Levesque: Early Warning or Something Else?

It has been revealed by J. Michael Levesque that he himself had broached the topic of "infidelities" with the Governor earlier this year. It seems the timing was...convenient, to say the least:

Levesque said he personally told the governor, during a private meeting eight or nine months ago, "that I had been hearing talk on the streets of that . . . and you never know whether the chatter is, um, uh, you know, whether it's allegations or whatever, but I thought I did the proper thing in letting the governor know this."

In response to inquiries, the governor's office confirmed yesterday that Levesque's meeting with Carcieri took place at 2 p.m., March 8 -- a week before Harrah's publicly rolled out its latest $650-million, West Warwick casino proposal.

Asked if he had gone to see Carcieri that day in his capacity as a "community-outreach specialist" for Harrah's, Levesque said: "No, and may I say this respectfully: Why are you bringing Harrah's into this?

"It's got nothing to do with Harrah's. It's me as a Republican going to the governor, whom I support and defend on a weekly basis," Levesque said. "The only time the governor and I disagree is on the casino issue . . . because I'm defending my town."

Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said the meeting essentially slipped the governor's mind when he was first asked, on Monday, if he had heard the rumors of the alleged infidelities before.

After being told of Levesque's comments, Neal acknowledged the March 8 meeting. During that meeting, he said, Levesque "mentioned that Democrats and their allies were planning personal attacks against the governor and his family. Levesque also mentioned the possibility that one of these attacks would be a baseless accusation of infidelity."

Neal said the governor did not initially even remember the meeting because he viewed "Levesque's visit as one big fishing expedition."

"Knowing that Mr. Levesque is close to Mr. Dufault and is a lobbyist for Harrah's casino proponents," Neal said, "the governor put absolutely no faith in anything Levesque had to say." Asked whether Carcieri perceived Levesque's visit as a veiled threat of exposure, Neal said: "Who knows . . . but it is certainly something we are thinking about."

"In retrospect, it certainly appears more sinister than it did at the time," Neal said. "It seems that Mr. Levesque is as responsible for all of this as this as Mr. Dufault . . . It now seems clear that Mr. Levesque wasn't reporting rumors, he was actually trying to spread the rumors."

And, "it is disturbing that he continues to this day to spread these stories by repeating them to you and other journalists," he said.

For Levesque to claim he went to the Governor as a concerned Republican is laughable given the gleeful cackle that is heard spewing from him when Dufault broached the topic on the infamous Real Deal "OOPS" tape. Thanks to Levesque, we now have even more insight into how to "get things done" in the Ocean State.