Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Connecticut politics is a contact sport

Archive for 2011

Malloy announces $400,000 for Fairfield to expand its beach parking, Penfield sidewalk$

Thursday, December 22, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments(1)
|
|

Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that the towns of Fairfield and Greenwich were among the communities that won $20 million in Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grants for capital improvement projects. The funds were approved last week by the State Bond Commission, which he controls. 

“Tough economic times make STEAP grants all the more important because they allow us to improve the overall quality of life, while creating jobs and stimulating the local economy,” Malloy said in a statement.  “Whether it’s the improvement of a public space or renewed investment in a municipal facility, these grants allow towns across our state to move forward with capital projects that will benefit residents, both locally and across the region.”

 Fairfield gets $400,000 to rebuild the main Penfield Pavilion parking lot, add and rebuilt approximately 2,100 feet of sidewalks on the Penfield side of the road, as well as landscaping.

“This will allow the town to use pavers for the parking lot, which I understand the town requires homeowners in the beach area to use to restrict run off which is good for the environment,” said state Rep. Brenda Kupchick, R-Fairfield.“Residents in Fairfield send a lot of money in the way of taxes to Hartford, so it’s helpful to have some of it return in way of a grant to assist with a project for Fairfield and many surrounding communities that use and enjoy the beach.”

“I’m delighted that we could bring financial assistance to Fairfield to make these important improvements,” said Rep. Kim Fawcett, D-Fairfield. “Reconstructing the Penfield Pavilion parking lot and building additional sidewalks are critical.”

 Greenwich will get $100,000 to help renovate and expand the town’s Department of Health Laboratory. Some of its services include blood testing for lead, cholesterol and Lyme disease.

“I strongly applaud the decision to award this funding to the Town of Greenwich for the renovation and expansion of the Department of Health Laboratory,” said Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich.  “This grant will benefit the health and wellness of our citizens by improving the facility’s environmental and clinical services, including testing for lead, chemicals, rabies and Lyme disease.”

 I

Activists worried that GOP is rolling the dice in attempt to get Bridgeport into the Third Congressional District

Monday, December 19, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments
|
|

 During a news conference in the Capitol complex this morning sponsored by MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, the Rev. Ina Anderson of Bridgeport’s Mt. Aery Baptist Church, said Bridgeport has a historic spot in the Fourth District, which dates back about 200 years. “You don’t change a process that’s not broken, unless it’s a process that’s broken for a reason,” Anderson said. “Don’t sneak something in. Talk to us. We’ll talk back to you. We want to stay in the Fourth Congressional District.”

Terry Masters of Stratford, a regional organizer for MoveOn.org, said that while her town is in the Third Congressional District, it’s plain that Bridgeport belongs in the Fourth.

 “To me what it would be is moving a group of Democratic-registered voters to a district that is safe and is well represented by (U.S. Rep) Rosa DeLauro,” Masters said. “At this point in time, is there a valid reason for taking Bridgeport out of the Fourth and putting it into the Third? To me, it’s more likely to suggest an attempt at voter suppression.”

 House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk, said that if Republicans weren’t serious about negotiating a new map, they could have resisted Democrats when the Reapportionment Commission ended in stalemate on November 30 and push the congressional map into the lap of the Supreme Court. “We chose not to because we seriously believe we have a constitutional obligation to do the best we can,” Cafero said in the Capitol Press Room.

Malloy to redistricting commission: get it done

Friday, December 16, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments(2)
|
|

Speaking to reporters Friday morning after the monthly meeting of the State Bond Commission, Gov. Dannel Malloy ridiculed Republican attempts to move Bridgeport from the Fourth Congressional District to the Third, which is centered in New Haven. He said the state Reapportionment Commission, which has a noon deadline, December 21 deadline before the congressional mapping process gets thrown to the state Supreme Court, should get down to brass tacks. Republicans should abandon the major redrawing of the congressional maps.

“I would be shocked if judges who might be called upon to redraw these lines would remove Bridgeport from the Fourth Congressional District,” Malloy said. “We’re talking about one district (the Second) having 15,000 too many people…Why anyone would entertain a massive redesign of all the districts…actually, it’s pretty transparent why they would do it,” Malloy said. A couple questions later, another reporter wanted Malloy to sharpen his opinion of the GOP’s tactics. Malloy dramatically slowed down his voice. “I think they’re trying to change the district to make it easier for Republicans to get elected,” he said, before going back to normal speed. “That’s what I think they’re trying to do. And I think they’ve been pretty transparent in that. And I would be shocked if any judge, to deal with a 15,000-voter surplus in a district would then use that as an excuse to redraw five districts. I would be shocked. So what I would suggest to the committee is that they get their work done. There’s a way to do that. A ninth member was appointed. That person should be allowed to vote and they should get the job done. That’s what we’re here for.”

