the former Democratic gubernatorial contender who couldn’t beat John Rowland back in 2002; or Fred Carstensen the UConn economist; or Bill Cibes; or any number of know-it-alls who slide in and out of the Capitol periodically. Nope, around 6 this morning, a flatbed from a New York art foundry showed up with nearly two tons of “The Genius of Connecticut,” which will be hoisted on it’s marble pedestal sometime this afternoon. The statue’s arrival culimnates a process that began in May, 2005, when the then-newly minted speaker of the House Jim Amann approved an idea to make a poly resin model of the original winged allegorical statue. Well, engineers said that would never withstand the winds on top of the 257-foot dome, so it eventually became bronze, like the original although about a ton lighter. At this moment, around 10:45, men in hard hats are pondering how to move the 18-foot-tall statue, on its side, closer to the $30,000 pedestal.
The Blogster says, grab a sandwich around noon, bring it to the Capitol and watch some contemporary history in the making. The Genius will stay in the rotunda until enough cash is rasied to make structural changes at the top of the Capitol and then hoist the winged statue to the top, where the original was loosened in the Hurricane of 1938, then melted down during World War II.
