Some lawmakers were surprised Tuesday to learn that no legislative committee in Hartford had direct oversight over the Middletown power plant that was severely damaged in an explosion on Super Bowl Sunday that killed six workers and injured 26 others.
The Courant’s Edmund Mahony has the details at http://www.courant.com/community/middletown/power-plant-explosion/hc-power-plant-explosion-hearing-0302,0,3509565.story
Hartford Courant cartoonist Bob Englehart weighs in on the ongoing controversy over seat belts on school buses.
http://blogs.courant.com/bob_englehart/2010/03/march-2-2010.html
Faced with strong skepticism from the Democrat-controlled legislature, the Rell administration started talks last week with Connecticut’s two Indian tribes so that the state can legalize keno – a gambling game that is currently offered in the casinos.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell believes that keno is a lottery-style game and that the state’s quasi-public lottery corporation can begin the game without approval by the legislature in the same way that it can start other lottery games. Officials said keno is not a casino-style game and would not violate the state’s compact with the tribes.
Representatives of the casinos admitted that the keno games would become a form of competition if the state moves forward with its plan for installing the games in 600 to 1,000 bars, restaurants, and taverns across the state. Those retailers would also be asked to sell Powerball and all other lottery tickets.
“I can tell you that I think the [tribal] council would be deeply concerned about 600 to 1,000 gaming parlors opening up around the state of Connecticut – as a violation of an agreement that was entered into in good faith,” said Chuck Bunnell, chief of staff for the Mohegan tribe that runs the Mohegan Sun casino.
The federal regulatory body that oversees casinos – the National Indian Gaming Commission – has ruled keno as a casino game, he said.
On the fiscal side, Rell is proposing the controversial idea so that the state could receive an estimated $60 million per year to close budget deficits in the future.
“We think the $60 million number is a reasonable projection,” said Rell’s budget director, Robert Genuario. The profits would be about 20 to 25 percent to the state’s general fund.
The estimate that the state could generate $60 million per year from keno – a bingo-type game – is based on an average of surrounding states, as well as Maryland. The administration is comfortable that the number is not inflated.
“While the administration believes that no new legislation is necessary … that is not a statement that the administration or the Connecticut Lottery Corporation would implement keno in the absence of legislative approval,” Genuario told the legislature’s public safety committee in Hartford. “This is being presented to the legislature as a whole as part of the mandate to provide $1.3 billion in securitization.”
The Rell administration “has enjoyed a very positive relationship with both of our tribes,” Genuario said.
Rep. Stephen Dargan, co-chairman of the legislature’s public safety committee that oversees gambling, said he is concerned about the $377 million that the two tribes have contributed to the state in the current fiscal year in exchange for the right to run slot machines.
By comparison, the lottery currently generates $283 million annually for the state’s general fund from the profits from a wide variety of games, including Classic Lotto. The record amount that was contributed to the state was $286 million in 2006, and the number dipped slightly because of the economy.
“To the best of my knowledge, the administration has not reached out to either of the two tribes” since last summer, Dargan said.
“We began our discussions with the tribe last week,” Genuario responded.
He added, “Our position is this is consistent with the state’s rights under the compact. … Their position is the opposite. That shouldn’t surprise anybody. … It is important that we have those discussions. … Those are legitimate concerns. We’re not going to resolve them here today.”
Anne M. Noble, president and CEO of the quasi-public Connecticut Lottery Corporation since 2008, said the lottery has returned $7 billion to the state since 1972 and the winners have received more than $11 billion through the years.
“Keno is one of the oldest games of chance,” she said, saying it dates back to the third century in China. “Keno is fun. Keno is easy to play. … It’s played no differently than any of our other draw games.”
Noble said that keno is usually played in restaurants and “pouring establishments” – which are better known as bars and taverns. Currently, the lottery is operated through a system of 2,700 retailers in 169 cities and towns. It would be offered in 600 to 1,000 pouring establishments and fraternal organizations like an American legion post, Noble said. The keno retailers would be asked to also sell Powerball tickets and all other lottery tickets and instant tickets. Currently, there are about 40 different instant games and more than five “draw” games in which winning numbers are picked.
The lottery generates almost $1 billion per year, and $283 million was transferred to the state. Only $1.9 million of the lottery revenue was transferred for problem gambling. Roughly 1.6 percent of the population is a problem gambler, but the national rate is closer to 4 percent, Noble said.
The profits on the “draw” games are currently about 40 percent, while the profits on keno would be 20 to 25 percent, she said.
A computer selects the winning numbers in keno, and those numbers are broadcast on television screens. A typical wager is usually $1, but that can vary.
“The Connecticut lottery would not offer keno through video lottery terminals,” Noble said, adding that the game is nothing like slot machines and casino-style games.
For the past three years, the lottery’s revenues have been somewhat flat – and the lottery is impacted by the weak economy, officials said.
Keno is not expected to hurt the sales of the existing lottery games, Noble said.
“Most studies show that middle-income America plays the lottery,” Noble said when asked about the demographics of the players. “It’s a broad cross section of people.”
Rep. Linda Orange, a Colchester Democrat, greeted Genuario at the start of her questioning, and they initially exchanged pleasantries.
“I don’t think you’re going to like me for long, Bob,” Orange said, adding that the state cannot “game our way out of a fiscal crisis.”
