Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Connecticut politics is a contact sport

Archive for April, 2011

If union deal is close, McKinney says hold off on budget vote until it’s a reality

Friday, April 29, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

Mark Ojakian, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s chief negotiator with state unions over $2 billion in savings and concessions, told reporters this morning that he believes the deal can be reached by next week, before layoff notices are sent to thousands of state employees. Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, responds that the budget votes being pondered for early next week, should be held off until the union deal is done. “If the state is as close to an agreement on labor concessions as the Malloy administration believes, then I hope Senate President Williams and Speaker Donovan will take the prudent course of action and wait to vote on the state budget until a deal with state employee unions is finalized,” McKimnney said in a statement.

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Who’s gonna be under more pressure than Sen. Joe (“My analysis is ongoing”) Crisco on the day of the budget vote?

Thursday, April 28, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

The Blogster just dove into the Blog-o-rama archives to sort out the relationship between veteran Sen. Joe Crisco, D-Woodbridge and the pending budget vote, which can come as soon as early next week.

Chris Healy, state GOP chairman, said yesterday that Crisco, in his attempt to win re-election signed a “no new taxes pledge” last year. Democratic Senate handlers yesterday said Crisco said he never signed it. Here’s the link to the Blog-o-rama of about six months ago.

http://blog.ctnews.com/dixon/2010/10/29/joe-crisco-veteran-democratic-state-senator-joins-republicans-in-anti-tax-pledge/

Crisco is remembered here for being declared ineligible for public campaign funds back in 2008 after he forged names on an application for the Citizens’ Election Fund. Democrats this afternoon produced an e-mail from Crisco’s campaign, indicating that he did not sign the document:

“From: Jared Kupiec <jared.kupiec@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 4:54 PM
Subject: Joe Crisco — CT State Senate (17th District)
To: jkartch@atr.org, pgleason@art.org

Good Afternoon John and Patrick:
This e-mail follows a recent voicemail left for Patrick. My name is Jared Kupiec and I am the campaign manager for Sen. Joe Crisco’s re-election campaign.

Ken Dixon of the CT Post reported on his blog this afternoon that Senator Crisco had signed the ATR “Taxpayer Protection Pledge in the upcoming election”. While Joe recalls having signed the pledge 7 or 8 years ago, he has not committed to the pledge for the last several election cycles, including this one. If a (Crisco) signed document exists for the 2010 cycle, I would very much appreciate receiving a scanned copy of same as soon as possible.

While Joe certainly appreciates the efforts of your organization, I am sure you understand that he does not wish to mislead the voters (and his constituents) in any way whatsoever.

I look forward to hearing from one or both of you.
-J”

The Blogster anticipates that Crisco, a former UConn football lineman back when men were made of steel, ships were made of wood and UConn students athletes were from in-state, will be a good team player and approve the Democratic budget, when it comes to a vote.

Here’s Crisco’s statement on the current budget proposal:

“My analysis of these budget bills is ongoing, mindful of the commitment Governor Malloy made for ‘shared sacrifice’ and with solemn concern about the burgeoning projected deficit we must resolve with this budget,” Senator Crisco said. “The legislature is obligated to provide for the state a balanced spending and revenue plan for the next two years and these committee bills seem to reflect a common sense notion that finding middle ground requires movement from each end in terms of spending and revenue; my vote on these bills will reflect the determination I make about whether a suitable balance has been struck.”

“The one-time pledge I made seven years ago to reject tax increases was made under entirely different economic conditions without the specter of the expected, colossal deficit we face today,” Crisco added. “In light of our state’s current needs I think it borders on irresponsible to suggest policymakers paint the state into a corner with absolutes.”

Norwalk woman and young son lobby lawmakers for paid sick leave

Thursday, April 28, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

Single mom Kerry Florio, 26, of Norwalk and her 14-month-old son Erik joined activists from throughout the state on Thursday, lobbying lawmakers in the Capitol complex in attempt to push the so-called paid-sick-days law over the finish line in the waning weeks of the Legislature.

A unit secretary at Norwalk Hospital, the George Washington University graduate said in an interview that if the hospital didn’t give employees paid time-off for sickness, she might have lost her job last year after her infant developed symptoms of a respiratory virus and she had to take him to the emergency room. “I missed two shifts of work,” she told the Blogster, before she and other mothers commemorated “Take Your Child to Work Day.”

Members of the Connecticut Working Families and MomsRising.org, Florio and the others delivered packages of tissues along with booklets of stories from other working parents all over the state to members of the Appropriations Committee, where the bill is expected to be approved next week. The House is expected to pass the House, but the difficulty will be in gaining state Senate approval. Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he would sign such a bill, opposed by the state’s restaurant industry and other business groups, into law.

