Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Thursday February 12, 2009

Prior to Jim Amann’s announcement last night that he’s available for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, the Blogster called his most-likely competitors: Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown.
Reaction was polite.
“Jim Amann has been a dedicated public servant and a friend over the years,” Malloy said in a statement. “I wish him well. Almost two years in advance of Election Day, the conversation among Democrats about who is best-positioned to win the general election in 2010 is just beginning and it’s a conversation I’m eager to have.”
Bysiewicz, in a phone interview, said she appreciated her 44-percent support total from Democrats in the new Quinnipiac Poll and fondly recalled sitting near Amann for years when they were rank-and-file members of the House. “We have a lot of talented Democrats: constitutional officers, mayors, legislators,” she said. “We’ll have to see if any others are coming into the race.”
Chris Healy, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, said Wednesday he anticipates Rell will seek re-election and use her 75-percent approval rating to her advantage.
“Everyone should be allowed to pursue his dreams in life,” Healy said, with a trace of sarcasm, of Amann’s announcement. “He’s just another career politician who’s helped put the state into the mess it’s in. I hope he offers some ideas on how Democrats can reduce the size of government.”
Just wondering: does that make Gov. Jodi Rell, with more time in state government than Amann “a career politician who’s helped put the state into the mess it’s in”? And does the question mark go inside the quotes or outside the quotes?
Nancy DiNardo of Trumbull, Democratic State Central Committee chairwoman, said Wednesday that her role doesn’t allow her to root for any particular candidate until after the 2010 primary.
“Right now we have three very-qualified people who would make great governors and have an understanding of what it is to govern and not just give some popular sound bites and think that’s the way to run a state,” she said.

Wednesday Feb. 11, 2009

The Blogster has heard that Senate President Pro Tempore Don Williams will not run for governor, leaving the field more open for Jim Amann of Milford, the former House speaker, who’s officially announcing tonight.
Also in contention are Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, who had the highest numbers in yesterday’s Quinnipiac University Poll.

Tuesday February 10, 2009

Gov. Jodi Rell, during a morning news conference, said she had a meeting yesterday with legislative leaders to go over the state’s budget crisis. She told them she was getting together her latest deficit-mitigation package and told reporters it would be announced by the end of the week.
The Republican governor said that she spoke about the retirement-incentive package she announced over the weekend and the initial reaction from leaders was positive.”There are a number of people ready, anxious and want to make sure they qualify,” she said, adding that her labor negotiator has broached the subject with the union coalition, but they didn’t commit. That seems to be the same reaction she drew from majority Democrats.
A few minutes later, in the hall outside her office, the Blogster, waiting for the governor to leave for her next event, asked Rell if the Ds talk about anything in the way of an alternative budget or a compromise.
“No they didn’t offer anything and they didn’t tip their hand if you want to call it that,” Rell said. “We actually talked about a number of things. I talked to them about the retirement-incentive plan. I’d like to do it as soon as possible and had hoped that we could actually get it done this week, but I think they felt that was just too quickly.”

Friday February 6, 2009

The deadline for submitting legislation to the Judiciary Committee has come and gone, without any Republican efforts to attack the landmark state Supreme Court decision that ordered the government to make provisions for same-sex couples to marry.
This is interesting, because it stacks further repudiation on last year’s failed effort to persude statewide voters to approve a Constitutional Convention.
It seems as if the last gasp of the anti-gay marriage campaign occurred on Wednesday, after the governor’s budget speech.
State Supreme Court Associate Justice Joette Katz of Fairfield, who sided with the majority on the gay-marriage decision, won reconfirmation in the House, but it wasn’t unanimous. Conservative Republicans including Rep. T.R. Rowe, R-Trumbull, and Rep. DebraLee Hovey, R-Monroe voted against Katz, who went through with a 132-11 vote. She’s expected to easily win approval in the Senate, for another eight-year term.
Rowe and Hovey also voted against two others who voted for same-sex marriage: Associate Justice Flemimng Norcott of New Haven, who won in a 138-5 vote and Associate Justice Richard Palmer of Cromwell, who won 136-7. By that point, freshman Rep. Tony Hwang, who represents Fairfield and Trumbull, picked up on Hovey and Rowe’s votes and joined in the symbolic vote against Palmer, who wrote the decision that everyone knows about, but very few have read.

