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When The New York Times’ last week reported Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal has inaccurately described his military service during the Vietnam War and also received deferments, Merrick Alpert was one of his harshest critics.

Alpert, a Mystic Democrat, entered the race for his party’s Senate nomination a year ago, when long-time Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Dodd was facing plenty of political heat of his own.

When Dodd announced this winter that after 30 years he would not seek re-election and the popular Blumenthal immediately announced his candidacy after serving for 20 years as Connecticut’s Attorney General, Alpert remained in the running.

He debated Blumenthal. He mailed reporters rubber chickens to mock Blumenthal for not having a second debate. And last week he was all over The Times’ Blumenthal story.

But at this past Saturday’s Democratic nominating convention in Hartford, when it was clear Blumenthal continued to enjoy major support from delegates, Merrick dropped out and  said he looks forward to voting for Blumenthal.

I’ve said Alpert deserves an Oscar for either acting as if he thought Blumenthal was unworthy of serving in Congress or for sucking up his negative feelings and endorsing the guy.

But Alpert, who today wrapped up his campaign with an e-mail thank you note to supporters, said in a contest between Blumenthal and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Linda McMahon, the choice is clear.

“Here’s my message, and I’m going to be out there campaigning for (Blumenthal) over the next few months,” Alpert said. “An election is comparative. You have to look at candidate A and candidate B. If you look at the sum total of their lives’ work and where their parties are aligned and the policies they embrace, there’s no question Richard Blumenthal is a better choice than Linda. Yeah, we saw the negative (Times) story on Richard Blumenthal, but at the end of the day Linda McMahon … is a phony … She’s a terrible choice.”

But wait a minute, I said to Alpert. What about some of the things you told me and other reporters after The Times story, like this gem: “What you have here is someone who simultaneously went out and used their family’s money and political connections to avoid actual military service in Vietnam. So the real fact is the guy is not a fighter. This guy was a coward and used every connection and all the money the family had to avoid service. So that’s one issue. But that issue is compounded exponentially by the fact for some time he has apparently been traveling around telling people he served in Vietnam … Clearly there’s a pathology there (and) he believes he was getting political benefit from it and never intended to get caught doing it.”

Alpert today told me: “At the end of the day I can forgive him because he apologized.”

He would not say whether he still believes Blumenthal intentionally mis-represented his service, as Republicans and other critics maintain, or whether he accepts Blumenthal’s excuse that he has misspoke on occasion but never wanted to mislead anyone.

Alpert said he is waiting for an apology from McMahon for controversies related to her family business, Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment, such as the deaths of wrestlers and questions about whether the company has done enough to prevent talent from using/abusing steroids.

“I just cringe when I look at her. I just cringe,” Alpert said.

He concluded despite his campaign against Blumenthal, he knows the candidate and “at the end of the day I endorse him without reservation.”

I look forward to the joint Blumenthal/Alpert campaign appearance.

Here’s the e-mail Alpert sent supporters today:

Dear Friend,

I want to thank you for your support and friendship over the past year.  It has been an amazing journey and I am grateful for the trust you placed in me.  I have always viewed politics as a process and not an event, and I look forward to working with you in the future to improve the democratic process.

Many of you have asked what the next chapter holds.  I am returning to the private sector.  Along with my investors, I am looking for a distressed company to purchase.  My intent is to buy it, build it, and save American jobs.  Over the past year I have become convinced that, contrary to conventional wisdom, we can rebuild our manufacturing base in America.  I plan to be part of that effort.

On every campaign stop I said that my goal is to elect a Democratic Senator from Connecticut in 2010.  Let us continue to work together to achieve that goal.

Alex, Jaxon, Emilia, Wyatt and I are grateful to be part of your life.  And we look forward to continuing the journey with you.

Best Wishes and Godspeed,

Merrick

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Attorney General and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal will not be out and about as he usually is this Memorial Day weekend attending parades and other events.

Campaign spokesman Maura Downes told me he has chosen to instead spend time with his family and privately honor vets with low key visits to memorials.

