Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

One of my favorite past times at the capitol recently has been watching the legislature’s Republican-minority wheel around the televised deficit clock they unveiled in early January.

Most of the time it sits outside of their offices at the capitol to instill those passing by with a feeling that the state is a financial wreck and to remind Democrats that the GOP believes the majority party is not doing enough about it.

But it sometimes gets to go on a walk, like earlier this week when it was positioned outside of the GOP’s caucus room while the full legislature met in session to vote on yet another package of proposals intended to cut – but not eliminate – the growing deficit.

I wonder if lawmakers take turns bringing the clock home for the night or if it just sits there all alone when the lights go out, patiently waiting for dawn when it can continue alarming folks with the ever-rising numbers displayed on its monitor.

And then I wonder what will happen when the legislature and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell finally agree on a balanced budget this year. Will House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk bring the clock home and take care of it until the next fiscal crisis? Will the GOP release the clock outside the capitol and let it roam free? Or will they bring it, Old Yeller-style, out behind the building and put it out of its misery?

Comments(1)

|

E-mail

|

Print

If Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell were any stealthier about this afternoon’s visit to Stamford, she would have been dressed in black, her face smudged with black paint, with night vision goggles over her eyes and a cyanide pill under her tongue in case she was captured by the enemy.

Rell visited Southport this morning for the reopening of the town’s train station. The visit was announced yesterday by her office.

Then at 12:28 p.m. this afternoon her office sent out an e-mail that she would be in Stamford half an hour later for what turned out to be a major announcement – the state is in discussions with NBC to open a large television production studio at the city’s Rich Forum Theater.

The press conference was as quiet as can be. It was held in the lobby of NBC’s offices. Rell made some quick comments for a local news station and to The Advocate reporters. She took two follow-up questions and said she had to leave to visit a friend in the area. No one from NBC spoke, which is really bizarre. Usually the suits are allowed to talk about how great Stamford and the state are and how they’re looking forward to expanding their presence.

My first thought was she had gone out of her way to ensure Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who is “exploring” a bid for the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2010, could not join her in the spotlight at the press conference.

But Rell’s office said that was not the case. They said the NBC announcement was not a sure thing until late this morning and, since she was planning to be in Stamford anyway to visit a friend, decided to schedule a quick press conference during the limited window of time she had available.

And it could be argued during tough budget times it is admirable of Rell to make the Stamford stop while in lower Fairfield County and save gas rather than make a special trip down from Hartford another day to put on a big media show.

I still think the whole thing was just a weird, weird, weird way to handle the situation.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, joined Rep. Terry Backer, D-Stratford, this morning along the banks of the Norwalk Harbor to decry new fees being imposed on the state’s shellfishermen by the Department of Agriculture.

Backer was reliably casual in his jeans, jean jacket and boots, and the dozen or so shellfishermen were dressed for work on their boats. Duff stood out in his suit – something Backer quickly noted.

“Bob, you’re over-dressed,” Backer said before the television cameras began to roll.

Anyone at the capitol watching the footage with the sound turned off might assume the shellfishermen had decided to sue the state over the fees – which they might – and Duff was their attorney.

Comments(2)

|

E-mail

|

Print

By now the news of the layoffs at The Hartford Courant has begun to circulate.

Having more reporters covering the capitol makes us all better. We all don’t write the same stories and a piece by one journalist in the Courant or another paper might inspire me to explore the same issue in lower Fairfield County or might spark a completely different idea for an enterprise piece.

And the same thing can happen when we all show up at press conferences. We ask different questions and sometimes force lawmakers to clarify or actually answer something posed by a colleague. One question can result in five follow-up questions.

Fewer reporters means less coverage. Period. It’s disgraceful.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

It’s a tradition to have a priest on hand when legislative business occurs on Ash Wednesday so lawmakers, their staff, lobbyists and anyone else can have their foreheads blessed. So a lot of folks are walking around with ash smudges, including former House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford.

Amann, who retired early this year from the legislature to run for governor, said he was in Hartford on business and swung by the capitol to buy his favorite ham sandwich from the cafeteria. Then he decided to get his forehead blessed and realized he’s not supposed to eat meat today. But Amann said the priest gave him a special blessing so he wouldn’t waste the sandwich.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

So on the Democrats’ list that I discussed in the previous post, there’s something called “Rochambeau Project.”

And after a few seconds on the Internet it appears the “Rochambeau Project” is this.

But I prefer to think it’s actually a study involving the word’s other meanings – either the game of “rock-paper-scissors” or it’s more modern incarnation, where two or more people punch each other in the groin.

And the way things are going up here at the capitol, that’s probably how Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature’s Democratic majority are going to agree to a budget.

Comments(2)

|

E-mail

|

Print

It seems like every other day some news program or talk show has an “expert” on discussing ways households can cut back on their costs during the recession.

And inevitably the advice is always stuff I’m already doing – bringing lunch and sometimes dinner from home, making coffee at home, dining-in more on weekends, cutting out other luxuries. I just keep hoping for some sort of suggestion that I haven’t thought of or that would actually apply to my already pretty modest lifestyle.

And then you have state government, which every few weeks seems to suddenly discover a whole bunch of money sitting around somewhere lawmakers then use to try and make some headway in cutting the deficit.

First it was Repubican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s discovering millions-of-dollars in additional Medicaid revenue.

Then last night the Democrats handed reporters a 15-page list of “non-appropriated funding” i.e. money that they say is just sitting in accounts that they recently identified. The Dems aren’t quite sure how much of the total $1.6 billion is for necessary expenditures and how much of it has just been gathering dust, waiting for someone to put it out of its misery and throw it at the deficit.

They plan on sifting through the data in the coming weeks.

There are certainly some head-scratching things on the list. Vague stuff like the “activity fund” and apparently some sort of money dealing with “nonharvested wildlife,” a “sculpture survey” and “shaken baby syndrome.”

State Budget Director Robert Genuario of Norwalk told reporters last night the Democrats will probably identify some savings but he added the list is not a bunch of cash suddenly discovered under the capitol’s cushions. He cautioned reporters from writing a story “that there’s all this hidden money lying around, which there isn’t.”

Genuario said some of the larger items on the list can easily be explained as necessary, such as funding for state colleges, and other items are donations given the state which cannot be used for the purposes of plugging a budget hole.

So at the end of the day, perhaps the Democrats will discover that although they were hoping to find some new savings, they were already bringing their lunches to work.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

A few weeks ago as part of their 2008-09 deficit mitigation proposal, legislative Republicans recommended eliminating the various deputy commissioners working in state agencies to save an estimated $2.1 million.

When Democratic lawmakers proposed their own deficit mitigation plan around 5:30 p.m. today, it adopted the GOP’s suggestion. Democrats made a point of noting they were trying to be bi-partisan and open to ideas besides those generated within their own ranks.

But around 9:30 p.m. Democratic spokesman Derek Slap by phone told reporters that Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell decided to take the cuts to the deputy commissioners off the table tonight.

This change of heart was never mentioned by Rell’s budget director, Robert Genuario, nor her spokesman when they visited with reporters just after 8 p.m. even though the topic was raised in front of them. Slap contends they knew but did not want to talk about it.

So that’s where things stand for now. Those individuals still have their jobs. Of course, the way things are going, they could be back on the line again tomorrow when the General Assembly debates and votes on some version of the deficit mitigation package.

Waiting for news of possible layoffs is horrible under normal circumstances when management keeps everything close to the vest until you either do or don’t get that pink slip. But how much more frustrating must it be to see your job security or lack thereof play out in public like this, with the status changing hourly and depending on the whim of a few lawmakers.