“What are the choices for a working parent without paid sick days?” said Lindsay Farrell, legislative director at Connecticut Working Families. “You can’t leave a young child home alone sick, you can’t afford to miss the pay you need to provide for your family, and you aren’t allowed to send a sick child to school. Sometimes, it means kids end up at work, sick. And that’s not right.”

Under the legislation, employers of 50 or more would have to allow workers to accumulate hours of sick time in a ratio to hours on the job.

Lawlor, on WNPR, says CT could save half the cost of mentally ill inmates if there were proper hospital beds

Thursday, April 28, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

Michael P. Lawlor, the governor’s under secretary for criminal justice policy, is on WNPR’s “Where We Live,” talking about how if the front-line police had a place to send mentally ill rather than into the justice system, many offenders would be eligible for Medicaid, meaning the state would get a 50-percent federal reimbursement. If they’re in prison, the mentally are supported in full by taxpayers.

Heavy lifting over, lawmakers now in full gush on “Huskies Day”

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

The House moved some bills, the Senate moved some bills. None of it was more than vaguely newsworthy. But the House and Senate got to share the partially diminished limelight with the UConn football and men’s and women’s basketball teams, at the taxpayer’s expense of a session day when the state deficit is between $3.2 and $3.5 billion. The Blogster was wondering, as National Champion Coach Jim Calhoun was talking about “overcoming adversity” in the packed House of Representatives, whether he meant that possibility of the 3-game NCAA (National Coaches Athletic Association?) suspension occurring during the recent March Madness, instead of the light touch of an early season suspension next year for his recruting violations, as ultimately ordered up by the NCAA.

Anyway, for those who cared about the poll earlier today, it looks like only four actual basketballs were brought into the Capitol for various Huskies to sign, as the reception gathers steam in the Capitol’s historic Hall of the Flags.

Bill would let bicycles cross Housatonic RR tracks in New Milford’s Sega Meadows

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

HARTFORD – As soon as this spring, bicyclists would be allowed to cross the Housatonic Railroad tracks in New Milford’s Sega Meadows Park, under legislation that was unanimously approved Wednesday morning in the House of Representatives.

The bill moves next to the Senate.

If approved there and signed into law by the governor, bicyclists would be immediately allowed to make the crossing at grade.

Rep. Clark J. Chapin, R-New Milford, ranking member of the Environment Committee, successfully offered an amendment that would give the New Milford Town Council flexibility to withdraw its plan for the crossing.

Under questioning by Rep. John Hetherington, R-New Canaan, Chapin said that under state law, a special act is required by the Legislature to approve the easement.

Rep. David A. Scribner, R-Brookfield, said that the new crossing is being eagerly awaited by bicycle riders and that the issue has been carefully vetted by local officials and the railroad.

The town has agreed to install railroad-crossing signs on the bike path, at a cost of about $100. The whole project comes under existing law governing liabilities and recreational uses.

Committee kills Internet bill that would have hit CT newspapers

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

The Government Administration & Elections Committee just gave state newspapers a chance for a little more revenue, when it declined to take up a bill that would have allowed municipalities to put legal notices on their websites rather than pay for newspaper legal ads. It’s a victory for the Connecticut Daily Newspaper Association. The bill is now dead for the year.

Tulips march on. Capitol will be in full-dog frenzy today.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 by:Ken Dixon

Yep, it’s Husky Day in the Capitol, a time for dorky lawmakers to bask in some athletic glow that, judging by the crew up here, very few ever enjoyed in their youth. Maybe Sen. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, a football star at Yale back in the day, could put it in the right perspective. The full gush isn’t going to occur in the House and Senate until this afternoon, when the UConn football and basketball teams arrive to accept their kudos, followed by a reception, where lawmakers will autograph graze.

No, don’t expect the perennially nationally ranked UConn men’s and women’s soccer teams to show up. Those sports are too esoteric. We’re talking Connecticut lawmakers demanding star dust and…oh yeah…some autographs for their kids from the Fiesta Bowl (how’d that work out financially?) footballers and the unlikely NCAA champions. The Blogster would like to start a pool. It’s free to join. Just pick the number between one and 187 (the combined number of senators and representatives) that you think will coincide with the number of basketballs – and footballs – brought in by lawmakers for signatures. The Blogster will work the halls and report back around 5 p.m.

In the way of actual work in the Legislature, the House has scheduled crucial votes on bills that would hold dog owners responsible for damage done to other animals. Arf! Arf! Yes, the Capitol is going to the dogs. The adjournment date is June 8 at midnight. Where’s the budget, you ask? Alas, it’s for another day.

Here’s the tulip round-up.