Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Tuesday Cinco de Mayo, 2009

It was way too early for a frozen Margarita, so it must be true and not a blue-agave hallucination.
Coming into Hartford this morning, in the flow of bumpers speeding past the Blogster, a red, white and blue sticker memorably stood out.
“Dump Dodd,” it said in white letters on a red and blue background and probably still says, where ever it ended up. How about outside state Democratic headquarters?
We can dream.
The dump-Dodd effort is the brainchild of a couple of Woodbury Republicans, including Art McNally, the GOP town chairman, according to Republican State Central Committee Chairman Chris Healy.
The Web site is Dumpchrisdodd.com and there are T-shirts, buttons and other classic political paraphrenalia for sale.
Healy said the state GOP is on the verge of launching a new interactive Web site, as well.

Friday May 1, 2009

It’s a question the Blogster asks himself and the greater Capitol Press Room every year and this year, finally, three weeks, after the fact, we have an answer, kind of.
Kristin Sullivan, associate analyst for the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Research, created a brief but interesting report this week on Good Friday in Connecticut at the request of lawmakers.
Here it is:
“You asked for the legislative history of the law designating Good Friday as a legal holiday and why state offices close on this day.
Either the governor or the law may designate a legal state holiday. The governor designates Good Friday and it appears this has been the case for over 100 years. Thus, we cannot provide a legislative history on a law designating Good Friday.
By law, any day appointed or recommended by the governor or the U. S. President as a day of “thanksgiving, fasting or religious observance,” is a legal holiday (CGS § 1-4). We searched the State Register and Manual and found that since at least 1906, Connecticut governors have so designated Good Friday. They have also designated Thanksgiving Day. The law currently designates as legal holidays New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, and Christmas.
State offices normally close for legal holidays, including Good Friday, because the State Personnel Act requires each state employee to receive paid time off (CGS § 5-254). Thus, the statutes generally treat legal holidays like weekends: they are not considered business days and state employees are not expected to work. (However, on a legal holiday, state-chartered banks may decide for themselves whether to open or close.”

The guy in charge back in 1906 was Gov. Henry Roberts, a Republican from Hartford.

Friday May Day, 2009

Speaker of the House Chris Donovan, reacting to a report in the Courant today indicating that police are seeking an arrest warrant on a misdemeanor criminally negligent homicide charge against Rep. Jim O’Rourke, D-Cromwell, suspended him indefinitely from a deputy speaker job in the majority caucus.
The post pays $34,446 compared to rank-and-file salary of $28,000 for O’Rourke, who has been under police investigation for months after he reportedly allowed a woman to leave his car without shoes or a coat, after they spent time together at a local bar January 21. She was found dead in the snow near where O”Rourke,45, dropped her off.
Deputy speakers hold the podium in the House chamber and run business when the speaker isn’t there. There are six deputy speakers and so far this legislative session, O’Rourke has not held the podium, in attempt to avoid possible embarrassment to Donovan.
Donovan said he read the Courant article “with great sadness.”
“We do not yet know if prosecutors or a judge will sign the warrant,” Donovan said in a statement, adding that O’Rourke should concentrate on his legal problems. “While he does so, he will not be able to adequately carry out the additional responsibilities of deputy speaker during an especially challenging time in the Legislature.”