Blumenthal has been under fire since The New York Times last week published a report his critics argue proved the popular Attorney General has mislead the public about his military service during the Vietnam era. Blumenthal has argued he has on occasion misspoke and never sought to misrepresent his record.

“He’s just committed to keeping the focus on veterans. He thinks Memorial Day weekend is a solemn occasion and the focus should be squarely and solely on honoring our service men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice to protect their freedoms,” Downes said.

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For the past few days I’ve been troubled by reports I read last week in The New York Times and our newspaper chain quoting former Republican U.S. Congressman Christopher Shays on how Richard Blumenthal has described his military service.

The Times earlier in the week reported that Blumenthal, who is the Democrat’s U.S. Senate nominee, has mislead the public to believe he served in Vietnam rather than stateside in the Marine Corps Reserves.

Blumenthal, who as an attorney recognizes the power of words, said he misspoke and never intended to mislead people, something critics continue to find hard to believe.

Shays was the focus of a follow-up piece by The Times and his comments, characterized as coming from “a good friend” were used as further evidence that Blumenthal has inaccurately portrayed his Vietnam-era service. The newspaper wrote that the former Congressman, who lost his seat in 2008 and recently considered running for Governor, “had watched with worry as Mr. Blumenthal gradually embellished his military record over the years.”

“As prominent Democrats in the state rallied to Mr. Blumenthal’s side on Tuesday (following The Times’ initial report), saying they had never seen him describe himself as a Vietnam veteran or chalking such misstatements up to a momentary lapse, Mr. Shays’ comments appeared to bolster the idea that Mr. Blumenthal’s descriptions of his military record had been somewhat embroidered, bit by bit, with the passage of time.”

“More and more it kept creeping in,” Shays was quoted as telling The Times.

And our story quoted Shays as saying Blumenthal “evolved from being pretty clear about his service to being somewhat nebulous about it and really giving a false impression about his service.” Shays also told our reporter Blumenthal is a friend of “high integrity.”

What bugged me was nowhere in these articles was Shays specifically asked to judge Blumenthal, as other Republicans and some veterans and some political commentators had been doing. Did he agree that Blumenthal was purposefully trying to mislead voters for political benefit? Did Shays get the impression the guy was doing something nefarious? That was the question at the heart of last week’s national political furor caused by The Times’ first story – is Blumenthal duplicitous? – and no one asked Shays. We in the media were, apparently, just eager to have his quotes about this being a pattern for Blumenthal.

So I called Shays today to get an answer.

“Let me just say this to you. I think he’s a very good and decent guy and I think he slipped into this. I don’t think it was nefarious in any way,” Shays said. “I just think Dick is a very good and decent guy. I don’t think he wanted to give people the wrong impression. I don’t think he wanted to. When you’re with groups that you want to identify (with) you can slip into something that, if you really thought about it, you wish you hadn’t.”

Shays also said he specifically told The Times “I’ve never heard him say he’s been in Vietnam. I just heard him say things that made me think he had, and that was an impression others had.”

The Times’ article instead reported “Mr. Shays … began hearing Mr. Blumenthal refer to having served in Vietnam.”

Our newspapers found other examples of Blumenthal’s making incorrect statements about his time during the Vietnam era, and yet we also found evidence Blumenthal had been clear and accurate about his military record over the years.

Shays continued: “If you’re asking me do I think he would have wanted to give a false impression? No. I think he just didn’t think about it, and now he’s struggling with what he’s having to struggle with … As a friend I would tell him to stay in the race and just deal with it as best he can. I wouldn’t be suggesting in any way he should get out of this race. But it’s a legitimate issue that he has to deal with.”

I asked Shays if he felt the criticism being leveled at Blumenthal this past week has been unfair.

Shays noted the reality is anyone else in Blumenthal’s situation would be facing the same attacks.

“I’m not saying that’s unfair,” Shays said. “I’m saying I felt that particularly the television media and many people who don’t know him were, I think, unduly harsh.”

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One of our reporters was at the Stamford courthouse today and saw newly minted Judge Robert Genuario, former head of the Governor’s budget office and former Republican state Senator from Norwalk, shadowing another judge.

