Political Capitol

It was just announced that Paul Newman, the late actor and philanthropist who called Westport home for decades until his death in September, will be inducted into the Connecticut Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the capitol tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

The legislative aide who sent out the press release entitled it “Newman to be INDICTED” – perhaps for being criminally talented! Bad-ump-bump!

The award will be presented to Robert Forrester, President and CEO of Newman’s Own Foundation.

I’ve been told Newman’s widow, actress Joanne Woodward, will not be present.

I don’t know if the name “Joseph Tarzia” means a lot to folks outside of Stamford.

Tarzia, a Republican on the Stamford Finance Board, has long been a thorn in the side of Stamford Democratic Mayor Dannel Malloy and the Democratic Party. He’s a constant and vocal critic in a city where Republicans have, at least in my recent experience, had a tough time fielding candidates and putting up much of a fight over anything.

So it caught my eye when, while sifting through the names Monday of contributors to Malloy’s “exploration” of a bid for Governor, I stumbled across a $100 donation from one Joseph Tarzia.

I knew the “Donor Joe” COULDN’T POSSIBLY be the “Republican Joe”, but I was curious. So today I looked up Donor Joe’s number using the address in Malloy’s campaign finance report and he answered.

I was hoping perhaps it was a Joseph Tarzia Jr. who was the liberal Democrat black sheep of the family.

But an older voice answered the phone.

“I thought somebody would pick up on that,” Donor Joe laughed when I explained the reason for my call.

Turns out he’s a semi-retired 73-year-old who until a year or so ago worked for the Stamford Building Department.

“He’s a good man,” Donor Joe said of Malloy. “And I tell you, I’m not too worried about whether they’re Republicans or Democrats. If I think they’re good I donate to them.”

Donor Joe added his former co-workers at Stamford Government Center “all know me as ‘the good Joe Tarzia’. That’s what Malloy calls me.”

In late March the House of Representatives voted to re-appoint Healthcare Advocate Kevin Lembo – the guy residents call when they are having trouble with their insurance companies – to a second four-year term.

Today the Senate took similar action. So unless the majority Democrats suddenly change their minds and agree to a new two-year budget that defunds his office, Lembo’s job is secure.

But that has not been the case for a few months.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell in early February proposed eliminating Lembo and his staff as part of her two-year budget. He was coincidentally up for reappointment and she took not action on that, leaving it up to the General Assembly.

Critics argued – and the administration eventually acknowledged – eliminating the Healthcare Advocate would have no impact on the growing deficit because Lembo’s office is funded through fees levied on insurance companies.

The administration then argued eliminating Lembo’s office and doing away with said fees would somehow translate into lower insurance premiums for residents, even though no one offered any real proof that would ever happen.

Democratic lawmakers have made the case Lembo’s office provides a great service to the state and they often refer constituents to him for help.

Rell’s own party did not put up a fight over Lembo’s re-appointment. Today’s Senate vote was unanimous and was not debated by the Republican minority.

The legislature’s Appropriations Committee today passed Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney’s, D-New Haven, bill setting up a legislative committee to recommend to the Governor how she should spend the state’s share of the federal stimulus package.

The proposal now heads to the Senate where I bet it will pass, given, you know, that Looney is the MAJORITY LEADER. And it is also likely to pass the Democratic-majority House of Representatives.

Republicans on the Appropriations Committee, including Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, Rep. John Hetherington, R-New Canaan, John Stripp, R-Weston and Terrie Wood, R-Darien, voted against the proposal.

They argued setting up the committee will only add an additional layer of bureaucracy to the efforts to get the federal money out the door and start stimulatin’ Connecticut’s economy.

“Every day we wait the value of each dollar coming from Washington diminishes,” Frantz told his colleagues before the vote. “Spending is of the essence here.”

The Democrat-run federal government gave governors control of the stimulus funds, and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell has established a group that includes staff from her office, state agency heads, lawmakers and representatives for cities, towns and big labor to prioritize where the money goes.

In fact the group was meeting today elsewhere in the capitol at about the same time the Appropriations Committee was debating Looney’s bill.

The legislature only has four seats on Rell’s committee, which bugs the heck out of the Democrats, who have to share those positions with two appointees representing the Senate and House Republican caucuses.

“The legislative branch is basically not there,” Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, an Appropriations Committee member, said during today’s debate. “We are a co-equal branch of government.”

