Political Capitol

As the story of the arrest of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez unfolded today, I recalled he had been a staunch ally of Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy during the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

I wasn’t covering state politics at the time. But it didn’t take long to find proof on the web. First there was this, then this.

There was speculation at the time Malloy, who lost the primary, was considering Perez as a running mate.

Malloy weathered a similar scandal around the time he was running for Governor. He was investigated by the Chief State’s Attorney for allegedly awarding city jobs to contractors who worked on his home in the mid-1990s.

His gubernatorial bid was revived when Chief State’s Attorney Christopher Morano determined after talking to over 100 witnesses and reviewing thousands of documents that there was “no credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing.”

Morano directed the investigation closed. Malloy has his eyes on his party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2010.

Despite assurances from Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie the state WILL find parking spaces for commuters when work proceeds on a new Stamford train station garage, the city’s legislative delegation has submitted a bill to put that pledge into law.

State lawmakers in the news caused me to Google the term “Corrupticut” today and this story was the first thing to pop up.

That headline was written almost three years ago but could easily be recycled today.

Currently we’ve got Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, under investigation for allegedly double-billing thousands of dollars in travel expenses to the state and his political action committee.

Then today we got a twofer – Hartford’s Democratic Mayor Eddie Perez arrested on charges of bribery/falsifying evidence AND state Rep. James O’Rourke, D-Cromwell, being questioned by police for giving a ride to a state worker on the night she disappeared and was later found frozen to death.

All innocent until proven guilty. And yet it doesn’t help this state shake that nickname, does it.

If lawmakers are successful in extending 5-cent deposits to water and other non-carbonated beverages this session, it will no doubt be related to a pair of recent departures from the General Assembly.

Just retired House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, was not a fan of expanding the state’s bottle bill in past years, arguing it placed an unfair financial burden on supermarkets that administer the 31-year-old deposit/return program.

Previous bills were also successfully killed by Rep. Christopher Stone, D-East Hartford. The also recently retired Stone was co-chairman of the General Law Committee and often sided with the bottling industry’s opposition to an expanded bottle bill.

East Hartford is home to a Coca-Cola bottling plant.

This morning Democratic leadership from both the state House of Representatives and the Senate hosted a press conference unveiling a plan to encourage “voluntary regionaliziation” between cities and towns.

Their goal is to help cash-strapped municipalities who have little to no hope of getting any more aid from a cash-strapped state find ways to cut costs during the economic crisis.

As a bonus the legislators said they would offer to cities and towns who take a stab at regionalization something the more populated areas have long sought – a portion of the state sales tax generated within their borders.

But the legislators could not say how much of the $3.5 billion worth of annual state sales tax revenue they would be willing to share or when the monies might be made available to municipalities.

“We’re not quite sure what our revenues are going to look like in the ‘out’ years,” Rep. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, told reporters.

The concept of consolidation is generally recognized as a good idea and is already being pursued on several levels by cities and towns. I know in lower Fairfield County some of the municipalities have teamed up to purchase supplies in bulk.

And a few years ago Norwalk and New Canaan tried unsuccesfully to merge their health departments.

But something tells me local elected officials who already feel the state does not keep its promises to fund other types of municiple aid, say for education, are going to laugh at the concept of basing their budgets around some future share of the state sales tax.

Even some state legislators are skepitcal of their colleagues’ plan.

Case in point. After the press conference I bumped into Rep. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, outside of the hearing room. I mentioned the consolidation initiative and the “carrot” of the sales tax.

“Did they mention how it would be dispersed?” Leone asked me.

I said “no” and he laughed.

“Right. Okay,” Leone said.

Seems like it’s the new buzz word of the recession – “shovel ready,” as in …

Well, I’ll let these folks explain it.

What’s interesting is, according to the same people, the term has been around since at least 1995.

I spoke today with Senator Toni Boucher, R-Westport, about Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s choice of Linda McMahon, head of World Wrestling Entertainment in Stamford, for a seat on the state education board.

Boucher is a member of the legislature’s education committee. She did not know much about McMahon and, while on the phone, proceeded to look up and read aloud the nominee’s Wikipedia entry.

It was amusing hearing the proper Boucher saying names of pro wrestlers like “Stone Cold Steve Austin” and “Triple H”.

“I have no idea who these people are,” Boucher said.

Then Boucher admitted her mother was a fan of wrestling in the 1950s and 1960s.

“I had an elderly mother who loved wrestling. She loved to watch it. It was so entertaining to her. And I was shocked. She was very modest and conservative,” Boucher said. “I walked by once and she was sitting there watching it (on television), totally entertained.”

Fans of Superman (or of the sitcom “Seinfeld”) know about Bizarro – a mirror image of the Man of Steel who basically does everything completely the opposite.

I couldn’t help but think of Bizarro today.

First Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell issued a giddy press release touting the $525 million she is recommending the state borrow to begin a variety of statewide infrastructure projects.

The projects will be on the Bond Commission’s Jan. 30 agenda, which Rell chairs.

Rell has prided herself on keeping a tight reign on the amount of money the state borrows, and is often accused by the legislature’s Democratic-majority of taking years to release money the General Assembly authorized for projects.

But, despite the state’s growing budget deficit and her own pledges to taxpayers that government needs to cut back, Rell apparently has bought into new Democratic President Barack Obama’s argument government needs to spend money to jump start the economy.

She even dubbed the bond commission proposals – which include things like $13 million for signal upgrades on the New Haven rail line, $7.7 for upgrades to the Groton Submarine Base, $2.8 million for redevelopment in New Haven, a $1.5 million loan for financial firm Weeden & Co.’s expansion in Greenwich and $870,000 for elderly housing in Somers – the “Connecticut Stimulus Package.”

“This bond agenda is all business – no frills, no earmarks. It addresses real and immediate needs for the entire state,” Rell said.

But it’s also adding to the state’s debt – again something she has continued to warn against. So that was Bizarro-Rell moment number one.

Then later in the day Rell’s budget director, Robert Genuario of Norwalk, urged lawmakers to agree to a potentially $9 plus-million a year deal with the Department of Transportation’s union to increase employees’ hours from 35-a-week to 40-a-week.

Genuario argued the move could actually save the state money in the long run because the accompanying salary increases will be covered in part by federal transportation dollars, will improve productivity/oversite in the DOT and also cut back on the state’s need to hire pricey outside consultants.

At least the Democrats bought it. But the Republican minority argued against the move, saying that any new deals with unions – particularly ones that, like the DOT pact, were negotiated months ago – should be put on hold because of the state’s current fiscal crisis.

The funny thing is, that was Rell’s same argument a few weeks ago when she called on legislators to turn down a new contract and accompanying raises for state corrections officers. Genuario today said it’s different – this is not technically a raise for the DOT employees but more money for more work.

But Rell’s fellow Republicans weren’t buying it.

So I’m calling this Bizarro-Rell moment number two, just for fun, since she’s at odds with her party.