Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

The Blogster wonders why Waterbury Mayor Mike Jarjura was invited to the Democratic gubernatorial debate on NBC Connecticut tonight, but is glad the former House member was there with the other five pretenders to the party nomination. ”I’m the whole package,” Jarjura summed up, even though he hasn’t even filed papers for an exploratory committee. Still, he was a breath of fresh air among the field of other Democrats. Jarjura’s leadship style? Invite top legislative leaders into the governor’s office for pastry! And Jarjura’s platform, however jokingly, includes reopening the infamous “Hawaiian Room” in the Capitol, where lawmakers and lobbyists, exclusively male, boozed, smoked, schmoozed and laughed it up on the Capitol’s fifth floor before it was phased out nearly 30 years ago amid charges of institutional sexism. 

 There were at least three “laser-focus” quotes, which without going back to the tape (Please don’t make me!), were uttered by Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy, the frontrunners, respectively, in the latest Q Poll. Ugh. The last guy the Blogster heard use that characterization of personal concentration was from the mouth of John G. Rowland. What ever happened to him?

 Thank Ned Lamont, the Greenwich millionaire and former member of that town’s board of selectmen,  for the final question, after he pronounced everyone in Connecticut either a Yankee fan or Red Sox fan. Yeah, Met fans should deduce a diss there.

There was a minute left before the debate so the candidates were directly asked their baseball affiliations:

 The Nedster: “Usually I cheer for the underdog. I’m a Yankees man.” (Blogster:  “underdog?”)

Dan Malloy, former Stamford mayor: “I’m a Yankees fan. My wife who was born in Needham, Massachusetts is a Red Sox fan.

 Ridgefield Selectman Rudy Marconi: “I’m a die-hard Yankee fan and I always will be. My kids have gone Red Sox on me.”

Juan Figueroa, Meriden health care advocate: “If you go to my house there’s a big New York Mets flag on my house. Let’s go Mets.”

Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman: “Go Red Sox.”

Jarjura: “Life-long Yankee fan.”

The bill that would have created tougher regulations on outdoor wood-burning furances for home-heating died in the Environment Committee

“ Not only was the state legislature unwilling to do anything at all about outdoor wood furnaces/boilers – they would not even deal with wood smoke as a public health nuisance,” said Nancy Alderman, a public health advocate. ” What kind of state are we living in?  We have a large number of people in this state  being made sick from neighbor’s outdoor wood furnaces/boilers and we have a state department of health that is unwilling to deal with the wood smoke problem – and in fact the Association of Local Health Directors testified against adding wood smoke to the Public Health Nuisance Code  – and a legislature that is unwilling to help in any way.”

Just at the moment when the Blogster was sick and tired of the phrase “revenue enhancements” to describe new taxes, the folks at Pratt & Whitney have raised the bar in corporate$peak. This came the other day from Emily DeSantis, manager of media realtions:

“More than 155 employees across Pratt & Whitney facilities in Connecticut opted for the Voluntary Separation Option, eliminating the need for volume-based involuntary reductions at this time. The Voluntary Separation Option provides one week of severance pay for each year of service, a one-time $5,000 lump sum payment, and medical and dental insurance coverage at no cost for up to 12 months following the employees’ termination dates…”

For those unfamiliar with P&W’s corp$peak, “volume-based involuntary reductions” means layoffs.