Rell Barks at Wednesday’s Blog Dog; Dems Find Smoking Video

Thursday April 17, 2008

Gov. Jodi Rell, at the end of an otherwise low-key “avail” with Capitol reporters this morning, got huffy when Blog-o-rama quoted from yesterday’s item from Speaker of the House Jim Amann, who said “It’s feasible” that the governor’s re-election team hid the bad news on the escalating cost of the New Haven Rail Yard project during the 2006 gubernatorial election.
Blog-o-rama: “The speaker of the House yesterday, coming out of your office, said quote it’s feasible that in 2006 the bad news about the train yard was kept from the public in some kind of cynical election-related ploy. Do you want to comment on that?”
Rell: “No, I wouldn’t comment on that,” she said.”I would just tell you that I’m surprised that he would say such a thing. And if you know Bob Genuario (secretary of the Office of Policy and Management) he would probably be equally upset with something like that. But I would tell you that in 2006 Bob worked with the DOT in trying to bring those numbers down in 2006 and 2007.”
Another reporter: When did you first know this project was way over budget?”
Rell: “January.”
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats today – taking a day off from micromanaging their shrinking majority caucus – unearthed some video footage of Rell, dating from a month after her 2006 gubernatorial landslide, as a high-ranking state DOT official gave her the word on an $800 million cost projection for the New Haven rail yard project, up from the original $300 million.
No, the scene was not at a Bosnian airport.