Political Capitol

According to Derek Slap, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, there are a total of 13 vetoed bills the majority party may try to revive when the General Assembly convenes Monday.

They are:

House Bill 6531 Postclaims Underwriting

HB 6700 Family Support Magistrates

HB 6684 Corrections Health and Safety Committee

HB 6502 Standard Wage

Senate Bill 922 Affirmative Action for Metro District of Hartford County

HB 6582 Healthcare Partnership

HB 6600 SustiNet

SB 1078 Bi-State Long Island Sound Commission

SB 1162 Consensus Forecasting

HB 6649 Transportation

SB 1068 Green Jobs

SB 1033 Tax Credits for Green Buildings

HB 6695 Conveyance of State Land

State Senate Democrats today proudly unveiled what they have dubbed an “Obstructo-Meter” on their website.

The gimmick has a little fun at the expense of the Republicans, who are expected during Monday’s veto session to try and prevent the majority party from overriding some of Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s recent vetoes using the art of the filibuster.

This has been the session of electronic gimmicks, starting with the Republicans’ unveiling their “Deficit Clock” some months ago.

I worry about what happens to the Obstructo-Meter and the Deficit Clock when lawmakers finally reach a budget deal in Hartford and they have outlived their usefullness.

Will they be forgotten by their respective inventors? Will they perhaps turn on their creators? Or maybe, in the waning days of the summer the two machines will overcome their partisan programming and roll off into the sunset, power chords entwined.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was in Fairfield County today for a couple of ceremonial bill signings. Since the gambling study I mentioned in the post below this was still fresh on my mind, I asked her whether she remains interested in Keno.

Rell in her updated two-year budget proposal from late May recommended introducing the Keno electric lottery to Connecticut, hoping to bring in about $60 million annually in new state revenues.

Critics argue Keno will lead to more problem gamblers and more under-age gambling.

Rell in a brief interview today said she has not had a chance to read the gambling study but is aware of the concerns about Keno. She did not rule out the possibility that Keno will be part of whatever budget agreement she reaches with the legislature’s majority Democrats in the coming weeks/months.

“I guess I’d have to tell you everything is on the table,” Rell said.

Budget talks between Rell and legislative leaders are scheduled to resume Friday.

We’re running a story on this in Thursday’s paper, but I figured I would post the link here as well to the recently completed independent study of the state-of-the-state’s gambling industry.

Such reports were conducted every five years at one time, and it’s been over a decade since the last one. Despite all of the money Connecticut takes in from gambling, legislators were dragging their heels setting aside some of it to actually measure the full impact of the two Indian casinos, the lottery and other forms of legalized gambling.

Although the report does not demonize gambling and highlights the economic benefits to the state, those individuals from lower Fairfield County who fought to keep the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe from erecting a casino in Bridgeport nearly a decade ago will find plenty to justify their concerns.

The study, though long-anticipated, landed quietly in late June because of all the attention at the capitol on the budget crisis.

Paul Young, head of the state Division of Special Revenue, which commissioned the project from the Spectrum Gaming Group, said he has delivered copies to the Governor and legislators.

“I’ve had no discussions with any of the above relative to the report but I’m certain some of that will take place after the budget has been put to bed,” he said.

Seems like lawmakers might want to include some of the findings in budget talks, such as the fact that Spectrum discovered the state has not enforced negotiated agreements for the tribes running the two casinos to pay “reasonable and necessary” regulatory costs. That meant a loss of $16 million in taxpayer dollars between 2004 and 2008 alone, according to Spectrum’s analysis.

And then there’s Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s recent proposal to help balance the books through keno gaming.

Really, should lawmakers wait until AFTER putting the budget to bed to crack open this report?

Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, a vocal proponent of gay rights in Hartford, and his partner of 15 years, Charles Gray, have taken advantage of Connecticut’s recently becoming the third state to sanction same-sex marriage.

The couple quietly got hitched on July 3. The state Supreme Court late last year legalized gay marriage in Connecticut and the law was codified by the General Assembly and signed by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell during the recently concluded 2009 session.

“Fifteen years ago we made a commitment to each other. Fifteen years later we had an opportunity to affirm that commitment in an important and yet very personal way,” McDonald told me tonight.

