JOHNSTON - When news broke that Mayor William Macera and Councilman Ernest Pitochelli apparently tussled two weeks ago in Town Hall, people here grinned and said, "That's Johnston."

Across the rest of Rhode Island, as word spread in papers and on radio talk shows, people shook their heads and said, "That's Johnston."

But is it, as so many have said over the years, really just Johnston?

Politics here has always been more a rodeo than a round of golf, the kind of whirlwind sport where anything can happen, the contest is always colorful, and, even when you win, you're bruised and dirty and tired.

And yet, involvement in politics bestows the kind of professional pride that can be glimpsed in a hockey player's gap-toothed grin or a rugby player's wave to the crowd as he's carried off the field on a stretcher.

And so, it probably didn't surprise anyone last month that Pitochelli, 75, and Macera, 64 two of the most outspoken political sportsmen in town were involved in what has become known simply as the "belly-bumping" incident.

On Good Friday, as Town Hall employees counted minutes until they could leave work early, Macera, a former priest, sat in his office, guessing when the attorney general's office which is now interviewing potential belly-bump witnesses would come to question him.

He wondered how it had all become such a big deal.

"I really don't want to talk about it because it's under investigation," he said.

After waking up from a nap later in the day, Pitochelli, a former commander of AMVETS, a national veterans' organization, wasn't surprised the state was investigating.

"There is a history of Macera pushing people around," he said.

The facts, as agreed upon by both men, are these: Pitochelli tried to enter a budget meeting and the mayor tried to stop him.

That's where the agreement ends.

Two days after the event, on April Fool's Day, Pitochelli filed a complaint with the police stating that Macera grabbed him from behind when he went into the mayor's conference room to pay a visit to the town's former finance director, Leo Fox.

He said Macera spun him around, told him to leave and tried to push him out the door. The councilman said his index finger was somehow bruised in the struggle.

Macera denied spinning Pitochelli. He said he watched Pitochelli enter the conference room from his adjacent office and that he walked in behind the councilman and told him he could not be part of the private budget meeting.

Despite its name, there was apparently not much belly-bumping to the showdown.

Police Chief Richard Tamburini said the attorney general wanted a "thorough investigation." A spokesman for the attorney general's office said that Laura Pisaturo, deputy chief of the criminal division, had taken up the case.

Complicating an already odd story is the question of who will represent the two politicians in court if the case gets that far. As a councilman, Pitochelli claims he is entitled to legal defense paid for by the town. The mayor could claim the same.

By default, both men may avail themselves of the services of the town solicitor, Louis DeSimone, although Pitochelli said he believes the Town Charter allows the council to hire its own lawyer.

No one knows what might happen, and few are publicly placing bets on the outcome.

But before you wager on who might win this latest contest, or whether political rowdiness is something oozing up from the very soil here, let's recount three of Johnston's greatest hits, involving three politicians who would be mayor:

In 1995, Robert Thistle accused Pitochelli of assault when Pitochelli pushed Thistle's hand off his shoulder and refused to apologize. The charges were later dismissed.

In 1999, two firefighters accused Macera of assault after the mayor allegedly shoved them during an argument. A statewide grand jury later refused to indict Macera.

In 2002, Louis Vinagro, another well-known and very vocal local, was seen slugging a state official on the 11 o'clock news during a fire at his recycling facility on Green Hill Road. Vinagro was convicted of assault and spent 90 days in prison.

Over the last two decades, all three have run for mayor and lost at least twice. In 1998, they all ran against one another. Only Macera has triumphed in his quest for the corner office at Town Hall.

And so the question remains, is it just Johnston? Is Johnston a place where politics and pushing go together like milk and cookies? What conclusions can be drawn?

Undoubtedly, there will be many answers. Certainly, no one answer fits.

But late Friday afternoon, Pitochelli offered a brief explanation for the raucous, humorous and proud history of political scrapping in Johnston.

"I guess those are things that happen when you get involved," he said, "and you have a mouth."