By News staff

By Mike Stanton, Journal Staff Write r

Frank T. Caprio says that President Obama refused to endorse him because he’s “a different kind of Democrat” — so different, some Republican critics claim, that he clandestinely courted the GOP earlier this year in his quest for governor.

John P. Dodenhoff, the former campaign manager for Republican Stephen Laffey, says that he was invited to lunch in February by Michael Lepizzera — a Cranston lawyer and Republican operative — who broached the idea of Caprio running as a Republican.

Caprio and Lepizzera, who is supporting Caprio for governor, dispute Dodenhoff’s account. They say that Lepizzera acted on his own, and that his overtures went nowhere.

Dodenhoff told The Journal Monday that he explicitly asked Lepizzera if Caprio approved of the approach.

“He said, ‘Frank might want to come over,’ ” recalled Dodenhoff. “I was taken aback. I said, ‘Geez, Frank Caprio a Republican? I don’t know how that’s gonna fly.’ I asked Mike if this was just him brainstorming … or is this something that Frank knew about, and he said yes. Then I asked if his father, [Providence Municipal Court] Judge [Frank] Caprio, was on board, and I was told yes.”

Around the same time, Dodenhoff and two town Republican chairmen say, people left messages on Laffey’s cell phone, saying that Caprio wanted to speak with Laffey.

One of those callers, former Governor Carcieri aide Jeffrey Britt, accompanied Caprio when he visited the Republican National Committee in Washington the same month.

The purpose of the visit is in dispute. A national RNC spokesman told The Journal last month that Caprio requested the meeting, accusing him of “selling his candidacy to the highest bidder.” Caprio said Tuesday that he merely dropped in to visit Rhode Islander Kenneth K. McKay IV, Governor Carcieri’s former chief of staff, who was then the RNC chief of staff.

Caprio said Tuesday that he never contemplated running as a Republican, but sidestepped questions regarding his conversations with Republicans.

“All that stuff played out months ago,” he said.

View full post on All Stories