Author: Christopher Keating

Facing huge opposition in a residential neighborhood, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has backed off her push for a new detention center for girls in Bridgeport.

Rell had been pushing for months for a new facility on state-owned land on Virginia Avenue near the Beardsley Zoo, but the city’s mayor and legislative delegation opposed the idea.

Now, Rell is starting the process over by issuing a new request for proposals – opening the issue for statewide input.

State officials have avoided using the term “jail” to describe a secure facility in which the troubled girls, who have gotten into criminal problems, are not allowed to leave. Instead, they call it a treatment center and say it will be constructed to look like a school.

The plan calls for 16 secure beds and another eight beds for girls aged 18 and under who will be moving back soon to residential facilities.

The outcry in Bridgeport was led by state Rep. Christopher Caruso, an outspoken Democrat who has criticized the Rell administration on various issues. Some Bridgeport officials suggested that the state should used the High Meadows Residential Facility in Hamden, but that idea troubled lawmakers in that community.

As such, the process will start from scratch.

“This treatment center is already long overdue – the state has been without a secure facility for young girls since the Long Lane School in Middletown was closed in 2003,” Rell said in a statement. “Sadly for the young girls in need, efforts to site this facility have encountered one obstacle after another. However, I believe that through the RFP process we can quickly identify a community that will welcome the project and move ahead in a timely fashion.”

The state is exploring three ideas and is asking contractors to respond with proposals within the next 60 days that would fit those ideas.

Caruso called Rell’s announcement “interesting,” but held back from calling it good news until he knows whether the Bridgeport and Hamden sites are “off the table.” By that he meant that no non-profit group would be allowed to buy either site from the state and develop it into the detention facility for the girls. 

One idea is for a private organization to build and operate the center for the state. Another is for the private entity to construct and own the building, which would then be run by the state. A third option is that a city or town would either donate or sell land to the state – and then receive additional state funding in the form of Payment in Lieu of Taxes, known as PILOT payments. The state Department of Children and Families would then operate the building.

Rell’s office says the treatment center must simultaneously be like a home and a school – complete with everything from classrooms to a kitchen and bedrooms. In addition, the site must be near a bus line – like the controversial Virginia Avenue site in Bridgeport – so that families can visit the troubled girls who live there.

Dominic Alaimo has been operating a package store in Enfield for the past 31 years, and he works long hours at his shop.

But Alaimo wants the option to work even harder – opening on Sundays because he says business drives right by his Freshwater Package Store at 920 Enfield Street on the way to the Massachusetts border.

Working seven days a week wouldn’t bother him, and he would certainly work on Sunday.

“Absolutely,” Alaimo said in an interview. “It’s a tough economy.”

On philosophical and practical grounds, Alaimo said he cannot understand the position of the Connecticut Package Stores Association, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele – who all oppose the sales of beer, wine, and hard liquor in package stores and supermarkets on Sundays. He rejects the idea that it has always been that way and that Sunday has traditionally been a day of rest.

“The government has no business telling us when we can open or close,” Alaimo said. “Bars are open. Restaurants are open. Car dealers are open. Shouldn’t them people rest, too?”

Massachusetts allows Sunday sales, and the steady stream of cars heads over the border on a regular basis – which Alaimo says hurts him and many other package stores near the border.

“My business is down 40 percent,” said Alaimo, whose store is on Route 5 near town hall. “We’re getting destroyed.”

An outspoken advocate of Sunday sales, Alaimo is an active Republican who ran unsuccessfully for a town council seat in the November 2009 election against longtime Democrat “Red” Edgar.

Alaimo traveled to the state Capitol complex Monday for a long-awaited hearing by the Program Review and Investigations Committee on whether the state should legalize the Sunday sales of alcohol. The package store association, led by executive director and lobbyist Carroll Hughes, has beaten back the proposal every year. They say that Sunday sales would not increase the state’s tax collections because alcohol sales would be spread out over seven days, rather than six. The volume would not go up, taxes would remain the same, and the store owners would be forced to pay overtime rates to workers on Sunday, Hughes said.

The main group in favor of the Sunday sales is the manufacturers, represented by the Washington, D.C.-based Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, known as DISCUS. The wine and spirits wholesalers, as well as the beer wholesalers, support the ban and are in favor of keeping the stores closed on Sundays.

Connecticut is one of only three states in the nation with an across-the-board ban on beer, wine, and hard liquor in package stores and grocery stores on Sundays. Others have various levels of the ban, and 14 states do not allow the sale of distilled spirits on Sundays.

