|
|
Well, not really, but the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, speaking to reporters before the almost-annual Crocodile Club roast at Lake Compounce, did reveal a campaign secret.
Blogster: “Would you suggest that Dick Blumenthal wear a cup today?”
McMahon: “I left my steel-toed shoes at home.”
Independent gubernatorial candidate Tom Marsh, Chester’s first selectman, leans up against his 1992 Jaguar (“I only put about 3,000 miles a year on it”) convertible, which he bought used and talks energy policy with a couple of reporters. Here’s some of the tape:
“What differentiates me from what I’ve seen, particularly when it comes to energy policy is that I think I have a longer-term view than what I’ve heard and, I think, some more realistic and practical applications to energy policy. One of the candidates (Democrat Dan Malloy) has talked about conservation, saving 15 percent on our usage and that’s laudable and I would support that. But it’s not really practical in the short-term sense on how we’re going to change around our dependence or change the cost of energy delivery in Connecticut….
“We’re not focused on how we want to deliver energy so I think the first thing we have to do is get organized and say how do we want to bring the policies that we want to talk about out to the residential and business community of Connecticut? I think once we get organized, then we have to focus on our outcomes and our outcomes shouldn’t be specific to ‘oh we need green technology’ or ‘we need better transportation initiatives.’ It’s got to be all encompassing because energy touches our economic development, it touches our transportation, touches our quality of life and you develop those outcomes and start building your organization based on those outcomes. One of the things that I think is particularly longer term, is a policy that makes Connecticut more self-sufficient on its energy and by that I mean we spend about $4 billion a year on fuel, fossil fuels, in this state and if we could take that $4 billion, which right now almost all of it leaves the state and start keeping more of that money in the state for other uses by doing some conservation to bring our use down; from cogeneration, which does exist in Connecticut. We do have some cogeneration plants. UConn has a very-efficient cogeneration plant. But right here in Hartford back in the ‘50s, they used cogeneration in an energy district, basically a big steam loop to take some of the waste heat and heat the buildings. That’s a process used all over Europe and really not here in Connecticut. What if we were to take the trash-to-steam plant here or the plant down in Bridgeport?…If the state could assist a city to build that steam loop, to build an energy district and then attract business not by throwing a bunch of money at it and creating a false economy to be here, but to say ‘look, this infrastructure exists. You occupy this building or you build a new facility here and you’re going to get free heating and cooling for the next 50 or 60 years…’ If we can wean ourselves away from some of the fossil fuels and the expenses we’re sending out of state and provide economic assistance to make Connecticut a more-effective place to do business, that’s a long-term solution, not a short-term solution like the tax incentives that we often see are….
“Green design is going to be something that’s going to be here for decades. And Connecticut is already is on the leading edge of that but America as a whole is on the trailing edge behind Europe. But if we can foster greater development in the professional abilities in training and staffing the assets we have in Connecticut, we can build upon that as the whole industry grows. We already have a great education infrastructure, we have some expertise here in the state already and we need to let the world know that if you have an interest in that you need to be here in Connecticut because just as New York is a financial center we can say Connecticut is the center for innovative design and engineering technologies on green buildings.”
Marsh said the town of Chester has just signed on with an electricity provider that will bring down its kilowatt-hour rate by about 15 percent and that there will soon be a link on the town’s website offering taxpayers a chance to join in at the same rate. “In essence the town vetted the company and now we’re saying any homeowner can do it…It should be easily accessible for a Chester resident to click on a link and say ‘I filled this out and now I get 15-percent lower rates.’ So I think we can do that. I’m also chairman of a 17-town consortium. We’re doing the Chester project as a test case. If we can get through three, four months of its working well, we’ll see if we can get even lower rates by spreading it to a 17-town price. As a statewide administration I think we could work more on bringing that down…What really isn’t reported is the add-ons that Connecticut puts on our electric bills are more than what the electric rates are in places like Wyoming and Kentucky. So it’s not the deregulation that’s caused it, it’s a lot of what we’ve done here. And part of it was the promises that were made to the companies that are now building power plants. Ten years ago we had a very serious problem with the availability of power. That problem has decreased quite a bit because there has been a lot of power plant construction. And the construction is here because of the rates we pay. So in essence we provided an incentive for capital investment in the state and now we’ve said thank you for building it, but by the way we’re taking all this away and you’re never going to see a return on your investment. Connecticut can’t have a reputation for doing things like that. I think we are where we are with what we have…As we continue to move forward we can use examples that are here in Connecticut and around the state where there are energy co-ops and again, some of the lowest cost-of-energy states in the country have these co-ops where they’re like quasi-public-owned generation plants. We have one right here in Connecticut: CEEMC out in Norwich and they provide the lowest energy cost in Connecticut for their customers…”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley is wearing his lack of union support like a red badge of courage, with the apparent hopes that his lack of union endorsements will be offset by mainstream, non-union voters to propell him into office. Last week, in an interview, Foley criticized Malloy for joining in a picket line of union workers outside a nursing home on the morning of the August 10 gubernatorial primaries.
