Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Wednesday December 10, 2008

Say what you want about John “Why Should I Resign If I’ve Done Nothing Wrong?” Rowland, he was never caught on FBI tape with the kind of potty mouth that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has.
Rowland may have given Key Air of Oxford a million-dollar annual tax break in exchange for luxury air charters to Florida and Vegas; and the Tomasso Group of New Britain the sweetheart $56-million contract to build the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown following tens of thousands of dollars in improvements to his Bantam Lake cottage.
But he never tried to actually SELL a job like the vacant US Senate seat, so Rowland has that going for him.
It took four years since Rowland copped a plea in US District Court, but finally we have another governor who, ignoring history, chose to repeat it.

Monday December 8, 2008

And Gov. Jodi Rell just continued the annual holiday tradition of giving “present” to high-profile state officials and politicians.
In an otherwise austere, scolding speech before the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce in Cromwell about the need to cut the state budget, Rell offered a list for the naughty and naughtier.
This is at the end of her 20-minute address to about 900 people:

For that ‘homebody’ (Attorney General) Dick Blumenthal: Jack Kerouac’s ”On the Road”
· A couple of books for (Stamford Mayor) Dan Malloy – Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” autographed by Dick Blumenthal — and Bernard Wolfe’s1952 novel, “Limbo.”
(Outgoing Speaker of the House and potential gubernatorial challenger) Jim Amann – Here’s another twofer: The Dickens’ classic“Great Expectations” to read first and then he can finish up with Stephen King’s “Misery.” That about sums it up.
For President-Elect (Barack) Obama – What else? Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” · I wanted to get (Vice President-elect) Joe Biden a book but I then I thought: no matter what book I gave him, he would claim he wrote it.
For (Sen.) Hillary Clinton: two volumes of poetry by John Milton –“Paradise Lost”….. and “Paradise Found.”
· I think Sarah Palin would love to read this while sitting on her porch looking across the sea: Ian Fleming’s “From Russia With Love.” · And now that Governor Palin’s not campaigning, she’ll probably have time to read the American classic – James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Deer Slayer”
· For the CEOs of the three automakers, two books: The 2009 Rand McNally Driving Atlas, and Erica Jong’s landmark book “Fear of Flying.”
· For President Bush, where do I begin? He will have loads of time on his hands now. He can start with Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.”
· I know our two U.S. Senators are avid readers, too. · For Chris Dodd, how about “A Consumer’s Guide to Home Finance.”
· And I think Joe Lieberman will really enjoy Larry McMurtry’s“All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers.”
· You know, I have one book left on my list but I am not really sure who to give it to. · I guess I’ll just hold on to it until after the start of the session next month and then maybe I will have a better idea of who would be the best recipient. · I have a feeling there could be plenty of takers. The book? Why of course it is John Jakes’ historical novel: “The Bastard.”
· Here’s my final wish – it’s the same wish I had last year. · Peace … Peace on earth and goodwill toward men. · Safety and blessings for the men and women who serve our nation in uniform. · And all the joys of the season for their families who wait athome.
· “Home comings” is what I would like most. · Homecomings for our troops – home comings for all your friends and family who may be far away this season … · And many healthy and happy home comings in the year to come…..

Thursday December 4, 2008

Hey, the Blogster missed an anniversary on Tuesday: the fifth annual celebration of John “Why Should I Resign If I’ve Done Nothing Wrong” Rowland, the disgraced former governor, lying to members of the Capitol press corps in Waterbury. Within eight months of mouthing his lies, Rowland resigned under the stress of a possible impeachment in the General Assembly. In December of 2004, he pleaded guilty to felonies that landed him in prison for 10 months. His friend, New Britain developer Bill Tomasso, whose company got a $56-million sweetheart contract to build the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, also served prison time.He had employees perform much of the work on the cabin, but the infamous hot tub never became part of the felonious equation, because it was given as a present by his long-time office scheduler and her husband.
Here’s the story that ran in the Connecticut Post on December 3, 2003.

