PROVIDENCE –– How many producers does it take to produce the John Celona show?

That was one of the questions before the court yesterday as the Roger Williams Medical Center corruption trial wrapped up its second week in federal court.

After hearing from a marketing person from the hospital’s affiliated assisted-living center about former Sen. John A. Celona’s promotional efforts there, the defense sought to qualify an expert witness –– veteran Rhode Island television and radio producer and advertising man Robert LaChance.

With the jury excused, LaChance, owner of R.J. LaChance and Tin Can Alley, offered his assessment of the value of Celona’s television show, which the defense says was used to promote The Village at Elmhurst, thereby justifying Celona’s paid consulting job.

But the prosecution, which alleges that former hospital executives Robert A. Urciuoli and Frances P. Driscoll paid Celona for his political muscle, challenged LaChance’s expertise.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi did not immediately rule whether LaChance can testify before the jury when court ended for the day. But she seemed skeptical.

With the defense expected to take another day or two, rulings that could send the case to the jury could come early next week. One outstanding question: Will Urciuoli take the stand in his defense? His lawyers declined to comment.

Earlier yesterday, a former partner in The Village at Elmhurst, Diane Sangermano, and a marketing employee there, Jennifer DeLuca, testified for the defense regarding Celona’s efforts to promote the facility among senior citizens, through personal appearances at various functions and through the senator’s cable-access television show.

Celona’s show had value to the center, DeLuca testified.

“It was almost like a 30-minute commercial,” she said.

DeLuca also testified to Celona’s presence at a “pizza wars” event at the center, and his role as a male model at a jewelry show to benefit charity.

In a memo to a colleague about the necessity of “hounding” television producers who don’t return phone calls, DeLuca wrote “John Celona, of course, is a man who ALWAYS returns a phone call!”

The jury also heard from Edward J. Quinlan, president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.

Quinlan testified that Urciuoli was the president of the group, known as HARI, for part of 2001. Urciuoli’s lawyers are trying to show that Urciuoli dealt with hospital-related legislative issues through the organization. The defense argues that Urciuoli’s contact with Celona regarding legislation was permissible under Rhode Island ethics law since it involved general health-care legislation.

Quinlan’s testimony, however, was punctuated by frequent objections from the prosecution as to relevance and long sidebar conferences, after which the judge refused to allow the introduction of several documents.

Shortly past noon, Lisi sent the jury home for the weekend and heard from LaChance, the television producer.

Under questioning from Michael Connolly, one of Urciuoli’s lawyers, LaChance testified that he reviewed tapes of Celona’s television show at the defense’s request and said that he would have charged $10,000 to $15,000 to produce a typical program. He based that figure on a minimum of six people to man the cameras and handle other production aspects, plus a week of preparation to block out the script.

Without a script, said LaChance, “the show could disintegrate quickly.”

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Dulce Donovan challenged that, noting that Celona’s show was produced at the studios of Cox Communications, which under federal broadcasting law provides community access programming free of charge. Lisi also honed in on that point, saying that studio time and production personnel are provided for free.

LaChance agreed, but estimated that he would still have spent $6,000 to pay a production person for a 40-hour week to map out and script the show.

Lisi seemed surprised.

“How much is that per hour?” she asked. (It’s $150.)

“Almost as much as a lawyer,” quipped LaChance.

“The next question is how does one get one of those jobs?” asked Lisi.

“We’re not hiring now, your honor.”

mstanton@projo.com