Political Capitol

The House Democrats gave members an opportunity to display their culinary skills during today’s session by bringing dishes from home to share with their colleagues.

I suspected Rep. Joseph Mioli, D-Westport, who is from Italy and whose family ran a pizza restaurant would take advantage, and was happily not disappointed. Mioli said he brought pasta fagioli.

“Home made of course. I got up at 6 a.m. just to make that,” Mioli said, adding he substituted rice for those lawmakers whose diets have to be gluten-free.

Freshman Rep. Peggy Reeves, D-Wilton, was supposed to bring a side dish but had to resort to picking up dessert at a local store because of a power outage Tuesday night.

I have to admit Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, let me down. Tong a few months ago was the guest chef on a lower Fairfield County cable cooking show and prepared a dish in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

But Tong didn’t participate in the potluck. He said he didn’t get the memo on time.

The General Assembly is considering a bill to honor an individual well known in coastal towns and in the shellfish industry – the late John Volk, the former state Commissioner of Aquaculture and former Milford resident. The legislation would rename the Milford-based Aquaculture Bureau’s research vessel after Volk.

Rep. Terry Backer, D-Stratford, who is also executive director of the Norwalk-based Soundkeeper, told me “he was a personal friend of mine and probably almost everybody who worked on the water.”

“He ran that agency tremendously efficiently and managed to work with the shellfish community (during) some of the worst times,” Backer said. “If we had more guys like him in government, government wouldn’t be hated so much.”

I found a New York Times article from 1999 about Volk’s involvement with the shellfish industry here.

I have some friends in Arizona who own a small dog and have to be very careful when they let her out in the backyard. Many of the homes in their area, including their own, are surrounded by short walls. And it is not uncommon for coyotes to leap the walls and make off with little dogs which they subsequently eat.

I’m no animal expert, but I’ve always thought that’s so bizarre – coyotes ARE dogs, so why eat their own? But then again my knowledge of the animal kingdom and its relationships comes in great part from Disney movies I watched as a kid, and real animals don’t talk or sing, either…

Anyway, I thought of the Arizona coyotes this morning when I was checking my e-mails and a commuter advocate whom I shall leave unidentified sent me a message questioning why I chose to quote another commuter advocate in a story about a bill to promote biking/walking.

According to the e-mail this person in the story – Richard Stowe of New Canaan – is a one-man gadfly who doesn’t deserve the press, even though when I called him about the legislation in question he CLEARLY knew what he was talking about. In fact he and I spent more time discussing bikes and commuting than I would have preferred when writing on deadline.

I suspect what prompted the e-mail might be the hotly debated topic among commuter advocates over the priority that should be given to making space on trains for bikes. Stowe is for bikes on trains.

Anyway, as is the case with the coyotes and the dogs, I guess you can’t assume that all commuter advocates are necessarily on the same side of an issue. Maybe they’re the same “family” but sometimes they’ll try to discredit – or eat – their own.

Interesting story in our Hearst sister paper, the Connecticut Post, about a discussion in Congress over how to save newspapers.

One solution? Allow them tax exempt, non-profit status.

I’m open to any ideas that will help save newspaper jobs. But I think many of us in the industry would say we already make non-profit salaries.

The Onion agrees.

New Haven Mayor and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano was up at the capitol today.

I knew it was far too early to ask, but figured I’d take the opportunity to find out whether DeStefano has a favorite in the 2010 gubernatorial race that’s shaping up. The short list so far includes Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who won the party’s nomination in 2006 but lost the primary to DeStefano, who went on to lose the general election to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

Malloy is exploring another bid, as is Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and a few state legislators. Retired Speaker of the House James Amann, D-Milford, has formally announced his candidacy.

DeStefano, as I expected, wouldn’t bite.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily going to be the field when all is said and done,” he said when I asked if he prefers Amann, Bysiewicz or Malloy.

DeStefano said a lot depends on whether Rell, who is exploring a re-election bid, actually runs or bows out. If the popular Governor runs then the field of potential Democrats willing to take her on narrows, DeStefano said.

Might he be toying with another shot at the Governor’s office?

“I don’t see myself running right now,” DeStefano said.

That was Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s response to a letter she was sent today by Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn and Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven.

The two Senate leaders said in order for the stalled budget process to move forward, it is “incumbent” upon Rell to issue a counter-proposal to the two-year fiscal plan the Democrats put forward last month.

Quick recap: Rell in early February proposed a two-year, “no tax increase” budget that assumed a deficit of $6 billion. The Democrats’ went with the $8.7 billion projection from the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis and proposed hiking income taxes on households earning $250,000 or more. A few weeks ago Rell’s budget office revised its projected deficit upward to $7.95 billion but she so far has not altered her budget to reflect the change. So the Democrats, who early on accused Rell of low-balling the deficit so her budget didn’t have to include taxes, are essentially saying she needs to put out a new proposal that incorporates at the least her $7.95 billion number.

Rell’s office wasted no time sending out copies of her response which reads as follows:

“Dear Senators Williams and Looney. Thank you for your letter of earlier today. Your caucus, together with the House Democratic caucus, has proposed a budget that you believe to be balanced and that is in the best interests of the people and businesses of Connecticut. Pass it.”

Now clearly the Rell administration is kind of proud of the “throwing down the gauntlet” tone of this response because they even titled the e-mail the letter was attached to “Pass It.”

See, the Governor has a pretty good idea that perhaps the Dems will get their tax hikes through the full General Assembly but are unlikely to have enough votes to overturn her veto.

That’s because some Democrats, including those from Fairfield County, who represent wealthier districts, have said they are opposed to the size of the tax increases. They argue that $250,000 is “middle class” in Fairfield County (which really makes me shudder because my household ain’t makin’ anything near that and I always considered us middle class. I guess we’re among the Gold Coast’s ‘lower classes.’)

Rell would relish being able to say to residents she vetoed a tax hike, even though it’s quite possible she will eventually support some sort of tax increase to balance the budget.

But the question remains, if the deficit Rell used for her February budget was off by almost $2 billion, how exactly does she propose to address that additional red ink?

I don’t care if you’re regular middle class or Fairfield County middle class, $2 billion is a pretty big chunk of money.

The General Assembly officially adjourns for the year on June 3.

Ideally the Governor and legislators are supposed to approve a new, two-year budget by that time or, at the latest, July 1, which marks the start of a next fiscal year.

There are three proposals on the table – Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s, the General Assembly’s Democratic majority’s and the Republican minority’s.

And although legislative leaders say they want to reach an agreement in the coming weeks, officials have begun preparing for the worst.

Yesterday the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities took the unique step of requesting Rell and the legislature at the very least reach an agreement on levels of aid to cities and towns by May 15. CCM Executive Director James Finley acknowledged today he is concerned a budget deal is not going to happen anytime soon, and wants his members to at least be able to have some solid numbers to work with as they enter the new fiscal year.

Also today Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, acknowledged he has been talking to his caucus about blocking out summer vacation time now in case the General Assembly gets called back to vote on a budget.

“In a part time legislature we want to look at the summer time and say ‘if you want to plan something plan around those weeks because we may need you otherwise’,” Williams said. But he quickly added: “I want to get this (the budget) done during regular session.”

Williams said if the Governor comes forward with a revised budget – her Feb. 4 proposal was built around a smaller deficit – he is “confident that we can resolve this within the regular session.”