“D-SNAP Attorney” cries foul in letter on state workers

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments
|
|

Rich Rochlin, the Hartford area attorney who has at least 10 clients in the D-SNAP investigation into state workers who accepted federal disaster benefits, complains that Capitol reporters were sent a letter from Gov Malloy’s legal counsel, Andrew McDonald, via Communications Director Andrew Dobam, 35 minutes before he got it.

Here’s Rochlin’s statement: “The fact that Malloy’s political machine sent this letter to the press without having sent it to me first belies Mr. Malloy’s assertions that this investigation is not political and that his administration is open and honest.  With lives hanging in the balance, Mr. McDonald has chosen to put politics over people and has conclusively demonstrated that he is schilling for votes for Mr. Malloy on the backs of the hard working families he sought to terminate earlier this year.  If this does not support my call for an independent investigation, I do not know what does.”

Malloy tepid on federal driver-phone ban

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments
|
|

Malloy, in reaction to the Transportation Safety Administration’s request that a national ban be created on cellphone and hand-held computers by drivers, with or without hands-free:

“You’ve got GPS, you’ve got radios and stereos and we’re allowed to drive with kids in the backseat as well. I think there’s a certain amount of overreach involved but you know, again, I have an open mind. I’ll take a look at the data that’s presented, but it’s not where I’d be going right now and I think there are other more-serious issues.”

Governor calls attorney’s bluff in D-SNAP investigation

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments
|
|

Jumping Habeas Corpus!!!

Andrew J. McDonald, Gov. Malloy’s chief counsel, just sent a letter to attorney Rich Rochlin suggesting that his clients, who have proclaimed innocence in the active state probe into state workers who may have fraudulently applied for federal disaster benefits after Tropical Storm Irene, should come forward. McDonald said that if his clients wish to, the governor and the state Department of Social Services would be willing to release their applications for D-SNAP relief to Capitol reporters. “Based on the circumstances you have developed through the media, I suggest we can best address your claimed clients’ assertions by examining their actual applications,” McDonald wrote in the letter that was released to reporters. McDonald referred to Rochlin’s “purported” clients, who have been appearing on TV in shadow and with their faces covered, claiming that DSS intake workers filled out erroneous income information for them and then presented them with the D-SNAP debit cards.

Malloy seeking protection for the two casinos

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments
|
|

Malloy to Capitol reporters this morning, talking about the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoodst: “We’ve been working with them for weeks, months actually. First of all we have to recognize that they’re an important part of our economy. They bring people to our state. We want them to continue to bring people to our state. They pay us a fair amount of revenue. We have to make sure they’re in a position to compete with other states for customers…They have some basic strengths right now…They have a great strength. They are already build…I think as you look at gaming spreading aacross Maine and Rhode Island and Massachusetts and New York, the likelihood that anyone’s going to amass the amount of capital necessary to replicate either one of those facilities in the short short is not very likely at all. So what wew’ve got to do is recognize they have a particular strength and then maximize that strenght and not allow unfair competition to exist in other states, which means we have to review all of our policies with respect to how we monitor, how we participate, how we partner and how we advertise these organizations. So I recognize that we have strength and that we’re dealing from a place of strength. On the other hand I also understand that there is going to be siphoning off of some amount of revenue. How do we allow our casinos to compete for that revenue…We have OTB in the state of Connecticut. So we have sports wagering already and whether that would be one of the items that would be expanded, it could certainly be on the table….I think the Lottery wants to look at Keno. We’ve looked at Keno. Other states have Keno. Other states that are getting into the gaming business have Keno, so it is certainly one of the things that has to be on the table….”

Malloy is not compelled to accept Mayor DeStefano’s proposal to grant suffrage rights to illegal immigrants

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by:Ken Dixon
Comment
Comments
|
|

 New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. has floated the idea – via The New Haven Independent – to allow undocumented aliens the right to vote. Reporters this morning bounced the idea off Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who would be asked to sign such a law if it somehow got through the General Assembly.

“It’s not an idea that I’m particularly comfortable with,” Malloy said in the Capitol. “I think there are obligations that run with citizenship and there are privileges that run with citizenship. It’s not something that I’m inclined to support. On the other hand I am certainly more than willing to hear the mayor out on it.”

Page 1 of 3912345...Last »