Political Capitol

Late last week DSS sent Freedom of Information requests to a handful of Democratic lawmakers and other state officials seeking their internal correspondence on the controversial Charter Oak Health Plan.

It’s a rare move. Typically lawmakers are the ones who, in their oversight capacity, file FOI requests of departments if they feel they are getting the run-around.

DSS spokesman David Dearborn said the agency’s goal was to get a better understanding of why some at the capitol have been so “negative” about Charter Oak, intended to provide health coverage to uninsured adults.

But Charter Oak’s critics have been pretty clear over the past few months about their problems/concerns at public meetings and in the media.

Maybe some in DSS are also looking for evidence of a coordinated assault on Charter Oak by Democrats looking to embarrass Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

That could be why DSS included in its FOI requests one Democratic leader – incoming House Speaker/outgoing House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden.

Although other top Democrats have also expressed concern about Charter Oak, Rell earlier this year vetoed Donovan’s own pet health plan allowing municipalities, small businesses and nonprofits to participate in the state’s employee health insurance.

Perhaps some in DSS think Donovan wants payback and has targeted Charter Oak.

Whatever the reason, DSS had second thoughts. Dearborn today said the agency withdrew its FOI request of Donovan.

“Based on further reflection it was felt Representative Donovan’s office was not central to the request,” Dearborn said.

Donovan could not be immediately reached for comment.

Earlier today the Connecticut Hospital Association and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal held a press conference in Waterbury announcing a two-year campaign to make all 29 CHA member campuses smoke-free by 2010.

Those campuses include Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich hospitals.

I asked Leslie Gianelli, a CHA spokesman, if “smoke-free” also meant the hospitals would not be accepting any donations from the tobacco industry. Yes, it happens.

A few years ago I wrote a story about how Norwalk and Stamford hospitals had announced receiving million-dollar donations from William Ziegler III, the late head of Swisher International, producer of cigars and smokeless tobacco products.

What struck me as interesting about the donation was that both hospitals were concerned enough about the health impacts of smoking to ban products, including Swisher’s, from their gift shops. And yet they were trumpeting donations in press releases from a man whose fortune was built on making said products.

“You have to be able to separate an individual from the company they work for,” Scott Orstad, a Stamford Hospital spokesman, said at the time.

Gianelli said today CHA’s smoke-free initiative does not cover donations.

“To be perfectly honest I’ve never even heard that topic broached,” Gianelli said. “That’s an individual hospital decision, not something that would be prescribed by the association.”

A tag sale was held today in a hallway outside of the capitol hearing room where state legislators and budget staff huddled to discuss the bleak budget outlook.

Used books, CDs and videos were among the items for sale.

Some observers joked the state is doing EVERYTHING possible to close its billion-dollar-deficits.

But really the tag sale was to benefit the State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving.

Here’s the statement Stamford resident and “independent Democrat” Sen. Joseph Lieberman released a short time ago following the decision of his Senate colleagues not to seek retribution this morning for his campaigning against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.

“I was pleased with the discussion we had at the Democrat Party caucus this morning. There was a very good and worthwhile exchange of views and there was a productive outcome. I want to thank Senator Reid (Senate Majority Leader) for his wise and valued leadership on this matter. I look forward to continuing to chair the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and working to ensure our country remains safe and secure.”

“The election is now over and we have a new President-elect. It is imperative that we put politics aside and address the challenges facing our country. I look forward to working with President Obama, and with my colleagues from both parties to restore our economic prosperity, reform our healthcare system, protect the environment, keep our country safe, and many other issues. Let us turn the page, honoring our differences and moving forward together.”

It will be interesting to see in the coming months whether today’s show of unity puts an end to the rift between Lieberman and the Democrats that began in 2006 when he lost the party’s primary in Connecticut to anti-Iraq War candidate Ned Lamont of Greenwich.

It will also be interesting to see if Lieberman, who beat Lamont after forming his own third party – Connecticut for Lieberman – drops the whole “independent Democrat” schtick he adopted after beating Lamont and throws his full support behind the new Obama administration and Congressional Democrats.

