There will be some interesting political dynamics at work when the Senate Task Force on LNG holds its inaugural meeting at the rise of the Senate today. The issue is provocative since Attorney General Patrick Lynch (who is cultivating labor support in his Democratic primary battle with Frank Caprio) has been an outspoken critic of LNG, while local trade unions see LNG as a lucrative jobs issue.

Frank Caprio's decision to express support for the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition's legislative initiative comes amid the steadily intensifying phase of this year's gubernatorial race. Caprio's effort, a move to curry support with independent voters, has, not surprisingly, drawn criticism from the liberal-labor nexus and gubernatorial rival Patrick Lynch.

UPDATE: Comment from Carcieri.

An excerpt:

In what is believed to be the first vote approving a lingering debt-reduction agreement with the state, a union representing 200 Department of Health workers has supported the pact.

The union, a unit of the National Education Association, approved the agreement on a 128-to-35 margin, says Patrick Crowley, the NEA's assistant executive director. The unit represents scientists, inspectors, and other Health Department workers.

George Nee, recently elevated as president of the RI AFL-CIO, plans to maintain a high-profile in leading the union and serving as its lobbyist. As if to prove the point, he was the guest today during a taping of WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers.

This just in:

Contract Update: No Vote Today

Yesterday, Council 94 sent a counter proposal to the state and requested a meeting with the administration.  Currently we have not had the meeting.  Council 94 hopes negotiations with the state will continue soon and because we have no complete proposal or agreement, a vote will not be taken today.

J. Michael Downey, president of ASFCME's Council 94, the largest state workers' union, expects to receive a written agreement from the Carcieri administration on Monday. Downey says he's "very optimistic" that the pact will be approved by Council 94's membership during a subsequent vote, perhaps on September 25.

WRNI has learned that leaders of state public employee unions and the Carcieri administration are close to a tentative deal that would avert the governor's 12 planned shutdown days and layoffs of state workers.

Former ProJo scribe Mark Arsenault has a good overview in the Boston Globe of the latest clash between Governor Carcieri and organized labor, accurately summing up the broader state of affairs in his first two paragraphs:

More than six years ago, Rhode Island’s Republican governor, Donald L. Carcieri, entered his office from the world of big business, calling himself “a friend of labor.’’

The answer, according to Justin Katz of the conservative blog Anchor Rising, is "Yes."

"If You Could Wave a Magic Wand, What is the One Thing You Would Do?"

 ... to improve the state. This is what WPRO's Dan Yorke asked Justin, his in-studio guest for a second hour.

Justin responded that, for him, the elimination of unions would have top priority.