Like other Democrats, Orange is concerned about problem gambling and people seeking a fortune because they have a dollar and a dream.
“They’re not going to win. You and I know they’re not going to win,” Orange said.
“Nobody is suggesting we are going to game our way out of the fiscal crisis,” Genuario responded. “This is a small piece of the puzzle. … I share your concern about problem gamblers.”
Rep. Steve Mikutel, a conservative Democrat, noted that he voted against the state budget and did not agree with the efforts to fill a hole of $1.3 billion in the next fiscal year through securitization – which is essentially selling bonds that are backed by certain revenues streams, such as keno.
“I don’t have a problem with gambling. People are going to gamble any way,” said Rep. Ernie Hewett, a New London Democrat who said that citizens in the South will drive for miles for alcohol if they live in “dry” counties. “I don’t gamble myself. I quit gambling long years ago. If we come up with an agreement with the tribes, I say put one on every corner.”
Rep. Charles “Don” Clemons said he is “on the fence” on whether to approve keno.
“I see a lot of low-income folks, hoping and wishing” that they can win the lottery, he said.
“We don’t want people to think of gambling as a way out of financial difficulty, but that’s what we’re doing as a state with this proposal,” said Sen. Andrea Stillman, a Democrat who co-chairs the committee.
“The two tribes have been good corporate citizens for the state of Connecticut, and they have given a lot of money to the state,” Dargan said, adding that he was frustrated by the lack of communication between the Rell administration and the tribes regarding keno.
“The division’s position is that keno is a lottery game,” said Paul Young, executive director of the state’s division of special revenue. “Keno is not listed in either compact. … The division has already authorized keno within the state of Connecticut. … Our position is that lottery would be able to do the same.”
While the hearing did not lead to any final decisions, the representatives of the tribes said they would be willing to keep an open dialogue with the Rell administration.
“This is the first time that all the players discussed the issue,” Dargan said. “That’s a first step.”
In Photo: Outside an adjourned informational meeting on Keno, Mohegan Sun Chief of Staff Chuck Bunnell said that if the State started the game of Keno the tribe would not be bound by the compact that guarantees the state a percentage of slots revenue. Courant Photo by Michael McAndrews
Through a combination of accounting moves and fund transfers, Gov. M. Jodi Rell is seeking to close the state’s projected $504 million deficit in the current fiscal year.
The biggest single move would be spending $219 million from the $1.4 billion rainy day fund for fiscal emergencies. The money is currently earmarked to close next year’s budget, but the state’s dire fiscal situation is prompting Rell to propose using it in this year’s budget. As such, it would create a hole for next year that would need to be filled – and Rell proposed various changes Monday to do that.
The rainy day fund had been allocated in three different years to fill budget holes in each year. Overall, $342 million had been set aside for the 2011 fiscal year from the fund, and $219 million of that total would be moved to the current fiscal year. That move can be made, budget officials said, because the money can be covered in the 2011 fiscal year from funds that have been earmarked.
Rell’s plan also calls for about $82 million in budget cuts, $58 million in various fund transfers, and about $45 million in federal stimulus money, according to the plan that was released late Monday afternoon.
“This deficit must be eliminated now through swift and decisive action. We cannot afford to wait and hope or to count on future revenues that no one is certain we will collect,” Rell said in a statement. “The plan I am proposing not only eliminates the current deficit but makes much-needed structural reforms that will improve our prospects for long-term recovery. If we do not act now, any short-term cuts we manage to make will be overwhelmed by the inexorable growth of state spending.”
She added, “These choices may not be easy, but they are necessary. These choices may not be pleasant, but they are crucial. These choices may not be politically popular, but they are the right choices to make.”
Rell’s plan is subject to approval by the Democrat-controlled legislature, which has rejected most of Rell’s proposed budget cuts over the past year. The bitter standoff led to the longest budget stalemate in state history – stretching even longer than the epic battles in 1991 when then-Governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. created the state income tax. The budget was eventually approved by both chambers, but Rell allowed it to become law in September without her signature. The state was already into the third month of the current fiscal year before the budget became law.
Democrats say that the budget deficit would be smaller today if Rell had not vetoed two bills that they had passed before Christmas in an attempt to close the gap. One of those bills involved delaying changes to the estate tax, which is paid by the state’s richest families. Based on the changes this year, anyone who dies with less than $3.5 million is not subject to the estate tax. That number is an increase from the previous threshhold of $2 million, and House Speaker Christopher Donovan said in an interview that the estate tax must be on the table again this year.
Rell rejected the bills late last year, and Democrats could not generate enough votes to override the vetoes.
The estate tax represents a tax cut of more than $70 million for the full year because the law not only increases the threshold, but it also cuts the rates for all estates. Many Democrats did not want to cut the rates at all, but the changes were made in a compromise with Rell as the budget was being crafted – even though Rell never signed the document.
Many of the proposed changes in the Department of Social Services budget are cuts or Medicaid savings that had been previously mentioned in Rell’s prior budgets.
The Courant’s Arielle Levin Becker reports that Rell is also calling for suspending non-emergency dental services for adults under Medicaid and SAGA, which saves $1.8 million in FY 10 and $22.4 million in FY 11. This was proposed last year, and legislators rejected it after advocates fought hard against the cut.
