Author: Christopher Keating

In the Democratic battle of the endorsements, former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy will be endorsed today by the Communication Workers of America Local 1298 – one day after the union president said the 10,000-member food and commercial workers union was on the verge of endorsing Democrat Ned Lamont.

The well-known president of the local CWA, Bill Henderson, said in a statement that Malloy is the state’s “best bet to protect the jobs we have, and to create new jobs for future generations.”

“Dan spent 14 years as mayor of Stamford delivering the very thing that Connecticut needs so desperately: jobs,” Henderson said. “When it comes to growing our state’s economy and creating good jobs while protecting the ones we already have, we believe Dan is our best bet because he’s done it all before.  He’s shown he has what it takes to work alongside Connecticut families in helping to put our economy back on track.”

More than 4,000 workers are represented by Local 1298 of the CWA – in addition to thousands of retired members.

Despite accepting the endorsement, Malloy and his campaign are still saying that he’s an exploratory – rather than an official – candidate for governor.

“I’m honored to have the support of Connecticut’s communications workers – and they know they have my support as well, especially in their current contract negotiations with AT&T,” said Malloy.  “It’s no secret that Connecticut faces many challenges in the years ahead if we want to climb out of debt and build a more sustainable future for our children.  The simple answer to so many of our problems begins and ends with job creation.  Should I choose to run for governor, I would look forward to working alongside the CWA in that effort.”

Our colleague, Rick Green, chats with professional wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon on Eugene, a developmentally disabled character at the WWE.

Here’s Rick’s column: ‘Mean-Spirited Fiction, That’s A Fact‘

The Democratic campaigns of Ned Lamont and Dannel Malloy got into a dust-up Monday as they clashed over endorsements on the eve of Lamont’s official announcement that he is running for governor.

Malloy, a Stamford Democrat whose political base is in lower Fairfield County, announced the endorsements Monday of “east of the river” officials that include state Sen. Gary LeBeau of East Hartford – who recently dropped out of the governor’s race.

But longtime Democratic activist Nick Paindiris, who is volunteering to help coordinate delegate counts for Lamont for the state party convention in May, said Malloy’s move was an act of “desperation” that was specifically timed for a reason.

“He wanted to counter-balance today’s event,” Paindiris said Tuesday at the Old State House in downtown Hartford before Lamont officially entered the race for governor.

“Among the delegates, Dan has the lead,” Paindiris told Capitol Watch. “Dan has been working it for five years, and Ned has been doing it for four months.”

Malloy strategist Roy Occhiogrosso, who considers Paindiris as a friend, countered that it was not an act of desperation – saying Malloy made a similar announcement recently about his support among top Democrats in New Britain and Berlin, including state Sen. Donald DeFronzo and state Rep. Timothy O’Brien.

“If the convention were held today, Dan would win it,” Occhiogrosso said. “There is no doubt in my mind.”

A Glastonbury lawyer who has supported numerous candidates through the years, Paindiris ran Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign in Connecticut in 2004 and former Sen. Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign in the state in 2000.

Since Malloy won the convention in 2006 before losing to New Haven Mayor John DeStefano in the primary, some insiders believe that Malloy will won the convention once again this year. And the Lamont camp expects to win the primary in August in the same way that he defeated Joseph I. Lieberman in the August 2006 primary.

“The game-changer will be when Ned goes on TV,” Paindiris said. “Dan is stuck at 12, 13, 20 percent name recognition. And he doesn’t get his money until the convention.”

Malloy has pledged to abide by the state’s campaign finance law, which would provide him with $1 million in public funding for the primary and $3 million for the general election. But under a “millionaire’s penalty,” any candidates who qualify by raising $250,000 in private funds would be eligible to receive additional funding if a millionaire candidate blew through the spending cap.

If Lamont blows through the limits, Malloy could receive a maximum of $2.5 million for the primary and $4 million for the general election for a total of $6.5 million in public financing, Occhiogrosso said.

The $2.5 million for the primary – between late May and early August – would be more than the amount that Malloy had in that timeframe in 2006, Occhiogrosso said. Overall, both Malloy and DeStefano raised and spent about $4 million for the primary in 2006.

“Ned spent $16 million or $17 million of his own dollars in 2006,” Occhiogrosso said. “How far did that get him?”

This year, if Lamont spends $13 million, he would have a 2-to-1 spending advantage over the maximum amount that Malloy could receive.

