Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas is looking into a potential “economic development” project.

Journal / Kathy Borchers

Political Scene has learned that at least one unlikely Rhode Islander participated in the Republican National Committee’s “2009 Congressional District Census.”

The effort, launched by RNC Chairman Michael Steele, gathered information from GOP supporters around the country to “target specific campaigns and energize and expand our Republican base,” according to a letter that accompanied the surveys.

State Democratic Party Chairman William J. Lynch was a bit surprised when Steele’s letter arrived at his Pawtucket home last month.

“Mr. Lynch, to win in 2010, the Republican Party must be better organized than the Democrats every step of the way. Today, I am counting on your help to ensure we meet that goal. Please don’t let us down,” read the letter, which also asked for donations of between $25 and $500. “Your registered census is one of a select few being mailed into Rhode Island’s Congressional District. Because of your high level of political involvement and steadfast commitment to the Republican Party, your personal input on the questions presented in your Census Document is critical to our Party’s future.”

Lynch declined to send a donation, but filled out the survey (indicating, among other things, that the single most important economic issue facing him and his family was “lack of rational Republican leadership”).

He also attached a note written on Democratic Party stationary.

“I am happy to have received your recent letter and survey,” Lynch wrote. “I am always happy to assist you by informing you how misguided your party is.”

RNC spokesman Tyler Brown told Political Scene that such efforts are an imperfect science.

“The purpose of this correspondence is simply to take the pulse of our supporters and strengthen our party through fundraising,” he said. “We are always looking to update our lists and will do so in this case.”

Election team formed

East Greenwich business executive Rory Smith has begun to assemble a consulting team for his fledgling Republican campaign for governor.

Last week he announced his hiring of the New Hampshire-based Norway Hill Associates, led by David Carney, a White House special assistant to former President George H.W. Bush; and James McKay, former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, as his “general consultant,” and Dave Sackett at The Tarrance Group, as his pollster.

A Rhode Island native, McKay had a role in the national GOP’s unsuccessful 2006 run at the Vermont U.S. Senate seat won by then U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, and in Texas, in Republican Gov. Rick Perry’s reelection campaign.

Carney is no stranger to controversy, having been at the center of a 2004 presidential campaign imbroglio involving the hiring by Republican operatives of workers to solicit signatures to put independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the New Hampshire ballot.

New Hampshire Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging the hiring constituted an illegal corporate donation. The office of general counsel recommended the commission “find reason to believe that Norway Hill and its principals knowingly and willfully” made an illegal corporate contribution to the Nader campaign.

Carney was quoted in the Portsmouth Herald at the time as saying: “The Kerry campaign is obviously afraid of a Nader candidacy ... and anything they are afraid of, I support.”

The FEC ultimately voted to dismiss the complaint, on grounds the principals in the company “each likely reimbursed Norway Hill within ... [a reasonable] period of time from their individual funds, converting the potential illegal corporate contribution into permissible in-kind contributions” of $2,000 each, and the Nader campaign reimbursed “the remaining $265 in potentially illegal contributions.”

The FEC decision said: “The commission does not see the value of spending investigatory resources to determine whether this small amount was reimbursed in a commercially reasonable period.”

In his press release, Smith quotes Carney as saying about him: “Rory is an exceptional candidate. His experience helping small businesses through tough economic times will serve the people of Rhode Island well. More than anything, Rhode Island needs to create economic opportunity and Rory has the skill to do just that.”

Smith takes stand

Smith was also referenced in another press release last week.

State Democratic Party Chairman Lynch lashed out at the GOP gubernatorial hopeful for not responding to a Journal reporter’s request for comment on a story about domestic partners.

“I’m disappointed to see Mr. Smith already ducking the tough questions. Rhode Islanders have the right to know where he stands, especially on an issue that deals with compassion and an individual’s fundamental civil rights,” Lynch said. “I think it’s fair to ask if Mr. Smith shares the same narrow-minded and homophobic ideology as Don Carcieri and many of his supporters.”

Smith phoned Political Scene to explain himself.

“I would have loved to comment on the issue. I did not get the Projo’s message until after the deadline,” he said.