“These are not easy cuts to make. They’re not popular,” said a Rell supporter. “Our legislature has picked the easy fruit.”
The University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington is expected to cover $4 million to fund the inmate medical system.
“The review of the budget mitigation plan will begin immediately,” said Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, the highest-ranking senator. “One thing remains clear: real spending cuts will be necessary to help balance the budget. It is also critical that we take action to grow and protect jobs – something that has a direct impact on tax revenues and the deficit. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the General Assembly and the governor on both of these important issues.”
Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, decried Rell’s plan.
“There’s nothing ‘swift’ or ‘decisive’ about kicking the can down the road,” Lamont said. “Connecticut’s budget needs more than a few band-aids. We face multibillion deficits as far as the eye can see, we have nearly maxed out the state’s credit card, and now Governor Rell wants to raid the remainder of our rainy day fund even faster, draining $219 million that will put us even deeper in the hole.
“Rell refuses to make the tough choices our state needs,” he said. “As governor, those are the first challenges I’ll tackle. I have already initiated a line-by-line, top-to-bottom review of the state budget so that on day one, I can begin squeezing out every last efficiency. Our next governor must call on everyone to make tough sacrifices and enact sweeping reforms that transform the way our government does business, restore our fiscal house to order, and ensure our children do not suffer an even worse crisis down the road.”
Our colleague, Rick Green, weighs in on the race for governor by Simsbury’s first selectman, Mary Glassman.
http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/02/dont-ignore-mary-glassman-in-t.html
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, convicted in a criminal case stemming from his company’s collapse, is appealing his conviction today to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Skilling became well known – along with former chairman Ken Lay – as the face of Enron, which was one of the largest corporate collapses in American business history.
But Skilling’s role in pushing for energy deregulation – in Connecticut and across New England – is less known.
Skilling was actually one of the featured players at a New England governors’ conference in December 1996 at the upscale Equinox hotel in Vermont that was attended by former Gov. John G. Rowland and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. The long-ago conference was covered at the time by The Hartford Courant, and Skilling stood out that day as someone pushing very hard for energy deregulation.
A series of governors met with more than 100 utility regulators, lobbyists, and government leaders to talk about the still-new concept of electricity deregulation – a highly complicated subject that was still in its infancy in 1996.
The most aggressive proponent that day, listed among the “special guests,” was Skilling. Not well known nationally at the time, Skilling urged the governors to move as quickly as possible into the bold new world of electricity competition.
“Every day we delay [deregulation], we’re costing consumers a lot of money,” Skilling told Rowland and the other governors. “It can be done quickly. The key is to get legislation done fast.”
Fourteen years ago, Skilling was unknown outside the small, insular world of utility insiders and Enron corporate headquarters in Houston. Today, the former chief executive officer of Enron sits in a prison cell after being found guilty of 19 counts of securities fraud, conspiracy, lying to auditors, and insider trading in one of the biggest corporate scandals in American history.
Contacted years after the conference by The Courant, both Rowland and Dean said they could not recall that Skilling was there. Dean asked, “Do you know how many conferences I attend?”
But Skilling’s words that day in Vermont were part of the growing trend that was starting to sweep the country in the push toward deregulation. Connecticut’s version passed in April 1998 when the deregulation bill was passed by votes of 126-17 in the state House of Representatives and 27-7 in the Senate.
The latest AP version is at http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-supreme-court-skilling-appeal,0,4227896.story
Some of the top local officials in the state will descend upon the state Capitol complex Tuesday to testify about Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed budget.
The budget-writing appropriations committee will hold a special meeting to discuss the impact of the budget in an annual forum that allows for an airing of municipal needs.
The speakers will include New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, East Hartford Mayor and former state representative Melody Currey, Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, Simsbury interim administrator Bonnie Therrien, and Tim Griswold, the first selectman of Old Lyme who currently serves as the president of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
The forum runs from 10 a.m. until noon in Room 2 E at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called Monday for closing a loophole in state law that prevents families from learning about medical errors at hospitals that lead to the deaths of their loved ones.
Blumenthal said at the state Capitol complex that the bill will lead to greater transparency and accountability over fatal mistakes by doctors.
“It will not bring back people who have perished,” Blumenthal said, who is seeking more audits and increased penalties for errors.
The bill, entitled “An Act Concerning Adverse Events at Hospitals and Outpatient Surgical Centers,” would force the state health department to release a report on hospital errors that Blumenthal says currently remain hidden from the general public. There is so much secrecy at hospitals, Blumenthal said, that the general public does not know “what are the safest hospitals” because there are no reliable, published measuring sticks to compare them to each other.
The bill also has a strong “whistle blower” provision because some hospital employees who know about fatal errors are afraid to report them for fear that they will lose their job, Blumenthal said.
“The current law is a deadly and disgraceful failure, shielding hospitals and surgical centers from scrutiny and accountability and leaving patients in the dark,” he said. “Medical mistakes causing death and serious illness may go unreported, undisclosed and uninvestigated, undermining patient protection. Gaping legal loopholes keeping most hospital medical errors secret — including more than 116 that resulted in death between 2004 and present — are unconscionable and unacceptable.”
Nationally, similar laws have been passed in five states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Indiana.
Speakers at the news conference described deaths of patients at Hartford Hospital, but Blumenthal said, “We’re not singling out any institution.”