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Thursday February 5, 2009

Senate President Pro Tem Don Williams this morning let the giant income-tax gorilla into the room and led him to the kitchen table.
Appearing with Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, on WNPR’s “Where We Live,” Williams said that “corporate tax loopholes will also be scrutinized by Democrats, who run the House 113-36, pending two special elections, and the Senate 24-12.
“The wealthy are not being asked to come to the table” to share the budget pain, said Williams, D-Brooklyn, holding a handful of metaphorical placemats and cutlery.

Wednesday february 4, 2009

The Blogster didn’t see Jim Amann in the House after Gov. Jodi Rell’s budget address this afternoon, but Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who are also interested in Rell’s job, were.
Malloy said in an interview on the House floor that Rell’s budget uses “smoke and mirrors” and isn’t balanced as required by state law. He said Rell’s proposed consolidations of state agencies (picture the new “Permanent Commission on African American Women, Children, Latinos and Healthcare Access”) is saving very little at the expense of vulnerable populations-
“I’m worried about who’s going to advocate on behalf of children or elderly or on healthcare issues, if we fold some of those particular agencies in,” Malloy said. “I’ve consolidated government for the last14 years, you know, weclome to the party. But you have to do it in a way that services are protected and I’m not sure that kind of thought has been given to those proposals.”She wants to put the onus on other people to come forward and protect the state. So she wants to claim this high ground of no new taxes. By the way there are taxes.”
Bysiewicz, whose job is to supervise elections and register state companies, said Rell left alot to be desired.
“She didn’t talk about the across-the-board increase in fees and what I’m really concerned about is the fees on small businesses over the past decade,” Bysiewicz said. “90 percent of the new jobs have come from businesses with fewer than 50 employees and 75 percent of the businesses in our state are between three and nine employees. So when you burden small businesses with higher fees they have to pay the same kind of incorproation fees and licensure fees that big corporations do, but they are the ones that are actually creating the jobs, so I’m concerned it’s going to make us less competitive, compared to other states.”

Tuesday February 3, 2009

The line of Democratic pretenders to Gov. Jodi Rell office became more crowded today, the day after Attorney General Dick Blumenthal’s announced withdrawal from the 2010 guber race.
Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy – yes, the Blogster was surprised to hear that Stamford isn’t part of Westchester County – and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown both announced they’re officially interested and will start raising money.
They join Jim Amann of Milford, the former speaker of the House, who will officially announce his candidacy in the Klein in Bridgeport on February 11.
Malloy came in second to New Haven Mayor John DeStefano in the 2006 gubernatorial primary, but Malloy’s a policy wonk who, on the face, should be a super-tough debater. His southwestern Connecticut base may also be a nice little garden for him to solict the small contributions – they are not donations; donations are what you give to non-profits or public radio stations – required under new campaign public-financing laws that take effect for the top statewide races of 2010.
Malloy said he expects to visit every “Main Street” in the state. After 2006, he probably can find them without a map.
“It’s no secret that we are witnessing monumental difficulties in Connecticut,” Malloy said in a gratuitous prepared statement, “but it might be a secret that a lot of it could have been avoided with the right leadership, vision and problem-solving skills coming from the governor’s office,” said Malloy, who has been mayor since 1995.
Bysiewicz said she’s also up to the crisis facing the state.
“With the severe challenges facing our state and nation, the people of Connecticut are craving bold, visionary leadership and innovationfrom their elected officials,” she said. “The formation of an exploratory committee will enable meto explore how best to utilize my talents and record of accomplishment toimprove the lives of Connecticut’s residents.”

Monday February 2, 2009

From Stamford to Milford to Middletown, there must have been some sighs of relief this morning when Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced on WTIC radio that he would not seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010.
.The announcement means that Jim Amann of Milford, the former speaker of the House, Secertary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown and possibly Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy will have a less-crowded, but still-packed field in attempt to become the first Democratic governor since William A.O’Neill left office 18 years ago.
In a statement later this this morning, Blumenthal backed out of running for governor by announcing he would seek re-election as attorney general.
“I am as excited and enthusiastic as ever about the challenges and opportunities in this job,” said Blumenthal in a statement.
”“I look forward to working in collaboration with the new federal administration on historic, unprecedented tasks ahead — restoring our economy and jobs, providing health care, reforming our financial regulatory system, and enabling effective law enforcement. I look forward to continuing opportunities for public service in the future.”