Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Unlike at least three of the five other gubernatorial hopefuls, Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh, an Independent, will soon have his name assured on the November ballot. He needs 7,500 signatures by early August.

“We’re at 8,500 now,” he told the Blogster this afternoon. “We’re going to start turning the signatures in for validation this week.” He expects about 10,000 and figures that local registrars will have them confirmed and sent to the secretary of the state  by as early at the week of the 19th. “Now we’re just working on the cushion.”

Organizers of the June 29th gubernatorial forum in Stamford might have neglected to invite Marsh, but with Democratic and Republican primaries on August 10 set to eliminate three of the five, Marsh will be able to laugh for a few hours late on the night of the primary, then continue his long-shot campaign to become the next governor.

John G. Rowland, the disgraced former governor who spent 10 months in prison on a federal corruption sentence, is working on the air on WTIC as a vacation fill in. The Blogster didn’t catch his weak act today, but only hopes that amid the chatty interviews about what the state of Connecticut should be doing, he gets into the details of what made him plead guilty in December 2004. Maybe he can talk about who else was on the luxury charter trips to Florida and Las Vegas, courtesy of Key Air of Oxford, which enjoyed annual million-dollar tax breaks during Rowland’s, crooked regime. By the way, Johnny Johnola’s other nickname was Johnny Gee