Democrats led by Rep. Steve Dargan of West Haven, co-chairman of the Public Safety Committee and Republicans led by Rep. Michael Molgano of Stamford, are trying to reach a compromise on the so-called smoke-detector bill that was inspired by last Christmas’s tragic multi-fatal fire in Stamford’s Shippan section. Molgano has proposed adding a section in local building applications acknowledging the need for smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors in buildings under renovations where people are living, thus allowing city inspectors to deny certificates of occupancy if they find there are no detectors. Dargan said this bill, which has been sitting on the House “go” list for two weeks, is heading toward a deal and could get to the floor for debate as early as Tuesday. The Christmas fire killed two grandparents and their three grandkids. After the fire, it was found there were no detectors in the old mansion that was under renovation.
Archive for April, 2012
Nat’l GOP reconsidering Florida’s punishment for early primary
While states like Connecticut agreed to push back their presidential primaries at the request of the two major parties – and paid for it with abysmal turnout – Florida went its own way and held a January vote.
National GOP officials initially punished the Sunshine State by taking away half of Florida’s delegates to the convention. That was the punishment Connecticut officials cited as a major reason for moving the state’s primary from early February to last week.
Now the Tampa Bay Times reports in a story published Sunday that penalty may be reversed.
If that’s the case, it appears from a second story today at Politico.com that Florida is getting off easy, leaving those states that played by the rules to wonder why they bothered.
And with the first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft…
Meet Roger Goodell’s wingman: Paul Hicks III.
Hicks is effectively the NFL’s top lobbyist, the guy who makes sure the league stays on point.
Even Goodell gets a chaperone, especially at the NFL Draft.
A Greenwich GOP selectman from 1987 to 1991 who went on to become chief of staff of the late Congressman Stewart McKinney before leaving for the greener pastures of corporate public relations, Hicks is one of the dozens of suits roving the stage and maze of nooks and crannies at Radio City Music Hall.
Linda: I feel your pain
Republican Senate hopeful Linda McMahon talks with Arthur Norton following Wednesday's meeting of the Republican Town Committee of Greenwich.
Linda McMahon projected a touchy feely side very much in the mold of Ann Romney in front of a highly sympathetic audience Wednesday night at the monthly meeting of the Greenwich Republican Town Committee.
The two-time Republican Senate hopeful delivered what amounted to a closing argument to prospective delegates to next month’s state party conventon, some of whom are said to be privately on the fence despite being from McMahon’s hometown.
McMahon underscored her humble roots as the only child of a shop foreman and budget analyst at Cherry Point Air Base near New Bern, N.C.
“Even though I ran last time, I really found that my story about my life and where I came from never really came out very much,” McMahon said.
“When I was first born, for about the first three to four years of my life, we lived in low income housing outside the base. My parents worked very hard, saved their money. Then my dad, as he liked to say, bought a little piece of land up the road and built the house that I grew up in. We never bought a new car. It was new to us.”
McMahon, who is trying to allay concerns about her electability, said she first met her husband Vince when she was 13 and he was 16. They married right out of high school.
“We had no job, no money, no insurance, but we were having a baby,” McMahon said. “So I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to walk in a lot of the shoes of the folks here in Connecticut who faced some of those early challenges.”
McMahon made a brief reference to the couple’s decision to file for bankruptcy in 1976.
“We made an investment that wasn’t so great and it turned out that wasn’t a business that we really didn’t know anything about,” McMahon said. “We eventually, through a lot of different circumstances, some beyond our control, had declared bankruptcy. We lost everything. We lost our home, our cars, we didn’t have any credit.”
Mano-a-mano: Shays vs. WWE
Christopher Shays is playing the YouTube card.
His Senate campaign today compiled an anthology of raw video footage from the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) in an attempt to drive home its point that the media empire of GOP rival Linda McMahon peddles violence and sex.
“Anyone who does a quick YouTube search on Linda McMahon’s family business can see that WWE has a long history of promoting violence, bullying and degradation of women and minorities,” Shays’ spokeswoman Amanda Bergen said in an e-mail blast to reporters.
Among the clips highlighted by the Shays camp is a May 2002 interview between McMahon and Bill O’Reilly.
Another clip referenced by the Shays camp was actually uploaded to YouTube in 2010 by the campaign of Rob Simmons, who lost a three-way Senate primary to McMahon that year.
UPDATE:
WWE contends that the videos cherry-picked by Shays’ political operatives are not reflective of its current content.
Hearst Connecticut Newspapers received the following statement from WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman.