I’m wondering where this mini-stimulus battle is going.

As Sen. Dan Debicella, R-Shelton, a ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told me after today’s vote, even if Looney’s bill passes the Senate and the House of Representatives, it will likely be vetoed by Rell.

The Democrats have the numbers to override her veto. But even if they do and Looney’s committee is established, I don’t think there’s anything forcing Rell to abide by the group’s decisions or compelling her to even wait for the group to issue recommendations before spending the federal dough.

Maybe the hope is that Rell, seeing Looney’s bill is progressing, will make an offer to include more legislative voices in the stimulus process before it gets to the point where it turns into a big public veto spectacle and distracts from efforts to craft a state budget.

Freshman U.S. Congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat from Greenwich, has found his background as a vice president at Goldman Sachs to be a double-edged sword during the financial meltdown.

On the one hand Himes said his experience is proving valuable as Congress wrestles with issues like the controversial AIG bonuses (paid with federal bailout dollars) and looks to impose greater regulations on the industry in general.

“Financial services is really technical and esoteric,” Himes said Thursday during a meeting with The Advocate’s editorial board.

And as someone who has himself been at the receiving end of a bonus or two, Himes said “I do spend time trying to re-center the discussion along practical lines.”

“Be angry about the bonuses. But folks, we own this company,” Himes said. “Amidst the anger, don’t burn the place down.”

But he acknowledged his background can be a political liability as well when people assume he is automatically going to be soft on executives.

“‘You used to work at Goldman Sachs’. I take those shots every day,” Himes said.

On March 24th the co-chairmen of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee in a letter to Democratic leaders asked for a little more time to scour $1.6 billion worth of appropriated but unspent funds in search of about $220 million that could be used to address the current fiscal year’s deficit.

Their new requested deadline at the time? April 6 – this past Monday.

The week is technically over since tomorrow is the start of the Easter holiday. There has been no announcement on the status of the money search, which was initially proudly touted back in February in a visit to the capitol press room by Sen. President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn and House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden.

Donovan on Thursday told me he granted the Appropriations co-chairs an informal deadline waiver.

“I just said ‘Hey, get it done’,” Donovan said.

He said technically the Democrats have until June 30, the close of the current fiscal year, to locate the cash, even though the money was included in a deficit-mitigation plan the General Assembly approved in late February to help stem the tide of red ink.

“I think they have a big chunk of dough,” Donovan said. “But not the finalized $220 million yet. But they’re getting there.”

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities rounded up a hearing room full of municipal and school leaders, including Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, to decry proposed cuts in aid made by both Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and legislative Democrats.

The gyst of their message was city and town officials are struggling more than ever to balance their budgets through union concessions, layoffs, service cuts and property tax hikes. The last thing they need, the leaders argued, is the state making it even harder by limiting the flow of state grants.

And even though legislative Democrats in particular are calling for “shared sacrifice” to address Connecticut’s $8.7 billion budget deficit, some in the room actually asked for aid increases, arguing it is not enough to “flat fund” municipal and education grants in the current climate.

I couldn’t help but think that’s like taxpayers demanding the General Assembly and the Governor not only AVOID raising their taxes during the budget crisis, but mail them a nice rebate check on top of it.

Lt. Governor Michael Fedele of Stamford is proud of his Italian heritage and today issued a statement about the devastating earthquake that occurred in L’Aquila, which he said is about an hour from Minturno, where he was born and lived until the age of 3.

“Minturno is only one hour away from L’Aquila, Italy but when disaster strikes that distance shrinks to what seems to be only the distance of one neighborhood,” Fedele said.

A Fedele spokesman said she is not aware of any of Fedele’s family or family friends being directly impacted by the quake.

“Coming during Holy Week, the most sacred of weeks for Catholics, the devastation and loss is a reminder of how fragile life truly is and mankind’s generoius spirit in the face of tragedy,” Fedele said.

He suggested anyone seeking to help visit www.redcross.org and donate to the International Response Fund, marking the donation for the L’Aquila victims.

Fedele in 2007 visited Minturno and was honored by the mayor with the La Spiga D’Oro award – which in English means the “golden stalk of grain,” a symbol of prosperity and hard work.

UPDATE:

Fedele’s office on Thursday said additional donations can be made to the Italian Red Cross (their website is entirely in Italian) and Catholic Relief Services.