Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele today opened a two-front assault against frontrunner Tom Foley in the race for the GOP gubernatorial primary.

 First he launched a TV ad aimed against Foley’s business record, pointing out that while Foley claims he had thousands of employees at the Bibb Corp. in Macon, Georgia, ultimately the firm went bankrupt, as reported recently by the Hearst Connecticut Newspapers and the Hartford Courant.

 Fedele also criticized Foley for failing to dislcose his arrests for a traffic collision in 1981 and breach of peace involving his former wife about eight years ago, prior to his being appointed to posts supervising the privatization of Iraqi businesses, then ambassador to Ireland under President George W. Bush.

Jon Lender in the Courant’s Capitol Watch blog reported yesterday that Foley answered “No” on federal background applications to questions whether he had ever been involved in anything more than minor traffic violations, ”even though he’d been arrested, but not convicted, on charges of first-degree attempted assault and breach of peace.” 

Lender’s article continues:

“Foley was charged in 1981, at age 29, with attempted first-degree assault, and kept in a cell overnight, after occupants of a vehicle complained that he had rammed their car with his in Southampton, N.Y., on Long Island. But he said it was really only a minor, low-speed traffic incident and the charge was later dropped — and he said “nobody ever told me it was a felony offense.” Under current New York penal laws, attempted first-degree assault is a felony, and New York officials were doing research Thursday to verify if it also was in 1981. 

“It certainly wouldn’t have been in my mind that it would have been classified as a felony,” Foley said. He said his answer was “accurate to the best of my knowledge at my time. If it turns out that this was a felony charge, then I would answer it differently today, knowing that.”

Foley served as Bush’s ambassador to Ireland, from October 2006 to January 2009, after serving in Iraq from August 2003 through March 2004 as director of private sector development for the Coalition Provisional Authority.”

Fedele, far behind in the polls, blasted Foley.

Earlier today, Fedele announced his latest TV ad. “Jobs?”  It questions Foley’s claimed success with the Bibb Corp.

“You have to question the judgment of someone who falsified his national security clearance documents,” Fedele said in a statement. “This is part of his pattern of shading the truth, not disclosing details, refusing to open sealed arrest documents and dodging tax questions.”

Commenting on Foley’s assertion that “if he’d known it was a felony he would have answered differently,” Fedele asked, “What world do you live in where you consider 1st degree assault a “minor traffic violation” or a domestic breach of peace a “traffic-related” incident?”

The Blogster’s used to blight’s of the political variety, yet as an old baseball player from Stamford’s glory years in the 1960s, he has a soft spot in his heart for a nice ash bat. What was better and in the Blogster’s case, rarer, than getting “good wood” on a fastball in the National Babe Ruth League at Belltown park? Anyway, in honor of Friday and in commemoration of covering Woodstock 1994 in Saugerties, N.Y. here’s a release from the state DEP about an infestation of the ash borer, which is scarier than boring.

“The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) and federal agricultural officials have confirmed the presence of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in nearby Saugerties, New York (about 25 miles from the CT border).  EAB is an extremely destructive plant pest and it is responsible for the death and decline of over 25 million ash trees in the United States in urban and forested settings since June 2002.  EAB should not be confused with the Asian Longhorned beetle, recently discovered in the Boston and Worcester areas of Massachusetts.

“This discovery is certainly a concern,” said Christopher Martin, DEP Director of Forestry.  “The close proximity to Connecticut definitely places our Ash trees at risk”.  Visual signs or symptoms of infestation include D-shaped holes, bark splits, and crown die. White ash is most prominent in the northwest corner, the very southwest corner, and east central sections of Connecticut.”

“CAES is currently surveying for EAB, the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), and other forest pests and will intensify these efforts in northwestern Connecticut”, says Kirby Stafford, Vice Director of CAES and State Entomologist. “The State of Connecticut has quarantine regulations in place for EAB and ALB.”

White ash comprises approximately 3% of all trees in Connecticut or about 22,408,000 trees. EAB disperses readily on its own, but like other exotic pests it can be spread when infested firewood is transported to new areas. EAB was found in a campground in Saugerties suggesting firewood was the most likely source. The next nearest infestation is over 200 miles west of Saugerties in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.  

DEP and CAES urge citizens not to transport firewood. EAB spreads quickly on its own and can be easily inadvertently transported in untreated firewood and other forest products.  Buy firewood locally at or near the campground, burn all firewood at your campsite before you leave, and never bring firewood home.  For those who use firewood to heat their homes, your firewood ideally should be from only a few miles away, or at least in the same county.

DEP is asking Connecticut residents to report possible EAB infestations to CAES or the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine (APHIS-PPQ).  Early detection, although difficult, is the best defense against further infestation.   Residents suspecting they have seen EAB should report their findings to CAES at (203) 974-8474, (203) 974-8485, or CAES.StateEntomologist@ct.gov (digital photos of suspect insects are very helpful).  Residents can also report sightings to APHIS via their website at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/.

Trees affected include:

• White Ash
• Black  Ash
• Green Ash

Previous infestations have occurred in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Canada.