Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

The Blogster, ever intrigued by Chris Shays ‘ hand-wringing on getting back into politics, just called the Bridgeport voter registrars to see if he’s still registered, even though he sold the house at St. Mary’s By The Sea for the big bucks (and in turn getting out from under that $30,000 prioperty-tax bill) and has moved to Maryland.

 Republican Voter Registrar Joe Borges just looked it up and says Shays is indeed still registered to vote in Bridgeport, hence he’s still a Connecticut elector and eligible to run for office, according to state statutes. But he’d have to return to the state to run, for PR purposes, at least.

 Remember that Zogby Poll released for Connecticut Common Cause yesterday that showed about 80 percent of Connecticut voters approve the public-financing of elections? Yeah, well Greenwich-millionaire-Republican-fundraising-rainman-elective-office-neophyte Thomas C. Foley isn’t among them. Before Christmas he wrote checks to his gubernatorial campaign totaling $2 million, then last week, in a candidates’ forum in Cromwell, scoffed at those who can’t raise his kind of cash.

So the Blogster isn’t surprised when his campaign just blew off questions about the value of today’s statewide TV buy mentioned in an earlier posting today.

Blogster via e-mail to Adam Schmidt, press secretary for Foley: “What’s the monetary worth of the buy? What stations will it air on? For how long?”

Schmidt’s response: “It’s a significant buy that is running statewide on broadcast and cable, but it is our policy to not release the specific dollar amounts of our media buys.”

Fortunately, despite Foley’s reluctance on transparency and openness, the value of the ad campaign will have to reported to the State Elections Enforcement Commission. The next filing deadline is April 12, five weeks before the crucial Republican nominating convention. 

Gov. Rell and state unions last year agreed on union concessions that saved tens of millions of dollars while protecting state workers from layoffs. This afternoon at 4, they’ll meet again in what a union spokesman describes as “the first of what we are proposing as a series of discussions on what we hope will be ‘win-win’ solutions to the economic crisis.”

Here’s the Web site link that the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition circulated yesterday among the 13 member unions, talking about today’s meeting and some cost-savings tactics they’re willing to discuss:

http://inthistogetherct.org/2010/01/state-workers-to-urge-the-rell-administration-and-political-leaders-to-focus-on-jobs-jobs-jobs/

The Blogster is grateful for their relatively concise summations of last night’s address by the president. Here’s first GOP State Chairman Chris Healy, doing his guerrilla politics react, followed by US Rep. John Larson, D-Connecticut, whose white mane, spotted in the crowded House chamber last night, reminded the Blogster of a hybrid between Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd, which is the look he’s cultivating.

First Healy’s rant:

“After his agenda took a stunning defeat in Massachusetts, President Barack Obama claims he finally gets the message and has opted to join the American people in their anger.  What he fails to understand is that the frustration stems directly from the leftward agenda he has tried to push through Congress despite the overwhelming protests of voters.  They’re furious because the Obama Administration promised that his so-called $787 billion economic stimulus experiment would keep employment under eight percent, but today the national unemployment rate is ten percent and Connecticut has lost nearly 37,000 jobs since Obama took office.  They’re irate because rather than focusing on getting America back to work, his Administration has consistently tried to use the economic crisis as a means to pass his expensive liberal agenda of cap-and-trade, government-run health care, and unsustainable budgets. 

“It is clear that the President and his Democratic allies are playing politics, hoping that voters will have forgotten the billions of dollars that have been spent over the past year.  The Obama Administration has put American prosperity at risk dropping the ball on national security, adding $9.1 Trillion to our national debt over the next decade and jeopardizing the world’s best healthcare system for the sake of more government control.”

“Republican victories in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts have shown that President Obama has no coattails; three states that the President won in the fall of 2008 and lost in 2009 and 2010.  Chris Dodd saw the writing on the wall and decided to retire. Sending another Democrat like Dick Blumenthal to Washington will only lead to more government takeovers, weakened national security policy and Connecticut voters deserve better.”

Now Larson’s coo:

          Governor Jodi Rell just announced that $40 million in federal stimulus funding will be the first step toward a high-speed double track for commuter trains in the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield corridor. The Blogster envisions that the project might be completed before today’s kindergarten students are cashing Social Security checks. The funding is supposed to be announced in Philadelphia today.

            “This is great news for one of the most important and ambitious public transportation projects we have undertaken in years,” said Rell in a canned statement via the state DOT. “Indeed, this is more than a transportation project – it is an investment in Connecticut’s economy and will create a great many jobs. I believe that a viable commuter rail system through the center of our state and region is not only important for commuters, but for the opportunities it brings to the communities up and down the line.”

 We’re months away from the May GOP nominating convention, but Thomas C. Foley, the Greenwich millionaire whose huge fundraising for the Bush administration led to his ambassadorship to Ireland, is up on TV around the state, accentuating his business acumen, which he hopes will overshadow the fact that he’s never held elective office, The Blogster figures it’s just a coincidence that the commercials are going up today, the morning after Chris Shays, the former long-time congressman, said maybe, just maybe (like if he’s asked the right way) he’d consider a run for governor.

Here’s a script for Foley’s ads, called “Let’s Get To Work.” One’s 30 seconds and the other’s a minute.

