Political Capitol

Earlier today The Advocate decided to reach out to Linda McMahon, Chief Executive Officer of Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and occasional television personality to talk about the increasingly-likely closure of Stamford-based J.M. Wright Technical School.

McMahon was nominated to the state Board of Education earlier this year. So there’s this McMahon – I’ll call her “WWE Linda” – whose name and face and husband and daughter are well known to wrestling fans. And then there’s this McMahon – I’ll call her “Education Linda” – who has been attending school board meetings and was also present at the Wright Tech graduation ceremony on June 16.

Our education reporter, Wynne Parry, attempted to contact “Education Linda” today through “WWE Linda’s” office and received the following e-mail from one of “WWE Linda’s” staffers: “Thanks for reaching out to Linda on this issue. I forwarded your e-mail on to the State Board of Education’s Public Information Office and they should get in touch with you.”

The e-mail was copied to Gary Davis, WWE’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, who shielded McMahon from reporters’ questions during her confirmation hearings at the capitol over the winter. Seeing Davis’ name reminded me of one of those hearings where a far more seasoned reporter from another newspaper who wanted to speak to McMahon got fed up with the special treatment she was receiving compared to other nominees for state boards and commissions.

Which brings me back to the e-mail referring our questions to the Board of Education’s Public Information Office.

Since when does a reporter need to go through a public relations office to talk to a member of the state Board of Education? We routinely call our local school board officials at home, at work or on their cell phones about a variety of matters. And it’s not that hard to research addresses/home phone numbers of other state Board of Education members. Whether they return calls is up to them.

Granted I’m sure “WWE Linda” is busy running her business and does not want to circulate her personal contact information and that is fair.

But should it really be that difficult for a newspaper to be able to contact “Education Linda” about the possible closure of a school in the city where “WWE Linda” does business? Why get sent to the Board of Ed’s Public Information Office?

When McMahon was appointed to the Board of Education some lawmakers argued it was an inappropriate choice because of the content of the programs WWE produces.

But maybe the better question to ask would have been will a celebrity executive be accessible to the public and media?

It’s called being a public servant and that means making yourself available to answer questions from reporters, even if you run an entertainment empire.

I’ll have a more detailed story on this in The Advocate.

While Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was in Wilton this morning for a press conference about a rail project I asked her about J.M. Wright Technical School.

She said she had read the blog post immediately below this one which speculated the administration is trying to shift the question of Wright’s future onto the state Department of Education/Board of Education.

The Governor ended that speculation.

“It is the decision of the state Department of Education,” she told me. “It truly is their decision.”

But she’s the Governor and she was the one who incorporated the Department of Education’s initial proposal last fall to shutter Wright Tech into her most recent two-year budget proposal. Couldn’t she turn around now and tell state school officials she wants the school to re-open for the start of school Aug. 27?

“It will ultimately be their decision. It has to be their decision,” Rell said.

On July 16 I had a phone conversation with Robert Genuario of Norwalk, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget director, about J. M. Wright Technical School in Stamford.

Rell proposed shuttering the facility to help with the state’s budget deficit in late May. The legislature’s Democratic-majority wants to preserve the school in whatever budget deal is reached with the Governor.

To be fair, it was the state Board of Education that initially proposed the closure last fall as part of a budget exercise in light of the growing fiscal crisis. The Governor did not actually take the Board up on the suggestion in her first budget proposal, issued in early February.

But there is no spending deal between Rell and the Democrats, the fiscal year began July 1, Wright has already lost 16 of its 26 teachers to early retirement/voluntary transfers and the first day of school is Aug. 27. What to do?

Technically state officials could close Wright without a budget deal. Here’s how it would work. The state Department of Education transfers the remaining ten teachers to fill openings at other facilities within the technical school system. With no budget they can’t be replaced at Wright in time for Aug. 27 and you can’t open a school with no teachers. And then Rell, who has the authority to issue executive orders – sort of these “mini budgets” to keep state services running until a new budget is in place – could just leave out the funds the Department of Education needs to re-open Wright late next month.

Genuario on July 16 made it clear to me the administration is aware of the strain this uncertainty places on the Wright community.

“WE are very conscious this decision needs to be made one way or the other within the next week or so,” Genuario said, adding later: “WE are looking at that issue and wrestling with what the right thing to do is financially, procedurally, equitably. Those decisions need to be made.”

And a bit later in the conversation, Genuario said: “THE GOVERNOR will make that decision. Frankly it’s also a state Board of Education decision, although I’m sure they are going to pay serious attention to THE GOVERNOR’s recommendation and position on it.”

A week passed without any announcements about Wright, so I called Genuario again last Thursday. This time his response was a bit different. He said Wright’s future is in the hands of the state Department of Education. He was no longer using the words “we” or “the Governor.”

I called the Governor’s budget office today for the latest on Wright Tech and was again told to contact the Department of Education, whose spokesman, Tom Murphy, said things were in a “holding pattern.”

