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.