A.
Jay Higgins
Bangor Daily News
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Dems demand
Carter shelve anti-casino ad
Baldacci supporters say spot offensive to Italian-Americans
AUGUSTA - The Maine Democratic
Party demanded Tuesday that Jonathan Carter shelve a political ad it claimed
linked the party's gubernatorial candidate, John Baldacci, with Italian mobsters
and casino gambling.
"I am shocked and offended by the latest television ad from Jonathan
Carter, which perpetuates the worst stereotypes of Italian-Americans," said
Gwethalyn Phillips, state chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party, in a
prepared statement.
Baldacci, a Bangor Democrat, avoided Carter at a veterans forum in Augusta
Monday evening after the Green Independent Party candidate began airing an ad
featuring a gangland musical soundtrack and a narrator who sounded remarkably
similar to Ray Liotta in the organized crime film "GoodFellas."
The recurring point in the 30-second ad focuses on casino gambling, which is
depicted in clips of dazzling facades of Las Vegas gambling resorts and
emphasizes that Baldacci:
Co-sponsored an unsuccessful 1994 bill as a state senator to establish a casino
in Calais.
Has accepted money in his gubernatorial campaign from proponents of a southern
Maine-based tribal casino.
"You wanna roll the dice and trust Baldacci?" the narrator in the ad
asks. "If he flipped, he can flop - bada-bing, bada-boom - know what I
mean?"
The phrase "bada-bing, bada-boom" can be found in many organized
crime-inspired movies and is also the name of a strip club in the popular HBO
series "The Sopranos." As the ad closes, the narrator concludes Carter
would never support casinos at any time, "not now, not ever. Never. In
other words, fuhgedaboudit."
The phrase "fuhgedaboudit" - also featured on the "The
Sopranos" - is then superimposed across the screen.
Baldacci has not said whether he thought the ad was disparaging to
Italian-Americans. When asked that question and whether the ad was factually
correct or if he thought Carter should pull the ad, Baldacci said, "I'm
just deeply disappointed. I don't think it reflects on Maine values and the
feeling of people in the state and I think it's unfortunate."
Carter pointed out that Baldacci didn't have to respond because he would have
plenty of groups and organizations - many with strong ties to the Democratic
Party - that would be willing to do so for him.
At last count, the Maine Democratic Party, the Dirigo Alliance, the
Franco-American Center at the University of Maine, former state hate crimes
prosecutor Steve Wessler, Rabbi Harry Z. Sky of Falmouth, and the Penobscot
Nation all had issued statements condemning the Carter ad.
All asked the Lexington Township candidate to withdraw the ad, which now is
airing only in southern Maine where casino opposition is high. All of Carter's
critics used phrases such as "ethnic slur," "cruel
stereotyping," an affront to "Italian-American heritage," and
perpetuation of "harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes" to make their
point.
In the last seven months, Baldacci's views on the casino gambling proposal have
evolved from wanting to study the plan, to not wanting to place a casino in any
community that didn't want it, to his current position of promising to veto a
casino bill if it reaches his desk as governor. But if the tribes are successful
in their efforts to place the casino question before the voters in a 2003
statewide referendum, it won't matter what the governor's position is - an
affirmative referendum vote will make the casino a reality.
Carter said the Baldacci camp knows its poll numbers are going down among voters
and that the Green Party ad - paid for by Maine taxpayers since Carter is a
publicly funded candidate - is right on target as far as Baldacci's casino
record is concerned.
"Our poll numbers are going up and he's trying to stop the hemorrhaging in
his own campaign by distracting people's attention from the ad with charges that
aren't relevant and from the truth about his past record on casinos,"
Carter said. "He doesn't want people to know that a lot of the people who
sit on the tribes' casino board are his big financial backers."
He said the narrator's accent was similar to many heard in New York or New
Jersey and that the words "Italian or Italian-American" were never
mentioned in the ad. Carter publicly apologized to any Italian-Americans who may
have been offended by the ad, but remained perplexed by the negative reaction of
so many groups.
"The dialect is one that anyone regardless of their ethnic background would
have if they lived in Brooklyn or the vicinity," he said.
But the Carter campaign also insisted that ad was intended to point out that
there is a clear link between casino gambling and organized crime.
Perhaps not surprisingly, none of Baldacci's other opponents shared the common
outrage voiced by the Democrat's supporters. Peter Cianchette, a South Portland
Democrat who is also of Italian descent, said he was not offended by the ad at
all which he perceived as a "parody" of the popular
"Sopranos" television show. His communications director, Jen Webber,
said Baldacci needed to be "a little less sensitive."
"He going to have to be thicker skinned if he wants to be governor,"
Webber said. "He can't go on like this."
John Michael, the independent gubernatorial candidate from Auburn, said Baldacci
was ducking Carter's issue.
"His record on casino gambling is absolutely fair game," Michael said.
"Because John is in with the gang that wants a racketeering exclusive for
casino gambling in Maine and that's why he sponsored the bill before. What are
guys like [casino proponent and former governor] Ken Curtis going to make on
this thing? It's worth millions and they all know it."