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Today Stamford resident and businessman Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele’s office announced he and his wife will be visiting China all next week on a “humanitarian and trade mission.”

Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell imposed an out-of-state travel ban to help address the deficit, but Fedele’s office said the couple’s expenses are being footed by two co-sponsors – the National Lieutenant Governors Association and the People’s Friendship Organization.

“(They) are sponsoring the entire trip–flights, lodging, meals, ground transportation, everything–and that includes for spouses and staff,” Fedele spokesman Laura Fanelli wrote me in an e-mail.

Other Lieutenant Governors making the trip are from Nevada, Kansas, Alabama and Wisconsin.

Their itinerary, according to Fanelli, includes: Tours of various economic development zones in Beijing followed by meetings with Beijing’s assistant foreign minister, vice minister of commerce and the vice premiere; a visit to the Chengdu Panda Research Center and a meeting with the lieutenant governor of the Sichuan Province; a visit to the city of Mianyang, site of the disastrous earthquake; and a visit to Shanghai.

As is the case with most lieutenant governors, Fedele often has to struggle for media attention. But the job does have its travel perks.

About a year ago Fedele and his wife joined a state economic delegation on Northwest Airline’s inaugural flight from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks to Amsterdam.

Fedele spent about a week marketing the state to businesses in Germany, Italy and elsewhere, then he and his wife took a few days’ vacation in Italy.

Fedele’s office at the time said while the state covered the official portion of the trip, Fedele paid to have his wife accompany him and the couple was also responsible for any bills accrued on their sojourn in Italy.

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Nearly 80 new state laws take effect tomorrow.

Some we’ve covered in The Advocate over the past several months, including: new criminal justice reforms enacted following the 2007 triple murders in Cheshire; a bill criminalizing the display of nooses; legislation allowing judges to reduce/revoke the pensions of corrupt state/municipal officials; and a requirement that new adult drivers take a safety and drug/alcohol course.

You might be thinking “didn’t we have a bunch of new laws kick-in July 1. What’s with this second wave?”

Larry Perosino, spokesman for House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, explains:

“There’s always exceptions,” he said. “Some go into effect immediately upon passage. But generally speaking July 1 represents those laws that coincide with the (July through June) fiscal year. October 1 is the time frame that most other laws take effect. That date has to do with allowing the appropriate agencies of jurisdiction to prepare for those new laws and … to get that information out to the public.”

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This afternoon Michael Coffey, former president of the Norwalk Common Council, called to share his two cents on a story I wrote last week about the possibility of the city’s Democrats cross-endorsing the Working Families Party candidate in the 142nd House District race.

“I absolutely think the party should cross-endorse” Brian Petronella, said Coffey, who lives in the district, represented for several years by Republican House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero. “I think he believes in many of the same things the Democratic Party does.”

When the Democrats this year could not field a candidate against Cafero, Petronella, who ran against the incumbant in 2004 under the WFP label, stepped up so the race would not be one-sided.

Coffey has not had the best relationship with some party leaders, particularly after he and a handful of other council Democrats broke ranks to endorse U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s third-party bid for re-election against Ned Lamont in 2006.

But Coffey knows the benefits of cross endorsements. He was the only Democrat to seek and accept the WFP’s support in 2005 and subsequently earned the second highest vote total of the at-large council candidates.

Coffey at the time bucked the local party’s tradition of discouraging cross endorsements. This year several local congressional and state Senate and House candidates have gladly accepted the WFP’s backing.

It is not a given Democrats and unaffiliated voters will flock to a Democrat-backed Petronella. When he challenged Cafero in 2004′s two-man race, he lost by around 6,000 votes despite the lack of a Democrat on the ticket.

But Coffey has faith.

“I think he’ll do very well,” he said. “I’m happy to endorse and vote for him.”

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The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, an organization which dubs itself “the voice of local government” at the capitol and beyond, today issued a report on the needs and challenges facing the state’s 169 cities and towns.

CCM members are concerned about decreased state aid and increased unfunded legislative mandates in the face of rising healthcare, safety, energy and infrastructure costs.