By KEN DIXON
WATERBURY – Gov. John G. Rowland denied on Tuesday that a hot tub installed in his exclusive Litchfield County get away home will get him in hot water with federal investigators.
The governor, speaking in reaction to a growing number of news reports, said he has invested more than $30,000 on the four-room”cabin” on Bantam Lake, but has paid full price for all the work
.He said contractors were never offered state jobs, nor would he ever be in a position to hire them.State opposition leaders said Tuesday that allegations of corruption and ethical lapses seem to be distracting at the very least to the third-term governor. During a sometimes-combative 20-minute news conference on the UConn campus here, Rowland said that he has not been contacted by either state or federal investigators.
“It a cabin,” Rowland told reporters. “It’s 800 square feet. It’s got four rooms, there’s no winterization. Patty and I like to go out there with our children and enjoy our time out there. There’s really not much more to that.
“The Republican governor admitted that it has been a tough year both personally and professionally, but he has been honest throughout his two-plus terms in office.Rowland said he bought the cabin’s hot tub “seven or eight years ago” from a Torrington dealer and installed it in the Governor’s Residence on Hartford’s Prospect Avenue before eventually moving it to the back porch of the two-and-a-half-acre Bantam Lake weekend retreat.
“We’ve not been accused of anything,” Rowland said. “We’ve not been alleged to do anything.”Rowland spoke in response to a report in the Hartford Courant that indicated federal investigators are looking into the underlying value of work estimated in building permits that total about $13,500.He said he has taken out three loans for the work.
The kitchen cabinets that were reported to be custom-built, were boughtoff-the-rack at Home Depot.
“In actuality, we spent more than $30,000 doing improvements to the cottage,” Rowland said. “We paid for all the improvements.”
The newspaper has reported that at least two contractors had been told that if their prices were low enough, they might receive statework.”Do you know how hard it would be to get a job to go work at the state Capitol or at the (governor’s) residence?” Rowland said, adding that he hadn’t even met the contractors.
Last March, a former Rowland deputy chief of staff pleaded guilty to accepting gold and cash in exchange for steering contracts including three deals that were awarded to the New Britain-based Tomasso Group.One of those contracts is the long-delayed juvenile court and detention center in Bridgeport.
In recent weeks, former long-time Department of Public Works Commissioner Theodore Anson of Brookfield was removed amid reports that he accepted free architectural work on an addition to his home performed by a major Tomasso subcontractor.
Rowland has paid a record amount of fines and penalties dating back to 1997, when he accepted seating upgrades at a series of rock ‘n’ roll shows. Most recently, he reimbursed the state thousands ofdollars for vacation visits to homes in Vermont and Florida owned by William Tomasso, president of the construction company and longtime Rowland friend.
Compounding the public troubles, Rowland’s stepson was recently busted on a marijuana-possession charge.
“It’s been a difficult year,” Rowland said. “In the last couple months, there’s been pictures of our children going into courtrooms.Some newspapers have sent reporters to our kids schools, interviewing teachers and interviewing some of their classmates. That didn’t goover very well.”
He became testy when reporters asked whether federal investigators have asked him about the work.
“As I said earlier, we will participate and cooperate with any investigation,” Rowland said. “We have submitted thousands and thousands of pages to the feds already, going back over the past year, and we will continue to cooperate.”
Tom Swan, director of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group, said Tuesday that at this point, Rowland’s administration has created a series of corrupt or questionable ethics.
“I believe that John Rowland is starting to run out of excuses,”Swan said. “I think the only one he had left is the dog ate his homework.”
George Jepsen, state Democratic leader, said Tuesday that often during renovations values on file with permits are exceeded by consumer costs.
“On the other hand if subcontractors were told to low-ball their prices with the promise to state work, that’s legitimate grounds for a investigation,” Jepsen said. “The real problem is that governmentis grinding to a halt, becoming paralytic as John Rowland becomes more involved in investigations.Rowland and his senior staff are dealing with accusations and not governing.”
Meanwhile, House Democrats have scheduled a press conference today to propose an citizen-based ethics commission.

Wednesday December 3, 2008

Republican Gov. Jodi Rell, fresh from her visit yesterday in Philadelphia with other governors and President-elect Barack Obama, is jetting off today to the Council of State Governments meeting in Nebraska.
It starts tomorrow and runs into Sunday, when she’ll fly back.
On the agenda at the Hilton Omaha are policy meetings on energy, environment, public safety and the economy.
Rell, who is the president of the CSG and thus gets a free flight (for you monitors of her travel ban) is the target of a new attack by a weekly newspaper, with a hypothesis that she cuts ribbons but basically doesn’t do anything.
It’s one of those giveaway papers, which are fine and dandy, though their reporters seem unaware that the DEMOCRATIC MAJORITIES in the House and Senate run the legislative pipeline.
That pipeline includes last week’s special session in which a minuscule $26 million in cuts were enacted to solve a $288-million budget problem. Maybe the weekly newspaper will find this out by next June, when the blood bath, which will be next year’s budget-setting session, peaks and Democrats finally stare at the multi-billion-dollar deficits. .