As such, Hughes predicts the idea would actually drive many stores – some of which are barely profitable now – out of business. Many of the stores are literally “mom and pop” operations that are run by families in the old-fashioned way without computers. Of 1,100 package stores statewide, only 50 are on an e-mail list with the association. The rest receive their news about state issues through postcards that are sent through the U.S. mail.

Sunday sales has become a political issue at the Capitol with various gubernatorial candidates weighing in.

Greenwich Republican Tom Foley, the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, said in an interview on Channel 3 on Sunday that he favors Sunday sales on philosophical – not financial – grounds.

“I don’t understand why our state is telling any business owner they can’t be open,” Foley said.

A legislative committee’s staff report says that the state could receive $8 million in additional tax revenue if the stores were open on Sunday. But the package stores association strongly rejects that figure, saying that sales would need to explode to generate that much tax revenue.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-sunday-sales-0308.artmar08,0,176115.story

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-sunday-alcohol-sales-link-0309,0,6361871.story

Hartford Courant columnist Rick Green weighs in on Greenwich’s Tom Foley, a former Bush appointee who is running for the GOP nomination for governor.

http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/03/gop-pundits-foley-faceoff-empt.html

In the longrunning battle over whether the Sunday sales of alcohol should be legalized in Connecticut, a visiting Trinity College professor will testify today at the state Capitol complex that the sales are good for the economy.

Edward Peter Stringham is the co-author of a book titled, “No Booze? You May Lose: Why Drinkers Earn More Money Than Nondrinkers.”

Stringham was previously an economics professor at San Jose State University, and he was interviewed on CNBC television about his findings that men who drink earn 10 percent more than nondrinkers and women who drink earn 14 percent more than their nondrinking counterparts. On top of that, men who have frequented bars within the past month earn 17 percent more than those who did not, according to Stringham.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDBwom174TA

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-sunday-sales-0308.artmar08,0,176115.story

Hartford Courant reporter Amanda Falcone tells us:

There’s no hunting on Sundays in Connecticut — even if a deer is the target.

State law has prohibited hunting on Sundays since at least 1877, when breaking the law meant a fine of between $7 and $25.

In recent years, lawmakers have proposed several bills that would allow hunting on Sundays, but none have been signed into law.

Many of those bills would have allowed hunting on Sundays only on private property with the owner’s permission. Some, including one that was passed by the environment committee last year, got even more specific, saying that only bow and arrow hunting would be allowed on private parcels.

There is one Sunday hunting bill being considered by lawmakers this legislative session. It was proposed by Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, on behalf of a constituent, and it mirrors last year’s bill.

Historically, the state Department of Environmental Protection has supported bills that would allow limited Sunday hunting. Another day of hunting would help the state deal with its deer problem, said Mark Clavette, a wildlife biologist and the conservation education and firearms safety administrator for DEP.

Clavette noted that in most of the bills considered by lawmakers, the DEP commissioner would get to decide where to allow Sunday hunting. It would likely be limited to areas that have the greatest number of deer, such as the shoreline and Fairfield and New Haven counties, he said, adding that allowing Sunday hunting is the last tool the state has to manage the deer population.

Those who oppose Sunday hunting bills either philosophically object to hunting, or worry that hunting is dangerous, Clavette said. Some just want to enjoy the outdoors without hunters, he said.

There is no need to worry about safety, because Connecticut has an excellent safety record, Clavette added, explaining that bow and arrow hunting is safer than hunting with guns because targets are within short range and are visible. Hunters are often shooting from a higher elevation, meaning that the arrow is shot toward the ground, he said.

Connecticut is not the only state that does not allow hunting on Sundays. According to the National Rifle Association six other states ban Sunday hunting completely, including Massachusetts.

The association supports hunting on Sundays, saying that it would give the economy a boost and provide more opportunities for children to be introduced to the sport.
The sale of alcohol on Sundays has been prohibited since at least 1882 in Connecticut. At that time, law breakers were fined between $50 and $100 and could go to prison for more than six months.

Lawmakers included a ban on Sunday liquor sales as part of the original Liquor Control Act passed in 1933 at the end of prohibition, reports the state Office of Legislative Research. The office says it could not find any rationale for including the ban because, at the time, legislative proceedings were not transcribed.

