Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Wednesday April 22, 2009.

It’s 3:15 and the Blogster just came up from the House floor, where House Minority Leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk just said he plans to set up an exploratory committee, within the state’s campaign finance rules, to set the table for the 2010 elections.
He’s open for a variety of offices, but not governor, lieutenant governor, or treasurer.
Cafero, who was first elected in 1992, is suggesting that his entire 37-member minority caucus also set up exploratory committees.
“I think we’ve learned from the last election that the campaign-finance system has certain advantages,” he said.
His exploratory committees would eventually transition into a candidate committee for one spot or another.
“My goal is to be on the ballot with Gov. Rell and Lt. Gov Fedele,” Cafero said, leaving himself open to anything from attorney general to running for re-election representing Norwalk.
“I’ve contributed to Gov. Rell, I’ve encouraged her to run for re-election,” Cafero said.

Wednesday April 22, 2009

It looks like the Senate is heading for a mid-afternoon debate on the gay-marriage legislation mandated by last October’s landmark state Supreme Court case. Majority Democrats are preparing a so-called conscience-clause amendment to appease a few Republicans, The bill currently exempts religious centers, such as churches, synagogues and mosques and adjacent schools from having to host gay-marriage ceremonies and receptions. The Family Institute of Connecticut, which has a palable disgust for the two co-chairmen of the Judiciary Committee – Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven and Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford – has been campaigning to get language that would let places like K of C halls off the hook. But the Knights of Columbus run what the law calls “public accommodations,” which means if they’re open to one wedding reception, they’re open to all.
Anyway, the amendment would supposedly give places like florists the option to provide services for gay marriages. So let’s get this straight: a Connecticut company, in this economy, would turn down business because the protagonists are of the same sex?
Besides, the Blogster thought most florists are gay.

Tuesday April 21, 2009

Yesterday’s vote in the Government Administration & Elections Committee could put the state on track for a long, pricey legal battle over whether the Indian casinos have the right to let patrons kill themselves and by extension, kill their employees as well.
The two tribes have said that if the casino-smoking ban, approved 8-3 by the Democratic-dominated committee, is voted into law, they will divert slot-machine revenue to an escrow account until the case is settled in court. In 2008, the revenue to the state declined to $398 million.
“If you’ve spoken to some of the people who work in casinos and in particular the dealers who are subject to that secondhand smoke, those people are our constituents,” said Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, co-chairwoman of the committee to Republican warnings of protracted litigation..
“They are supposed to be protected by the laws in this state and we have the obligation to protect them even in their place of employment,” she said. “No money can pay to bring somebody back who has lost their life due to lung cancer or some other health impact that’s the result of a job they have.”
The state’s anti-smoking ban took effect on October 1, 2003 for restaurants and workplaces with more than five employees.
On April 1, 2004 it expanded to taverns, cafes, and bowling alleys. It affects only those private clubs whose liquor permits are issued after May 1, 2003.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said after the committee vote Monday that since the state decided that the health of workplaces is important, the casinos should be no different.
“The state has a ban on smoking in almost all bars, restaurants and public places and the same standard should be applied to casinos to protect patrons and workers,” Blumenthal said in an interview.
Blumenthal said that the state’s compacts with the tribes established “firm” conditions on the operation of the casinos to which the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans agreed.

Monday April 20, 2009

Supporters of the pot-decriminalization bill, which is pending in the Senate, set up a table in the concourse between the Capitol and the Legislative Office this morning to lobby for the bill and promote the utility of cannabis’s less-stoned brother: hemp.
They said that hemp, which has no psychotropic effects on smokers, could help the state’s economy if it were allowed to be grown for fabric and fibers. Yep, it’s “green,” too, both figuratively and literally. “We can be energy independent, without nuclear power,” says some of the group’s literature touting hemp for fuel.
Since it’s not a session day in the Capitol, the foot traffic past their table is minimal.
But Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, is the sponsor of the bill, which should at least reach the debate stage in the Senate this year.
Last year for those of you who have lost your short-term memory from smoking too much weed, Gov. Jodi Rell successfully vetoed a bill that would have legalized marijuana for medical use and would have held harmless growers of medical marijuana.
The current legislation would turn possesion of a half ounce of pot or less an infraction rather than a misdemeanor. Based in part by last year’s pro-pot referendum approved by Massachusetts voters, the Connecticut version would create a $250 fine for possession.
The supporters have a Web site: CTFreedomRally.Org.
They’re also sponsoring various noontime “break” during the lunch hour today at the American Indian fountain in Bushnell Park, down the hill from the Capitol.
It’s now 1 p.m. and the Blogster’s back from the park, where there were exactly zero pot proponents at play.
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Thursday April 16, 2009

Republican lawmakers this afternoon will offer an alternative, back-to-the-future budget thst will use the 2007 spending package as its template, according to a GOP source. The budget, crafted over the last couple of weeks, will have no new taxes. Its basis is Gov. Jodi Rell’s two-year, $38.4-billion budget proposal, plus additional cuts made by the Democratic-dominated Appropriations Committee.
Unlike Rell’s budget, which was underfunded by as much as $1.8 billion, the Republican plan will be balanced, the GOP insider said. The day after the Tax Day Tea Party brought more than 3,000 protesters to the Capitol, this budget could have some legs, if the Democrats want to admit that they can’t come up with all the answers.
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Wednesday April 15, 2009

Here’s a tax day euphemism for you. Standing in the well of the House yesterday afternoon, the Blogster was listening to a veteran lawmaker talk with some degree of concern about the unemployed.She offered up a tasty, near-poetic rationalization for someone having trouble making ends meet: “I’m not broke. I’m having a hard time monetizing.”

Wednesday April 15, 2009

No, the Westport movie legend has been dead for a few months and is immune from prosecution.
It’s just a typo in a news release announcing that Paul Newman will be “inducted” into the Connecticut Hall of Fame not “indicted” as the headline unfortunately proclaims.
The ceremony wil be tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at the Hall of Fame, which is located on the second floor atrium of the Legislative Office Building.

Wednesday April 15, 2009

“Leave No Banker Behind.”