Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Thursday April 2, 2009

The Q Poll released this morning has U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd sinking faster than a mob associate in concrete overshoes,
Roy Occhiogrosso, of the Global Strategy Group, was lingering around the perimeter of the reporters’ scrum observing the scene, “informally”, for the embattled incumbent Democrat.
The Blogster wondered whether Occhiogrosso – whom we’ve known for the better part of 15 years, most notably as the political director of the state Senate majority when Kevin Sullivan (we still miss his articulate, biting humor) was the President Pro Tempore – has become the political equivalent of an undertaker at a capital-felony trial.
“Campaign to win,” is what it says on Global Strategy’s web site. But the Blogster couldn’t help thinking of the nags that Occhiogrosso has ridden over the years who failed to make the finish line.
Let’s see: Bill Curry beat John Larson in the 1994 primary, so that’s a win in Roy’s column.
Okay here are the losers, off the top of our head.
* Stamford Malloy Dan Malloy lost to New Haven Mayor John DeStefano in the 2006 gubernatorial primary.
* Westport First Selectman Diane Farrell lost to Chris Shays for the Fourth Congressional District.
* Sen. Joe Lieberman lost to Ned Lamont, the Greenwich millionaire, in the 2006 Democratic Senate primary.
* Bill Curry lost a couple of governor’s races.
* Jim Sullivan lost the Second Congressional District race to Rob Simmons.

Wednesday April 1, 2009

The Judiciary Committee, fresh off of last night’s two-hour debate on decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, went back to business this morning as it clears business before its Friday deadline.
Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, who voted against the proposal Tuesday night, had a proper April Fool’s Day sense of humor, when he laid a brownie, presumably pot-laced, on Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, committee co-chairman, who the night before recalled the lone time he ingested cannabist was in brownies down in Washington when he was a law student.
Lawlor cracked that the Capitol Police this morning confirmed the substance offered by McLachlan did not have psychotropic qualities.
“Oregano brownies are much appreciated here,” quipped Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, the other committee co-chairman, as Lawlor grinned in appreciation of the topical gag.
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Wednesday, April Fool’s Day, 2009

The Judiciary Committee approved legislation late last night that would end the state’s death-penalty as we know it. But if by some outside chance it becomes law, it won’t let Russell Peeler off the hook for the January, 1999 execution-style murders of 8-year-old B.J. Brown and his mother, Karen Clarke, in Bridgeport,
The committee voted 24-13, along party lines, to scale back capital punishment to life in prison without the possibility of release. The bill next heads to the House, then the Senate. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell is a supporter of the death penalty, however. Many lawmakers believe that millions and millions of dollars in court costs can be saved by ending the drawn-out appeals process for capital felons. The last execution was the May, 2005 lethal injection to serial killer Michael Ross, who rejected appeals that would have prolonged his life.