Attorney Joel T. Faxon of New Haven described a recent decision against Hartford Hospital in a jury trial in state Superior Court in Hartford in the case of a woman who died at the hospital. The estate of Caroline Johnston, a 44-year-old East Hartford woman, was awarded $1.56 million in January after she died of cardiac arrest at Hartford Hospital in 2004.
“All she needed in that case was a small dose of potassium to stabilize her heart,” said Faxon, who handles medical malpractice cases.
Hartford Hospital declined to comment after the jury’s ruling.
Details from Monday’s hearing are at http://www.courant.com/health/hc-adverse-events-bill-opposition-0301,0,586678.story
Hartford Courant columnist Bob Englehart weighs in on the much-debated concept of restoring tolls in Connecticut.
http://blogs.courant.com/bob_englehart/2010/02/february-28-2010.html
A ranking by the respected National Journal says that Connecticut has the fourth most liberal U.S. House delegation in the nation.
The blue New England states have the most liberal delegations – with Massachusetts ranking as the most liberal and Vermont coming in third. Rhode Island was right behind Connecticut – in fith place. Outside of New England, Hawaii came in second place.
The Connecticut delegation includes Democrats John B. Larson, Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, Jim Himes, and Chris Murphy.
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/02/national_journa_17.php
The state income tax collections have been way down for the past year – leading to huge budget deficits for the state.
But the General Assembly is hoping to collect more money from the state’s wealthiest residents, who had their income taxes raised last year in order to help close the deficit.
Among the richest is the former CEO of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp, George David, who received $65 million in 2009.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-utc-george-david-payfeb27,0,7006924.story
The judicial and legislative branches have been fighting a behind-the-scenes battle for months over funding, and the issue spilled out into the public Friday during a legislative hearing.
The General Assembly’s judiciary committee is considering a bill – House bill 5148 – that would exempt the judicial branch from having various expenses cut in its budget. The bill relates directly to an ongoing battle between Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Democrat-controlled legislature over the branch’s budget that developed because of the state’s dire fiscal situation. Rell vetoed a bill last year regarding the “other expenses” category that are important to keeping the judiciary functioning.
The issue has come to a head as the judicial branch has said it would close three courthouses and six law libraries. None of those closures has occurred yet, and some lawmakers have worked to avoid the closures at the last minute.
The state has 16 law libraries, including some that are larger and more modern than others. The law library at Middletown Superior Court, for example, has an extensive collection of legal information, as well as a spectacular view of the Connecticut River down below.
The bill says that Rell’s unilateral budget cuts, known under the Gold Dome as rescissions, would be subject to a hearing by the legislature, which would now have oversight over Rell’s current unilateral authority on certain budget issues.
Overall, the judicial branch’s budget represents less than 3 percent of the state’s projected $18.91 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts in July.
Longtime state Rep. Arthur O’Neill, a Southbury Republican who often supports the Rell administration, had questions about the bill. He said he loves the General Assembly, but “speed, efficiency, and decisiveness are not its most outstanding characteristics.”
“Everybody keeps talking about a co-equal branch of government,” O’Neill said, looking at a copy of the state Constitution. “The word co-equal nowhere appears in here. … We can remove the governor [through impeachment]. In fact, we can remove all of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court if we choose to do so.”
“Your analysis, as we’ve come to expect, Representative O’Neill, was particularly erudite,” Rell’s budget director, Robert Genuario, said after O’Neill’s discussion about the constitution.
“The judicial branch was not the subject of any rescissions” during one of the multiple rounds when Rell cut the budgets of the executive and legislative branches by $51 million, Genuario said. “This year, there were no rescissions on the judicial branch.”
If the clashes continue between the branches, Genuario said, “We could get into a Marbury vs. Madison scenario somewhere down the road.”
Overall, 31 states do not allow any control of the executive branch over the judicial branch budget, said Barbara Quinn, the chief court administrator. In those states, the proposed judicial budget is sent directly to the legislature, which decides on allocating the money. In Connecticut, though, the governor’s office receives the judicial request and has a role in deciding the branch’s budget.
The judiciary committee also discussed a bill that would prohibit the disclosure of the personnel and medical files of current and former state correction employees, including their home addresses, to prison inmates. The department has not divulged the information to various inmates who have requested files, which has led to Freedom of Information Commission hearings in Hartford.
Parole officer Jennifer Sullivan spoke in favor of the bill, saying she deals constantly with a caseload of 20 to 30 sex offenders, including convicted rapists and child molesters. These convicted felons are high-risk sex offenders.
“A lot of them have a history of revenge,” said Sullivan, adding that any release of her home address would “compromise my family’s safety”
“They have means to harass me. They know what my state vehicle looks like. I’m constantly at their employers and their houses,” Sullivan told legislators. “I don’t think offenders, inmates, parolees should be able to get that information. When I do see these offenders, they are constantly trying to intimidate me. … I certainly don’t want to be a victim.”
Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, the longtime co-chairman of the judiciary committee, responded, “We’re all committed to making a change in this rule this year.”
Those on parole are not in prison and can move freely through society.
“They’re out here. They’re free in the community,” Sullivan said. “I take different routes to work. I’m constantly living in fear of me being a victim.”