All I know is when I stop using “we” and tell people to find the answers elsewhere, I’m usually trying to pin the blame on someone else.

Rell a few years ago was the “education Governor” proposing historic amounts of spending. If Wright does not reopen Aug. 27, I would not be surprised if the administration’s response is “it was the Department of Education’s idea.”

He’s been rumored to be eyeing a bid for Governor in 2010 and on Tuesday state Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, plans to launch his exploratory committee during an event at Goodwin College.

The invitations went out earlier this evening.

LeBeau joins a field that already includes fellow explorers Dannel Malloy, the Mayor of Stamford and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz; declared candidate and former House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford; and, if some Democrats have their way, ex-U.S. Senate candidate and still politically active Greenwich millionaire Ned Lamont, who has been kind of acting like he’s thinking about running.

The most recent Quinnipiac University poll contains some interesting info for lower Fairfield County on taxes.

Although voters by a 60 to 30 percent margin want lawmakers to cut services over raising taxes, voters by 71 to 27 percent support hiking the income tax for couples earning at least $500,000, many of whom live in this region.

That is the proposal contained within the budget the legislature’s Democratic-majority passed in late May and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell promptly vetoed in early July.

In a joint statement about the Q-Poll, Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn and Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven said “on the most fundamental questions of how to balance the budget, the majority of people are against (Rell). Nearly three-quarters of those polled think her opposition to the progressive income tax for couples earning at least $500,000 is wrong. People clearly think that the state’s richest residents, many of whom enjoyed enormous tax breaks during (Republican) President Bush’s 8 years in office, should be a part of the budget solution, even if that means paying a little more in taxes.”

What Williams and Looney failed to acknowledge is that opposition to the tax hike from members of their own party prevented the Democrats from overriding Rell’s budget veto.

And based on the reaction of one of those “no” votes – Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk – it is unlikely the Q-Poll is going to convince the “no new taxes Dems” to change their minds.

“We always have to do what we think is right regardless of what a poll says,” Duff said.

He said he was not surprised by the poll’s results.

“People in other parts of the state that have a lower cost of living earn less and would say ‘yes, tax the other guy’,” Duff said.

I’ve been trying for a few days to get in touch with Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele of Stamford to get his thoughts on what appears to be the inevitable closure of J.M. Wright Technical School in his hometown.

As The Advocate reported earlier this week, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration is expected by the end of this week/early next week to decide Wright’s fate and whether the facility will re-open Aug. 27 for the new school year.

Rell proposed closing Wright in her two-year budget. And although the legislature’s Democratic majority wants to keep it open, with no budget pact in sight, Rell holds all the cards in the run-up to Aug. 27. With no budget deal, the administration has the authority to transfer the remaining ten die-hard teachers who have not decided to retire/relocate as a result of the closure talk and the authority to eliminate funding for Wright.

Privately some in Stamford have said to me they cannot understand how this is being allowed to happen with Fedele in office.

Fedele has said he wants to save Wright but has also avoided criticizing his boss, Rell. I’ve wanted to speak with him about these recent developments and late yesterday his spokesman passed along an e-mail to me that read: “The Lt. Governor is honoring the (communications) blackout during the ongoing budget negotiations and therefore does not have a comment, since Wright Tech is part of those discussions.”

Is that a sign of hope that perhaps Wright will reopen for the new school year or, at the very least, only close temporarily? Or is that just an excuse not to discuss a pending closure until the Rell administration sees fit to make it public?

A Greenwich blogger is getting a bit of attention today after posting that he has heard a rumor freshman state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, after less than a year on the job, is considering challenging freshman Democratic U.S. Congressman Jim Himes in 2010.

Frantz is up in Hartford today for the veto session so how could I not ask him?

“I’m focused on what I’m doing right now,” said Frantz, who went on to dispute the Greenwich blog’s claim that he is “bored to tears” at the capitol. He also said he has not thought about challenging Himes and has not been approached to challenge Himes.

But like any good politician, Frantz refused to say “No, I have no intention of challenging Jim Himes in 2010″ and end the speculation.

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, who is the favored Republican to jump into the race and try to win back the seat once held by his late father, Stewart B. McKinney, said of the Frantz rumor “Scott’s a great guy. He’d be a great candidate for a number of offices.”

So when is McKinney going to finally announce his candidacy?

“Don’t know,” he said before turning to talk to the full press corps about today’s veto session.

When Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton at the start of today’s veto session took a moment to congratulate Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, on his recent marriage to his long-time partner, it raised a few eyebrows among the capitol press corps.

Many of us recalled that Boucher has not supported bills about same sex unions. We were right, sort of.

Boucher in 2005 voted against the state’s historic civil union legislation, spearheaded by McDonald, that paved the way for same sex marriage in Connecticut.

But earlier this year she did cast a vote in favor of a bill codifying the state Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing gay marriage after changes were made to provide protections to religious organizations.