I am far more horrified by the blind eyes cast at routine nonsense that happens in Providence right under everyone's nose, with the approval of some very powerful people. Everyone will be watching Cianci, waiting for him to screw up, to lunch with some known criminal, when our freely elected officials dine with criminals all the time. Just look at who is contributing to their campaign war chests.
Paolino, however, is not an elected official anymore; he is certainly free to create bizarre aliances if he wishes. It certainly has a strange bedfellow feel to it, but this is Rhode Island. Is it really that surprising? I actually liked Joe's quite "you don't give a person an umbrella when it is sunny, you give him an umbrella when it is raining."
That said, i think the race for mayor just got very very interesting.