Political Capitol

Following her press conference in Stamford tonight on the economic crisis, I couldn’t resist asking Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell where she stands on Sarah Palin’s vice presidential candidacy.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard Palin has not exactly been viewed as the biggest help to Republican Sen. John McCain’s bid for the White House. Even some noteworthy conservatives have been turning on her.

But long before the honeymoon was over, Rell told reporters she knew Alaska’s chief elected official through National Governors’ Association meetings.

“I think she’s a great pick,” Rell said at the time, adding she had no qualms about Palin’s abilities to take over the presidency if necessary.

So last night I asked her if her opinion of Palin had changed over the past few weeks.

“I still have a lot of faith in her,” Rell said.

Asked if she still believes Palin could serve as president, Rell said: “Yes I do.”

But during the course of the brief exchange – she was walking out of the Sheraton Hotel – the governor threw me off when she winked and said something along the lines of don’t ask her how she’s going to vote.

It took a minute for that to sink in – “Why would she say that? She’s a prominent Republican. But did she just indicate she might NOT vote for McCain/Palin?”

That would be particularly interesting because Rell endorsed McCain in the primaries. And there was some speculation Rell was on the list of potential vice-presidential picks but determined to be too moderate.

So I put in a quick call to Rell’s spokesman, Christopher Cooper, who was present for our Palin talk. He left me the following message a few minutes later on my cell phone:

“No. She was not implying in any way she was not supporting the McCain/Palin ticket,” Cooper said. “She supports Palin. She believes she’d be a good president. She supports McCain. What I’ve heard her say is ‘if you’re going to ask me who I’m going to vote for, that’s my business’ … I know that’s what she meant by that. Simply, everybody’s vote is their own business. She definitely supports the McCain/Palin ticket.”

I wrote a story in today’s Advocate about two Republican lawmakers – Sen. Judith Freedman, R-Westport and Rep. John Hetherington, R-New Canaan – urging a legislative probe of the allegations against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The state Elections Enforcement Commission has launched an investigation into complaints by Republican registrars in Stamford and Norwalk that ACORN’s voter drive turned in some fraudulent voter cards.

Freedman and Hetherington also want the General Assembly’s Government Administration and Elections Committee to look into the matter, preferably before Election Day. The two lawmakers are ranking Republicans on the committee.

My story noted the Elections Enforcement Commission would not be able to discuss the ongoing Stamford and Bridgeport cases with the GAE Committee.

But today commission spokesman Nancy Nicolescu told me not only would the topics of Stamford and Bridgeport be off limits, but the woman who runs such probes – Joan Andrews, director of the commission’s legal and enforcement unit – would be a no show.

“In a broad sense we could talk about voter fraud issues, but Joan Andrews’ position was she would not testify at all during a pending investigation,” Nicolescu said.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office today announced she will present her “deficit mitigation plan” at a press conference tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in Rocky Hill.

That’s a fancy way of saying she has additional ideas, beyond those she has the authority to enact, to cut state spending and is asking the General Assembly for their approval.

When the state’s finances are in the red – as they are now to the tune of $300 million – Rell and her budget staff are required to come up with a detailed plan to plug the fiscal hole.

Jeffrey Beckham, spokesman for Rell’s budget office, said the Governor will submit the plan to the General Assembly’s finance and appropriations committees.

Those committees are not required to act, but it seems obvious the mitigation plan will provide plenty of campaign fodder in these final two weeks before state elections.

The press conference is being held at Virginia Industries, a maker of ball bearings. Neither Beckham nor a spokesman for Rell could immediately explain the significance of the location.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, does not consider the title of “media hound” (explained in the previous blog post) an insult.

“First of all, maybe you can’t be effective as a minority leader unless you get media attention,” Cafero said.

Cafero is in charge of the “Fightin’ 44″ Republicans on the 151-member state House of Representatives.

He was elected to that post in late 2006.

“We couldn’t catch a cold and I tried to get us attention,” Cafero said.

But he still doesn’t mention being a “media hound” in his campaign literature.

The October issue of Connecticut Magazine carries the results of a July survey in which the publication asked legislators to rate themselves. Categories include most effective, most intelligent, highest integrity, media hound, underachiever – you get the idea.