Rep. Matthew J. Conway, a Suffield Democrat who had 20 years of experience in the Department of Correction under four commissioners, said officers not only have unlisted telephone numbers but also do not have their names listed in student directories at their children’s schools for fear of eventual disclosure to a former inmate.
“They do hold grudges, and they will continually tell you that during their incarceration,” Conway said.
John Pepe, president of AFSCME Local 391, said inmates can sell information to other inmates with the details on particular prison guards. Some cases in the long-running battles are now pending in the state Superior Court and the state Supreme Court. There are no cases in which an inmate received the personal information and then harmed anyone, he said. As such, the unions want to prevent anything from happening in the future.
Overall, 11 states have adopted similar prohibitions on releasing the personal information of prison guards. This type of information can include Social Security numbers and the names of the children of the guards.
“These folks have nothing but time on their hands, and this is a nice little cottage industry that is developing,” state Sen. John Kissel of Enfield said of the inmates – many serving 20 or 30 years – who file FOI requests.
“The time is right. The time is now,” Kissel said, asking why Connecticut can’t be the 12th state to block the release of the information. “There’s no possible good that can come from this, and there’s a lot of downside.”
The only reason for the FOI requests, he said, is to “harass and harangue” the correction officers.
“Local 391, you just do an awesome job,” Kissel said at one point.
“You have a job that most sane people would say, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that,’ ” Kissel said.
Prison guard David Caron said he did not take his name off his child’s school directory list, and he unexpectedly bumped into a former inmate at a father-daughter dance at the school. Shortly after the dance, he got a knock at the door from an investigator from the Department of Children and Families who was acting on an anonymous tip about problems in the house. The allegation was false, but Caron said he assumed that it was the former inmate who filed the complaint.
“The inmates are using freedom of information as a weapon of retaliation,” Caron said. “That’s all it is.”
But G. Claude Albert, a former high-ranking editor who spent decades at The Hartford Courant before retiring, said that most of the information in question – such as home addresses and insurance beneficiaries – already cannot be disclosed.
“I don’t at all discount the harassment factor in the filing of some, maybe many, of those actions,” said Albert, the legislative chairman of the Connecticut Council of Freedom of Information. “I guess nobody would advocate releasing the kind of personal data, like home addresses, that would put people in danger from what we all know are bad people. … I suspect the number of cases we are talking about are few.”
In an exchange with Albert, Kissel said that the DOC would not get a blanket FOI exemption in order to block public disclosure of issues with guards.
“I do not believe inmates in Connecticut are whistle-blowers,” Kissel said. “I don’t think the inmate needs to know about a disciplinary action with the correction officers.”
“I guess I don’t have as much confidence with the quality of the scrutiny of the correction department and other departments as I once did,” Albert said later to Rep. Conway.
Acting Commissioner Brian Murphy, who started as a prison guard in 1981 and then moved up the ranks of the department over the past 29 years, said that filing the request by a prisoner is “a means of retaliation” and is “a direct, clear and present threat” to the safety of his staff and a threat to the overall prison facility.
“It has become part of the inmate culture” to file an FOI request for the officer’s personal file, he said, adding that they have state-paid attorneys who can file a lawsuit regarding any problems at the prisons.
The requests, he said, are time consuming and costly. One of the cases that is on appeal in the courts cost about $10,000 to the department. Overall, the cost in 2009 was about $1 million for the staff time in various agencies to research multiple Freedom of Information cases in a large agency with thousands of employees and more than 18,000 inmates in 18 prisons across the state, officials said. In 2009, there were 50 hearings – nearly one per week – on these types of issues. In some cases, it amounts to boxes and boxes of information.
One inmate asked for all the purchase orders for the food ordered at the prisons.
“It’s hours and hours and volumes and volumes of material,” Murphy said. “We need to protect these folks.”
Some information is exempt under the state statutes, Section 1-210 (b) 18, in the state.
Two cases are pending at the State Supreme Court that were brought by an inmate, David Taylor, who was seeking the disciplinary records of prison guards, said Colleen M. Murphy, the general counsel and executive director of the state’s FOI Commission. Only four individuals have asked for such information through the years.
“It isn’t, from what we see, a rampant problem,” Colleen Murphy said. “Anybody, on a prisoner’s behalf, could ask for records. … I think prisoners are uniquely situated” to make complaints about what’s going on inside the prisons.
She noted that at least 125 employees at the DOC have either faced criminal charges or have criminal charges pending against them. At least 20 of the pending cases involve drunken-driving charges, according to The Hartford Courant.
“I believe … there’s a public interest in that,” Murphy said of the criminal records of prison guards.
“We issued a subpoena that was not complied with,” Murphy said regarding a case involving the DOC. “That is part of the frustration that came out in the finding in that case.”
Lawlor asked Murphy about a report by the DOC that a prison inmate made a telephone call to the state’s FOI agency that lasted for 3 1/2 hours.
“That sounds preposterous to me,” Murphy responded. “I’d be surprised that the DOC would allow a prisoner to remain on the phone that long. … It would be surprising.”
Lawlor said what the FOIC is doing could some unintended consequences and “could result in people getting killed.”
Kissel said he would not support, in any way, allowing the prisoners to obtain the information.
“I don’t want that blood on my hands – and it’s real,” Kissel said.
Embattled New York Governor David Paterson will not seek re-election, according to multiple media reports.