FOLEY: “Wherever I go in Connecticut I hear the same thing:  we need more jobs. For twenty-five years I have helped turn companies around.  It’s hard work, but when it is done, the future is more promising.  Hartford is broken and broke. I have a plan to fix it.  We can bring new and better jobs here.  We can cut back wasteful spending. We can reduce the tax burden on working families — and we will change Hartford.  Lets get to work.”
 
“I’m Tom Foley and I approve this message.”

Script For “Let’s Get to Work” (TV:60):“Ingenuity, Inventiveness, know-how, Connecticut has a knack for good business sense, but when it comes to new jobs and our economy, Hartford isn’t getting the job done.”
 
“I’m Tom Foley. Growing up in the middle of six children, I learned early how to listen.  Wherever I go in Connecticut, I hear the same thing: we need more jobs. For twenty-five years I have helped turn companies around.  It’s hard work, but when it’s done the future is more promising.  I like making things better for people.  My dad use to joke that I was always tinkering — busy trying to fix things and today I tell my son nothing is impossible. Hartford is broken and broke. I have a plan to fix it.  We can bring new and better jobs here.  We can cut back wasteful spending. We can reduce the tax burden on working families and we will change Hartford.  I’ll use the same problem solving skills I used to turn around companies to fix Connecticut’s problems. Lets get to work.”
 
“I’m Tom Foley and I approve this message.”

FOLEY:

A week or so ago, the state Department of Agriculture sent animal control officers to collect abused creatures at a North Haven far. But only two of the three Scottish Highland cattle, primitive looking, shaggy-furred beasts with long horns, went along. One went skating across the frozen field and it wasn’t captured until a few days later. They’re big enough that if they don’t want to get captured, they won’t.

Anyway, that was a little background for you to consider as you digest this news release that just came over from Attorney General Dick Blumenthal.

“Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today filed a motion for custody of dozens more animals seized from the property of a man recently arrested for separate animal cruelty charges related to a North Haven farm, and who has a long record of animal cruelty cases in Connecticut.

            Blumenthal, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture (DoAg) is seeking permanent state custody of the latest seized animals, restitution for the costs of caring for the animals and an order barring animal owner Paul Novicki from owning or possessing any animals going forward.

            Collectively over the last several years, the state has seized approximately 178 neglected animals belonging to Novicki.

“We are asking the court to stop a serial animal abuser — someone who has repeatedly neglected animals and wasted state resources through numerous and large-scale animal seizures,” Blumenthal said. “We are fighting to protect and permanently take these latest animals seized, obtain money for their care and block harm to future animals.”

Commissioner of Agriculture, F. Philip Prelli, said, “I applaud efforts to treat all violators of animal cruelty laws, especially repeat offenders, seriously.” He also lauded the efforts of state and local animal control officers, as well as public safety officials and all those involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of these animals.

            The DoAg, on Jan. 14 and Jan. 22, collectively seized two horses, two mules, two burros, three cows, two dogs, 15 chickens, 26 rabbits, three pheasants, six ducks and one cat from Novicki’s property at 50 Doolittle Lane, Hamden.

            Blumenthal alleges that Novicki’s horses, mules and other animals were found roaming the nearby Hamden neighborhoods approximately 25 times since 2007, in at least one case resulting in a motor vehicle crash involving a horse.

            On multiple recent inspections, animal control officers also found that Novicki’s animals had no food or water access, and some of the animals required veterinary care. At least one dead and decomposed rabbit was found in a dirty shed that was filled with feces and dirty hay and contained a loaded firearm.

            A hearing on this latest case is scheduled for Feb. 8 in Hartford Superior Court.

Novicki has repeatedly faced criminal animal neglect and cruelty charges over the years, including one that recently resulted in the confiscation of several dozen animals from the Rambling Ranch farm in North Haven. The cases, starting as far back as 2003, include:

• In 2003, the state seized and ultimately won permanent custody of neglected animals from Novicki, including 27 horses, one mule and one cow. Novicki entered a plea of two counts of cruelty to animals in that case.

• Novicki was criminally convicted on one count of animal cruelty in 2006 after the state again seized one horse, one donkey, one mule, seven chickens and 18 chicks owned by Novicki.

• In 2008, Novicki was criminally convicted a third time of one count of animal cruelty after the state seized and won permanent custody of more animals belonging to Novicki, including five horses, three mules, 38 rabbits, two chickens, two ducks and three pheasants.

• And most recently, Novicki was arrested for six counts of animal cruelty after the state seized animals that Novicki was boarding at a North Haven farm, including four horses and two mules. In that ongoing case, Rambling Ranch farm owner Gina-Lee Rapuano also faces charges. In this case, the state seized a total of 19 horses, three mules, one goat, two guinea pigs, two rabbits, two doves, one parakeet, two ferrets and four dogs. The state has received permanent custody of most of the animals, and is pursuing custody of the rest.”

We need a great and powerful governor, so the Blogster appreciates the report that Hartford business executive and former Transportation Strategy Board head R. Nelson “Oz” Griebel of Simsbury, who’s been contemplating it for weeks, will finally join the scrum for the GOP nomination for governor.