Amid the layoffs, the Carcieri administration has posted a hiring notice for a new $89,135-to-$101,499-a-year administrator of the state Division of Motor Vehicles, known more familiarly to most Rhode Islanders as the Registry.

What’s this about? After threatening for more than a year to retire, registry chief Charles F. “Ted” Dolan has served notice that this time he really means it and will be gone after finishing up the week before Christmas.

Dolan, who turns 66 in February, said he put his retirement plans on hold because “we were in the middle of a big investigation by the state police,” and he didn’t feel it would be right to leave that on the table for somebody new.

The investigation to which he referred culminated in the arrest in October of two Registry clerks who have been charged by the state police in a wide-ranging scheme of falsifying dozens of Rhode Island driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and people involved in midlevel drug dealing. Dolores Rodriguez-LaFlamme, 40, of Providence, and Soraya Santiago, 42, of Pawtucket, are accused of working with two middlemen, who were paid about $2,500 to $3,000 by each person who wanted a valid Rhode Island license with a fake identity.

After retiring as the captain of detectives in the Pawtucket Police Department, Dolan spent three years as inspector general for the state Department of Transportation, and 10 years as chief investigator for the DMV before former Governor Lincoln C. Almond chose him to head the DMV in the fall of 2000 after the former administrator, Thomas Harrington, retired.

As administrator, Dolan said he has been keenly aware that the Registry is one arm of state government with which almost every Rhode Islander does business, and the place where first impressions are made for new arrivals. He said he has been frustrated by failed attempts to move the Registry first to the Pastore complex, in Cranston, and then to a site along Plainfield Pike in Johnston, but is proud that the registry was open for business within five days of being forced by severe storm damage to relocate to the temporary quarters — where the main branch of the Registry still resides in Pawtucket — nearly three years ago. But he said he is leaving with bids already in for a three-year, $13-million upgrade of the Registry’s “30-year-old” technology system.

For every derogatory letter the Registry receives, he says he gets “20 to 25 letters” of gratitude.

He shared one from William A. McCombe, of Block Island, that said, in part: “I called on 10/11/07 because I needed a rush on my title … I know people are quick to complain when they are not happy, however, good service should be [complimented]. Please pass this note of appreciation along to Diane in the Title Department who was so helpful to me.” And, this one from Herman E. Sousa said: “Most people regard the [DMV] as an absolute nightmare and dread the entire process, but Sandy definitely made our lives that much easier with her competence, professionalism and kindness.”

A self-described “baseball nut,” Dolan said he and his wife have a second home, in Fort Myers, Fla., about 15 minutes from where the Red Sox and Minnesota twins have their spring training camps, though “not far enough” from the Yankees who are “up in St. Petersburg. I think they should be in China.”

With longevity payments, Dolan makes $119,261 a year. His division is now an arm of the new Department of Revenue. His official title is “associate director of revenue services.”

‘Buddy’ on the line

When Governor Carcieri said “Amen to you buddy” to the WHJJ caller who questioned why the state needs so many English-language interpreters, devoted radio talk show listeners heard: “Amen to you, Buddy.”

In recent days, that now-famous caller has emerged from behind his radio moniker: “Buddy from Johnston.”

He is Bruno “Buddy” Tassoni, 71.

He says he is a fit 153-pound, 5 foot, 4 inch grandfather who plays tennis, violin and mandolin, is nearing his 50th wedding anniversary in April. He says he calls talk shows “two or three or four times” a week, among other reasons because he is on a “crusade” against the expenditure of public dollars to educate, subsidize and provide state-paid interpreters for “illegal aliens” who enter the country illegally and then have “anchor babies” so they can stay here.

“I just want to see people in this country be in here legally. That’s my biggest gripe,” said Tassoni.

“This illegal-alien problem: why am I pursuing this? I’ve got children. I’ve got grandchildren … I’m not prejudiced. I’m not prejudiced at all,” he said. “But ESL (English-as-a-second-language) children are in the school system here in Johnston and my granddaughter’s got to go to school and I’m afraid that she’s going to be held back because of what’s happening.

“You know the senators and people who have money, this is never going to be a concern. They’ll put their children in private schools. They’ll live in gated communities in beautiful homes. We don’t have that luxury as people of lower middle-class so…why do we have to educate people in this country with their parents here illegally — they have a baby which is an anchor baby — why should we have to pay for that?”

Carcieri’s “Amen to you” came in response to this question from Tassoni: “The court system, they have like, I don’t know, maybe a half-dozen interpreters. I don’t know if that number is accurate or not, but why can’t we just eliminate those jobs and have the people that [have] got to go court that don’t speak English bring a relative or a friend to interpret for them, like our grandparents did many years ago? That’s my question. Why can’t we eliminate those interpreter jobs?”

Carcieri told the caller he “said the same thing to our people.” As the hunt for expendable jobs brought to light one department with eight Spanish-speaking interpreters, “I said why are we, at taxpayer expense, providing interpreters for people who want benefits from us? It seems completely illogical to me.”

Since then, the Carcieri administration has targeted four state interpreters in the human services arena for layoff, but not court interpreters which, when faced with criticism from the ACLU and other groups about his initial comments, Carcieri said he never intended to cut.

Carcieri visits the Left Coast

Governor Carcieri spent most of the last work week in California, attending a conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association.

