Political Capitol

Following the notorious Kelo case – the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed New London to take homes for private development – Connecticut lawmakers passed a package of eminent domain reforms.

Part of that was the creation of the Office of Property Rights Ombudsman to help property owners navigate the laws and to mediate disputes over eminent domain issues.

Rell appointed Robert Poliner to the $100,786 position in 2007. Today she recommended eliminating the post, along with several other state ombudsman and advocate positions, to help address the growing deficit.

I have heard some rumblings about whether Poliner has enough to do.

In an interview in October, Poliner told me his first 15 months on the job had been “exceedingly busy.”

“There isn’t another New London, so it’s not in the news,” Poliner said at the time. “But it’s an important issue that remains important in people’s minds.”

State Budget Director Robert Genuario of Norwalk yesterday said Poliner has plenty of work.

“It’s a difficult decision,” he said. “We don’t have the money to do everything we used to do … Do I think the office is important and has a place? Yes. And in a perfect world we’d keep it.”

UPDATE: Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who as co-chairman of the judiciary committee helped craft the eminent domain reforms, said the cost of Poliner’s position is not justified.

McDonald said the only alternative to cutting the ombudsman post would be to expand Poliner’s duties to mediate disputes among condominum owners/tenants and their associations – an issue he said is far more common than eminent domain clashes.

Two days after pledging her budget would not raise taxes, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell released the two-year fiscal plan and … get ready … she wants to suspend the state’s August sales tax free week for two years.

Many parents often take advantage of the week to save some coin on dressing their children for the upcoming school year. And singles, particularly low and middle income residents, make purchases for themselves.

“In good times we can afford it,” state Budget Director Robert Genuario of Norwalk told me. “In bad times we can’t.”

Genuario said technically suspending the holiday is NOT a tax increase but … c’mon. For one week in August residents will be paying more taxes than in previous years. Sounds like an INCREASE to me.

Rell’s budget is also proposing raising fees for a whole host of licenses and permits – something Genuario said in some cases has not been done since the early 1990s.

No license or permit fee will be less than $15.

Now, technically fees are NOT taxes. But I’ve sat through many a municipal budget hearing and listened to residents – in many cases Republicans – complain fee hikes are just another form of taxation.

UPDATE: One lawmaker who does not plan on fighting for the no-sales-tax week is Rep. Cameron Staples, D-New Haven, a co-chairman of the legislature’s finance, revenue and bonding committee.

“I’m fine with that. I think it’s silly. I don’t think it really creates economic activity,” Staples said. “And I’ve never seen evidence to suggest people wait until that week (to shop).”

Possibly, according to The Hill.

This story reminded me of when NBC announced in 2004 that Conan O’Brien would be replacing Jay Leno on the Tonight Show this year.

Early last year, when some political observers were saying Attorney General Richard Blumenthal would FINALLY announce a bid for Governor after about 18 years of “will he or won’t he speculation,” state Republican Chairman Christopher Healy told me he doubted it would happen.

He was proven right when Blumenthal, long considered the Democratic frontrunner for Governor should he want the party’s nomination, Monday said he will run for re-election instead.

“Dick Blumenthal realized he doesn’t have what it takes to be Governor,” Healy told The Advocate in an e-mail.

Healy also gladly took a swipe at Blumenthal as AG, calling the Greenwich resident “a caricature of himself.”

“His record as Attorney General is to sue, walk to a microphone and hope no one notices how truly ineffective he is and how destructive his policies are,” Healy wrote in his e-mail. “This year Republicans will have a candidate who can offer a real choice as to who can be an effective lawyer for the state’s interests.”

He didn’t give any names.

Healy has the distinction of giving what I always thought was one of the best descriptions of Blumenthal’s ongoing flirtation with a gubernatorial bid. Typically reporters every few years ask him if he’s interested.  Blumenthal responds he is focused on being the best AG possible and will make the news of his political future known some other time. And then he announces he’s running for re-election and a bunch of other Democrats who have been waiting for his announcement come forward to express their own desire to run the state.

“(It’s) the longest political striptease in Connecticut history,” Healy told The Advocate last year.

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy drove to Hartford today to file paperwork to form an exploratory committee for governor.

He was cheerful and the small crowd of supporters gave him a nice boost. But the conditions were hardly ideal for a campaign launch or a press conference.

First the offices of the state Elections Enforcement Commission, where Malloy dropped off his forms, are small. So Malloy’s supporters waited on the steps of the Elections Enforcement Commission for their man and his wife Cathy to arrive in increasingly heavy snow.

Ironically they were waiving donkey-shaped fans from warmer Malloy campaign appearances that read “I’m A Fan of Dan Malloy.”

Those same supporters stayed outdoors as Malloy and a group of reporters headed inside. Each of us had to indivudally walk through a metal detector, emptying pockets into little bins like at the airport or courthouse. A fellow reporter noted the EEC building has better security than the capitol across the street.

The elevators, like the offices, are also small, so the group had to split up on the way to the third floor where Malloy eventually filed his paperwork.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell just finished a five minute televised address to the state – a very general preview of the budget address she will deliver to the legislature Wednesday.

The state is facing a $1 billion deficit for the current fiscal year and an estimated $8 billion spending hole for the coming two fiscal years.

“One thing you cannot afford is a higher tax bill,” Rell said in prepared remarks to the television cameras. “That’s why my budget does not raise taxes. After all it makes no sense to raise taxes when the taxes we already collect are down – way down. Income tax revenue is down. Sales tax revenue is down. Corporate tax revenue is down. People don’t have money to spend because they have either lost their jobs or are afraid they will.”

But Rell in her speech did not pledge to VETO any budget that raises taxes, which really would have been a more meaningful message. It’s one thing for her to present a tax-less spending plan Wednesday. But then she and the Democratic-majority of the legislature will spend the following months working out something all sides can agree too.

She could have drawn a pretty deep line in the sand tonight by pledging a veto.

Rell vetoed a Democratic proposal to raise taxes on wealthy residents in 2007 and the majority party was unable to muster the votes to overturn it. Several lower Fairfield County Democrats balked at the tax hike, arguing it unfairly targeted their constituents. From what I’ve heard, they don’t seem to be any more amenable to a tax hike this year.