“He clearly cut a deal with unions to get support from unions,” Foley said, acknowledging that he has no support from organized labor. “He’s an old-school Democrat, a career politician and understands unions are important to get elected.” Still, Foley said he has reached out to state unions including the AFL-CIO, which has about 260,000 members in the state, SEBAC and AFSCME.
“I’m going to need to have an open dialogue to figure out how to best solve these problems,” Foley said. “But I’m not in their pocket and I’ll negotiate very hard on behalf of the best long-term interests of the state of Connecticut.”
Malloy said he was proud to join Local 1199 nursing-home workers on August 10.“We have had Republican governors of the state of Connecticut for 20 years and the lack of leadership and accountability and transparency is evident to all,” Malloy said. “We are perhaps at our darkest financial moment and I will provide leadership and expect union members to come to the table to resolve these problems.”
Malloy defended Foley’s charge that he’s too cozy with unions.
“Let’s begin with the specifics: there were four nursing homes with ongoing strikes where the employer violated specific rules with respect to the treatment of employees and refused to enter into a contact entered by other members of their association,” Malloy recalled. “I walked the picket line with people who worked there for 20 years and were still making only $12 to $14 an hour. I will walk with them any day.”
Lou Jacobson at Governing/Politics http://bit.ly/cyiGMe
has just posted an article in which he predicts “ominous” times for Democrats in various state attorney general races around the country, included a color coded map of the US. Too bad in the little capsule accompanying his Connecticut prediction (leaning Democratic for George Jepsen over Republican Martha Dean) he refers to Attorney General Dick Blumenthal’s departure as a result of his run for “governor.” Does Dan Malloy know this? Jacobson got it right in the body copy, but…..Oh wait, Jepsen is the former state Senate majority leader, not House. Details…Details..Hey standards for accuracy on the Web are overrated.
“Five-term Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is running for the U.S. Senate. The favorite is Democrat George Jepsen, a former state House majority leader, state party chairman and unsuccessful lieutenant governor candidate. Attorney Martha Dean, who’s running from the right, won the GOP convention endorsement and the primary by a 60-40 margin over moderate Ross Garber. In moderate-to-liberal Connecticut, Jepsen is a strong favorite, though given the turbulence of this election cycle, nothing’s out of the realm of possibility.”
The Blogster, following up on a report last week on the hefty $180 million in damages to public health and property done by deer in Fairfield County each year, had the opportunity to test the two major gubernatorial candidates on the issue. They were vaguely interested, if under-informed. Let’s face it: they want to get elected and asking about deer is way, way out of their comfort zones of “jobs and the economy.” So if you live in a town where there are 60 deer per square mile and you need 10 to 12 per square mile to stop the proliferation of deer ticks that carry Lyme disease, you should go out of your way and ask the candidates (including Independent Tom Marsh, who is on the November ballot) about it when you see them in the field and ask for them to promise to address the problem, possibly by approving a measly $25,000 to subsidize butchering deer that hunters want to donate to food banks; or funding contraception efforts. And yes, chances are, over the next two-months-plus, they will visit your town or city because they want your vote.
Malloy lives in the Shippan area of Stamford, a peninsula on Long Island Sound that deer can access only by strolling through downtown, or trundling up Cove Road from Cove Island, down the hill to Cummings Park and beyond, into the plush neighborhood. Foley’s Hogwarts-style property in Greenwich has a large pond, or moat, as the Blogster likes to tell him, in the back to possibly thwart deer invasions. The Blogster ambushed Foley and Malloy on the issue last week after speaking with them on another topic.
Malloy on deer: “I don’t really have an answer. We have to distinguish between what’s a nuisance and a public safety hazard. Some are concerned about safety because they do present a hazard. They are also associated with Lyme disease. Those are the concerns I’m concerned about.” He says he’s “open-minded” about the issue, though. “I’m more focused about restoring jobs and getting the economy going. We’’ll get to the deer problems after that.”
Foley: “There have been some substantial attempts in a passive fashion that have not been particularly effective. There’s always a conflict. Do you take the deer down or not? Do you extend the hunting season? Generally speaking I’m not strong advocate of shooting, or killing… I’m not anti-deer, nor pro deer. There are certain instances when we should remove them. I know a lot of people infected with Lyme disease.”