In response to Political Scene inquiries Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said on Thursday: “The Governor’s flight, hotel and meal expenses are paid by the RGA.”

He said the governor and Mrs. Carcieri paid for Mrs. Carcieri’s expenses and the state paid airfare ($502.60) and one night of hotel expenses ($235) for Sgt. David Tikoian, the state police trooper assigned to the governor. Neal said the RGA paid for Tikoian’s additional hotel nights and meals during the Tuesday through Friday trip.

The agenda for the RGA’s annual meeting provides a flavor of the event:

In addition to a golf tournament, skeet and trap shooting at Camp Pendleton, a Mission San Juan Capistrano tour, dinner with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a “Late Night Party” at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach, the agenda for the Nov. 28-30 conference, at the St. Regis Resort on Monarch Beach, included an “Inside the War Room” political update from party insiders and strategists, including RGA political director Paul Bennecke and Wes Anderson of OnMessage Inc.

For the record, the hosts of the Late Night Party included Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC, Blank Rome Government Relations LLC and Dutko Worldwide.

The governors were scheduled to get down to business on Friday, with a morning discussions on such topics as “sustainable economic development,” with a panel slated to include the president of the National Association of Home Builders, a principal in TPA Realty Services and the editor of “Site Selection.”

The governor and first lady were scheduled to fly back Friday afternoon.

GOP boost no help for House-hopeful Wheeler

Governor Carcieri put his best arguments for a more politically balanced General Assembly before Warwick voters last week.

But his coattails were not long enough to help Republican Jonathan Wheeler, a manager at MetLife and administrator at Warwick Municipal Court, beat Democrat Frank Ferri for the Warwick District 22 House seat in Warwick that was vacated in mid-term by Democrat Peter T. Ginaitt.

On Oct. 4, the state GOP sent out a letter in the governor’s name to about 1,500 local Republicans and independents that said, in part : “This is an unexpected opportunity …You know and I know we cannot afford to put another Democrat into the General Assembly. Unfortunately they have shown time and again they do not have the will to stand up to the leadership of the public employee unions whose demands far outweigh what the state can afford.”

“Our devoted and hardworking Republican Representative, Warwick’s own Joseph Trillo, needs more allies at the State House as he stands up to the Democrat power machine.”

(As a point of contrast, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian also sent out a letter, but his never mentioned the words unions, Democrats or power-mongers once, emphasizing instead Wheeler’s credentials as a “voice of conservatism … [who] will advocate for a wiser investment of our tax dollars so that state programs run more effectively and cost-efficiently.”

According to state GOP spokeswoman Donna Perry, Carcieri made an appearance at an Oct. 10 fundraiser for Wheeler at Timmy’s One Bay Ave, and a rally for him on Nov. 15. As the Nov. 27 special election approached, she said, Carcieri was one of several high-profile Republicans who taped messages for an automated get-out-the-vote telephone campaign, also paid for by the state GOP.

With Republicans currently outnumbered 62 to 12 in the House, his automated phone message said: “Hello, this is Governor Carcieri; I am calling to ask you to join me in supporting Jonathan Wheeler … Rhode Island faces tough challenges right now … I need more members from our party in the General Assembly to help me protect the taxpayers.”

In all, Perry estimated the state GOP spent $4,000 to $5,000 on the campaign. “You have to look at all of them as potentially winnable,” Perry said. In the end, Ferri took 53 percent of the vote, 896 in total. Wheeler was second with 33 percent, and independent Carlo Pisaturo a distant third.

Collector’s item?

One of the expenses in the $186,000 spent so far on public-relations campaign for the new “Iway” is a shiny, multicolored Commemorative Program which starts “How The Iway came to be,” provides a photo layout of “project milestones,” and offers tips on “how to get from there to here” before days of traffic jams forced a rejiggering of the routes.

The Iway, of course, is the name the state Department of Transportation and its consultants came up with for the one-mile stretch of new highway that’s a short piece of a much longer highway. The four-year, $500,000 public-relations campaign is part of a contract with Duffy & Shanley, the Providence advertising, marketing and public relations firm whose founding partner, David A. Duffy, has been a political ally of Governor Carcieri. The governor made Duffy head of his transition team in 2002 and later appointed him to the state Convention Center Authority.

DOT spokeswoman Dana Alexander Nolfe said the program was handed out to people who attended the bridge-opening festivities, in part, because all other “printed resources were either outdated or represented highly technical engineering drawings.” She said copies were also sent to local libraries, the AAA, the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and welcome centers on Route 95 in Richmond and Route 295 in Lincoln.

“The distribution was important because the material included information on exits and on ramps that explained what would be open based on the new traffic flow. …This was critical since some of the exits were not available depending on whether someone was driving on the old 195 or the Iway.”

Nolfe said the publication was “developed in-house and the concept and layout were set up in-house as well. Printing was done outside.” She said the DOT had a choice of printing 1,000 copies at a cost of $7,727, or 15,000 copies at a cost of $15,461. Given the great per-piece savings with choosing a higher print run, we chose to print 15,000 copies.”

“Currently we have approximately 1,500 copies left. If your readers would like to request one that can contact RIDOT’s customer service at (401) 222-2450,” she told Political Scene.

kgregg@projo.com