Genuario was confirmed a few weeks ago. You can read more about it here.

I’m told by the state Judicial Branch that new judges wrapped up their training yesterday.

A branch spokesman also told me that judges are assigned based on need, but noted they will attempt to accommodate requests to serve near where they live. Stamford has vacancies and Genuario still lives in Norwalk.

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I could comment here on Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dannel Malloy’s proposal today to hold 17 debates around the state with Ned Lamont, who plans to mount a primary against the former Stamford Mayor this August.

But the folks over at the liberal My Left Nutmeg are doing a fine job of debating the debates, calling Malloy’s public invitation to Lamont everything from “fun” and “very civic minded” to “a slap in the face, arrogant and rude.”

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This whole “I’m in the primary but I’m not campaigning” thing Republican Rob Simmons is doing in regards to challenging but not really challenging GOP U.S. Senate nominee Linda McMahon is really confusing me.

On the one hand, Simmons made it clear to reporters today that he is “scaling back” his campaign and staff are moving on.

But at the same time he made it clear he is staying on the ballot in the August primary against McMahon to offer his supporters the option of voting for him.

So it’s like Simmons today told the press that after dating for several months now, things have gotten too serious and it’s time to slow things down. But at the same time he didn’t totally call things off.

Which leaves me really, really confused about the rules of our new relationship.

If McMahon issues a proposal tomorrow or gets caught up in some scandal, are we supposed to call Simmons for comment, or will he think that’s weird and be all “why are you calling me?”

And I’ll be all “I thought you were still in the primary and we still had a relationship?”

And he’ll be all “sure I’m in the primary, but did I tell you to call me about the primary?”

And I’ll be all “I just assumed you’d want me to call…”

And he’ll be all “I told you I was scaling back the campaign, but if people want to vote for me, they can.”

And I’ll be all “how will people know if they want to vote for you if we don’t talk once in a while so I can report your positions on various topics? And what exactly does ‘scaling back’ mean, anyway? And why do you get to make all the rules, Rob?”

And he’ll be all “I can’t answer your questions. I released my campaign staff and my spokespeople. They’ve moved on.”

And I’ll be all “why can’t you and I just have a conversation? Why can’t YOU talk to ME, Rob!”

And he’ll be all “call economist Peter Schiff! He’s planning on petitioning his way onto the primary ballot and challenging McMahon for the Republican nomination. I think you liked him better, anyway!”

And I’ll be all “again with the ‘you like Peter better’! You know what? Maybe I will. Maybe I will call Peter! Yeah, I don’t need to talk to you! I’ll call Peter!”

And he’ll be all “fine!”

And I’ll be all “fine!”

And then we’ll slam our phones down.

See how complicated this has all become? Why couldn’t you just be in the race or out of it, Rob!?!?!?

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Ahhhh, political spin.

Republican Linda McMahon for months has been portraying herself as the political outsider best suited to bring a fresh perspective and common sense to Congress as Connecticut’s newest U.S. Senator.

And, despite the fact her fortune from the family professional wrestling business has bought her campaign some of the best political insiders money can buy, she is certainly a fresh face compared to Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Richard Blumenthal and former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons.

But now that McMahon defeated Simmons to win the party’s nomination at last weekend’s convention, leave it to another GOP opponent – celebrity economist Peter Schiff – to try and use her own argument against her.

Schiff is trying to petition his way onto the August primary ballot against McMahon. In a statement responding to today’s news that Simmons, who earned enough Republican delegate votes to qualify for the primary but who will not actively campaign for it, Schiff said: “There is a reason why I am the choice of Tea Party leaders, political newcomers and independents, and why Linda McMahon, the darling of the establishment, has become the ultimate insider.”

I wonder how Peter would have described the situation had he won the nomination instead of McMahon?

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Gov. M. Jodi Rell, according to the state website, on May 18 without any fanfare or press releases signed a bill intended to strengthen the  state’s vocational technical schools.

