Political Scene got an unexpected e-mail from General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio’s spokesman, Tim Gray, last week pointing us to a new feature on the treasurer’s Web site: a blog.

After weeks of budget hearings and endless stories about the swelling deficit, we were more than ready for a lighter read, so we checked it out.

For the record, “Frank Caprio’s Blog,” which debuted about two weeks ago, is written by Gray.

And it was quite a read, offering a running commentary on everything from the bailout to the stimulus package to singer Jessica Simpson’s weight travails and former Yankee coach Joe Torre’s new book. It also had a fictionalized conversation between Gray and Mickey Mouse.

But don’t bother looking for those juicier bits. The office was quick to remove the sports and pop culture postings just hours after Political Scene questioned whether such topics were suitable for a taxpayer-funded government Web site.

“Treasury’s Web site is updated daily with new material as we strive to leverage the Web to increase government transparency; we will continue to tailor content to better address the public’s interest in Treasury,” Caprio’s deputy chief of staff, Xay Khamsyvoravong, said in an e-mail.

Before the postings came down, Gray, a former sports broadcaster, told Political Scene in an e-mail that he wanted to mix “pop culture with politics and current events ... with hopefully a little humor as well ... not your typical blog.”

Interesting idea, but on the taxpayer’s dime?

“A lot of it focuses on what’s going on with the economy and job layoffs, which is what we deal with in the office,” Gray told us that night.

The blog is at blog.treasury.ri.gov/

Caprio’s campaign war chest reaches the $1-million mark

Speaking of Caprio, Rhode Island’s general treasurer has hit the million-dollar mark in campaign fundraising.

In the three-month stretch between Sept. 30 and Dec. 31, Caprio’s war chest increased from $866,519 to $1,017,333. After expenses, he had $1,001,061 left, which placed him far ahead of any of the other potential 2010 candidates for governor.

By way of comparison, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline had $684,570 left after raising $119,885 and spending $43,809.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, a Democrat, had $391,647 left after raising $118,840 and spending $44,131.

Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts, also a Democrat, ended the quarter with $254,780, after raising $45,824, spending $22,061 and loaning her campaign account $100,000.

Having recently thrown his name into the gubernatorial mix on the Republican side, Rep. Joseph Trillo, of Warwick, closed last year with $60,053, after raising $125 during the previous quarter and spending $901.90.

Republican Governor Carcieri, who is term-limited, ended last year with $47,987 in his account after raising $7,100 and spending $50,583 — which included repaying $25,000 he loaned to his previous campaigns. His outstanding personal loans to his campaign now total $1,367,550.

Carcieri is running a radio ad campaign to urge support for his budget-cutting proposals, but that campaign is being paid for by the group TransformRI. Carcieri is its honorary chairman. TransformRI has taken the position that it does not have to disclose its spending or contributors because it is not a traditional political action committee, but rather a 501c4 nonprofit corporation. It was created by Anthony W. Bucci Jr., the finance director for Carcieri’s last reelection campaign, and two of Carcieri’s other financial backers, John Treat and Anthony Marouchoc.

Ucci interested in becoming House speaker

Let the games begin.

Rep. Stephen R. Ucci, a Johnston Democrat, says he’s considering a run for House speaker.

“I am interested in running for speaker when Speaker [William J.] Murphy doesn’t run anymore,” Ucci said in a brief interview on the House floor last week. He also made the announcement on Representative Trillo’s cable television program on Wednesday.

“A lot of my colleagues know that I am doing this. But that is two years from now and we have so much going on,” said the two-term representative, who works as a lawyer at Raytheon.

And if Murphy does want to run again for the job two years from now?

“Well then we’ll have to reevaluate what goes on then,” was Ucci’s response.

For his part, Murphy said Ucci told him personally that he would be interested in running for speaker at whatever point the job opens. Murphy said such aspirations are not unexpected in what he called “the House of ambition.”

But Murphy bristled at any suggestion that he is a lame duck. “I think it’s a distraction now for anybody to talk about who the future speaker of the House will be in Rhode Island because we do have a speaker right now that was just elected, and in 2011 I look forward to being elected again.”

While the first weeks of this session have focused almost exclusively on “the fiscal condition of the state of Rhode Island,” he said, “there will come a time when we shift our energies toward the 2011 [speaker] election, which I will be a part of, so reports of my demise are grossly exaggerated, as Mark Twain once said.”

Ucci is not the only lawmaker who has publicly — or privately — acknowledged interest in becoming House speaker, arguably the most powerful political position in the state. Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, and Rep. Gregory Schadone, D-North Providence, have also signaled interest.

For Sasse, a shaky trip home from Europe

Gary S. Sasse, director of the state Department of Revenue, made headlines last week when the tax-reform panel he chairs recommended scrapping the state corporate income tax and making a host of other changes.

He was lucky to be there for the announcement.

Sasse, who had taken a short vacation to Portugal, was scheduled to return home to the Ocean State via London’s Heathrow Airport early in the week.

But as weather junkies might remember, London had been slammed with an unusual snowstorm that brought the city to a grinding halt for several days.

Sasse’s plane was diverted through Zurich, Switzerland — but not for long.

“About 30 minutes into the flight, the pilot announces he’s returning to Lisbon Airport,” Sasse recalled to Political Scene. “I thought he had forgotten his lunch or something. But then he announces there’s a crack in the window and that’s not a good thing.”

The so-called crack turned out to be a shattered window on the side of the cockpit, Sasse discovered once safely on the ground after an emergency landing.

But the revenue director played down the entire event promising there was no real crisis, at least not that he could see.

“The plane didn’t even lose pressure,” he said. “…The most harrowing part was trying to get rebooked.”

R.I. Treasury Department bares its finances online

Before we go, here’s one more thing about Caprio. In what might be considered a win for open government, his office has announced the launch of the first state-sponsored online database of government spending.

The new Web site, dubbed “Treasury Online Checkbook,” will be officially unveiled at a news conference today. It will allow the public to search all Treasury Department spending including salaries, offices expenses and other checks written.

In a statement, Caprio said he hopes the site “will become the model for state and local government in their efforts to be more accessible and accountable to the taxpayers of Rhode Island.”

“The hope is that other agencies will follow our lead and make their expenditures available,” the treasurer’s spokesman, Gray, said in an interview.

“It’s about accountability and holding a specific department accountable for how tax dollars are being spent,” he added.

kgregg@projo.com