Political Capitol

The Hartford Courant takes a critical look today at the process used to appoint 21 new state marshals earlier this year, including a name probably familiar to some Advocate readers – John Corelli, a former Stamford pastry chef and the nephew of Stamford resident Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele.

It’s worth a read.

Legislative Democrats today announced the revenue side of their new two-year budget proposal preserves a $500 property tax credit that was eliminated in the package they released earlier this spring and also does away with previously contemplated business taxes.

The move seems calculated to win over more public support for something Democratic leaders have not abandoned – income tax hikes on the wealthy.

Up until this point Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature’s Republican minority have been able to successfully  portray the Dems as wanting to raise taxes on not just the well-to-do but on the middle class and on businesses struggling in a tough economy. It’s made it a lot easier to rally the public in favor of deep spending cuts.

Suddenly much of the argument at the capitol is transformed into whether or not to tax the rich. And plenty of middle class folks are going to lose interest in that debate if convinced lawmakers are for the most part leaving their own wallets alone. If you think otherwise and believe middle class state residents, in the spirit of brotherhood, will rally to defend those neighbors who have done better for themselves from having to pay even higher taxes then you forgot the lesson of the AIG bonus furor – many people with less money resent people with more of it.

But there are still plenty of unknowns since the Democrats did not release the details today. Are they raising any fees that could impact the middle or lower classes? How about sales taxes? And what and how much are they cutting?

“We know that even the cuts we are agreeing to will be painful for some, but we believe they are fair,” House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said. “They do not devastate programs people rely upon, and they will make a significant contribution to eliminating our historic deficit and protecting other policies.”

The quieter weeks post-legislative session are always a good time for reporters to catch-up with stories that wound up on the back burner. Case in point – the state Elections Enforcement Commission’s probe into alleged duplicate or improper voter registration cards submitted last year to Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

ACORN, which works in low income neighborhoods that tend to vote Democratic, at the time was under fire from Republicans nationwide for its voter drives in the run up to November’s presidential election.

It’s been nearly nine months after Connecticut’s elections commission launched its investigation, and spokesman Nancy Nicolescu said the probe remains open and active.

“The Commission asserts that those accused of any violation of law have a right to due process and a comprehensive investigation of these matters is currently being conducted,” Nicolescu said. “While the Commission cannot comment further on a pending investigation, it expects that it will be lengthy due to the high volume of registrations that are being examined.”

In the mean time the GOP continues to target ACORN at the national level.

There has been some confusion out there about the status of the legislation allowing Connecticut physicians to diagnose and treat chronic, tick-borne Lyme disease.

Last week some advocates of the bill, including a couple of state legislators, were convinced Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell had signed it. But last Wednesday during a visit to Danbury Rell told me it had not crossed her desk. That was reflected on the General Assembly’s website, which tracks where bills are at a given time.

Today one of her spokesmen, Adam Liegeot, said Rell has since received the legislation and has until June 25 to sign-it into law, do nothing and allow it to become law, or veto it.

House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, stopped by the Wilton Public Library and the Norwalk Courthouse today as part of what some skeptics have called “The Governor is a Bad Person” Tour.

Democratic leaders in the General Assembly have for the past several days traveled the state to highlight the impact of Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed budget cuts.

This evening Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton issued a pretty lengthy e-mail criticizing Donovan’s library stop.

“When our state is facing a deficit of more than $8 billion over the next two years, it is misleading to focus meetings in specific towns on isolated proposals which, while acting as emotional triggers, concern only fractions of that amount,” Boucher said, adding she questions the motivation behind such events.

The motivation is clear. Rell has said she does not want to increase taxes and has instead suggested various cuts and fee increases. The legislature’s Democrat-majority wants to drum up support for tax increases, particularly income tax hikes on higher earners, so they’re driving around highlighting exactly how a “no tax increase” budget would impact residents.

The Dem’s tour risks growing tiresome and redundant particularly, as Boucher correctly notes, because the majority party has yet to provide a real alternative to Rell’s proposals.

“The many supporters of public libraries are naturally dismayed at the prospect of not getting all the state funding they want,” Boucher said. “But, other than angering and frightening those who attended, the best that can be said of (Donovan’s) meeting is that it provoked more questions than it answered.”

And some of the Democrats want to have their cake and eat it too. Rep. Peggy Reeves, D-Wilton, a freshman legislator who succeeded Boucher in the House, joined Donovan at the library. Reeves is one of several lower Fairfield County Democrats who have decried the local impact of Rell’s cuts while continuing to express a reluctance to increase income and other taxes. They want to be all things to all constituents – protect services AND keep taxes down.

At least Rell is willing to take the heat for her proposed cuts and Donovan is willing to be labeled a “tax and spend liberal” and put tax hikes on the table.

But Boucher is over-reacting to Donovan’s visit to Wilton. She’s been in the General Assembly long enough to know about the theatrics that is part-and-parcel of a budget crisis. (She and other Republicans hosted their own one-sided budget forums earlier this year.)