It turns out Smith didn’t agree with Carcieri’s decision to veto legislation allowing domestic partners to make each others’ burial decisions.

“I support legislation for allowing domestic partners to make funeral arrangements. And I would not have vetoed that bill,” he said. “I don’t understand all the reasons for the governor’s veto. I can just tell you that I support rights for domestics.”

Lobbyist hired

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline has hired G. Patrick Gould, a former Washington, D.C., lobbyist for the City of Buffalo, N.Y., to serve as his political director as he seeks a third term in 2010.

Gould, a native New Yorker, has previous ties with the Ocean State, having worked on Gov. Burce Sundlun’s second gubanatorial campaign from 1992 to 1994.

He found some notoriety in the earlier part of this decade partnering with Michael Scanlon in the lobbying firm Scanlon Gould Public Affairs.

Scanlon, the former communications director for House Majority Leader Thomas DeLay (R-Texas), pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2005 for defrauding Indian tribes of $40 million in a scheme played out with another powerful Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, who also pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

Gould, a Democrat, did not take part in the scheme, though he was interviewed by the FBI and other federal agencies, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a D.C. watchdog group.

He went on to work for Capitol Partners and later O’Neill and Associates.

Meanwhile over in City Hall, Cicilline’s communications director Rhoades Alderson, stepped down this month to take a job at the New Harbor Group, a Providence communications firm.

Alderson, who was the co-chair of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Rhode Island, is being succeeded by Karen Watts, a Narragansett High School graduate and Brown University alum who spent nearly 20 years in the publishing world.

She previously ran Karen Watts Books, a book development firm in New York. Prior to that, she was an editor at Random House/Times Books, Workman Publishing, and Seth Godin Productions, according to the firm’s Web site.

Watts says she got her first taste of politics working in D.C. on Ronald Reagan’s 1984 presidential reelection campaign. She currently lives in Providence.

Caprio hears venture

Three of the best-known faces from the 2006 Harrah’s-financed Narragansett Indian casino drive returned to the State House a week ago for a private meeting with General Treasurer Frank Caprio.

The delegation included the Narragansett’s Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, lobbyist Terry Fracassa, and one-time Celtics hoop star Kevin Stacom. All three lobbied hard three years ago to get the tribe’s West Warwick casino proposal on the ballot, where it was ultimately defeated.

But both Thomas and Fracassa said their visit to the state treasurer, along with two unidentified representatives from a mid-West manufacturing company, had “absolutely nothing” to do with gaming.

Thomas said Fracassa contacted him about a potential joint venture with a company that manufactures items for the military which believed a partnership with a federally-recognized tribe might give it an advantage in the contract selection process. Thomas surmised, “The reason this manufacturer sat down with us ... [is that] we could benefit them.”

But he said he did not want to jinx the potential “economic development” project, which he has not yet outlined for his own tribe, by saying too much, too soon.

Thomas said he has known and respected the Caprio family for years, and attended the same high school in Narragansett as the state treasurer, but he said it was Fracassa who suggested the treasurer’s office would be a good “meeting space...[because] Frank and Terry knew these people.”

When asked, however, to describe Caprio’s role in this private meeting, his spokesman Tim Gray, said he just “listened.”

Parting of the ways

The Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College, a vocal player in the state budget debate, is ending its formal relationship with the public college.

The organization announced that this fall, 10 years after its inception within the college’s School of Social Work, it would incorporate as an independent nonprofit entity.

“Ten years ago, the Poverty Institute was founded by two passionate volunteers. Today we have a growing team of expert staff and a dedicated board of directors,” said executive director Kate Brewster. “Becoming a separate organization will help us continue to grow and build on our successes advocating for low- and modest-income Rhode Islanders.”

The organization has drawn criticism from conservatives for being a taxpayer-financed entity that regularly lobbies for “revenue-side” budget solutions that raise taxes or fees.

The announcement notes that the organization has always been separately funded through competitive grants and individual contributions. Beginning in the fall, however, the Poverty Institute will “assume responsibility for back-office functions such as accounting and human-resources administration, and rent office space at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work.”

kgregg@projo.com