Malloy has not yet qualified for public financing, based on the law that says he must raise $250,000 in contributions of $100 or less. But Occhiogrosso predicts that Malloy “will have more than sufficient funds” to get his message out this year.

The campaign, he said, should be about ideas and not about money – something that will be mentioned in the next three months before the delegates vote at the convention and then right up through the hot August primary.

Our colleague, Rick Green, weighs in on Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont’s announcement today that he is officially running for governor.

Lamont is best known for defeating U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in a bitter Democratic primary in the hot month of August 2006 before losing in the general election.

http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/02/ned-lamont-is-running-we-can-d.html

HARTFORD – Touting his experience in creating jobs in his own small business, Democrat Ned Lamont announced Tuesday that he is running for governor in a state that ranks poorly for job creation and expanding businesses.

A cable television entrepreneur who started a business in the mid-1980s that was known then as Lamont Television Systems, the 56-year-old Greenwich resident said that he’s more interested in expanding the number of taxpayers than raising taxes on those already working.

In a 17-minute speech to a cheering, standing-room-only crowd on the first floor of the historic Old State House in downtown Hartford, Lamont pointed directly to Sikorsky Aircraft’s decision to move engineering jobs to Bozeman, Mont., after they were recruited by the Democratic governor of that state.

“Why, Connecticut, are we losing out to Bozeman?,” Lamont asked. “We have the best women’s basketball team in the world. They don’t lose to anybody, and we’re losing to Bozeman. What would Coach Geno say? Go on offense.”

Sikorsky announced in 2006 that it would build an engineering design center in Bozeman that would employ 40 engineers, citing a shortage of qualified engineers in Connecticut. Lamont said that jobs did not go to China or India but instead ended up in the unlikely spot of Bozeman.

As governor, Lamont said that he would be the chief economic development officer and would be personally involved in recruiting and retaining jobs, particularly high-paying jobs.

On his first day as an official candidate, Lamont was on the verge of a major endorsement by the 10,000-member Local 371 of the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union. Brian A. Petronella, the union’s president, attended Lamont’s announcement and said the union’s executive board is scheduled to meet early next month to consider the endorsement.

“I think we’ll probably endorse Ned before the primary,” said Petronella. “He’s very progressive, and he has name recognition. He’s a progressive business person, and he supports healthcare reform.”

The union has avoided endorsing Lamont’s main rival – former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy – in the past. The union endorsed New Haven Mayor John DeStefano in his primary victory over Malloy for the Democratic nomination for governor in August 2006. The union helped DeStefano with phone-banking and mailings to its members – the type of political activity that it would do again this year.

“We have members in every single city and town in Connecticut,” Petronella said after Lamont’s speech.

The 10,000-member union, which represents supermarket employees, Head Start teachers, nursing home workers, and others, is the largest union in Fairfield County. It is also the fourth largest union in the Connecticut AFL-CIO.

The longtime president of the state AFL-CIO, John Olsen, also attended Lamont’s announcement but stopped short of an endorsement. A former plumber, Olsen served as the Democratic town committee chairman in Greenwich in the 1980s – when Lamont was getting his start in politics on the Greenwich board of selectmen. The two have known each other for 25 years and have since moved on to much higher statewide profiles from when they first met.

Olsen, though, said his union has not yet gathered to reach the two-thirds consensus that is necessary for an endorsement.

“I will never personally endorse anyone until the AFL-CIO endorses,” Olsen said in an interview.

The Old State House is the same site where Lamont launched his candidacy against U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. Lamont is best known for defeating Lieberman in the nationally watched August 2006 primary that generated media coverage around the country. He then lost three months later in a three-way race in the general election.

As expected, Lamont told reporters after his speech that he will not be accepting public funding for his campaign and will instead be opting out of the system that would place limits on his spending. Lamont has noted that Greenwich millionaire Tom Foley has already poured $2 million of his own money into the campaign and is running television commercials – without any response from any other candidates on either the Republican or Democratic sides.

Lamont joins a field in which three Democrats have already dropped out: Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, former House Speaker James Amann of Milford, and state Sen. Gary LeBeau of East Hartford. The race has become wide open since Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s announcement last year that she was not seeking re-election.

As the leader in the most recent Quinnipiac University poll by 16 points over Malloy, Lamont is seen by some as the favorite to win the Democratic primary in August.