Paterson has been in major political trouble for months as his poll ratings have nose-dived sharply.
Some Democrats, including President Barack Obama, have urged him to avoid seeking re-election.
For at least the third year in a row, business and labor are clashing once again over paid sick days.
The controversial bill passed in only one chamber in each of the past two years, and the measure was bottled up in the state Senate last year without a vote because the chamber had been deadlocked at 18 to 18.
Passions rose during a public hearing Thursday in front of the labor and public employees committee, where bitter labor battles have been fought for years.
State Rep. Barbara Lambert, a Milford Democrat, tangled with Kia Murrell, an attorney who has been battling in the trenches on the issue for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.
“We’ve bent over backwards,” Lambert told Murrell of various versions of the bill. “That paid sick day doesn’t seem much to someone else. … We do sympathize, and we certainly are there.”
Murrell, though, said she hears regularly from small business owners and receives e-mails from owners who are struggling to make the payroll.
“I’ve got people telling me they’ve got three mortgages on their home,” Murrell said. “There’s pain to spread around. Pain, misery, and sadness have no monopoly on a particular group of people. … Being in the middle now, you could be on the bottom tomorrow.”
Murrell conceded that the battles are heartfelt in the committee’s hearing room. “Passion flows through here unlike any other place in the building,” Murrell said.
On the bill, though, Murrell said, “At the end of the day, it doesn’t make sense. Not now. And really not ever.”
Sen. Edwin A. Gomes of Bridgeport then chimed in when Murrell and Lambert finished.
“Common sense says me and you have batted this around forever, and I shouldn’t say anything about it,” Gomes told Murrell.
Officer Frank Chiafari feared for his life as he faced a wild animal – an out-of-control “monster” that came surging toward him.
He had been called to a horrific scene in North Stamford last year after a frenzied chimpanzee had mauled a 56-year-old woman and left her battling for her life on the ground.
Chiafari pulled up in his police car and was attempting to help the woman when Travis the Chimp grabbed onto the unlocked door of his patrol car. The door had been unlocked so that Chiafari could help the victim, Charla Nash, who had been blinded in the attack by the powerful chimpanzee who had clawed at her face.
Now, the chimp had pulled the car door open and was facing Chiafari at close range.
He was suddenly facing “a monster” who was 200 pounds “with fangs and blood all over his hands and face from just eating this poor woman, in a frenzy, banging on my car – knocking the rearview mirror off like butter,” Chiafari said.
“The thing touched me. It came in my car, and I felt him brush against me,” Chiafari told reporters Thursday at the state Capitol complex in Hartford. “With a snarl, he was saying, ‘You’re next.’ Thankfully, I got the gun out of the holster and shot.”
Chiafari fired four times, forcing the chimp to retreat from the police car and eventually die on the property of its owner, 71-year-old Sandra Herold.
After maintaining a public silence for more than a year, Chiafari is speaking now to support changes in the state’s workers compensation laws. Chiafari was denied workers compensation because he shot and killed an animal, not a human being.
As such, Chiafari and other Stamford police officers traveled to Hartford Thursday to testify in front of the legislature’s labor committee on a bill filed by state Sen. Andrew McDonald of Stamford. Chiafari was praised for his courage by both Democrats and Republicans on the committee, and he answered questions along with the Stamford police union president, Sgt. Joseph Kennedy.
The Stamford officers declined to show any pictures publicly of the injuries that Nash suffered that day, saying the scene was too horrific. But they said they would show the pictures to legislators in private if they wanted to see what Chiafari saw on that day.
What he saw prompted Chiafari to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, causing nightmares, flashbacks, and depression.
“To come to a scene and you see a fellow human being ripped apart, I feel for that,” he said after the public hearing. “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.”
Like many police officers and city officials, Chiafari knew Travis in the city of Stamford.
For years, Travis was essentially a local celebrity – even if he was not well known outside the confines of the city. Chiafari had known the animal for at least 13 of its 15 years, adding, “I used to play with the thing years ago.”
The testimony was highly unusual for Chiafari, who has maintained a very low profile since the incident on February 16, 2009 on Rock Rimmon Road in an upscale area north of the Merritt Parkway.
“This is the first public appearance that Officer Chiafari is going to make,” said Christopher Licata, a former press aide for the state House Democrats who now works for Butler Associates Public Relations, which represents the police union. “He’s really tried to stay out of the public eye.”
The police union president told Capitol Watch on Thursday afternoon that Chiafari would probably never have told the full story if not for his desire to speak out about the pending legislation. For the past year, Chiafari has never told the full story publicly. As such, even some members of the Stamford police department do not know the full story, Kennedy said.
“He’s not someone who seeks the limelight,” Kennedy said of Chiafari. “The only reason he’s doing it is he doesn’t think it’s fair” for an officer to be denied workers compensation for shooting an animal when the officer’s life is threatened.
From the beginning, the police union has been involved in Chiafari’s case.
“I went to the chief of police,” Kennedy said Thursday. “I spoke to the chief about the whole situation. We both approached the city on paying the doctor’s bills. They decided to tell Frankie he had to go to a different doctor because the one he was going to was too expensive.”
“We’re pretty positive on it,” Kennedy said of the legislation. “When the incident first happened, we encourage the officers to file a workers comp form. Frank had filed, and it was denied in five days. Frank felt the need to seek out mental health help. This started right away.”
