Political Capitol

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, earlier this afternoon “applauded” the announcement by Sen. President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, and incoming House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, to hold a vote on a deficit mitigation plan Jan. 14.

Cafero had ideally wanted the Democratic majority to agree to return to the capitol Friday to take up Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposal to address the current, $356 million budget shortfall. But he said he was willing to put it off as long as the Democrats scheduled a future date.

The regular legislative session begins Jan. 7 so any plan up for adoption Jan. 14 will come before the newly sworn General Assembly as opposed to the “lame duck” legislature in place for this final week.

But in a statement sent this evening, Senate Minority Leader John McKinney had the opposite opinion of Williams’ and Donovan’s announcement.

“If the Democrats are serious about passing the Governor’s mitigation plan, then there isn’t a moment to lose; certainly not two more weeks. We should be in special session Friday, or at the very least be prepared to vote on opening day,” McKinney wrote.

According to the Hartford Courant, Diane Smith, a familiar face at various charity events and self-written book signings in lower Fairfield County, has lost her job co-hosting a morning talk show on Hartford’s WTIC 1080 radio station.

State House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said he will not fight Democratic leaders’ opposition to a special session this Friday on the deficit if they come up with an alternative date.

The special session was called by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to vote on her proposal to address the current fiscal year’s $356 million deficit. Rell argues the budget hole should be dealt with BEFORE the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 7 for the 2009 legislative session, during which lawmakers will have to address a $6 billion deficit projected for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years.

But Democrats late last week decided against returning to the capitol Friday.

Cafero said he has since spoken to incoming House Speaker Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, and urged him to schedule another time to take up Rell’s proposal.

“We’ll support cancelling it if you set a date certain in January whereby we’ll be taking up the Governor’s mitigation plan,” Cafero told me this afternoon. “That’s reasonable and logical. I am not supportive if we just cancel the session and make no plans other than to say ‘we’ll take it up some day’.”

Supposedly Donovan and Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, are meeting today to decide whether to set a future date to take on the current, $356 million budget shortfall.

If they don’t, Cafero acknowledges he has little recourse as minority leader.

“I guess I don’t have a procedural recourse than to complain loudly,” Cafero said.

UPDATE:

Williams and Donovan just announced they have agreed to take up a deficit-mitigation plan on Jan. 14.

“The effects of the global economic crisis have landed on our doorstep and we must face the challenges head-on,” the pair said in a statement. “In the next two weeks we expect to work closely with Gov. Rell to reach agreement on a budget mitigation plan that can be approved on January 14. We must begin the 2009 legislative session the same way we will end it many months from now – working together to make tough, smart and responsible decisions.”

Nancy DiNardo, chairman of the state Democrats, said this morning she has scheduled a meeting with black sheep (my words, not hers) U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman for this week. But she declined to give any specifics.

“It’s this week. It’s not today,” DiNardo said.

Lieberman, a long-time Democrat and Stamford native, has had an increasingly frosty relationship with his party since losing the 2006 primary to anti-Iraq War candidate Ned Lamont of Greenwich.

Lieberman ran and won the general election as a third party candidate, then used his independence (he labels himself an “independent Democrat”) to back the Republican presidential ticket this year, further infuriating his party with some pretty tough criticism about Democrat Barack Obama.

But the election is over, Obama won, and Lieberman has since indicated he regrets some of the stuff he said about the President-elect and wants to try and mend some fences with the state party.

In an interview last week during a stop in Norwalk Lieberman told me he had reached out to DiNardo to meet this week, and she confirmed at the time talks were occuring but nothing had been finalized.

Asked if she will alert the media once the meeting has occurred, DiNardo said “I imagine I will be making a statement. I don’t know what his plans are.”

One argument against convening a special legislative session Jan. 2 to address the budget deficit is it would cost taxpayer dollars that might be saved if the vote took place during the regular session.

The regular 2009 legislative session begins Jan. 7.

It is true that special sessions do not come cheap. When legislators returned to the capitol in November to vote on a plan to decrease the deficit, it cost, according to the Office of Legislative Management, $18,500.

And that does NOT, according to OLM, include the money the individual Senate and House Democratic and Republican caucuses paid to order out lunch and dinner.

“These costs are paid from caucus funds and the appropriate caucus determines where the food is ordered on a particular day. No contracts exist for these purchases,” Dana Crompton, a state employee who helps keep track of this stuff, wrote in an e-mail.

Christopher Cooper, spokesman for Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who is pushing for the Jan. 2 special session, said those concerned about the cost make “a valid point.”

“But the Governor just believes that there’s an urgency to getting this deficit mitigation in place,” Cooper said.

Were a special session held, I guess lawmakers could at least find savings by brown-bagging it.

Back in November I wondered why the state needs to spend money on a business advocate when it has Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele of Stamford, who clearly wants to make economic development a hallmark of his tenure in office.

Since that initial blog post, current business advocate Rob Simmons has decided to leave the job.

And I returned to the office today from Christmas vacation to find a day old e-mail from Fedele’s office promoting a column he wrote for the National Federation of Independent Business. In it Fedele reiterates one of his “top priorities” has been economic development and talks about the economic crisis.

He also goes on to write the following: “Connecticut’s business owners, do what you do best – run your company. Your contribution to Connecticut’s economy in terms of investment – financially and in employment – is invaluable and appreciated. As a businessman, I know the struggle you face in day-to-day decisions such as the rising cost of energy, healthcare, taxes and making payroll – and the responsiblity you feel trying to keep your business going and growing.”

So I’ll ask again. Why not make “business advocate” one of Fedele’s official duties?

There’s a rumor floating around the capitol that the long-anticipated audit of the over-budget New Haven Rail Yard project will now not be released until AFTER Christmas.

Although there is still the paranoid part of me that thinks Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration will issue the findings some time tomorrow afternoon, when reporters are leaving for Christmas Eve and it will be difficult for those still on the job to track down people for comment.

Rell proposed upgrading the railyard in 2005 as part of her transportation initiative, which included the purchase of 300 or so new Metro North train cars to service lower Fairfield County.

Earlier this year it was revealed the cost of the project had quadrupled from the estimated $300 million to over $1.2 billion.

Rell initially denied having been aware of the issue, but it then surfaced that both state budget chief Robert Genuario of Norwalk and Rell chief-of-staff Lisa Moody were aware of the rising price tag last year.

In June Rell decided to spend $630,000 to audit the rail yard plans for cost savings. The administration had initially said the audit would be completed by the end of September.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the self-described “independent Democrat” from Stamford, said yesterday he backs a proposal being floated by some state officials to let voters address future senate vacancies.

Currently the decision is left up to the Governor.

“In my opinion it’s always better to have somebody in a high office be elected as opposed to appointed,” Lieberman said, although he added he understands there are concerns about the fiscal impact of special elections.

Some Democrats criticized Lieberman in 2000 for deciding to seek re-election while also running for vice-president alongside Al Gore. Their argument was if the Gore/Lieberman ticket won AND Lieberman won back his Senate seat, then-Republican Gov. John Rowland would have filled the vacancy with a fellow member of the GOP.

Lieberman has since done plenty of other things to tick-off Democrats, but this was one of the first times party faithful, despite celebrating their Senator’s bid for the White House, grumbled he was putting self-interest ahead of the party.