On the Republican side, the leaders in the polls have been Foley, who has been running 30-second and 60-second TV commercials on a steady basis, and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford. The Republican candidates also include longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Newington Mayor Jeff Wright, Chester First Selectman Thomas E. Marsh, and former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis of Hamden. Some insiders believe that the large field shows that some candidates are angling for a spot as lieutenant governor and do not have a realistic chance of ever being governor.

Since Lamont is the wealthiest gubernatorial aspirant among the Democrats, the other candidates have been highly concerned that he will spend millions of his own money to win the race. He will be battling against Malloy, Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden, and Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi.

“I don’t have a lot of money, but I do have a lot of ideas,” Glassman said. “Public financing gives me the opportunity to serve. I am proud of what Connecticut has done to equalize the playing field, because no office should be up for sale.  Most people in Connecticut aren’t millionaires, they work for a living and so do I.  The Democratic Party has always represented these people, and I believe Democrats need to be certain our candidate will continue to represent all of Connecticut and not just a monied few. That is one of our biggest contrasts to Tom Foley.”

Malloy, who has been complaining for months about Lamont’s potential spending, said, “As Democrats, we should be for having a primary that’s about experience, vision, and ideas – not money.  That’s why today I’m again calling on Ned to adhere to the same spending limits in the primary that his fellow Democrats have agreed to.”

He added, “For Ned, this should be an easy call.  He used to say he was all for campaign finance reform, and that spending limits were ‘the key campaign finance reform.’

“Now, Ned says he’s worried that Tom Foley will win the election because he’s already spending millions of his own dollars to ‘define himself.’  Here’s what I’d say to that: you’re not going to beat Tom Foley by being Tom Foley.  You beat Tom Foley by nominating someone who stands in stark contrast to him, someone who can provide all the voters – Democrats, unaffiliated voters, and Republicans – with a clear choice.”

Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont will officially announce Tuesday morning that he is running for governor.

The announcement will be made at the Old State House in downtown Hartford, which is the same site where Lamont launched his candidacy against U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman. Lamont is best known for defeating Lieberman in the August 2006 primary, but he lost three months later in a three-way race in the general election. Lieberman pulled 50 percent, while Lamont had 40 percent and Republican Alan Schlesinger scored only 10 percent.

One of the key factors was the state’s Republican establishment failed to support Schlesinger in a state where even the weakest Republican statewide candidates usually gain an automatic 35 percent of the vote. As such, many Republicans and independents voted for Lieberman – securing his victory.

Pictures: Possible candidates for Connecticut governor

Lamont is often portrayed statewide as a Greenwich millionaire, but in his hometown, he is viewed as just another neighbor. As a member of the board of selectmen and the town’s finance board in the 1980s and early 1990s, Lamont was never viewed as one of the richest people in town, and he does not live on one of the largest estates in Greenwich – such as the Conyers Farm development where properties are a minimum of 10 acres and the neighbors include World Wrestling Entertainment tycoon Linda McMahon.

Lamont will be joining a field in which three Democrats have already dropped out – Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, former House Speaker James Amann of Milford, and state Sen. Gary LeBeau of East Hartford. The race has become wide open since Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s announcement last year that she was not seeking re-election.

As the leader in the most recent Quinnipiac University poll, Lamont is seen by some as the favorite to win the Democratic primary in August. The Washington Post’s political blog, in fact, says that Lamont has a solid chance of being Connecticut’s next governor. The details are at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/113-massachusetts-special-election.html

Lamont had 27 percent in the poll, compared to 11 percent for former Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy, who lost in the August 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary against New Haven Mayor John DeStefano. Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden are also in the Democratic race.

On the Republican side, the leaders in the polls have been former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley, who has been running 30-second and 60-second television commercials on a steady basis, and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Newington Mayor Jeff Wright, longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury, former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis of Hamden, and Chester First Selectman Thomas E. Marsh are also in the hotly contested race.

Above Photo by Scott Vargas/FoxCT

Former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy says he would sign the controversial bill that would allow the Sunday sales of alcohol – if he is elected governor in November.

Malloy’s comments came after the Democratic mayors of the state’s three largest cities — Bill Finch of Bridgeport, John DeStefano of New Haven, and Eddie Perez of Hartford – all called upon the Democrat-controlled legislature to break the long-standing provision that prevents retailers from selling beer, wine or liquor in package stores and supermarkets on Sundays. Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, is friendly with his fellow Democrats, and Perez was his close ally during Malloy’s run for governor in 2006.