In the realm of follow-ups on the gubernatorial trail, the Blogster recalls visiting the home of Ned Lamont back when he was a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and noticed that Lamont’s Greenwich manse was surrounded by the kind of anti-deer netting that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but keeps the critters out of the day-lily bed. But not everyone’s great-grandfather was J.P. Morgan’s right-hand man and can afford it.
The Blogster made a point of following up on Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh’s pre-gubernatorial primary promise to kids at Stamford’s Yerwood Center to give them ice cream on August 10, primary day. Speaking after a mock debate among teams at the West Side community center representing the then 6 candidates, Marsh, a former Republican, announced that since he wasn’t on the primary ballot, kids could eat ice cream that day at his expense. Well, the childrens had something else going on August 10, but Marsh, his wife and his running mate, Waterbury Alderman Cicero Bookerand his wife, recently had a party there for about 40 kids, including chocolate syrup, whipped cream and sprinkly things that Marsh said today are still being consumed in his household. ”We made sundaes and went through 6 gallons in about 20 minutes,” said Marsh. “I would call that a success. My scooping experience from working as a kid at Friendly’s Ice Cream for a summer came in handy.” And thus, Marsh becomes the first gubernatorial candidate to come through with a campaign promise.It only cost him about $75, too. Next thing you know, he’ll be invited to more than two gubernatorial debates (UConn/CT Daily Newspaper debate October 20 in Storrs; NAACP debate in Stamford October 29). “I think there’s an old political adage that says if you buy people ice cream, you get elected,” Marsh told the Blogser this afternoon in the Capitol parking lot, leaning against his top-down 1992 Jaguar XJS, which he bought used for a fraction of its original cost. That’s wishful thinking.
State Sens. Ed Gomes of Bridgeport and Anthony Musto of Trumbull, two Democrats, will meet this afternoon to discuss the various tactics and programs that troubled homeowners can use to avoid losing their properties to foreclosure. Also discussing the issue will be Joe Carbone of The Workplace Inc., Jeff Gentes of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Todd Fagan of the Housing development Fund and the Rev. Carl McCluster of Homes Saved by Faith. The event will begin at 1 p.m. at The Workplace, 350 Fairfield Avenue. The state is ranked 20th nationally for foreclosure rates and Bridgeport has the highest rate of foreclosures in Connecticut.
Connecticut’s Congressional delegation has asked President Obama to declare Fairfield County a major disaster area from the June 24 tornado in order to make federal aid available to Bridgeport and Stratford residents, businesses and municipalities.
Here’s the letter, dated Monday:
“The Honorable Barack Obama
The President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We write in strong support of the request submitted by the State of Connecticut on August 20, 2010 for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to declare a major disaster for Fairfield County as a result of severe weather, including a tornado, which occurred on June 24, 2010. The impacted communities will require both Individual and Public Assistance to recover from the severity and magnitude of the damages.
According to the National Weather Service, an EF 1 Tornado touched down in the City of Bridgeport with winds of at least 100 miles per hour and severe storms impacting neighboring communities, including Stratford and Trumbull. An example of the tornado’s concentrated damage can be measured in Bridgeport, where nine buildings were partially or fully collapsed, including at least three that were destroyed to their foundation. Fifty Bridgeport families, mostly renters without insurance, were left temporarily homeless. Some roads within the city still remain closed.
The damages, which are mostly localized in Bridgeport and Stratford, are estimated to exceed $3 million. Since Connecticut does not have a county government, the financial burden falls disproportionately on the state and these municipalities. By the State of Connecticut’s estimates, the damage amounts to $15.27 per capita in Bridgeport and $16.91 per capita in Stratford—figures more than five times the current per capita county indicator for federal disaster assistance and more than 12 times the statewide indicator.
The City of Bridgeport is one of the most economically distressed communities in the country. While the unemployment rate in Fairfield County is 8.0 percent, the City of Bridgeport faces a striking 13.7 percent. In the East Side of Bridgeport, where the tornado touched down and caused some of the most devastating damage, 42 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
The severity of damage and the impact on families and businesses in Bridgeport and Stratford is sizable. Their recovery efforts are compounded by March’s storms and flooding across the state, which was declared a major disaster. Connecticut is in desperate need of federal assistance to respond to this severe weather event that will only become available with the declaration of a major disaster. Therefore, we strongly support the State’s request for federal assistance and urge you to make this declaration.
We appreciate your consideration and timely attention to this request on behalf of the people of Connecticut.
Sincerely,
Christopher J. Dodd
Joseph I. Lieberman
Jim Himes
Rosa L. DeLauro
John B. Larson
Joe Courtney
Christopher S. Murphy”
Copyright © 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
