Should the state be naming buildings after Rhode Islanders who haven’t yet breathed their last?

The critical question of above ground or below took on a life of its own on the House floor last week, with Majority Leader Robert Watson, R-East Greenwich, hardly able to keep a straight face as he argued against naming the new Kent County Court House after former Gov. Philip W. Noel, who is very much alive.

It wasn’t personal, he said. “I certainly believe there is a building in this state, possibly even this building that should be named after Governor Noel.”

But only in Rhode Island would it seem normal to name buildings after those who may visit or, more bizarre, work in them.

Rep. John Patrick Shanley Jr., D-South Kingstown, pointed out that however strange, the living monument is a bit of wacky tradition here. A courthouse, the airport terminal and a variety of other buildings all post names of live bodies.

At the University of Rhode Island alone, three buildings have been named after the living: former Gov. J. Joseph Garrahy has a residence hall named in his honor, as does the Wiley family, of which several members are still living. And just two or three weeks ago, the Assembly voted to name Independence Hall after retiring Provost Beverly Swan, who, Shanley says thankfully, is expected to be “breathing with [him]” when the building is dedicated this week.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to keep the Philip Noel Judicial Complex proposal, well, alive.

Howard Dean huddles with local Democrats

It was a tale of two Democratic parties Thursday night.

At Providence Prime restaurant, on Federal Hill, a group of party elite fundraisers and elected officials met for a private dinner with Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean. Huddling with Dean were Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, state General Treasurer Frank Caprio, fundraising activist Susan Weiner, former Providence Mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr., state AFL-CIO president Frank Montanaro, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer George Nee, Edna O’Neill Mattson, the party’s national committeewoman, business leader Alan Hassenfeld and Richard Licht, the former lieutenant governor.

Dean, a former Vermont governor, exchanged greetings with old Rhode Island friends and then quickly retreated to the private dinner in the back of Prime, the restaurant favored by Bill Clinton when he is in town. The group was brought together by Mark Weiner, Clinton confidant and top party fundraiser. Dean was in town prospecting for campaign money for the fall campaign against Republicans.

The Federal Hill confab was a somewhat buttoned-down affair; across town, a comparatively raucous Democratic event was in full swing: a fundraiser for Rep. David Segal, D-Providence, who represents the Fox Point neighborhood, a slice of the city’s downtown and East Providence. Segal’s time, held at Nick-a-Nees, the celebrated tavern in the city’s Jewelry District, drew hundreds of young Democrats.

Nick-a-Nees is a studiously casual joint, known for its jukebox (Dylan, Sinatra, blues), dog-friendly atmosphere, Red Sox fans and bartenders who are on a first-name basis with all the regulars. Think Cheers with grit.

Shirts and ties were in the minority, but there were a few lobbyists and labor union types, including Bob Walsh, executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island, the teachers union; Bob Mauro, of Local 401 of the Service Employees International Union; Jim Cenerini, of the state AFL-CIO; and Lucie Burdick, president of the Rhode Island Alliance of Social Workers. Lobbyist Wally Gernt was also spied at the bar.

Providence Mayor Cicilline was the only politician to make the trip from the Dean event to Segal’s.

Two bands entertained: the brassy What Cheer Marching Brigade, and Trolley, an ensemble of Brown University students. Hundreds spilled into the Nick-a-Nee’s parking lot to listen to What Cheer and mingle on a rainless evening.

Many State House Democrats showed up, but House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, and Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, were conspicuous by their absence.

A handful of Republicans, however, were in attendance, including House Minority Leader Watson and Rep. Nicholas Gorman, R-Foster (Wesconnaug?).

“If we could get this many people to come to our fundraisers, we’d control the House,” quipped Gorham.

Accompanying Watson and Gorham was Donna Perry, communications director for the state GOP and sister of right-wing talk-show host John DiPietro. Perry wanted it known that she was there only as a friend of Watson, and that her presence should not connote “any support for Representative Segal” or the Democratic Party.

