East Providence Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr. says a limousine, sporting signs in support of the casino proposal and Isadore Ramos, brought people to polling sites on Tuesday.

Courtesy of Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr.

EAST PROVIDENCE — Former assistant Schools Supt. Isadore Ramos appears to have beaten Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr. in the race to be the city’s next councilman at-large, though a recount looms.

The two were 12 votes apart, with Ramos ahead, when the polls closed Tuesday. Ramos’ lead is now 22 votes after the state Board of Elections counted the 782 mail ballots early yesterday morning. The mayor immediately asked for a recount.

School Committee Chairman Antone Gouveia Jr. also plans to ask for a recount. Political newcomer Steven Santos, a business analyst for Lifespan, leads Gouveia by 21 votes in the race for the Ward 4 school board seat.

Meanwhile, Larisa has raised another issue and it involves a white limousine.

“I congratulate the Ramos camp on a hard-fought campaign,” Larisa, a lawyer, wrote in a recent e-mail to The Journal. “I have always said that Dr. Ramos is a good man and one of integrity. Unfortunately, the outcome of this race was wrongly influenced by outside interests in the form of casino giant Harrah’s.”

He said a limo, sporting signs in support of the casino and Ramos, brought people to at least two city polling sites. He supplied The Journal with a photograph of the vehicle outside of the Watters Elementary School in the Riverside section of the city. He said he and his campaign workers also saw the limo at Kent Heights Elementary School.

“This dirty trick has no place in East Providence politics,” Larisa wrote. “In exchange for a free limo ride to the polls, dozens of voters voted for the casino and the ‘suggested’ single local candidate – Ramos. At worst, the exchange of a stretch limo ride for a vote is illegal, at best it is simply wrong.”

Clare Eckert, spokeswoman for the Harrah’s-backed Rhode Islanders for Jobs and Tax Relief, said yesterday, “We did not rent any limousines at all. We were offering rides to the polls, but none of those vehicles, that I am aware of, had any signage on it. The campaign followed all regulations all the way down the line.”

Yet the group disciplined an “overzealous” staffer for sending an “unauthorized” e-mail Saturday criticizing Republican candidates opposed to the casino and endorsing Democratic candidates. A second e-mail hours later apologized for the first. It said the group is a nonpartisan organization with “strict rules” against advocacy for or against individual candidates.

Ramos is a Democrat, although the council race was a nonpartisan contest. It was the third matchup between Ramos and Larisa – Ramos won the first by more than 600 votes and Larisa won the next by more than 400 votes – and by far the most talked-about campaign in the city.

“I have nothing to do with Harrah’s,” Ramos said. “All I know is a [East Providence School Department] custodian came to me and asked me for a sign. He drives a limo, and I saw the limo and my sign and assumed it was his. I didn’t see a casino sign. Larisa should know better. I guess he’s just grabbing at straws.”

Ramos’ campaign manager, Bob Rodericks, said he thought the limo was “comical.” He said there were also coffee trucks with Ramos signs on them giving out free coffee.

He said the Board of Elections said recounts “rarely, if ever, change the results.” It will occur next week because the state deadline to request a recount is 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The printouts of each polling place’s ballot machines will be rechecked against the state’s results and the more than 16,000 votes cast will be put through the machines again. Larisa said he will reserve further comment until then. Yet he did say the moments before the absentee ballots were counted were “stressful.”

Ramos’ camp said both candidates were at the state agency’s headquarters early yesterday morning waiting.

“Poor Izzy [Ramos] was on a roller coaster last night,” Rodericks said.

Earlier Tuesday evening, the city’s Democrats announced Ramos was ahead by 432 votes. The crowd chanted, “Izzy, Izzy, Izzy,” while Ramos stood at the podium in tears. Yet they had added the results incorrectly and had to tell Ramos he was only leading by 12 votes. When the numbers with the absentee ballots popped up, Larisa and his people left quickly. He also said City Councilman Bryan Silva asked Larisa if he was going to congratulate Ramos and there was no response.

“I’m tired,” Ramos said. “But I’m glad I got the job done.”

Ramos and the new council take office Dec. 4.