While many believe the laws that ban hunting and alcohol sales on Sundays are blue laws from the 1600s, state historian Walter Woodward says that may not be the case.
Blue law was the name given to laws that were considered harsh and unreasonable in the 1600s, and the word “blue” refers to the severity of the punishments, he said, adding that laws considered today as blue laws may not have dated back that far.

“Blue law becomes a term for a law that is excessively severe and harsh,” Woodward said, adding that the term could refer to a law enacted at any time.

Woodward also points out that the 1800s was a time when immigrants from Europe flocked to Connecticut. He said he would not be surprised if lawmakers decided that accepted customs needed to be codified. It was a way to teach immigrants Connecticut’s expectations, Woodward said.

In 1979, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the state’s law that required certain stores to close on Sundays was unconstitutional. It noted that the blue laws, codified in 1650, and had been regularly modified since 1902, and it concluded that the laws were arbitrary and discriminatory because two-thirds of the state’s work force were allowed to work on Sundays anyway.

The courts said the law’s intent to provide a common day of rest was a legitimate exercise of the legislature’s power to promote the public safety, health and general welfare, but it said the laws were so arbitrary that the state did not achieve its purpose.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-sunday-sales-0308.artmar08,0,176115.story 

Democratic gubernatorial contender Ned Lamont appeared Friday on WNPR radio’s “Where We Live” program.

http://whereweblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/lamont-im-not-a-head-banger-im-a-respectful-guy/

Lamont is in a five-way race for the Democratic nomination against former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden. Figueroa intends to collect about 15,000 signatures to ensure his place on the ballot.

If you weren’t up late the other night watching Anderson Cooper on CNN, you might have missed a segment on Linda McMahon’s intention to spend as much as $50 million of her own money to win the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut.

McMahon did not appear in an interview on the show, but former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons of Stonington was interviewed when CNN came to Connecticut.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/03/cost-of-entry-50-million-bucks/

The CNN segment came out during the same week when McMahon started broadcasting a 60-second commercial that tells her life style – as narrated by her daughter.

http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/03/encore-mcmahon-vid-brilliant-p.html

Our colleague, Rick Green, weighs in on the idea of the state potentially making money by selling guns that have been seized by the state police.

State Rep. Christopher Caruso, a veteran Democrat from Bridgeport who serves on the public safety committee, says that “people are absolutely losing their minds” at the state Capitol.

http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/03/guns-confiscate-nra-general-assembly-auction.html

Former Lt. Gov. Kevin B. Sullivan always got along with state Rep. Ernie Hewett of New London in their days spent together under the Gold Dome.

But Sullivan, an opponent of expanded gambling, was disturbed by a quote from Hewett in The Hartford Courant. Hewett, who gave up gambling years ago, said there is so much gambling in Connecticut that he would not mind if the controversial keno game was played on every corner.

The comment was made during an informational forum on Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s plan to legalize keno and install the game in 600 to 1,000 bars, taverns, and restaurants across the state.

http://www.theday.com/article/20100304/INTERACT010403/100309848/-1/rss18

Police officers who shoot animals while facing imminent danger would be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits under a bill passed unanimously Thursday by the legislature’s labor committee.

The bill was directly related to the case of a Stamford police officer who shot a chimpanzee to death last year after the chimp had mauled 56-year-old Charla Nash. Officer Frank Chiafari arrived at the scene in North Stamford and was attempting to help Nash when the frenzied chimp, named Travis, jerked open his unlocked patrol car’s door.

Chiafari was now face to face with the bloody chimpanzee, who was close enough to touch him. Chiafari then pulled out his gun and fired four times, killing the chimp.

Only five days after the incident, Chiafari was denied workers’ compensation benefits because he had killed an animal, not a person.

Both Republicans and Democrats voted in favor of rewriting the law Thursday, but state Rep. Bill Aman of South Windsor cautioned that the bill should not be written too broadly because it could allow too much coverage for workers’ compensation for “non-physical injuries” that officers suffer on the job.

But Sen. Edith Prague, the co-chairwoman of the labor committee, responded that the language is “very narrow” and covers “only when the police officer is in imminent danger” of being injured.

“At one time, there was abuse of the stress benefit under workers comp,” Prague said, noting that the stress provision was eliminated in 1993.

The mauling occurred on Rock Rimmon Road in an upscale area north of the Merritt Parkway – not far from the New York State border.

