Political Capitol

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell went off-script in today’s state-of-the-state remarks when she acknowledged outgoing Speaker of the House James Amann, D-Milford.

Here’s the set-up. Amann is currently the only Democrat actively pursuing his party’s nomination for Governor in 2010 and may or may not face Rell, who is exploring whether to run again.

And here’s the punchline from Rell to Amann: “I wish you all the best. But maybe not ALL the best.”

That did get quite a few laughs, including from Amann.

In the midst of her state-of-the-state address earlier this afternoon, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was forced to pause when an elderly television cameraman standing in the back of the room fainted.

The incident occurred RIGHT AFTER the following paragraph from her prepared address: “The sacrifices will not be easy or painless. The recommended two-year budget that I present to you next month will reflect that. The cuts that must be made, and they will be deep, they will affect every agency, every program and every service provided by state government.”

I actually thought about turning to a colleague and making a joke about how the man who fainted must REALLY be worried about the state’s finances, then thought that was probably insensitive and kept my mouth shut.

State police quickly arrived on the scene to attend to the cameraman and Rell waited for a few minutes to make sure he was okay. Then she attempted to move forward with a quick joke.

“I know this is a somber speech. I apologize it actually made someone faint,” she said to a smattering of laughter from lawmakers who, like me, were probably working out whether the joke was in poor taste.

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy is up at the capitol for the start of the 2009 session today. The Democrat attended a rally on behalf of some workers who clean public buildings and are facing a loss of health benefits. Some of those employees work at UCONN’s Stamford campus and the city’s train station.

Then Malloy was in the audience in the Chamber of the House of Representatives when Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell delivered her state-of-the-state address, offering plenty of critiques to reporters afterward.

Malloy has in recent months been quite open about the fact he intends to seek his party’s nod for governor in 2010 should Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Greenwich decide he will not pursue the job.

And yesterday Malloy was accompanied by a nice young man who said he worked on the mayor’s gubernatorial campaign in 2006 – Matt Gianquinto. While Malloy was involved in another conversation, Gianquinto clearly identified himself to me as part of Malloy’s current gubernatorial run and provided contact info for the future.

Asked about Gianquinto, Malloy was quick to state “he’s not with my campaign” because he has no campaign.

He went on to say IF he decides to run and launches an official campaign, Gianquinto will be part of it.

“I don’t have a campaign,” Malloy said. “But stay tuned.”

While we were talking, Blumenthal walked by, and he and Malloy shook hands and briefly said hello.

I asked Malloy if he shouldn’t have taken that opportunity to ask Blumenthal whether he had made up his mind about running for governor. He smiled and quickly changed the subject.

It’s 11 a.m. on the day BEFORE the General Assembly and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell kick-off the start of the 2009 budget session in Hartford.

And already I’ve gotten three press releases from lawmakers in both parties announcing new proposals.

Returning Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, and new House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, are holding a 1 p.m. press conference to announce “changes being made to help reach budget agreement on time” – whatever that means.

At noon Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, is joining Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and others in announcing a proposal to fight predatory debt reduction and mortgage rescue services. Duff is a co-chairman of the Banks Committee.

And speaking of Blumenthal, Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, is reviving his long-standing proposal to create the position of state Inspector General. McKinney believes the position will be more independent than Blumenthal’s office, citing a recent suit by state cops against the AG, a Greenwich resident.

UPDATE: Now it’s around 2 p.m. and McKinney’s office has announced a press conference in half-an-hour to “introduce a series of proposed rule changes designed to streamline state government and increase transparency and public participation in this year’s budget-setting process.”

C’mon House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk. We’ve heard from the Democrats and twice from McKinney. Where are you on this 2009 session eve?

UPDATE 2: And now it’s the Judiciary Committee.

The group met today and, by voice vote, passed a new rule allowing the legislature to consider “the potential racial or ethnic impact of a particular piece of criminal justice legislation before it becomes law.”

The decision, which must be approved by the full House and Senate tomorrow, comes in response to a 2004 state study that concluded blacks and Hispanics in Connecticut are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system.

“If nothing else, some types of mandatory minimum sentences have taught us that inner-city residents pay a disproportionately higher price when such laws are enacted,” Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, a committee co-chairman said in a statement. “That may not have been a legislator’s intent in passing those laws, but it certainly was the effect. Now we will have the opportunity to consider that in advance.”

Bridgeport Mayor and former state Sen. Bill Finch was among the local elected officials to hold a press conference at the capitol today urging state lawmakers help cities and towns address their budget problems.

The press conference, hosted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, attracted several newspaper and television reporters, who are no strangers to budget pressures in the workplace.

Perhaps fearing journalists have grown numb to pleas for financial assistance by CCM and other groups that frequent the capitol, Finch, who has laid-off or left unfilled 222 jobs, sought to personalize the issue.

“Every media outlet in this room is in jeopardy or has had lay offs,” he told reporters.

Last April, when legislators first learned the cost to upgrade the New Haven Rail Yard had quadrupled from $300 million to over $1 billion, a Department of Transportation staffer defended the price increase using a car analogy.

This staffer – Scott Hill of the DOT facilities design office – told legislators much of the increase was due to inflation and the agency had been working hard to ensure no part of the project was a wasteful luxury.

“It’s not a Cadillac,” Hill said at the time. “It’s a Chevy.”

Which kind of leads me to wonder… If frugal lawmakers implement the recommendations of an audit released last week and lop off $500 million worth of work on the rail yard, what kind of car will the DOT compare it to now?

This afternoon Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office released the highly-anticipated results of the audit of the New Haven Rail Yard project.

First proposed in 2005 to properly maintain the new Metro North rail cars arriving later this year, the rail yard’s price tag has ballooned from $300 million to around $1.3 billion.

Rell in June hired Hill International to seek cost-savings through an audit.

Bottom-line: Hill, according to the audit, consulted WITH the state Department of Transportation and Metro North and shaved the cost down to just over $1 billion.

But then, at least as I read it, the company went ahead and looked for other areas which could be eliminated or delayed, concluding at minimum the state needed to spend $849.3 million on the project.

As is the custom, I sought a comment from DOT and here’s the e-mail I got from spokesman Kevin Nursick.

“We welcome this independent analysis and will be working closely with the Governor’s Office and the General Assembly on the report’s recommendations. It is too early to say exactly how the recommendations will be addressed,” Nursick wrote.

That TOO EARLY TO SAY part sounds like perhaps DOT is not completely on board with some of Hill’s suggestions, just as the agency disagreed with the findings of an earlier rail yard audit.

In 2007 DOT hired Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. of Middletown to “value engineer” the project. VHB returned with $63 million worth of suggestions which were shaved down to $11 million after talks with DOT and Metro North.

UPDATE: Jim Cameron, chairman of the Metro-North Commuter Rail Council, weighs in on the audit.