“If it passed the legislature, I would absolutely sign it,” Malloy told Capitol Watch. “It’s not a difficult call. … We don’t protect other industries from competition on Sunday. That’s the reality.”

Malloy, however, said he would not propose the Sunday sales in his budget if he was elected governor. Saying it is a legislative issue, he would allow the General Assembly to make the first step.

The battle over Sunday sales has been a long-running issue at the state Capitol. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell opposes the concept and did not include the idea in her proposed $18.91 billion budget.

The Connecticut Package Stores Association has been successful in blocking Sunday sales for more than five years in one of the most heavily lobbied issues at the legislature. The association, led by its executive director, Carroll Hughes, says that Sunday sales would not increase the volume of liquor sold nor the amount of money collected in taxes by the state. Instead, the sales would simply be spread over seven days, rather than six, Hughes said.

If the Sunday sales provision is passed, large supermarkets – which are already open on Sundays – could start selling beer without having to hire extra workers or pay overtime, Hughes said. By contrast, the package stores would need to open for the seventh day and pay overtime rates for the workers. As such, Hughes predicted that some package stores that are currently barely profitable would be forced out of business.

Many of the package stores are run as old-fashioned businesses and literally operated as “mom and pop” operations. Most of the 1,100 stores do not even have computers in the year 2010, and Hughes has an e-mail list of only about 50 stores.

Malloy, though, sees it differently on the economics.

“I know it would be a job creator,” Malloy said.

Despite saying he would sign such a bill as governor, Malloy says he expects the political reality to continue at the Capitol – meaning that the package stores will continue winning the argument that currently keeps the stores closed on Sunday.

“I doubt it will ever pass the legislature,” Malloy said.

The person pushing the issue the hardest is Finch, the Bridgeport mayor who tried to enact Sunday sales in his days as state senator. Finch said the best way to get the provision passed is to “get it through in an implementer” during the last-minute horse-trading at the end of the legislative session. As such, it would be included in a mammoth “aircraft carrier” with many other provisions in a multi-faceted bill.

“The beauty of the implementer,” Finch said, “is nobody is going to vote against the implementer because everybody has something in there.”

Facing consistently low ratings in the polls, former House Speaker James Amann dropped out of the governor’s race Thursday – saying it just did not work out.

Amann did not offer any excuses, but acknowledged that he had trouble raising money under the new campaign finance law. But Amann, who pushed for the law, did not criticize it.

After 18 years in the legislature, four years as House Speaker, and more than a year running for the state’s highest post, Amann waxed nostalgic.

“I’m just a beach kid from Milford, Connecticut,” Amann told supporters and reporters at the state Capitol. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would have a chance to run for governor.”

In the latest Quinnipiac University poll that was taken in mid-January, Amann was in third place in the crowded Democratic field with 5 percent of the registered Democrats. He trailed Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont, who had 27 percent, and former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who had 11 percent.

Known for his outspoken nature, Amann bowed out by saying that he was still the best-qualifed candidate in the race because of his 18 years in the legislature and his work to pass four balanced budgets as the House Speaker. No other candidate in the race has served as long in the legislature. 

“I believe in my heart that – out of all the candidates I’ve seen – I’m the most experienced, the most qualified, probably had the best ideas out of all of them, but in reality, the pocketbook just didn’t allow me to market myself the way I would have liked,” Amann said.

As an official candidate, Amann was permitted to accept a maximum of $100 each from campaign donors in an attempt to raise $250,000 and qualify for state financing under the campaign finance law. Instead, he said he finished his campaign with a debt ranging from $50,000 to $70,000.

It is ironic, Amann said, that he could receive only $100 per individual for his campaign committee at the same time that he can now receive a maximum of $3,500 per individual under the law as a non-candidate to erase his campaign debt.

Amann declined to handicap the race or comment about the five remaining Democrats in the race – Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont, former Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy, Ridgefield first selectman Rudy Marconi, Simsbury first selectman Mary Glassman, and former Hartford state representative Juan Figueroa of Meriden.

Malloy said that he wished Amann the best of luck in the future.

“A wonderful guy is leaving the playing field,” Malloy told Capitol Watch.

