Political Capitol

It’s interesting to note the two new leaders of the state House of Representatives share musical hobbies.

Current House Majority Leader/Incoming Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, plays guitar while incoming House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Storrs, is a classical pianist.

I asked Donovan during a recent interview what their different choice of instruments says about the two new leaders.

“It’s a good question,” Donovan said. “I had to learn to read notes later. I played by ear and my fingers for many years before I could read notes. She learned to read notes.”

The statement makes a lot of sense if you know a little about the two personalities.

Merrill is the detail-oriented chairman of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

From what I’ve witnessed of Donovan, he is a passionate guy who, at least when it came to the healthcare pooling bill he pursued last year, puts bold – some critics might say risky – proposals on the table and refines them as he goes forward.

Donovan added: “There’s a joke – ‘How do you make a guitar player quieter? Put some sheet music in front of him.”

For those who have never witnessed a session of the state House of Representatives, the Speaker – currently Rep. James Amann, D-Milford – basically guides the debate.

A bill is raised and Amann, standing behind the podium at the front of the hall, recognizes fellow lawmakers who want to speak for/against the legislation, confers with staff on questions of rules and propriety, and calls for votes.

It is not uncommon during lengthy debates for the Speaker to have a seat and talk to colleagues, reporters, etc. about other issues.

And sometimes Amann jokes around. On Tuesday night, as House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, launched into a typically passionate, sometimes amusing and sarcastic, GOP condemnation of a Democratic bill to cut the deficit, Amann started doodling on a pad of paper.

One of Amann’s favorite topics of late is the Republicans’ dwindling numbers in the House of Representatives, despite great effort by Cafero and others to fill the role of loyal opposition.

For the past two years the House GOP has been known as the “Fightin’ 44.” But earlier this month they lost seats and will now be 37 in number until the next election in 2010.

So as Cafero continued to make the case for why Republicans are more fiscally responsible than Democrats Tuesday night, Amann held up his pad to reporters and smiled. It read “10 in 2010.”

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman held a 12:30 p.m. press conference today at his offices in Hartford. The economy topped his agenda, but he also heaped praise on the man he tried to help defeat in the presidential election – fellow Democrat and U.S. Senator from Illinois President Elect Barack Obama.

Lieberman noted it was Obama who helped broker peace between Lieberman and his colleagues in the Senate and was thankful he was not punished for backing Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign.

But Lieberman still faces a censure vote Dec. 17 from Connecticut’s Central Democratic Committee.

Party chairman Nancy DiNardo told me this afternoon many Democrats believe Obama wants to let bygones be bygones, while others continue to remain angry over Lieberman’s supporting McCain and criticizing Obama on the campaign trail.

DiNardo has been taken to task by some in her party for being too diplomatic with Lieberman in recent years and treating him with kid gloves.

One thing her office did do is take the Senator’s picture off the wall in Hartford.

Depending on the outcome of the Dec. 17 vote, might that photo ever come out of storage?

“I never say never to anything,” DiNardo said. “There’s always a possibility. I just don’t see it happening very soon.”

There was talk earlier today the legislature’s Democrats were eliminating the position of state Business Advocate, created in 2006 by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the General Assembly, to help cut the deficit.

Rell tapped former Republican U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons for the job in February, 2007.

But ultimately the Democrats decided today instead to only cut Simmons’ budget and transfer the job from the governor’s budget office to the state Office of Economic and Community Development.

“Rob’s a good guy,” Speaker of the House James Amann, D-Milford, said in an interview. “I don’t want to see the guy lose his job. I mean that.”

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, told his colleagues it was not lost on the GOP the only office Democrats targeted for cuts today was that held by a former Republican Congressman.

“We can’t do that stuff. We really can’t do that stuff,” McKinney said.

The whole discussion got me wondering why, if Simmons is eventually shown the door, some of his duties couldn’t be assumed by Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele.

Fedele, a Stamford native and businessman, was tapped as Rell’s running mate in 2006 because of his business experience and has been a defacto business advocate over the past two years both locally and abroad in Europe and China.

In an interview with me as he prepared to assume office in early 2007, Fedele said: “I’m a natural fit to … work with the new commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development to stimulate job creation and attract business.”

Sounds pretty much like what Simmons does.

The Secretary of the State’s office today announced the four winners of her annual “Democracy Cup”.

The annual award goes to the small, medium and large-sized towns with the highest voter turnout on election day. Those were New Hartford with 94.78 percent voter turnout; Avon with 95.65 percent turnout, Newtown with 88.97 percent turnout; and Stamford with 81.65 percent turnout.

The trophies will be handed out in December and displayed by the winners until next year. I would not be surprised if, upon receiving the cup, the Stamford Registrars of Voters partied like this.

… unless they want to.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the state Department of Social Services announced last Friday healthcare providers were no longer required to join BOTH Rell’s new Charter Oak Health Plan or HUSKY for low-income children.

But since then some observers have questioned whether the administration meant physicians do not have to join AT THE SAME TIME but will eventually be required by the three managed care companies overseeing Charter Oak and HUSKY to sign-up for both.

DSS spokesman David Dearborn told me today that is not the case. He said there is “no requirement” to join both HUSKY and Charter Oak.

“If a doctor is approached (by a managed care company) and says ‘Gee, I want to enroll with you in HUSKY but I can’t do Charter Oak’ or vice versa, that’s okay,” Dearborn said. “That’s not to say the company won’t try to interest him or her to enroll at a later date … But a doctor can choose one or the other or both.”

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, a few days ago told me he was concerned the new House Speaker – Rep. Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden – is too closely allied to the state unions whose cooperation lawmakers need to help address the budget crisis.

Donovan, the former House Majority Leader, has made a career out of working for unions.

He has said he will step down from his current job representing the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges Local 1973 to avoid criticism it is a conflict-of-interest.

But today The Hartford Courant reported this.

The General Assembly convenes for a special session Monday to enact a deficit mitigation plan intended to address the current, 2009 fiscal year’s budget hole.

But the proposal, being crafted by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature’s Democrat-majority, only goes so far.

According to Jeffrey Beckham, spokesman for Rell’s budget office, the deficit grew this week to over $356 million and the plan on the table for Monday tackles less than half of that amount.

“They’ll address a little over $100 million or so of the $356 million, leaving a balance of $200 million-something,” Beckham said. “We’re not done. We’re chipping away but we’re not done. This is the beginning of a long slog.”

And lawmakers don’t just have the current fiscal year to fret about. When the General Assembly convenes in January for its regular session, members will have to craft a 2010/2011 budget in the face of an estimated, $6 billion deficit.