State Republican Chairman Giovanni Cicione’s description of labor unions as the “last vestige of institutional racism” has — no surprise — led a coalition of AFL-CIO affiliated unions known as Working Rhode Island to urge Governor Carcieri to demand Cicione’s resignation.

Carcieri’s response? “The idea that the governor is going to allow union leaders to dictate who should head the state Republican Party is ridiculous. Beyond that, this letter doesn’t warrant a comment,” said spokesman Jeff Neal.

The background: After his comment was first reported in The Journal, Cicione repeated — and expanded on — his views about unions and, more specifically, what he described as an “anti-Italian” bias by early union leaders, in a recent interview on WJAR’s 10 News Conference.

Asked by reporter Bill Rappleye if he had indeed called unions “the last vestige of institutional racism,” Cicione said: “I did.”

“What does that mean?” he was asked. Cicione’s answer: “If you look back to the formation of the unions, it was in large part — if you look at Samuel Gompers and people like that that were the heads of those union movements — they were publicly out there saying the reason we need to have unions is to keep the Italians from taking our jobs. That was my grandparents they were talking about back when this started …”

(Gompers, of course, was the first president of the American Federation of Labor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.)

“Nothing’s changed now,” Cicione began when Rappleye interrupted with a “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.”

“Look at the numbers, Bill. Look at the numbers,” Cicione continued. “Go to the Cranston Fire Department. How many women are in that Fire Department? How many people of color are in that Fire Department?”

“You’ve got Italians in the unions,” Rappleye interjected. But Cicione, still talking, said: “None … None because of the work rules, the union work rules prevent a natural progression of new faces of people getting new opportunities. It’s a real problem.”

On Oct. 30, the AFL-CIO’s top brass — Frank Montanaro and George Nee — and Robert Walsh, executive director of National Education Association Rhode Island, wrote Carcieri a letter that began: “We write on behalf of the Rhode Island labor community to express our grave concern over a series of comments made by Giovanni Cicione regarding unionized workers, labor unions, and union leaders since being named as chair of the Republican Party this past March. … It is clear that Mr. Cicione serves at your behest.”

Among their arguments: “While we disagree with you on the subject of state employee layoffs, you spoke of your decision as a painful one,” the trio wrote Carcieri. “In contrast, Mr. Cicione made the insensitive and hurtful statement that your proposed elimination of 1,000 jobs of state employees was ‘a good start.’”

Even “you must have cringed, as we did, when Mr. Cicione referred to those who advocate for the neediest among us as ‘poverty pimps,’” they wrote.

And finally, “Mr. Cicione’s remarks equating unions with racism were outrageous ...We ask that you immediately demand Mr. Cicione’s resignation as Republican Party chairman as he clearly no longer shares your vision.”

From Cicione came this initial response: “Clearly you understand that I was finishing my sentence when I answered my own rhetorical question about how many women or minorities serve in Cranston — ‘None.’ I was not responding to Rappleye’s absurd question about whether there are any Italians in unions.”

With respect to his comments on the early labor movement, he acknowledged having “misattributed the quote about Italians (“Dagos,” in the vernacular) to Gompers — it was [Socialist leader Eugene] Debs.” His source for the information: a quotation attributed to Debs in an op-ed piece written by a Hillsdale College professor that appeared in the Wall Street Journal in September.)

But Cicione did not back away from what he called “the lock-the-door-behind-us … anti-immigrant agenda” of unions which, he insisted, persists today. As for resigning as GOP chairman, he had no such intention, but will wear it as “a badge of honor” that union bosses wanted him gone.

For the record, Cranston Fire Chief Richard Delgado acknowledges his department has no women and has not had a black firefighter since the 1960s, but he said that has nothing to do with union rules. “We can’t get” applicants, he said.

Caprio, Cicilline have healthy campaign chests

Among those mentioned as possible 2010 candidates for governor, Gen. Treas. Frank Caprio and Providence Mayor David Cicilline remain champion fundraisers.

A computer glitch — more specifically, a lapsed “domain” registration — at the state Board of Elections forced a one-week extension of last week’s deadline for Rhode Island politicians to file their fundraising and spending reports for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. The new filing deadline is Nov. 7. But some reports have already trickled in.