Friday November 28, 2008

A new audit of the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities makes the Blogster wonder how they can enforce workplace rules when they have so much trouble following the rules themselves.
For starters, in 2005, 2006 and 2007, only about half of the more than 3,300 complaints were open and closed within the 370-day maximum.
The commission routinely ignored the requirement to file contract-compliance and affirmative-action reports.
It failed to comply with state telecommuting rules. Its Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission, which is at least four years old, has NEVER submitted an annual report to the governor, as required annually by state law.
Finally, travel authorization request forms were not on file “for an employee who attended four ‘board meetings’ of a national affirmative action organization, for a total of eight days, during calendar year 2007.”
The commission, in its response to the audit, said the King Holiday Commission has formed a “subcommittee” assigned to prepare a report for the governor; the controls on telecommuting were strengthened; and “staff turnover” was blamed for the failure to meet investigatory guidelines.

Wednesday November 26, 2008

Just in case you’re convinced that Connecticut is tightening its belt, the state Commission on Culture & Tourism just awarded $651,585 in grants to non-profit organizations, municipalities and schools.
Sure the state should invest in the arts, but the Blogster likes the timing of the commission’s release, the day after the special session where the best the General Assembly could come up with was $25 million in spending cuts.
The culture vultures spread the money among about 100 groups. The Cooperative Marketing Grants alone totaled $414,883, “to increase attendance, visitation, overnight stays and leverage theCommission’s marketing and regional tourism district funds.” The money included billboard-advertising programs.
Remember when Gov. Jodi Rell wanted to eliminate billboard advertising in our lifetimes?

Tuesday November 25, 2008
It’s the lunch hour and Joe Lieberman, John McCain’s not-quite running mate, is staging a news conference in an apparent attempt to rehabilitate himself, even as some state Democrats work to censure him and ask him to leave the party for partisan election-year crimes.
But since it doesn’t look as if there will be 61 Senate Democrats next year, Joe’s not going to be drummed out of the party.
The Blogster just got off the horn with Nancy DiNardo, Democratic state chairwoman, who believes that since Barack Obama has sent the message that Lieberman’s needed in the caucus, Connecticut Dems won’t ask him to leave during the next meeting of state central on December 17th.
“Basically, I am hearing that President-elect Obama wants Joe Lieberman in the caucus, so I think people are feeling that they will be keeping him in the party, but they clearly want him to know they’re not happy with his supporting McCain and criticizing Obama,” DiNardo predicted.
In the committee’s October meeting, there was a movement to censure Lieberman – whose loss to Ned Lamont in the 2006 primary sent him on an orbit closer to Republicans on the war issue and McCain for president – and ask him to resign his party affiliation.
State party members were still smarting over Lieberman’s speech at the GOP National Convention.
DiNardo predicted that during that December 17 meeting, some form of communication may result that will be sent to Lieberman, criticizing his doing business for McCain.

Monday night, November 24, 2008

Seconds after the Senate voted final action on the $288-million deficit-reduction package tonight, Gov. Jodi Rell’s vast PR department cranked out a challenge to the spineless Ds, who in their $25.6 million in actual real-live spending cuts, eliminated most of the state Office of Business Advocate Rob Simmons’ office. Rob, for those of you who live west of the Connecticut River, was the three-term GOP congressman from the state’s Third District. Rell rewarded him with a patronage job when he got kicked out by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney.
Besides that partisan humor, the Ds didn’t really hit a home run against what could be a multi-BILLION-dollar deficit next year.
“The General Assembly took a step in the right direction tonight, but only a step,” Rell said in her statement. “The reality is that the cuts only get more difficult from here on out.
These actions do not bode well for the ability of the Legislature to confront the difficult decisions that will be required to protect Connecticut’s future in the face of $6 billion in budget deficits over the next two years.Much more than tinkering around the edges will be required in the weeks and months to come. Far more rigor – and far more backbone – will be required if we are to truly serve the best interests of the people of Connecticut.”
This from someone who put the bottle-deposit issue into her mitigation proposal as a long-shot way to get to a bottom line of $300 million and who also lacks the interest in facing Capitol reporters on any kind of regular basis for Q and A. But she has a tough outer shell.