Political Capitol

When in late July Allan Taylor, chairman of the state Board of Education, said in an interview that J.M. Wright Technical School would not be re-opening Aug. 27 for the new academic year, I asked him if the full board needed to vote on the closure.

The board proposed closing Wright Tech for two years as part of a package of “budget options” the group adopted in a resolution at its December 3 meeting. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell did not include the recommendation in her two-year budget proposal from early February but did add it to the mix of cuts included in her more recent plans.

Although legislative Democrats pledged to fund Wright Tech in any budget they approve, a majority of the teaching staff over the summer either retired or transferred.

With so many vacancies and no budget deal on the horizon, on July 29 state Education Commissioner Dr. Mark McQuillan officially announced Wright would be closed for two years due to low-enrollment and “the prohibitive costs of maintaining the school and the logistics of opening school on time.”

Taylor at the time told me he did not believe another board vote on Wright Tech was needed.

Turns out that remains an open question. Taylor today told me that in response to an inquiry by Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, state Board of Education attorneys are reviewing the matter.

“I personally remain convinced there was no further vote required but I haven’t seen anything in writing from our legal people yet,” Taylor said.

A vote at this point would not save Wright Tech. But if the board had to meet to officially shutter the school, it would force members (including Linda McMahon of Greenwich, who was not part of the board in December) to further discuss the issue and perhaps give the Wright Tech community an opportunity to vent their frustration.

My Hearst colleague, Ken Dixon, today tried to get Stamford Mayor and potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dannel Malloy to take a position on his party’s efforts in Hartford to hike income taxes on households earning $500,000 or more.

Malloy would not give a clear answer.

During another stop at the capitol in April I asked Malloy a similar question. Malloy at the time said he supports a so-called progressive income tax with increased rates on the wealthy but  would not state whether he supported the Democrats’ then-proposal to start with households earning $250,000 or more.

“I want to be very clear. There’s no doubt revenue’s going to be part of the solution,” Malloy said at the time. “There’s no way out of this (fiscal) mess other than to make appropriate adjustments in revenue.”

Malloy afterward said, “We’re going to need a progressive rate adjustment” but he still would not say whether he embraced the Democrats’ plan.

State House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, returns this morning to J.M. Wright Technical School to hold another press conference condemning Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget cuts.

Donovan was last at Wright Tech in June when his party was last making the rounds statewide to try and rally public pressure and force Rell to accept the Democrats’ tax proposals.

With talks stalled and no budget deal in sight they’re at it again, and Donovan is back.

Of course, things are a bit different from when the Speaker last stood on Wright Tech’s grounds. At that time there was still hope the school might re-open Aug. 27 for the new academic year.

The state Board of Education in December recommended closing the school, which has suffered from low enrollment, for two years in light of the state’s fiscal crisis.

Rell tried to pitch a “middle college” proposal that would combine the state’s technical schools and community colleges, merging Wright Tech with Norwalk Community College. But the legislature did not embrace the concept this past session, so Rell accepted the Ed Board’s recommendation in a revised budget proposal.

Donovan during his last trip to the school in June pledged to save it in whatever budget his party ultimately agreed to pass. But the stalemate with Rell continues, so the Department of Education a few weeks ago, after keeping everyone hanging for the summer, decided to officially close Wright Tech and notify students and their families to find a Plan B for the upcoming academic year.

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who is “exploring” whether or not to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for Governor in 2010, is supposed to make an appearance today as well.

Some of us at The Advocate have noticed that Malloy has been strangely silent on Wright Tech’s closure. Although his campaign – sorry, his “exploratory committee” – has issued a variety of press releases criticizing Rell over the summer, Malloy did not make a public peep when the Department of Education announced there would be no new school year at Wright Tech.

As I prepare to take off the next few days to get married (That’s right ladies. An employee in a traumatized industry who has a meager bank account, works odd hours and is more likely to remember the size of the budget deficit than the date of our anniversary is off the market. Your loss.) I’m finishing up a story on the fallout from the state’s early retirement incentive.

I’ll leave you with one interesting piece of information. While over 3,800 public employees took advantage of the incentive, state agencies have submitted requests to the Governor’s budget office to refill over 1,600 of those positions considered too necessary to leave vacant.

Spoke today with House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, for a reaction piece to the news Linda McMahon, head of Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment, was floating her name as a potential Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd.

I thought Cafero would have an interesting perspective. He defended McMahon’s nomination to the state Board of Education earlier this year (she got overwhelming bi-partisan support despite some concerns about her lack of credentials and her business). But Cafero last week endorsed Republican Rob Simmons’ candidacy against Dodd.

Here’s what Cafero had to say:

“I don’t believe she has the necessary experience for United States Senate, to my knowledge. She expressed great interest in serving on the Board (of Education), and I’d backed her. I’d like for her to give that a shot for a while.”

Oh snap!

McMahon’s first term on the board – she was tapped by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to fill a vacancy – ends on March 1, 2011.

According to the Washington Post’s blog The Fix, Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and newcomer to the Connecticut Board of Education Linda McMahon is toying with running against U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd.

There is no doubt McMahon is a smart, successful, tough, capable individual. But if she runs, she’d better be prepared to be more open with the press.

During a press conference today in Wethersfield a few members of the press corps asked Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell why she met quietly with Democratic leaders Tuesday to continue budget talks without Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield or House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk.

“I meet with people all the time,” Rell insisted – Republicans and Democrats.

While McKinney has claimed he knew, Rell was reminded that Cafero has expressed dismay at being left out of the loop.

“That’s okay,” Rell said, downplaying the situation. She added: “The Republicans are my partners … I will continue to work with them.”

Republicans and Democrats fighting over who’s negotiating with the Governor, and the Governor claiming she likes both of them. It’s like that duet by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney – “The Girl Is Mine.”

Democrats: “I love you more than heeeeee!”

Republicans: “But I love you endlesslyyyyyy!”

All Together Now: “But we both cannot have her, so it’s one or the other and one day you’ll discover she likes my budget betterrrrrr!”

A Senate Democrat and a House Democrat confirmed this evening that the dates of Aug. 27th and possibly Aug. 28th are being considered for a special session of the legislature on the budget.

It remains to be seen whether the General Assembly’s Democratic-leadership and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell will reach a deal on a 2009-10/2010-11 spending plan so a vote can be held on either of those dates.

But at the very least Democrats want to convene and act to preserve their ability to tap into the state’s nearly $1.4 billion rainy day fund to address the projected $8.55 billion deficit for the 2009-10/2010-11 fiscal years.

On Sept. 1 the Comptroller has to close the books on the 2008-09 fiscal year, which concluded June 30 with a deficit of $942 million.

The Comptroller is required to dip into the rainy day fund to soak up the 2008-09 red ink. But Rell and lawmakers think the state will get a better deal if they borrow to cover the $942 million and put the rainy day cash toward their looming $8.55 billion problem – action that is obviously required BEFORE the Comptroller’s Sept. 1 deadline.

It wasn’t long ago that a legislative staffer joked he and I would be sharing Halloween candy by the time the legislature and Governor passed a budget. And yet that is looking more and more likely.