The organization in particular targets prevailing wage and binding arbitration laws and property tax exemptions.

None of this will come as news to state lawmakers and candidates for the General Assembly, at whom the report is being targeted.

What struck me about the document was CCM’s decision to take its disparaging nickname head on.

It is no secret that some at the capitol refer to CCM as the “Conference of Crying Mayors,” believing that municipal lawmakers take too little responsibility for local budget problems and use the state as a scapegoat.

In the report summary, titled “Is This Whining?” CCM officials let readers know they are well aware of the nickname.

“Municipal government is the government closest to the people and the most accountable,” they write. “When town and city leaders go to Hartford to point out local needs, it isn’t to get someone else to bail them out. It’s because the needs are real and have a direct impact on the people of the state and the quality of life in Connecticut’s hometowns.”

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… of leaves.

The DEP (really the Department of Environmental Protection) has launched a new program asking residents to submit their digital color photographs of Connecticut’s fall foliage for display on the agency’s website.

“Leaf peeping and taking photographs is a great way to spend time with family and friends,” DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy said.

The program is called “Show Your Colors, Connecticut.”

Suggested themes include: Coastal scenes and shorelines of lakes, ponds and rivers; forest scenes, including wildlife; farm scenes; recreational scenes; individual trees.

For more information visit www.ct.gov/dep/foliage

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There has been a lot of talk this week at the capitol about how best and how quickly to address the current, 2009 state budget deficit of plus/minus $300 million.

But the real action is not required by law to begin until state Comptroller Nancy Wyman enters the fray on October 1 and officially certifies the amount of the deficit.

“As you know, every month we write to the comptroller and tell her the financial situation of the state,” Jeffrey Beckham, spokesman for the governor’s budget office, said. “And she at the first of every month puts out her own letter back to us saying ‘I agree or disagree’.”

On Thursday the budget office estimated the deficit stands at around $302 million.

The state’s non-partisan office of fiscal analysis had a bit lower number — $293 million.

Beckham said Wyman on Oct. 1 could certify something else entirely. But as long as her deficit equals one percent or more of the $18 billion budget, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell will be required within 30 days to submit a mitigation plan for the Democrat-majority General Assembly’s consideration.

Beckham said work on the plan has already begun.

The Republican minority on Thursday urged Democrats to join with them and Rell in devising a plan, rather than allowing the Governor to shoulder the burden and attacking her for proposed cuts before election day.

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The two leaders of the legislature’s Republican minority – Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield and Rep. Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk – visited the capitol press room following the hearing they hosted today on the growing state budget deficit.

The two men reiterated their concern about the $1 billion budget holes projected for each of the coming three fiscal years and urged Democrats to join them and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell at the bargaining table ASAP.

But neither said they intended to follow the lead of a certain Republican presidential candidate and suspend their re-election campaigns until a deal is reached to address Connecticut’s fiscal crisis.

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Stamford Democratic Mayor Dannel Malloy was at the capitol today and briefly stopped by the GOP’s hearing on the state budget deficit to listen to testimony by budget staff.

He predicted that the around $300 million deficit projected for the current, 2009 fiscal year would grow to between $500 million and $800 million in the coming months.

Like many other municipal leaders, Malloy is concerned Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Democrat-run General Assembly will cut municipal aid to cities and towns to address deficits of around $1 billion in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“These are worse than what I had assumed would be the case,” Malloy said in a brief interview outside the hearing room. “There’s a real structural problem here.”

Malloy, who tried to run for Governor in 2006 but lost the Democratic primary, has said he plans to again seek his party’s nomination for Governor in 2010 should Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Greenwich again decline the opportunity.

So, if Malloy were running the state now, what would he do about the budget hole?

“Legislative leadership and the Governor have got to start having frank and honest discussions,” Malloy said, adding more important than his ideas are the plans of the Republican leaders running today’s hearing.

“What’s Larry’s answer?” Malloy said, referring to House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk. “What does Larry want?”