Perry said she happened to be in the neighborhood, attending a function for her brother. At the bar, Walsh, the teachers union leader and nemesis of Governor Carcieri, offered to run as a Republican candidate for state representative against Watson.

“Donna, I think I can help in your campaign to recruit candidates for the House,” Walsh said.

“Let me think about that one,” joked Perry.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about Segal’s fundraisers is that payment is optional. There were no name tags, comp tickets, or enforcers at the door keeping out the press or people who didn’t pay. “People can pay what they want, $25, $75, $100 or nothing,” Segal said.

“You can see by this-sized crowd that David does a great job bringing people together for his district,” said Rep. Ray Sullivan, D-Coventry.

And speaking of election season, State House lobbyist Allan W. Fung has announced a Republican run for Cranston mayor. Again.

Tomorrow evening, the former Cranston councilman and ally of onetime Mayor Stephen P. Laffey is expected to formally announce his second campaign against Democratic Mayor Michael T. Napolitano, the state’s Republican Party tells Political Scene.

Napolitano narrowly defeated Fung, a lobbyist for MetLife Home and Auto Insurance, for mayor in the 2006 election.

Speaker Murphy hears Ireland’s Bertie Ahern

The final days before Bertie Ahern stepped down last week after 11 years as Ireland’s prime minister were packed with last-minute activities.

Ahern made several trips to the United States, including one to Boston in which he bestowed $2 million on the John F. Kennedy Library.

But it was his trip to Washington that put Rhode Island in the spotlight.

House Speaker Murphy traveled to the nation’s capital to meet with Ahern and sit in on the statesman’s address to a joint session of Congress.

Murphy told Political Scene he was proud to be on hand for one of Ahern’s last official speeches. “Afterwards, I had the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Ahern in the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, along with Congressmen [James R.] Langevin and Patrick Kennedy and John Murphy of Home Loan Investment Bank.”

The speaker said he was also impressed by Ahern’s remarks about continuing the strong relationship between this country and Ireland.

In answer to Political Scene’s favorite question: no taxpayer money was used for Murphy’s one-day trip.

ALS fundraiser will honor the late Tony Marcella

The celebration of the life of Tony Marcella continues this week with a fundraiser in Marcella’s honor.

Friends will gather Friday evening at Newport’s Ocean Cliff Hotel for music, hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction. Proceeds from the event will go to the ALS Foundation and the Marcella family.

Marcella, a lobbyist, former chief aide to Congressman Kennedy and former executive assistant to Rhode Island House Majority Leader Fox, died in March of complications from ALS. He was 43.

And for those of you who missed it last week …

Pagliarini joins Office of Higher Education

John “J.R.” Pagliarini, dismissed in February by Governor Carcieri from his job as the governor’s deputy chief of staff, has landed at the state Office of Higher Education.

Jack Warner, the commissioner of higher education, confirmed that Pagliarini has a $115,000-a year job as associate commissioner of higher education. When he worked in Carcieri’s office, Pagliarini was paid $124,190.

After Pagliarini’s dismissal from Carcieri’s staff, Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said Pagliarini would be leaving state government.

Pagliarini has a public employment history dating to the 1980s administration of Gov. Edward D. DiPrete and is well-known and well-liked in Republican circles in Rhode Island. He was the communications director for Lincoln D. Chafee when Chafee was mayor of Warwick.

After Chafee became a U.S. senator, Pagliarini worked as state director of his Rhode Island office. Pagliarini has also been a private-sector State House lobbyist.

Warner said he did not create a new job for Pagliarini; he is filling a vacant position. (Warner is a finalist for a job as chancellor of Pennsylvania’s state universities.)

Pagliarini does not have extensive higher-education experience, but Warner said he personally recruited him. “Nobody ordered me to take him,” Warner said in an interview. “I recruited him on my own initiative.”

Pagliarini is studying ways to make administrative functions at the state colleges and the University of Rhode Island more efficient, and he is formulating an action plan in the event of a flu pandemic at the state colleges.

smackay@projo.com

cneedham@projo.com