Chiafari was traumatized by seeing the severe facial injuries to Nash, who has spent more than one year in hospitals since the mauling. He developed post-traumatic stress disorder, causing nightmares, flashbacks and depression, he said.

“To come to a scene and you see a fellow human being ripped apart, I feel for that,” Chiafari said last week after his testimony to the committee. “I see this person scalped. I don’t want to get into the gory things. There were fingers ripped off and everything. Yeah, it’s going to get to you. I’ve been a cop for 25 years. I’ve had little kids killed, but I’ve dealt with it. I’m pretty sensitive – more than most cops, probably. But I deal with it when I’ve had those stressful calls.”

Whether it’s the state budget or the governor’s plan for legalizing keno, legislators often disagree on a regular basis at the state Capitol.

But Republicans and Democrats come together every year when it involves a concert by the Wolfe Tones. The three-member Irish band travels to the United States annually around St. Patrick’s Day, and they always stop in the Hartford area for a concert.

That’s where longtime lobbyist Carroll Hughes and the legislature’s Irish American Caucus come in. They are sponsoring a concert again this year at the Irish American Home in Glastonbury on Tuesday night.

As one of the most popular Irish bands in the world, the Wolfe Tones provide a rallying cry for the movers and shakers at the Capitol, who gather to hear the troupe sing songs about the Emerald Isle. Partisan differences are dropped when pints are raised as the Wolfe Tones belt out their rebel songs.

While the Irish mega-band U2 certainly has more fans, the Wolfe Tones have a very loyal following that often travels to great lengths to see them. One of the top fans is Hughes, who has seen the band play more than 35 times through the years.

Over the past 45 years, the Wolfe Tones have released at least 14 albums that have sold more than 3 million copies, and they have played around the world – ranging from pubs in Dublin to venues in London, Paris, and Switzerland. They have also played at Carnegie Hall in New York City on St. Patrick’s Day and at the Foxwoods Resort Casino and Toad’s Place in Connecticut.

During the concerts, fans – both young and old – sing along to a mixture of rebel songs and memorable Irish ballads that include “Streets of New York,” “God Save Ireland,” “Let the People Sing,” “Boston Rose,” “On The One Road,” “The Boys of the Old Brigade,” “A Nation Once Again,” and “Joe McDonnell.”

As the devoted fans know, the band’s lullabies and battle cries and songs of hope and joy have been entertaining the crowds for decades.

The folk band teaches a lesson with lyrics of important issues in Irish history dating back to the Irish famine in 1847. That history includes the deaths of Bobby Sands, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, and others in prison in the H Blocks during a hunger strike.

In March, the band is booked for 16 of the 17 days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day – in New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rockville Centre, Long Island. After St. Patrick’s Day, they head back to Ireland to play in places like Derry and Belfast. The schedule is at the official site at www.wolfetonesofficialsite.com.

A lawsuit has been filed against State Rep. James O’Rourke, a Cromwell Democrat who gave a ride to a state employee last year after leaving a bar on a freezing night.

The woman was later found dead near the railroad tracks in an area not far from her home. No criminal charges were filed, but the civil suit has now been lodged by the woman’s family.

The Hartford Courant’s Christine Dempsey has the details at http://www.courant.com/community/new-britain/hc-web-state-rep-lawsuit-0305mar05,0,3353985.story

Is it a lottery game or a casino game?

A judge might one day decide whether keno becomes legal across Connecticut. Judges have ruled different ways across the country, and some would say it’s a roll of the dice.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is pushing for legalization of keno in 600 to 1,000 bars, restaurants and taverns – saying it is clearly a lottery game. The Indian tribes that run the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos say it’s a casino game.

Cartoonist Bob Englehart weighs in at http://blogs.courant.com/bob_englehart/2010/03/march-4-2010.html

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Thursday that he is now undecided on health care reform – adding that he is concerned that Democrats might use the “reconciliation” process to pass reform with 51 votes in the Senate.

“I’m undecided at this point how I will vote,” Lieberman said in a conference call Thursday afternoon with Connecticut newspaper reporters.

Lieberman said he finds much to like about the health care bill, calling it “good and important.”

But the reconciliation process has been highly controversial as Republicans and others have complained that a bill as important and significant as health care reform should not be passed on a partisan basis.

“Most of the big social changes have been adopted with bipartisan votes,” Lieberman said, adding that using reconciliation is not “the best way to do this for a lot of reasons.”