The legislation does not, for example, cover the case of an officer who must shoot a deer who has suffered a broken leg.
“We’re not saying a rabid raccoon – that is not what we’re talking about,” Kennedy said. “We’re talking about a wild animal who puts you in danger. He was put into the same situation as Charla Nash.”
House Majority Leader Denise Merrill has gained widespread support in her race for Secretary of the State with endorsements by 71 fellow House Democrats.
The total represents far more than half of the 114 House Democrats, and many of them gathered around Merrill as she made the announcement Wednesday in the House Democratic offices.
Some of the representatives serve in multi-town districts, and the endorsements cover 130 of the state’s 169 cities and towns. Merrill has been traveling all over the state in order to drum up support to succeed Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who is now running for attorney general.
“I’ve put about 10,000 miles on my car,” Merrill said. “I am not exploring. I am running for Secretary of the State.”
A longtime legislator and former co-chairwoman of the budget-writing appropriations committee, Merrill is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable lawmakers at the Capitol.
The Secretary of the State’s office is “a place where fair and clean elections must be guarded,” she said.
Merrill has strong support in the House, while another candidate, Sen. Jonathan Harris of West Hartford, has support on the Capitol’s third floor in the Senate.
Merrill was endorsed by some of the highest-ranking and longest-serving lawmakers in the state, including House Speaker Christopher Donovan of Meriden, deputy Speaker Bob Godfrey of Danbury, Rep. Jack Thompson of Manchester, transportation committee co-chairman Tony Guerrera of Rocky Hill, deputy speaker Marie Kirkley-Bey, and Rep. Mary Mushinsky of Wallingford – the dean of the House.
Judge Robert Chatigny, a friend of U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, has been nominated to be an appellate judge on one of the most powerful courts in the nation.
Chatigny was involved in a controversy prior to the 2005 execution of Michael Ross, a convicted serial killer who strangled multiple women in Connecticut. A Simsbury resident, Chatigny presided over Dodd’s wedding at his waterfront home along the Connecticut River.
If confirmed, Chatigny would serve on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, which handles appeals of cases from federal courts in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont.
The Hartford Courant’s veteran court reporter, Edmund Mahony, has the details at http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-obama-nominates-chatigny-0224,0,745342.story
The state legislature approved the first nominations of the Generall Assembly’s 2010 regular session Wednesday.
The House approved the renomination of former state Republican chairman John Mastropietro of Watertown as a workers compensation commissioner, where he has served since 1995. Mastropietro was originally nominated by his close friend and political ally, former Gov. John G. Rowland.
The vote in the House was 145 to 0 with six members absent.
Besides being a commissioner, Mastropietro currently serves as the commission chairman, which includes various administrative responsibilities.
“In many ways, he is the equivalent of the chief court administrator for the workers’ compensation system,” said state Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat who is the longtime co-chairman of the legislature’s judiciary committee.
The workers compensation system was highly controversial 15 years ago when Mastropietro was initially appointed to the commission.
“He has brought renewed respect to the system,” Lawlor said on the House floor Wednesday. “He has been fair to all parties.”
Upstairs in the Senate, Sen. John Kissel of Enfield said the commissioners say there is “an excellent work environment” at the commission now. “That’s an area of state government that we could learn from,” Kissel said.
Sen. Edith Prague, a liberal Democrat who has clashed with various Republicans and business supporters through the years, supported Mastropietro on the Senate floor.
“He does a good job with helping us, making sure that the workers are treated fair,” said Prague, the co-chairwoman of the legislature’s labor committee.
On a voice vote, the House approved the nomination of former state Rep. Michael Caron for a seat on the Connecticut State University system’s board of trustees. During his 18 year in the legislature, Caron was known as a congenial lawmaker and one of the leaders of the GOP caucus. He was among the first to widely use the term “The Fighting 44” when the Republicans lost many seats and were outvoted by 107 to 44 in the 151-member chamber. After the 2008 election, the numbers fell further for the Republicans and the Democrats currently hold an edge of 114 to 37.
On a voice vote, the House also approved the nomination of attorney Anna Ficeto of Wolcott to the powerful Public Utilities Control Authority in New Britain. Ficeto is best known as the chief legal counsel to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, whom she also serves as deputy chief of staff. The five-member DPUC has been operating with four members, and Ficeto is expected to start in her new post soon.
A graduate of Mount Holyoke and the University of Connecticut law school, Ficeto is a former employee at the state departments of public works and consumer protection. Ficeto’s departure from the governor’s office had been rumored for months, but it was not confirmed until recently.
“She’s a great lady, and I wish her well over there,” Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele said in a relatively rare comment from his position presiding over the state Senate.
By a vote of 35 – 0 on the “consent calendar” of noncontroversial items, the state Senate approved the nomination of Lawrence D. McHugh of Middletown as chairman of the UConn board of trustees, where he already serves. Senate Majority Leader Marty Looney of New Haven said that McHugh was a master of football and “a legendary coach with great success” at Xavier High School in Middletown.
After his education career, McHugh moved into a new role as the leader of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, which regularly holds sold-out breakfasts with business leaders at a Cromwell hotel. Lately, McHugh has been trying to reach a compromise for improvements at the cash-strapped UConn Health Center in Farmington.