“Outdated video excerpts from ten years ago do not reflect WWE’s current TV-PG content, nor do they reflect our corporate commitment to our anti-bullying campaign, “Be a STAR” (Show Tolerance And Respect). Nearly 40% of our audience is female; we are the number one ranked entertainment program on primetime cable with Hispanic viewers and ranked number four among African-Americans. Our 13 million weekly TV viewers in the U.S. obviously do not feel insulted or degraded. More than 300,000 fans in Connecticut, approximately 10% of the state’s population, currently enjoy the episodic storylines, characters and excitement of WWE’s programming.”
The latest indictment of the WWE by Shays comes just a day after the Stamford-based company sent a letter to the former congressman accusing him of distorting facts about its content and anti-bullying initiatives during a recent interview with The Weekly Standard.
Voters want death penalty as an option
A new Quinnipiac University poll out this morning shows that voters disapprove of the legislature’s vote earlier this month to repeal the death penalty and disapprove by a bigger margin of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s job performance.
The pollsters asked the death penalty question in a variety of ways to different people, and got the following results:
When half of the voters in the survey are asked if the State Legislature’s decision to abolish the death penalty is a “good idea” or “bad idea,” they say “bad idea” 60 – 34 percent, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds.
When the other half of voters are asked about abolishing the death penalty and replacing it with life in prison with no chance of parole, they say “bad idea” 54 – 42 percent. Voters who attend religious services weekly say “good idea” 50 – 46 percent. Voters who attend services less frequently say “bad idea” 58 – 38 percent.
In deciding what to do with inmates currently on Connecticut’s Death Row:
- 49 percent of voters say do not abolish the death penalty at all;
- 25 percent say abolish the death penalty for all cases, including those on Death Row;
- 21 percent say abolish the death penalty only for future cases, not for current convicts.
When it came to Malloy, survey found that a plurality of voters personally like the first-term governor, but that by a 44-37 margin they disapprove of his job performance. His approval rating is down seven points from a month ago, when voters disapproved by only a 45-44 margin.
Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy’s senior adviser, released a statement acknowledging the poll but not putting much stock in the results:
“We have tried to be consistent in not saying much about polls because…what’s there to say?” he said. ” Polls come and go, numbers go up and down. The Governor always does what he thinks is best for the state and the right thing to do.”
The poll also showed …
- Freshman U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is far more popular than his senior colleague, Sen. Joe Lieberman, but both men are less popular than they were a month ago. Blumenthal, a Greenwich resident, has an approval rating of 58 percent — the highest of any statewide elected official, but a drop from the 64 percent he registered in March. Lieberman, from Stamford, has an approval rating of 45 percent and a disapproval rating of 41 percent this month — down from a 51/38 breakdown last month.
- In what may be considered an alarming development for President Barack Obama, the President’s approval rating in deep blue Connecticut dipped this month to 49 percent, while his disapproval shot up to 47 percent. Last month 53 percent of voters approved while 43 percent disapproved.
- By a margin of 70 percent to 28 percent, voters approve of raising the state’s minimum wage from $8.25 an hour. The idea is supported by 88 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 48 percent of Republicans.
Gingrich, Santorum campaign officials in CT open to Romney
They don’t have kind things to say about Mitt Romney, but they’ll take him over President Barack Obama.
Following ex-Massachusetts Governor Romney’s anticipated victories in today’s primaries, including Connecticut’s, officials with conservative opponents’ campaigns offered hope to those concerned the GOP will be unable to unite by November.
Chris O’Brien with former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum’s now-suspended campaign a few weeks ago stood outside of Romney’s campaign stop in Hartford with a sign, “Convince Me.”
O’Brien of Wolcott tonight told me he voted for Santorum but afterward called Romney’s campaign to discuss a future meeting with the state coordinator.
“Our goal is still to beat Barack Obama and there will be plenty of time to talk about that going forward,” said O’Brien, sounding a bit less critical than when we spoke outside that aforementioned Romney campaign event.
Chadwick Ciocci, Trumbull Town Council’s majority leader and the Gingrich campaign’s Connecticut chairman, said there’s a reason voter turnout was poor today.
“Show me an enthusiastic Mitt Romney supporter. I don’t think they really exist,” Ciocci said.
But, he added, “Quite frankly, beating Barack Obama is more important than anything. Do I wish (Romney) was the nominee? No. But if he is I will gladly embrace him.”
4 in 5 Greenwich GOPers go for Mitt
In what amounted to a spring training game for Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee captured 81 percent of the vote in Greenwich during today’s primary.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul finished second with 9 percent of the vote in a contest marked by light turnout.
The balance went to Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and “uncommitted.”