Hartford Courant columnist Colin McEnroe weighs in on the oft-repeated argument from Fairfield County Democrats that households earning $250,000 are considered “middle class” in this neck of the woods.

It might be more honest for Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford and other area legislators to say: “Look, I’d be raising taxes on too many people who vote for me and that could hurt next election when I’m challenged by a ‘I’ll never raise your taxes’ Republican. It’s my job to represent my constituents, and most of them aren’t all too eager to pay more of their hard-earned money to the state government, so I’m opposing these tax hikes.”

But clearly the whole “$250,000 is middle class” argument raises some eyebrows.

Of course, reporters whose households earn faaaaarrrrr less than that but who live in Fairfield County and have always considered themselves “middle class” have no opinion on the subject.

We’ll just quietly admit that we’ve been fooling ourselves and living solidly “lower class” lifestyles all these years in an area of the state we should be grateful to call home.

So last night, after a couple post-work cocktails, my mind wandered, as is often the case, to the 2010 gubernatorial race. And it suddenly dawned on me – I GET Jim Amann’s approach to clinching the Democratic nomination.

Much is being made of the fact the retired Speaker of the House from Milford only raised around $8,000 over the past three months and still owes the state Elections Enforcement Commission about $20,000 because of an innaccurate filing earlier in the year. In contrast the two other possible Democratic candidates – Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz – raised about eighteen times that figure each.

Next year and in 2011 and 2012 the state will likely still be facing budget problems. Who do you want sitting up at the capitol making the big decisions? A new Governor whose campaign never faced any money problems or Jim Amann, who knows what it’s like to be in the hole and, perhaps, might still pull out of it?

Also in these stressful times there’s something to be said about Amann’s up beat attitude. Despite his fund-raising challenges and the loss of some key campaign staff, Amann when we spoke yesterday said he’s having a blast.

In contrast you’ve got incumbent Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who began her Feb. 4 budget address by stating “it is a budget that took me weeks and months to put together. Weeks and months in which our national and state economies were worsening. And they still are. No one knows when we will hit bottom.”

Downer.

And there’s Malloy, who, despite emphasizing that he continues to “explore” a run for Governor, has recently issued a series of “pay attention to ME!” press releases criticizing some of Rell’s vetos. If he’s this intense when he’s not even a candidate, just imagine how he’ll be in office. Sheesh. It’s summer, Dan!

I think Amann’s banking on voters’ appetite for a new kind of leader. A Governor who, in the face of a deficit in the billions-of-dollars, ends their budget address with “Everbody chill out. This is not a setback” and then leaves the podium to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Or, like I said at the start, maybe that’s just those cocktails I drank talking.

No. That’s not a typo in the title.

Former House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, raised $8,000 over the past few months in his bid to gain the party’s nomination for Governor in 2010.

Now, $8,000 is a lot of money to me. Oh, the places I’d go. The things I’d buy.

But when you’re running for Governor? Well, let’s just say that last week Amann’s potential primary opponents – Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz – released their second-quarter fund-raising totals. Malloy brought in $144,000 and Bysiewicz $141,000.

Amann, as he has done in the past, downplayed Malloy’s and Bysiewicz’s clear fundraising advantage, arguing the state’s new campaign finance laws make the standard “who raised more?” story pointless because qualifying candidates will be limited to the same pot of state funding. ($1 million for the primary, $3 million for the general election if they raise a total of $250,000 in small contributions from individual donors.)

He also noted that Malloy and Bysiewicz are still technically “exploring” bids for Governor, so they are allowed to accept larger contributions than Amann, who is the only declared candidate.

But couldn’t it be argued that the money the two are bringing in is a sign they are generating more excitement and have more support than Amann?

“You can say that. But you could also say Susan has run many, many statewide campaigns. Dan Malloy ran for Governor last time (in 2006),” Amann said. “This is my first time.”

Amann also argues he is the only one of the three not pursuing higher office while still on the taxpayers’ dime, which is true. HOWEVER that would not be the case had Amann taken the job offered him earlier this year by House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden.

UPDATE:

I should clarify here that Amann is saying he raised $8,000.  His paper work is not yet up on the Elections Enforcement Commission’s website.