Driving down Providence’s College Hill on a cold morning last week, Political Scene was somewhat startled to hear the once-familiar radio voice of Steve Kass hawking food from Federal Hill’s Venda Ravioli on the Don Imus show, which began airing recently on WSKO (790-AM).

Yes, it is the same Steve Kass who collects a $125,000 state salary as Governor Carcieri’s communications director. And no, Kass doesn’t have a second job doing commercial voice-overs, and the Republican Carcieri administration is not in the business of endorsing restaurants, especially one owned by the family of the Democrat who runs the House Finance Committee, Rep. Steven Costantino of Providence.

It turns out that Kass taped the Venda ad before he took the state job, during his days as a local radio talk show host, said Carcieri spokesman Neal. The ad, which urges Imus listeners to shop at Venda for halftime treats during the football season, is owned by Venda proprietors and the management is permitted to run it any time it wants, Neal said.

Kass does not receive any payments or residuals for his Venda voice-over, Neal said.

Kass, once the radio sidekick of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., before Cianci’s “vacation” in federal prison at Fort Dix, does have one side job from his old career. He appears on a food show, Living the Good Life, which runs on WPRO (630-AM) on Saturday afternoons. Kass is paid for his work, but the show “has nothing to do with politics,” said Neal.

“We are all bipartisan when it comes to good food, especially good Italian food,” he said.