On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, former Bush appointee Tom Foley, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Newington Mayor Jeff Wright, longtime business executive Oz Griebel, former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis, and Chester first selectman Thomas E. Marsh are all in the race. Some insiders believe that the large field includes politicians who are actually jockeying for lieutenant governor and have no real chance of being governor.

Amann, though, was always running for the top spot – as the only official candidate on the Democratic side. The rest has exploratory committees.

“It just didn’t work out,” said Amann, who turns 54 at the end of the month. 

He added, “What’s next for me? Who knows. Certainly not a singing career. I can promise you that.”

A survivor of cancer of the esophagus who almost died during an emergency, 10-hour operation in 2001, Amann said that his health was not a factor in his decision.

Amann received sustained applause from a Capitol crowd that included many of his friends from his days as Speaker – attorney Bob Frankel, press aide Larry Perosino, former aide Maureen Magnan, former state representative Pete Smith and a series of House Democrats, including Jeffrey Berger and Richard Roy.

The big winter snow storm turned out to be a huge bust.

As such, the series of meetings and public hearings that were canceled at the state Capitol on Wednesday are all being rescheduled. A hearing on several agencies as part of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed $18.91 billion budget – including the allocations for the University of Connecticut and the UConn Health Center – has been rescheduled for February 19.

Many of the meetings have been pushed back into next week because the state Capitol is closed on both Friday and Monday for state holidays.

On Channel 3, the meteorologists admitted that the much-hyped storm was essentially a complete bust in the Hartford region. Depending on the location, the storm dumped between 2 and 6 inches in many towns in northern Connecticut. New York City, by contrast, got about 9 inches, and places like Baltimore got much more. Greenwich came in at 10 inches, and Fairfield got about 10.5 inches.

“Weather is an inexact science,” Channel 3’s Mark Dixon said on the air Wednesday. “This was a very difficult storm to forecast.”

Meteorologist Bruce DePrest was more direct.

“This is one of those cases where we were just wrong,” he said on Channel 3.

Continuing a long-running controversy, the mayors of the state’s three largest cities are calling for the sale of alcohol in package stores and supermarkets on Sundays – a long-banned practice in Connecticut.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who strongly supported the idea when he was a state senator, joined with New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez on Wednesday to push for the sales – citing a recent legislative staff report that says the change would mean an extra $7.5 million to $8 million in tax revenue for the state.

“If our legislators simply lifted this antiquated ban on Sunday alcohol sales,” Finch said, “our financially struggling state could stop bleeding business – and sending tax revenue – to stores in neighboring states.”

The group that would sell most of that alcohol, the Connecticut Package Stores Association, has blocked Sunday sales multiple times during the past five years in one of the most heavily lobbied issues at the Capitol. The association says the extra day would not mean any extra money for the state or the stores because it would simply spread existing sales over seven days instead of six.

Despite the support from the three mayors, the idea has a long way
to go. It requires approval by the full House of Representatives and
the state Senate – which has never happened. It also requires support
from Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who opposes the idea. Rell’s budget director,
Robert Genuario, said that Rell did not include Sunday sales in her
latest budget – despite huge state deficits – because she flatly
opposes the concept.

Finch said in an interview Monday said that he has been frustrated
by the legislature’s general law committee that has blocked Sunday
sales for years.

“I couldn’t get it through when I was a senator, so I’m trying to
back-door it,” Finch said. “You have to go down to South Carolina to
find a state on the eastern seaboard” with a ban as strong as
Connecticut’s.

While favoring a statewide lift of the ban on Sunday sales, Finch
said that he and the other mayors would favor a law that would allow
Sunday sales in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven.

“At least let us do it,” Finch said. “What we hope to demonstrate
to the state is show them how silly they have been by leaving the money
on the table. If you go to the Sturbridge liquor stores, you see
Connecticut license plates up there.”

Saying that the Bridgeport police can handle any problems with underage drinking, Finch said the issue is purely financial.

“Even if it was $100,000 more for Bridgeport, it’s $100,000 we
desperately need,” he said. “We think it’s worth a shot. Let’s see
what it brings in.” 

The argument against Sunday sales has carried the day at the Capitol
in the past, as legislators have rejected the pleadings of lawmakers
representing border towns, such as Enfield, who say liquor stores in
their towns now suffer from weak sales.

Connecticut is the only
state in New England — and one of only three in the nation — that has
an across-the-board ban on Sunday of beer, wine, and liquor in stores
and supermarkets. Other states have bans in varying degrees, depending
on the type of alcohol being sold.

