of his bills passed. But as to what Raptakis’ statement says about Paiva Weed’s political strength in the Senate, Montalbano said: “So far it is an army of one and it is Lou Raptakis.”

Cicilline endorses Obama

Sen. Barack Obama, who on Friday was in Unity, N.H., with Hillary Rodham Clinton to promote party harmony, earlier in the week was in Florida to push for another kind of togetherness.

Obama addressed the annual meeting, in Miami, of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, the latter group currently headed by Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.

While there, Obama met with Cicilline, a Clinton supporter, as well as several other mayors, including Antonio Villaraigosa, of Los Angeles; Richard M. Daley, of Chicago, and Manny Diaz, of Miami, who also supported Clinton during primary season.

“He said he needed the help of American mayors to help him get elected and we assured him that we, too, need his help,” Cicilline said of the meeting.

The group discussed at length Obama’s urban agenda, which according to Cicilline focuses on revitalizing cities through job creation, public safety and quality schools.

“The thing he said that resonated with me is that cities are not the problem, cities are the solution,” Cicilline said. “We are the economic engines and Senator Obama really reinforced that idea.”

The Illinois senator’s thoughts were persuasive enough to persuade the Clinton supporters, the Providence mayor included, to endorse him at a news conference that Cicilline organized.

Alves alleges horse-trading attempt by GOP chairman

Five more Republicans have joined the GOP effort to cut into the Democrats’ overwhelming majority on Smith Hill.

All were nominated by state GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione on the day after the candidate-filing deadline, under a state law that gives party chairmen 24 hours to fill potential holes on the ballot in districts where their party has no candidates.

They include Lammis Vargis, director of operations and community outreach for the state GOP, whom Cicione appointed to run for the Senate seat held by Democrat John F. McBurney III, of Pawtucket.

All told, the GOP has 49 candidates lined up for the 75-member House and 27 for the 38-member Senate. But Cicione acknowledged that Pawtucket’s Board of Canvassers questioned the legitimacy of Vargis’ candidacy late Friday on grounds the appointment letter the chairman filed with the secretary of state’s office should have been filed with the board. He said he was put on notice that Providence may do the same.

Meanwhile, Cicione and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Stephen Alves, D-West Warwick, had very different stories about how two other Republicans ended up as General Assembly candidates.

As Alves told the story last week, Cicione called him at 11:49 a.m. on the day after the candidate filing deadline, to offer to spare him another challenge by Republican John Clarke, one of Governor Carcieri’s stalled nominees to the state Board of Elections. “He said, ‘I have John Clarke over here, and [Providence Republican] Elaina Goldstein,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, what about them?’ ” said Alves, “And [he said] ‘If you can get them confirmed for the Board of Elections, obviously, I wouldn’t put their names through.’ ”

Alves said he gave this response: “If you think I am looking for some trade, the answer is no.”

But Cicione said Alves mischaracterized their conversation.

In May, Carcieri nominated Clarke, of West Warwick, and Goldstein to openings on the elections board. The nominations went nowhere.

Cicione acknowledged calling Alves, but said he did so to simply “point out to him” that the Senate had confirmed Carcieri’s two Democratic nominees to the Board of Elections. Had the Senate been “a little more open” and less swayed by politics, Cicione said, he told Alves that he could have “avoided” aving Clarke challenge him again for reelection “because he couldn’t have run and served” on the elections board at the same time.

“It was a point about the backroom dealing. Basically, Steve Alves doesn’t like John Clarke because they have a long history of West Warwick politics … and so a very a good guy who deserved to be on that board didn’t even get a hearing.” Alves beat Clarke by a wide margin in the 2006 election.

But Cicione said he never suggested the Senate resurrect the Clarke nomination and approve it in a matter of five hours on Thursday, when the Senate was meeting for the sole purpose of approving judicial nominees. The upshot? Clarke is again running for Alves’ Senate seat, while Goldstein has her sights set again on the Senate seat held by Democrat Rhoda Perry, whose district includes much of Providence’s East Side. Goldstein lost to Perry in 2006, taking 26 percent of the vote.

In addition: Kofua Kulah was appointed by Cicione to challenge Democratic Sen. Paul V. Jabour for his 5th District seat, representing Federal Hill; and Damien Baldino to run against the winner of the Democratic primary between Rep. Steven Smith and challenger John Carnevale. Providence has not sent a Republican to the Assembly since 1994.

And what of the Board of Elections nominations?

If there is no action by the on the nominations with 60 legislative days, they are automatically confirmed, which creates the potential that Clarke and Goldstein could win both their legislative races and seats on the elections board. Cicione said he sees no conflict at this point.

As to why they were not considered by the Senate, spokesman Greg Pare said the governor’s office assured Senate leaders the names would be withdrawn.

Dorsey to head Obama’s campaign in Montana

Michael Dorsey, who ran Barack Obama’s Rhode Island primary campaign, has been selected as the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign chief in Montana for the general election in November.

Dorsey, 34, is no stranger to Rhode Island. He was the chief operative behind the state Democratic party’s 2006 voter turnout effort that led to Sheldon Whitehouse’s victory over incumbent Lincoln D. Chafee for the U.S. Senate.

Dorsey is a native of St. Paul, Minn., where the Republicans will hold their national convention this summer.

smackay@projo.com