“None of us has actually seen the reconciliation package,” Lieberman said shortly after 12 noon. He noted that he will have at least two weeks to make his decision before the Senate’s Easter and Passover break in late March.

Lieberman said both sides “bear some blame” for the fact that health care bill is not a bipartisan effort. “It takes two to tango,” he said, alluding to the GOP.

In the context of the sharply partisan atmosphere that permeates much of Washington, anger over the health care bill could spill over into a bipartisan effort to craft a sweeping climate change and energy independence bill, Lieberman said.

He recounted a conversation with an unnamed Senate Republican who told him that all thoughts of bipartisanship in the Senate would be derailed for the rest of the legislative session if the Democrats push through health care with 51 votes. The environmental and energy bill would be stalled if the health care bill is passed because “no one will vote for it because they will be so angry,” Lieberman said he was told.

The Republican senator told him to “forget it for bipartisan cooperation for anything for the rest of the session,” Lieberman said, adding that he wants to avoid the situation “where the Senate essentially breaks down.”

The climate change-energy independence bill is being cobbled together by Lieberman, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Lieberman said he hopes the group will be able to release a “detailed outline” of the measure next week. “We’ve got the pieces of the puzzle on the same tabletop,” he said. “Now we’ve got to put them together.”

A vote could come this spring and he remains optimistic for the bill’s chances for passage. “I think we’ve got a chance…I’m really committed to negotiating in a way that gets something started on a solution to these problems this year,” he said. “We’d each have to leave our comfort zone.”

Courant staff writer Daniela Altimari contributed to this post.

The view from ABC News is at http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/reconciling-reconciliation-no-1-in-a-series-lieberman-has-shpilkes.html

Our colleague, Rick Green, reports that Connecticut has lost out in the funding for the Race To The Top money.

http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/03/connecticut-race-to-the-top-obama-department-of-education-school-reform.html

The Courant’s longtime education reporter Grace Merritt has more details here.

Without counting the appendices, the Race To the Top application ran to more than 200 pages.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said, “This is disappointing but not unexpected news – only 15 out of 40 states were declared finalists for the first round of funding. I want to thank the members of my administration and all of the dedicated education professionals, school administrators and community leaders who worked so hard and for so long on our application.

 “Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan has assured states like Connecticut that ‘there will be plenty of money remaining in the program after the first round of funding is complete.’ I spoke this morning with Connecticut’s education commissioner, Mark McQuillan, and we reaffirmed our commitment to working closely with all stakeholders – educators, unions, parents, students, legislators and others – to ensure that our application for the next round of funding is the best it can possibly be.”

Rell continued, “All of us recognized from the beginning both the intensely competitive nature of the ‘Race to the Top’ funding process and the fact that this is only the first round of grants. Today’s decision is by no means the end of the process for Connecticut – or, for that matter, the many other states that did not make it past this first hurdle in the race. But it is obvious that we will need to do better – and we will.

“So like a competitive runner we will dust ourselves off, study what worked for today’s ‘winners’ and train even harder for the next race. My administration remains committed to ‘Race to the Top’ and to qualifying for every federal dollar available to help our state and our students.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro issued this statement:

 “Although I am disappointed that Connecticut was not chosen as one of the 16 finalists in Phase 1 of the “Race to the Top,” education funding, I am hopeful that we will be included in the next round. And I am proud of the hard work our teachers and schools put into this process. I will do everything I can to make sure that their efforts, as well as the needs of our children, are recognized in Phase 2, when our state, as well as others who were overlooked, will have the opportunity to strengthen our applications and strive to be the best in a very competitive process.”

Ned Lamont, the Democratic frontrunner in the race for governor, said:

“A few weeks ago, Connecticut missed out on funding for our roads and bridges.  Today, it is funding for our children’s education.  Our state can’t sit around waiting for federal dollars to fall into our lap.  As Governor, I’ll be our loudest advocate, working with our Congressional Delegation, leaders in Washington, and closely monitoring our state applications to make sure we’ve checked every box to make Connecticut competitive. 

“New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are all finalists for this crucial education funding, while our state was left behind because our Governor wasn’t out there fighting for us.  I’m going to get Connecticut off the sidelines and back in the competition for the federal funding our state needs.”     
 

Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams is scheduled to endorse Ned Lamont for governor today.

The endorsement will be made in Williams’s district in Putnam on the Rhode Island border, which is one of the furthest towns in Connecticut from Lamont’s hometown of Greenwich. It will mark the highest-ranking legislative endorsement for Lamont.

