Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Connecticut politics is a contact sport

Archive for June, 2010

Rell to New York: Give Us Your Poor, Your Tired…Hedge-Fund Managers?

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That’s what Connecticut needs: more hedge funders, who along with investment bankers and their exotic financial instruments, inflated the housing bubble, then got us to bail them out. Rell today, noting that the New York Assembly is considering taxing hedge fund pros who work in New York and live elsewhere, sent a letter to something called the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable asking them to relocate in beautiful Connecticut.

“As Governor, I stand ready to do anything possible to assist you. Our economic development professionals stand ready to help you find convenient, modern and prime office space,” she wrote. ” Our relocation specialists stand ready to aid your families in locating great homes and good schools. Our quality of life is second to none – one need only ask a colleague who already makes Connecticut his or her home about the many pleasures of living in our state. And I can assure you that Connecticut has been pursuing and will continue to pursue a much more enlightened approach to job creation and retention and economic development.Packing up and moving is never an easy decision – I understand that. However, I also understand that short-sighted decisions have long-term consequences. That understanding is a hallmark of good decision-making in any business. I encourage you to consider the attractive options Connecticut can offer, and invite you to contact my office directly to explore the matter further.”

 What’s Stamford’s business vacancy rate? 25 percent?

The Blogster is reminded of one of Attorney General Dick Blumenthal’s few clear-cut victories in head-to-head courtroom encounters with the Empire State’s former attorney general\prostitute patron, Eliot Spitzer. It was 10 years ago, when the New York Assembly, in advance of a special state Senate election, voted to eliminate the New York City commuter tax for New York residents, but keep it for Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents who work in the Big Apple. The tax brought in about $360 million a year for the city. Blumenthal won the case, sparing state commuters from having to shell out. New York, with fiscal troubles that make Connecticut’s emerging multi-billion-dollar deficit, a mere trifle, has yet to revive the commuter tax. But the year is young, since that state’s fiscal year began without a new budget on April 1 and there is still no deal in Albany.  

Marie, State Transit Commish, Goes the Way of Losing Baseball Managers: “Spending More Time With Family.”

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The Blogster looks askance at today’s announced resignation of state Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie, since it’s practically on the heels of this month’s embarrassing scene at Bradley International Airport, in which an actual international flight was diverted and the passengers were kept under virtual lock and key, without food or air conditioning, for hours because there was no personnel from US Customs to process them. The airport, and with it the Rell administration, was a laughing stock. But why should there have been someone with passport control powers there? The airport doesn’t have any regular international flights. Last week, during an unrelated news conference at the airport, Marie appeared quit testy when reporters probed about the long delay.

So today’s release from Rell, who announced Marie’s resignation ”in order to pursue long-term employment opportunities and spend more time with his family. The Governor has appointed Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Parker to be commissioner.” Marie was there for a heartbeat in state-government time: two years. “I have full confidence that Jeff Parker will continue moving the DOT in the dynamic new direction that I have set,” Rell said, failing to mention whether that course includes being able to actually handle international flights at Bradley International Airport.

State Auditors, the Scourge of Bumbling Bureaucrats, Will Stay for Six More Months

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Auditors of Public Accounts Kevin Johnston of Pomfret and Bob Jaekle of Stratford were scheduled to retire at the end of the month. But leaders of the General Assembly have asked them to stay on for six more months as the public faces of the often-pesky review of state agencies.

Fedele Will Be Able to Run With Foley. He’s Close to Collecting the Threshold For Public Financing

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Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele plans to announce tomorrow that he has collected the $250,000 in under-$100 campaign contributions that will make him eligible for the $1.25 million for the GOP primary August 10. Fedele should get much more than that, because Tom Foley, who won the Republican endorsement during last month’s convention, has collected much more than that, including at least two personal checks totaling $2 million.

So Who Has More Handlers, Dick Blumenthal or Linda McMahon? And What’s There to Handle?

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The Blogster is thoroughly amused, and so late on a late-Monday afternoon, no less. He is reminded by a colleague, who was looking for an inane “isn’t this a nice parade” quote from Linda McMahon, the Republican neophyte running for U.S. Senate, during a recent Memorial Day parade, but was met by staff goons who kept him from the “candidate,” out of possible fear that she’d be caught mispronouncing the name of an obscure Balkan state, no doubt.

Such is the new Dick Blumenthal. Formerly laughably ubiquitous and always available for a quote, he is now in the bunker officially. Having just called his attorney general office, where he supposedly works for the people paying his six-figure salary, the Blogster was told to await a news release. Beautiful. Such high stakes, such official reticence. Who’s the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate?  Some write-in candidate named Jeff Russell. Maybe he’d like to comment on the US Supreme Court decision today on the Chicago hand gun ban. Of course, it was Blumenthal, not Russell, who successfully argued the ban in state court and in the state Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the ban nearly 15 years ago.

Staycation Everyone? Labriola Says He Won’t Need a Bad Economy To Keep Primary Voters Home on August 10

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Jerry Labriola of Naugatuck doesn’t have a primary. He’s already the Republican candidate to challenge U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3. But Labriola does have a theory that’s counter to the nearly universal whine among politicians who are concerned that the summer depths will overshadow the August 10 primary. “The economy is so bad, no one can go on vacation,” he quipped the other day. “I expect a large turnout.”

Glassman, Candidate for LG, Will File FOI Complaint Against State Bond Commission

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Mary Glassman, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, said a few minutes ago in the Capitol Press Room that on Monday, she intends to file a complaint with the state Freedom of Information Commission against the State Bond Commission, over its lack of posting minutes as required under state law.

DeNardis, Failed Republican Candidate, Sees the Future and It’s Tom Foley As GOP Guber Nominee

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Larry DeNardis, the former congressman and University of New Haven president, will endorse Tom Foley, the convention-endorsed Republican candidate for governor, this morning at 11 in the Hamden Town Center on Dixwell Avenue.

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