red-carpet doesn't ask for root password

I am running red-carpet 2.0.1 with XD2 on RedHat9.
When I start up red carpet from the System > Software Update menu item,
it does not ask for the root password. Red carpet launches and shows me
the system status (up to date or requiring updates), however as
non-root, it won't let me select any packages to install/uninstall.
The only way I can use red carpet normally is to run red-carpet from a
shell as root. 
This is a bummer.
The same thing happened before I installed XD2 and also was happening
before I completely re-installed Red Hat 9 . (I did keep my home
directory so maybe there is a .file with some bunk configuration?)

Any help would be appreciated.