Lamont and Williams are friends from their days working together as co-chairs of Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency in 2008.

Lamont is currently leading in the latest Quinnipiac University poll over former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy. Three other Democrats – Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa – are also running. Figueroa will be collecting signatures in an attempt to place his name on the ballot, while the others are all vying to garner 15 percent of the delegates at the Democratic convention in May in Hartford.

With the keno controversy swirling at the state Capitol, interest in the game has been increasing.

Everyone seems to have their own theory on how to pick the winning numbers. Here’s one way at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeMuq4uKgLw&feature=related

An employee at the Department of Children and Families testified Tuesday in the manslaughter trial of a former DCF employee.

The case against Suzanne Listro, who was a DCF employee at the time of the death of her seven-month-old foster child, was in its third day of testimony at state Superior Court in Rockville.

The Hartford Courant’s Christine Dempsey has the details at http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-briefsbox12mar03,0,7088545.story

Republican Laura Hoydick is the newest member of the state legislature.

She won a special election Tuesday night in Stratford, and she will be filling the seat once held by former Rep. John A. Harkins.

Harkins, a state lawmaker since 1997 and the former House Republican caucus chairman, won the race as Stratford’s mayor and stepped down as a legislator.

“Laura’s victory echoes the message that has resonated throughout town halls and forums across our state,” said Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford. “The change that has been promised for all too long has yet to come.  That change will come from restoring the balance of power in Hartford. That message is loud and clear, and it’s time for the Democrat majority to start listening.”

Fedele continued, “For far too long, the Democrat-controlled legislature has continued their habit of reckless spending, placing unfunded mandates on municipalities and fostering an anti-business sentiment in our state.  In November, I expect the legislative Republicans to have a resounding voice in Hartford and with that, as governor I will be able to further my agenda and restore faith in the State Capitol.”

For further details on politics, check out The Hartford Courant’s highly extensive coverage online at http://www.courant.com/news/politics/

The three Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate stepped on the stage Tuesday night for their first televised debate and battled over who would be the party’s best candidate in November.

Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon, and investor Peter Schiff squared off at the University of Hartford in a debate sponsored by The Hartford Courant and Fox 61.

The first 15 minutes focused on the economy as the candidates criticized various bailouts and the Democrat-written stimulus bill that was designed to jump start the national economy.

When asked, in the first question, how he would get the economy back on track, Simmons responded, “I would not recommend lawsuits as a way to create jobs.”

That remark was a reference to a comment made on the same stage on Monday night by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Blumenthal had said that the many lawsuits that he had filed through the years had actually created jobs because businesses want a level playing field that could be accomplished through the lawsuits.

Both Simmons and Schiff said they opposed the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. McMahon said she supported TARP in its original form, adding, “I would not have supported AIG bailouts or auto bailouts.”

By 7:12 p.m., the McMahon campaign had already sent out an e-mail that responded to the comment by Simmons that McMahon had supported TARP.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/

“I’m not running because I need a job,” McMahon said in her closing remarks. “I’m running to shake things up. … I’m not a career politician. … I want to be your senator. I want to hear what you have to say.”

In his closing remarks, Simmons mentioned his grandfather, who was born in Brooklyn, New York and was from a family of Irish immigrants.

“The Simmons family did not come here for a government program,” Simmons said. “I believe the American Dream is at risk” because of recent policies. “I’m certainly the only candidate who has served in war and worked for peace.”

Schiff, who employs more than 100 people in six offices in his investment firm, said, “I’m an economist who actually got it right. … Nobody sounded the alarm louder than I did. … A lot of people laughed at me.”

Away from the television cameras, McMahon has recently been conducting a brochure blitz that blasts Simmons repeatedly for his votes in Congress on a variety of issues. Simmons has rejected some of the claims as false, but he has not had the money to run television commercials as a counter-attack. Some insiders say that a continuing, relentless attack by McMahon will have an impact on the campaign, even if Simmons is able to rebut some of the charges.

The brochures are being sent to Republican households around the state, but some Democrats and independents have received them at their homes, too.

The highly expensive brochures have included multiple fold-outs and are part of a campaign in which McMahon has said she could spend as much as $50 million of her own money. So far, the campaign has spent at least $6.5 million – including television and radio commercials. By contrast, neither Simmons nor Schiff has broadcast any television commercials.

Simmons recently told Capitol Watch that he has raised about $3 million overall.