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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The largest state and municipal employees' union has invited three of the growing number of candidates for governor to pitch their candidacies - and answer questions on where they stand on issues vital to union members - at its March 20 convention.
As things stand now, Council 94, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees convention intends to close the candidates forum to media coverage.
Asked why, Council 94 spokesman James Cenerini said the event marks an occasion for the delegates representing thousands of union members across state and local government to conduct "internal union business,'' including the election of their top officers for the next four years. No endorsements will be made that day; that comes later.
But he confirmed that former U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, running as an independent, and Democratic primary competitors Patrick C. Lynch, the state's attorney general, and Frank T. Caprio, the state treasurer, have all been invited to speak at this closed-door gubernatorial forum.
Moderate Party candidate Ken Block has not been invited. Nor have either of the Republican candidates: John Robitaille, the governor's former communications director, who has formally announced his candidacy, and state Rep. Victor Moffitt, who will make his announcement April 1.
Moderate Party spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger called the exclusion of Block both disappointing and "typical of what we see with special interest groups.'' She said they "only want to listen to those voices they...know well.'' She labled the decision: "Their loss.''
Robitaille said: "I can only assume my invitation got lost in the mail. I would be most willing to speak about my candidacy with the Council 94 membership..''
Added Caprio spokesman Nick Hemond: "Frank is a big believer in open meetings and it is our hope that they will decide to open the forum.''
Chafee spokesman J.R. Pagliarini said: "We will use the time between now and next Saturday to encourage the union to reconsider'' the closed-door format. But regardless of their ultimate decision, he said Chafee's "message of how his experience and vision will help re-energize Rhode Island has been the same to all audiences and in all settings.''
Cenerini said the invitation list was limited to those candidates who "the membership has indicated have the higher potential for support.'' He said only one other state-level candidate has been invited, Tom Sgourus, one of two Democratic candidates for treasurer.
Cenerini said Sgouros was invited back, because he had been well-received when he spoke to the Council 94 convention a year ago, as a non-candidate, about his 2009 book, "Ten Things You Don't Know About Rhode Island."
Among Sgouros' chief arguments: the notion of union dominance is undermined by the battles organized labor is losing at the State House on such issues as pension reform and mayoral academies.
The convention will also be dominated by the election of Council 94's leaders for the next four years.
J. Michael Downey, a long-time plumber at the University of Rhode Island, is running for reelection as president, after a tumultuous year in which union members reluctantly agreed to temporary pay concessions in return for no-layoff guarantee through the remainder of Republican Governor Carcieri's term in office. The presidency pays a $30,000 a year stipend.