Donovan and his colleagues are no more guilty of playing on residents’ emotions than Rell is when she pledges to fight to keep the Democrats from hiking their taxes. Both sides are pulling what Boucher calls “emotional triggers” hoping to score a bulls eye with the public and a political win in the budget battle.

Just in time for the summer movie season a fresh round of fighting over the success of Connecticut’s three-year-old film, television and digital media tax credits is underway.

And considering state lawmakers’ are struggling to address a two-year budget deficit in the billions-of-dollars, the sequel to previous skirmishes over the tax credits is, like any good sequel, likely to be bigger and louder.

Connecticut Voices for Children, really the first group to throw some popcorn at star-struck lawmakers and suggest several months ago that the credits might not be the best investment of state dollars, today issued a new report criticizing the program.

Voices’ analysis is based on draft data that began circulating earlier this month from the state Commission on Culture and Tourism. As The Advocate reported last week, the commission found the state experienced a net loss, issuing more than $113.2 million worth of credits to an industry that has invested about one third of that – more than $41.5 million – into the state’s economy.

Cue tax credit proponents like Kevin Segalla, who helped convince lawmakers to offer the credits and built a Stamford-based company – Connecticut Film Center - around luring productions to the state. Segalla also co-founded the Connecticut Production Coalition to fight to preserve the credits during the state budget crisis and the group’s lobbyist this afternoon shot out a detailed rebuttal to Voice’s spin.

The coalition argues some of Culture and Tourism’s data is flawed and the credits have generated “an estimated $1.5 billion in new economic activity in our state.”

Reprising his role as the legislature’s most vocal tax credit proponent is former House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, who, despite retiring from the General Assembly last year to run for Governor in 2010, returned to the capitol today to voice his continued support for the tax credit legislation.

So forget “Up.” Forget “Star Trek.” Forget “Transformers 2.” You can even forget “Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.”

The biggest show this summer will be taking place in Hartford. The fate of the film tax credits – and therefore possibly THE ENTIRE STATE OF CONNECTICUT is at stake. So strap in and GET READY FOR … THE … RIDE … OF … YOUR … LIFE … IFE … IFE … IFE … IFE.

House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, stopped by Norwalk today to protest Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposal to shutter the city’s courthouse as part of her most recent two-year budget plan.

Donovan can relate to the frustration expressed by city lawmakers over the potential closure – Rell in an earlier budget released in February recommended shutting down the Meriden courthouse.

I asked Donovan if he flat out opposes any courthouse closures or if he is open to some as long as the cuts are determined by officials within the Judiciary Branch, whom Rell apparently  never consulted.

The legislature recently agreed to Rell’s plan to reform Connecticut’s 300-year-old probate court system, which includes consolidating the 117 districts into around 50. It stands to reason the General Assembly, faced with a two-year deficit in the billions-of-dollars, might be open to eliminating some state courthouses if members are convinced the cuts were determined in a more thoughtful manner than “Hey, Stamford has a new courthouse. Let them accomodate the Norwalk traffic.” (That’s basically the argument put forth by the Rell administration.)

“Probate was different. We saw there were problems,” Donovan said. “I haven’t seen any evidence any of these (courthouse) closures are warranted. I haven’t heard any of these courts were not doing their work.”

Jeffrey Beckham is the helpful spokesman for Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget office. He’s the guy reporters – and sometimes Rell’s own spokespeople – call when there are questions about numbers, and I find he responds quickly with whatever information he can dig up.

But the job is really not a high profile one. I know some reporters who until recently didn’t even know what he looked like. And the more controversial budget topics are usually fielded by Beckham’s boss, former Norwalk state Senator-turned-state fiscal czar Robert Genuario, or sometimes by Rell or her people.

So it’s been amusing (perhaps not for Beckham) to see how he’s been transformed over night this week into Public Enemy #1 in Connecticut.

That’s because just about every day some Democratic legislator somewhere has held a press conference condemning something included in the new round of budget cuts Rell proposed two weeks ago. And Beckham is the guy trying to ensure the Governor’s side is represented in the stories, which means every day his name appears in a newspaper or on the web explaining why the state needs to do unpopular stuff to address the budget crisis.

And just like that Beckham over night has become Ari Fleischer.

For example, earlier this week he was featured in stories by several news organizations trying to explain hikes in bus and train fares and, in at least one case, attempting to clarify how his previous remarks were portrayed.

Today I attended a press conference in Norwalk organized by local Democratic legislators to decry Rell’s proposed de-funding of school-based Family Resource Centers. And whose name came up? That’s right. Beckham was criticized for previously stating that the resource centers duplicate other available resources for families who need somewhere affordable to bring their children before or after school or summer camp.

If this keeps up I can guarantee that no one in this state will want to see Rell and legislative Democrats break the budget stalemate and pass a package more than Beckham.