Although Lieberman has a solid record of voting with the Democrats on non- national security matters, many longtime supporters believed he was inching more and more toward embracing Republican philosophies after backing Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona and particularly the more conservative Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for president/vice president.

Some Lieberman critics are already working on Plan B.

The legislature’s Appropriations and Finance, Revenue and Bonding committees are at the capitol today to hear directly from budget officials about the state’s poor fiscal outlook and to bat around ideas for chipping away at the estimated, $6 billion, two-year deficit.

At the same time, contractors are hard at work in the halls of the legislative office building, where the budget hearing is being held, chipping away at the marble baseboards. The baseboard replacement project is costing the state $200,000 – an expense some lawmakers argue should have been reconsidered in light of the budget hole.

Having the work continue in earnest in the midst of today’s hearing was like rubbing salt in a wound.

The new legislative session is still about two months away, but House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, is already trying to sow doubts about new House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meridan.

The upcoming session will focus on crafting a new, two-year state budget in the face of the national economic crisis and rising state deficits.

Republicans are suggesting state employee unions make concessions, such as open up what many consider a rich, multi-year package of health benefits for negotiation.

Donovan, the former House Majority Leader, has made a career out of working for unions. He is currently employed as a representative for the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges Local 1973, which represents employees at the state’s community colleges.

Donovan has said he will leave that position upon assuming the Speaker’s role to avoid criticism it is a conflict-of-interest.

But it sounds like that won’t matter much to Cafero when bills impacting unions are debated in the coming session and Donovan is overseeing the back-and-forth.

“I’m a Mets fan,” Cafero told me recently. “I had season tickets. I got rid of season tickets but I’m still a Mets fan. It’s very tough to distance yourself from those intense allegiances. And when you’re speaker you have to do that. You can’t advocate for one particular special interest group.”

Cafero is not immune from accusations of conflicts-of-interest. A few years ago he came under fire for obtaining state dollars for the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium in his district. The aquarium’s lobbyists are a subsidiary of Brown Rudnick, a law firm in which Cafero is a partner.

Newly elected state legislators had their freshman orientation today at the capitol in Hartford.

The Class of 2010 (when they are up for re-election) learned about the workings of state government and sat in on a mock session. The regular 2009 legislative session begins in January.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the state Department of Social Services launched the Charter Oak Health Plan July 1 to help uninsured 19 through 64 year-old residents with their healthcare needs.

But the plan has come under increasing fire from healthcare advocates and Democratic legislators for failing to sign-up an adequate network of physicians and hospitals.

And things were not looking up at this morning’s meeting of the Medicaid Managed Care Council, an advisory board of lawmakers and healthcare and insurance professionals.

Healthcare providers continued to argue Charter Oak’s rates of reimbursement are unacceptable and the plan is unlikely to lure more hospitals.

Members were handed copies of a letter from the state’s Congressional Democrats complaining of Charter Oak’s “wholly inadequate provider networks.”

And questions were raised about whether Charter Oak was properly put out to bid to managed care companies.

The continued questions and criticism appeared to get to David Parrella, a director with the Department of Social Services, who near meeting’s end cut loose with a pretty emotional, at times rambling, plea for understanding.

“We’re working with the cards we’ve been dealt,” Parrella told council members.

He said it “would be nice” if Charter Oak could provide higher reimbursement rates to hospitals and physicians, but the state does not have the money.

Parrella added due to mounting state budget deficits, DSS is looking to cut at least $1 billion from it’s overall budget.

“How do we raise that kind of money?” he said.

Parrella said at least Connecticut is making an effort to help the uninsured.

“This is one state trying to do something … Maybe you don’t agree with it, maybe it’s flawed. A lot of states aren’t doing anything,” Parrella said. “We’re not mean-spirited people and we’re not stupid … Anybody who thought health reform in this state or any other state is easy, it would have been done a long time ago.”

Sen. Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, a vocal critic of how Charter Oak is being implemented, responded that no one is saying DSS employees are “mean-spirited” or “stupid.”

Harris said lawmakers want to see Charter Oak work and want to have “a frank and open discussion” with Rell about how to get that done.