According to Connecticut Magazine, 40 of the 151 members of the House of Representatives responded, with a few members of the lower Fairfield County delegation singled out by their colleagues.

Freshman Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, was named Democrat with the ”best promise for the future” while veteran Rep. John Hetherington, D-New Canaan, was ranked “most intelligent” of the Republicans.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, has been touting his being named ”most effective” Republican on campaign literature. What Cafero does not mention is he was also voted top “media hound” alongside nemesis Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport.

Connecticut Magazine notes state Senators declined to participate. 

But clearly Sen. President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn and Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, deserve to share the title of “most bi-partisan” after issuing a joint statement to the publication, saying “there is nothing objective, scientific or transparent about the survey.”

According to the magazine, Williams and McKinney went on to state: “To solicit anonymous criticism or anonymous praise of our colleagues under superficial headings that can be used in campaigns and for other political purposes is not in keeping with the spirit of open civil discourse.”

I seem to recall a few years ago the Norwalk Republicans used a less-than-flattering Connecticut Magazine peer review of former Rep. Alex Knopp, D-Norwalk, to thwart either his bid for re-election or his run for mayor. Nobody seemed to care what Knopp’s colleagues in Hartford thought about his style. The ad did not break Knopp’s winning streak at the time.

It is true that Cafero, as House minority leader, has been pretty savvy in using what little power the GOP has to impact the debate at the capitol and occasionally frustrate the Democrats.

But perhaps the title of “most effective” should be withheld until after the coming elections, when voters, rather than lawmakers, decide whether Cafero and his Republican colleagues deserve to be rewarded for their efforts, or whether they lose even more seats to the Democrats.

Today the state Elections Enforcement Commission wrapped up the first ever public campaign finance program by releasing the final list of candidates approved for grants.

Candidates for the House of Representatives who raised $5,000 on their own in small, $5 to $100 contributions qualified for a $25,000 grant from the state. Senate candidates had to raise $15,000 to qualify for $85,000 from the state.

The deadline for submitting applications was Oct. 10 with the final grants going out the door this week.

Several races in lower Fairfield County are uncontested, and some candidates chose not to take the money.

But others, like Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, and Reps. John Hetherington, R-New Canaan and Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, opted to participate regardless of whether or not they had an opponant.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, who had signed up to participate when he had no challenger, saw his grant increase after Brian Petronella of the Working Families Party entered the race.

My colleague, Neil Vigdor from the Greenwich Time, earlier this week wrote about Democrat Mark Diamond’s failure to raise the $15,000 necessary to secure a grant for his run for the 36th District Senate seat being vacated by William Nickerson.

The full list can be found here.

Brian Petronella, the labor leader and Working Families Party candidate challenging House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, will not be attending tonight’s candidate forum at Norwalk City Hall.

Cafero said he was notified about his opponent’s absence by sponsor the League of Women Voters around noon today. The forum features a 7 p.m. debate among state Senate candidates followed by individual forums allowing voters to meet and pose questions to their candidates for the state House of Representatives.

Petronella is president of Local 371 United Food and Commercial Workers Union and said he has business tonight at the Mohegan Sun casino in the northeastern end of the state.

“We’re trying to organize the beverage services, bartenders and bar porters,” Petronella said. “Because of the potential layoffs looming I’ve got to be up there tonight.”

Petronella, who unsuccessfuly challenged Cafero four years ago, decided to run again this year when the Democrats failed to find a candidate.

But Petronella is not going out of his way to win the race. He declined a potential cross endorsement by the Democratic Party and is not fund raising, wanting instead to use forums like tonight’s and newspaper articles to circulate his message to voters.

Cafero said he still plans to attend the forum.

Christopher Shays and his opponent, Jim Himes, faced off twice yesterday and will be at it again tomorrow night at Fairfield University.

Also on Thursday the League of Women Voters in Norwalk is sponsoring evening debates and forums with local candidates for state Senate and the state House of Representatives.

And of course the third and final debate between the two main presidential candidates takes place tonight.

But if you can stand just one more debate, click here. After all, as goes Gotham City, so goes the nation.