In brief:

With a passel of $1,000 contributions from individuals in the banking, real estate and investment industries, Caprio had $400,878 left in his account on Sept. 30, after raising $108,476 and spending a modest $8,543.

Cicilline ended the quarter with $311,264 after raising $114,636 and spending $46,409.

Close to three dozen of his contributors work at a single law firm, Edwards & Angell. Iron Workers Local 37 kicked in in the midst of a flap over a Boston developer using non-union labor on a condo project within the city, as did assorted developers and construction companies.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch had $53,410 after raising $36,475 and spending $15,995.

Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts ended the quarter with $37,906 in her campaign account after raising $24,450 and spending $24,241.

As of Friday, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis had not yet filed his report.

On the Republican side, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian had $73,883 left after raising a comparatively modest $4,498 and spending $5,047.

But as previously reported in Political Scene, Governor Carcieri — the term-limited Republican incumbent — had only $3,002 left after paying $21,395 in expenses. Former Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey had $19,775.

Primary Day change? Governor mulls veto

The General Assembly did its part to move Rhode Island’s presidential primary from March 4 to Feb. 5.

But the move won’t become official until the governor agrees not to veto the bill. His office told Political Scene Friday that he would decide one way or the other today. Meanwhile, critical deadlines are fast approaching, assuming the governor allows the Feb. 5 primary. Today is the deadline for individuals to file for political disaffiliation, if necessary, to run as a delegate for another party. And Wednesday is the deadline for voters to disaffiliate if they wish to vote in another party’s primary.

For a full calendar of deadlines, check the secretary of state’s primary guidebook on-line.

Political Scene suspected that the office wasted thousands of dollars printing the guidebooks listing deadlines corresponding with the March 4 primary dates. Political Scene was wrong.

Secretary of state spokesman Chris Barnett informed us that no hard copies of the guidebooks were printed. The books were offered only on the Internet this year.

“The decision to go completely electronically delivered on a pledge the secretary made during the campaign to use technology to make government more accessible,” Barnett said. He called the pledge “fortuitous far-sightedness,” given the likely change of date.

Shelton dogs Carcieri

Henry Shelton is at it again. And this time, he’s got a theme.

The 77-year-old antipoverty activist is drawing from the 1952 Western classic, High Noon, in the George Wiley Center’s latest campaign to draw the governor’s attention to the thousands of Rhode Islanders going into the winter season without heat.

Shelton or another Wiley Center representative has appeared at the governor’s State House office at “high noon” for 10 consecutive work days — dating back to Oct. 23. They vow to return until the governor meets with them to talk about shutoffs and food stamp issues.

“He knows we’re coming because we come each day at noon,” he told Political Scene on Friday just before noon. “He’s well aware of what we want. We’ve been trying [to meet] for over two months …Other tactics weren’t working. Finally, it was High Noon.”

The old Western features Gary Cooper, an embattled town marshal married to Grace Kelly. Ultimately, Cooper is forced to face a gang of killers by himself. Shelton admits he hasn’t seen the movie in years and doesn’t remember the intricacies of the plot. But he likes the theme.

And Political Scene learned late Friday that Shelton’s tactics may have worked.

“Governor Carcieri has agreed to meet with Mr. Shelton in the coming weeks,” the governor’s spokesman said Friday around 5 p.m. “The governor’s staff will reach out to Mr. Shelton to set a date and time. That said, I would note that Governor Carcieri met with Mr. Shelton and his associates on these exact issues in January.”

Neal added that representatives of the Wiley Center have had “numerous other meetings” with the governor’s policy staff and department directors since the January meeting. Shelton said he wasn’t satisfied by the proxies.

“We want the governor there. He’s the final decider,” Shelton said.

Whitehouse makes Comedy Central

The voting won’t begin until tomorrow on President Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to be U.S. attorney general, but Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse — a former state attorney general — has already won some attention for his opposition to giving the job to the former federal judge.

Not only have Whitehouse’s views on Mukasey been featured in news accounts, the Rhode Island Democrat has also won a cameo on the nation’s premier fake news show.

Last Thursday night’s episode of The Daily Show on Comedy Central carried a clip of Whitehouse questioning the nominee about waterboarding. The program satirized Mukasey’s statements about waterboarding — an issue that will figure in tomorrow’s Senate Judiciary Committee vote on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm his nomination. Freshman Whitehouse is a member of the panel.

dbarbari@projo.com