The Senate also approved the nomination of Richard Nicholson of Glastonbury as commissioner of the state’s tax department, where he is the acting commissioner currently. A longtime employee of the DRS, Nicholson was a one-time liaison to the legislature, Looney said.
A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and the UConn law school in Hartford, Nicholson worked closely with the former commissioner, Pamela Law. When he left the DRS briefly, he was a partner at Shipman & Goodwin.
The Senate approved the renomination of Superior Court Judge Christine E. Keller of Hartford for another eight years on the court. A graduate of Smith College and UConn law school, Keller oversees juvenile issues. She is married to former House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter.
The Senate adjourned at about 4 p.m. Wednesday.
In a dramatic finish, the Democrats defeated the Republicans, 25 to 23, in the annual Capitol basketball game Monday night at the former Hartford Civic Center.
State Senator Eric Coleman, a Bloomfield Democrat, was the hero of the night as he got the ball with the Democrats losing by 23 to 22 with only three seconds to play. Coleman not only scored a basket, but he also got fouled. He hit the shot to put the Democrats ahead by two points and seal the victory.
The other big development is that no one got hurt. That was unusual, compared to previous years when players suffered from a variety of ailments.
The number of players has also been dwindling in recent years – with the Republicans showing up Monday night with only five players, while the Democrats had 10.
“We’re running out of people because we’re getting too old,” said state Rep. Stephen Dargan, a longtime player who had a hip replacement in recent years. “All of these legislators think they’re 18 again” and sometimes end up getting injured.
The game has traditionally been held on the same night as a home game for the University of Connecticut men’s team. That was the case Monday night as UConn defeated West Virginia in an upset.
Virtually every governor from around the nation – from California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger to New York’s David Paterson – gathered in Washington, D.C. over the weekend for key meetings with their colleagues and President Barack Obama.
In all, when Puerto Rico, Guam and others are included, 49 governors were present. But Connecticut’s M. Jodi Rell was not among them.
Rell has missed similar meetings before during her 5 ½ years as governor, but now is the time that governors are scrambling for money following the worst economic downturn in decades. The attendance at this year’s National Governors Association meeting was especially high among Republicans and Democrats.
Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, a Democrat who serves as the highest-ranking state senator, said he could not directly criticize Rell for failing to travel to Washington. The more important point, he said, is whether she is getting results – and the jury is still out.
“The ultimate question is whether Connecticut gets its fair share of federal funds,” Williams said in an interview. “So far, the track record is not good. So far, quite frankly, from the legislative perspective, we’re worried. Our fears have not been alleviated.”
Williams cited the state’s failure to receive any money at all when $1.5 billion was allocated last week in federal transportation money.
Rell, though, rejected the suggestion that she should have attended the meetings so that Connecticut does not miss getting its fair share in federal transportation and education money.
“We’re not losing out,” Rell told reporters Tuesday. “I want to correct that misnomer right there.”
Rather than going to Washington, Rell held a meeting with top legislative leaders Monday to discuss the state budget, which has a projected deficit of more than $500 million in the current fiscal year. On Tuesday, she visited a middle school in Middletown to thank students for raising $3,500 for Haiti.
“My priority is right here. We have a state budget that is out of balance,” Rell told reporters. “I’m working on a deficit mitigation plan. … Frankly, we have five U.S. Congressmen and women, two U.S. Senators – all Democrats – and a Democrat president, and they represent us very well in Washington right now.”
Last week, state officials complained after Connecticut received nothing from an allocation of $1.5 billion for transportation projects. That concern continued Tuesday when the state’s delegation to Washington held a meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss why Connecticut failed to receive any money.
“The Connecticut delegation is clearly united in their frustration and has done a good job of explaining why Connecticut needs funding,” LaHood said in a statement released by the delegation. “I appreciate their bringing me their concerns. My department will meet with each and every Connecticut applicant to ensure that they are fully prepared to compete later this year.”
Among various projects, the state’s representatives are pushing for the completion of the long-stalled commuter line that would stretch from New Haven to Hartford to Springfield. Both state and federal officials have been talking about the rail line for years, but progress has been slow.
“As we told the Secretary, the fact that our state was passed over is extremely disappointing, and we won’t rest until Connecticut gets the resources it needs,” Dodd said in a statement. “He assured us that his department will meet with our applicants as they apply for more funding in the coming months, and I’m going to stay in close touch with him” and others involved in the process.
Rell, though, told reporters that it was difficult for Connecticut to receive money because the federal government received $60 billion in requests and had only $1.5 billion to allocate.
“There’s going to be another round,” she said, adding that the state might receive money in the future.
Rell clearly avoids the back-slapping, glad-handing, and schmoozing that is commonplace at the governors’ meetings. She has often cited the state’s travel ban as among the reasons for failing to travel to Washington and other venues for the meetings.
Rell’s style is sharply different from her predecessor, John G. Rowland, who attended the meetings on a regular basis before eventually serving as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Rell has avoided the meetings on a regular basis and came home early in 2005 as she avoided a big-ticket fundraiser being hosted in Boston by then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican Governors Association.
WNPR’s John Dankosky has been on the story at http://whereweblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/49-governors-meet-on-health-care-education-economy-rell-stays-home/