November 7, 2005

Rhode Island Politics

Another Crisis in West Warwick?

Carroll Andrew Morse

The Projo has the full transcript of the Guy Dufault/Michael Levesque exchange from this past weekend. In addition to the personal smear directed against Governor Carcieri and the condescension directed against Lieutenant Governor Fogarty, the exchange involves a third issue of interest…

Dufault: Well, I did send a little note to Jan and Dave basically saying that, ya know, this is a very, very difficult situation. Michael and myself are on top of it but this, ya know, this could have lethal implications for us. Cuz I, ya know, who.... even if Jeannie.... even if she cracked up and stepped down. I mean we gotta make sure we win that seat.

Levesque: Yeah, but she can't step down.

Dufault: She can't step down.

Levesque: Cuz nobody will be able to ....

Dufault: I put a call into her about meeting after work tomorrow just to kind of hold her hand and ... She hasn't called me back yet though.

”Jeannie” is presumably West Warwick Town Council President Jeanne-Marie DiMasi. "Jan", I will speculate, is Jan Jones, a senior lobbyist for Harrah’s casino.

More questions than answers here. What doesn’t Levesque think anyone will be able to do, if DiMasi steps down? What are the lethal implications that Dufault and Levesque are worried about? Having compliant local officials in West Warwick only matters if a plan for advancing the casino issue at the state level succeeds; what is that plan? And most importantly, do the people of West Warwick want a town council president who’s holding on to the job because she’s been ordered to by gambling interests, or do they want a town council president who represents the interests of the people of West Warwick?

7:33 PM
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These two are unbelievable. There's no better reason for opposing a West Warwick casino than Dufault and Levesque. Sounds to me like Jeanne DiMasi might not be the loon they've been making her out to be.

Posted by: rightri at November 7, 2005 9:20 PM

I know, it almost makes me think she just might be sane afterall. Any way that you look at this, it is good for the Republicans, and bad for the Democrats.

Dufault is worse than the scum on sleeze's shoes. He literally represents everything that is wrong with this state. The way he talks, you'd think he were Boss Tweed running Tammeny Hall.

Posted by: RI Republican at November 8, 2005 12:31 AM

don't a majority of the people in West Warwick want the casino anyways?

Posted by: robert at November 8, 2005 9:55 AM