The legislation, passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support by the General Assembly, resulted in part from last year’s controversial closing by the Rell administration of J.M. Wright Technical School in Stamford. The legislation adds steps to the closure process, making any such decisions on the part of the state Board of Education/Education Commissioner more transparent.

Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, who spearheaded the proposal as co-chairman of the legislature’s Education Committee, announced today he just learned Rell had signed it into law last week.

“It had become increasingly clear that the state’s vo-tech system was being treated unfairly and absolutely unacceptably and legislative intervention was required to remedy the deteriorating situation,” Gaffey said in a statement.

Here’s our full story on the tech schools bill when it was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month, including additional information on the issues surrounding Wright Tech:

HARTFORD — During a legislative hearing in February, state Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan acknowledged his decision last summer to shutter J.M. Wright Technical School was “something I’m not proud of.”
On Monday, the state House of Representatives unanimously approved sweeping legislation that, among other things, would require more steps and greater transparency before state school officials close, or suspend, operations at other vocational technical facilities.
“These are things that should not have to be in statute,” state Rep. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, told his colleagues prior to the 146 to 0 vote.
The Senate passed the bill late Friday, 33 to 0, and it now heads to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell for final approval.
A key provision pursued by Stamford legislators following the Wright Tech closure requires the state Board of Education to hold an on-site, evening public hearing on a school’s future in order for the community to have a convenient opportunity to comment.
The board must submit to the public a comprehensive plan that outlines the reasons for a closure or suspension, including a cost-benefit analysis, specify the length of the closure/suspension and what happens to the school in the duration, and explain the options for students and personnel.
The board would then have to schedule a formal vote to close or suspend the school.
“(The bill) makes it clear we’re going to have a public process when there is consideration of a suspension or closing of any of these vocational technical schools,” state Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, co-chairman of the legislature’s Education Committee, told House members.
The process used to close Wright Tech, while determined to be legal by the state attorney general, has come under fire by critics who argue it was done from a distance in Hartford and lacked appropriate opportunities for public input.
Due to declining enrollment, the state school board in December 2008, during an 8:40 a.m. meeting in Hartford, adopted a budget resolution that simultaneously supported suspending operations at Wright Tech due to the budget crisis, while urging Rell to fund the school.
Wright Tech’s future remained in limbo for months as Rell battled with legislative Democrats, who had promised to save the school, over a new, two-year state budget. With no deal in sight and summer ending, McQuillan in July announced the school would not reopen for at least two years.
McQuillan argued his authority to act was implicit in the board’s December 2008 budget resolution, but critics questioned his interpretation of the document.
An investigation by Hearst Connecticut Newspapers earlier this year found state officials themselves had differing opinions of what exactly the board had agreed to do regarding Wright Tech.
In one e-mail, state school board chairman Allan Taylor wrote: “We haven’t decided to close the school. We just decided that if the budget required, the school should be closed. I didn’t want to suggest that we had taken the next step (as) a board.”
Faced with questions about the legality of the closure, the Board of Education last November ratified McQuillan’s decision after the fact.
The bill also expands state board’s membership from 11 to 13 to include two new members who have either graduated from the vocational technical system or have experience in a related trade.
The legislation also increases state oversight of the system and its budget and seeks to improve funding of building renovations and bus maintenance.
Hearst in February reported that the state Department of Motor Vehicles ordered 49, or 60 percent, of 82 vocational-technical buses inspected in 2008 out of service for repairs.
Of the 90 vehicles inspected by the DMV in 2009, 54, or 71 percent, were taken out of service.
State Rep. Shawn Johnston, D-Putnam, said the legislation regarding vocational-technical funding would not be needed if lawmakers did a better job controlling state debt.
“We authorize excessive levels of borrowing,” Johnston said.
But Johnston added he overall approved of the legislation.
“This is incredibly supportive of the vocational-technical system which is, quite frankly, some of the best money we spend as a state educationally,” he said.
State Rep. John Hetherington, R-New Canaan, said the schools play an important role in the diversification of Connecticut’s economy, graduating students who go on to fill needed positions in the trades.
“These are real jobs that are going to be produced,” Hetherington said.