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Bill Cosby will be at the capitol Monday to address the legislature’s Task Force on Fatherhood and Fatherlessness.

The announcement was just made by House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, who earlier this year organized the task force to study the causes of fatherlessness in Connecticut and whether the state could do a better job of encouraging fatherhood.

The group is co-chaired by Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk.

“Fatherhood” is the title of the best selling book Cosby authored in the mid-1980s while playing Dr. Healthcliff Huxtable on the now classic sitcom The Cosby Show.

Cosby has come under fire in the past for some controversial statements he has made about African Americans and personal responsibility. Here’s the transcript of an interview he gave in May, 2004 following one such speech with PBS host Tavis Smiley.

No word on whether Amann, who spearheaded the state’s new film tax credit program, is going to take the opportunity to convince Cosby to film Ghost Dad II in Connecticut.

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A staffer for nine state lawmakers who represent the Bristol and New Britain communities just sent out a statement touting a meeting their bosses had in Hartford today about the future of the Bristol Press and New Britain Herald.

Those two newspapers, owned by the faltering Journal Register Company, are slated to shut down if not purchased by Jan. 12.

The lawmakers have been urging the state Department of Economic and Community Development to get involved and try and find a buyer. According to the release, DECD Commissioner Joan McDonald informed them of “at least one substantive current negotiation involving a potential buyer” and she intends to “reach out to other major news organizations to gauge any interest.”

I hope I NEVER have to face what the staff at these papers are facing right now. At least when layoffs are announced, you figure you’ve got a chance at making the cut. But when the whole paper is closing, everyone goes down.

That being said, it strikes me as a very interesting scenario to have the very people the newspapers cover riding to their rescue. I wonder what journalism professors would make of this. Journalists are supposed to refuse “gifts” from the people they cover. I know someone who would not even let a source pay for a cup of coffee. Seems like saving your company/jobs is the ultimate gift. Is it going to be harder for these papers to cast a critical eye on these state officials after they guarantee their survival?

UPDATE: The legislative spokesman I referred to above gave me a call after reading this post. She said the lawmakers in question believe they are doing their part to keep a local business and save local jobs. She added those same lawmakers have been the subjects of a fare share of critical stories in the two newspapers.

“It’s not like the papers have always been rosy and sweet to these lawmakers,” she said.

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Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell today released the schedule for the annual Holiday Open House she hosts each season at her mansion in Hartford.

“This house truly belongs to the people,” Rell said. “This free open house gives families from across the state the opportunity to see the Governor’s Residence decorated for the holidays. I urge everyone to take a few minutes to stop in and say hello.”

The dates and times are: Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Dec. 7, noon to 4 p.m. Live musical entertainment is provided and Santa Claus will be on hand in the mornings.

In other Rell-related holiday news, Rell spokesman Christopher Cooper told me the state’s growing budget deficit has resulted in the Governor’s canceling the annual holiday parties she has hosted for lawmakers and state commission heads.

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While stumping for Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the self-described independent Democrat from Stamford expressed deep reservations about then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s foreign policy positions.

His intent was clear – to paint McCain as the best candidate to protect America and deal with its enemies and allies abroad.

But after now President-Elect Obama announced his national security team earlier today, Lieberman issued the following statement: “I applaud President-Elect Obama for assembling a talented and bipartisan national security team. At a moment in history when our natoin facs both great dangers and great opportunities in our foreign relations, the President-Elect has begun to build an administration that can lead America forward on the world state with purpose and principle.”

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It’s interesting to note the two new leaders of the state House of Representatives share musical hobbies.

Current House Majority Leader/Incoming Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, plays guitar while incoming House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Storrs, is a classical pianist.

I asked Donovan during a recent interview what their different choice of instruments says about the two new leaders.

“It’s a good question,” Donovan said. “I had to learn to read notes later. I played by ear and my fingers for many years before I could read notes. She learned to read notes.”

The statement makes a lot of sense if you know a little about the two personalities.

Merrill is the detail-oriented chairman of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

From what I’ve witnessed of Donovan, he is a passionate guy who, at least when it came to the healthcare pooling bill he pursued last year, puts bold – some critics might say risky – proposals on the table and refines them as he goes forward.

Donovan added: “There’s a joke – ‘How do you make a guitar player quieter? Put some sheet music in front of him.”

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For those who have never witnessed a session of the state House of Representatives, the Speaker – currently Rep. James Amann, D-Milford – basically guides the debate.

A bill is raised and Amann, standing behind the podium at the front of the hall, recognizes fellow lawmakers who want to speak for/against the legislation, confers with staff on questions of rules and propriety, and calls for votes.

It is not uncommon during lengthy debates for the Speaker to have a seat and talk to colleagues, reporters, etc. about other issues.

And sometimes Amann jokes around. On Tuesday night, as House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, launched into a typically passionate, sometimes amusing and sarcastic, GOP condemnation of a Democratic bill to cut the deficit, Amann started doodling on a pad of paper.

One of Amann’s favorite topics of late is the Republicans’ dwindling numbers in the House of Representatives, despite great effort by Cafero and others to fill the role of loyal opposition.

For the past two years the House GOP has been known as the “Fightin’ 44.” But earlier this month they lost seats and will now be 37 in number until the next election in 2010.

So as Cafero continued to make the case for why Republicans are more fiscally responsible than Democrats Tuesday night, Amann held up his pad to reporters and smiled. It read “10 in 2010.”

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U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman held a 12:30 p.m. press conference today at his offices in Hartford. The economy topped his agenda, but he also heaped praise on the man he tried to help defeat in the presidential election – fellow Democrat and U.S. Senator from Illinois President Elect Barack Obama.

Lieberman noted it was Obama who helped broker peace between Lieberman and his colleagues in the Senate and was thankful he was not punished for backing Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign.

But Lieberman still faces a censure vote Dec. 17 from Connecticut’s Central Democratic Committee.

Party chairman Nancy DiNardo told me this afternoon many Democrats believe Obama wants to let bygones be bygones, while others continue to remain angry over Lieberman’s supporting McCain and criticizing Obama on the campaign trail.

DiNardo has been taken to task by some in her party for being too diplomatic with Lieberman in recent years and treating him with kid gloves.

One thing her office did do is take the Senator’s picture off the wall in Hartford.

Depending on the outcome of the Dec. 17 vote, might that photo ever come out of storage?

“I never say never to anything,” DiNardo said. “There’s always a possibility. I just don’t see it happening very soon.”

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There was talk earlier today the legislature’s Democrats were eliminating the position of state Business Advocate, created in 2006 by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the General Assembly, to help cut the deficit.

Rell tapped former Republican U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons for the job in February, 2007.

But ultimately the Democrats decided today instead to only cut Simmons’ budget and transfer the job from the governor’s budget office to the state Office of Economic and Community Development.

“Rob’s a good guy,” Speaker of the House James Amann, D-Milford, said in an interview. “I don’t want to see the guy lose his job. I mean that.”

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, told his colleagues it was not lost on the GOP the only office Democrats targeted for cuts today was that held by a former Republican Congressman.

“We can’t do that stuff. We really can’t do that stuff,” McKinney said.

The whole discussion got me wondering why, if Simmons is eventually shown the door, some of his duties couldn’t be assumed by Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele.

Fedele, a Stamford native and businessman, was tapped as Rell’s running mate in 2006 because of his business experience and has been a defacto business advocate over the past two years both locally and abroad in Europe and China.

In an interview with me as he prepared to assume office in early 2007, Fedele said: “I’m a natural fit to … work with the new commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development to stimulate job creation and attract business.”

Sounds pretty much like what Simmons does.