As part of a broader, 72-page
report on economic competitiveness that was released in December, the
legislature’s program review and investigations committee staff wrote:
“Connecticut liquor and grocery stores should be permitted, but not
required, to sell alcohol on Sunday under their current licensing
provisions.”

The report stated that per-capita sales in the
border towns were 35 percent to 43 percent lower than in other
Connecticut towns between 2004 and 2008.

State Sen. John Kissel
strongly supported the report as he has has been fighting this war for
years because his district covers the towns along the Massachusetts
border — Enfield, Suffield, Somers, and Granby. Aware of the
legislature’s solid opposition, Kissel said it might be possible to
compromise by allowing sales on Sundays during the heavy shopping
period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

But Carroll
Hughes, a longtime lobbyist for the package store owners, said
Wednesday that the Sunday sales are a bad idea because the stores would
be forced to pay overtime rates for their workers with no significant
increase in sales. As such, some stores that are barely profitable
would be forced to close, he said.

The association represents 1,100 package stores – in 168 out of
the 169 towns – in a state of 3.4 million people. The stores are often
“mom and pop” operations that do not even have computers in the store
in 2010. Out of 1,100 stores, Hughes has an e-mail list of only about
50 stores.

Despite widespread belief to the contrary, Hughes says the ban on
Sunday sales has absolutely nothing to do with the long-ago “blue”
laws regarding the closure of stores on Sunday.

Hughes rejects
the committee staff’s estimate that opening on Sunday could generate an
additional $7.5 million to $8 million in taxes per year. With the
state’s continuing budget problems, that figure has aroused interest
among some at the Capitol.

But with the state’s sales tax at 6
percent, Hughes said in an interview Wednesday that the estimated
increase in the state’s revenue would require about $135 million in
additional alcohol sales. At current prices, the sales volume would
need to explode to generate that much money, he says. Hughes calculated
that Connecticut residents would need to buy 13.5 million bottles of
vodka at $10 each in order to raise that level of revenue.

“The wholesalers support us – the beer and the liquor wholesalers,”
Hughes said Wednesday. “If we lose stores, they lose salesmen, and they
lose drivers.”

Another factor in the debate is that Massachusetts imposed a sales
tax of 6.25 percent on alcohol in August 2009 that Hughes said has
sharply changed the dynamics for Connecticut package stores. Buyers are
now staying home in Connecticut because there is less of an advantage
to crossing the border, he said. As such, he says that Massachusetts is
no longer a serious threat to alcohol sellers and that should reduce
the impetus for Sunday sales.

Besides legislators from border towns, the idea has gained strong
support from the national Distilled Spirits Council of the United
States and its lobbyists.

The state legislature is expected to hold a public hearing –
probably within the next two weeks – on the Program Review and
Investigations committee staff’s recommendation about allowing Sunday
sales. But no date has been set yet for the hearing.

“We have the facts to support our position,” Hughes said. “None of
my people have ever been concerned about speaking at a public hearing.”

“The box stores, the food stores benefit,” Hughes said. “My guys
lose. It puts them out of business. I know enough to know it’s bad for
Bridgeport. I have a huge number of stores in Bridgeport. I suppose we
have 25, maybe 30” stores.

As University of Connecticut students protest a proposed tuition increase of 6.3 percent, a new survey of public records shows that the highest-paid state employees work at UConn.

The information, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, shows that basketball coach Jim Calhoun was paid $1.58 million, while football head coach Randy Edsall was paid $1.36 million in 2008. The women’s basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, received $1,050,000.

Overall, 13 UConn employees – including eight at the UConn Health Center in Farmington – were paid more than $500,000. The university president, Michael J. Hogan, received $616,000 in state funds that year.

The information was compiled from public records at the office of State Comptroller Nancy Wyman by the Yankee Institute For Public Policy, a right-leaning research group with offices on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford.

Fergus Cullen, the executive director at the Yankee Institute, said it took six months to create a web site and make the information searchable. The web site is www.CTSunlight.org.

Cullen’s group worked closely with the comptroller’s office on the large project that covers the salary of every state employee.

“They were very helpful, very cooperative,” Cullen said of Wyman’s office. “It was a cooperative and collaborative approach.”

Overall, 71 state employees were paid more than $300,000 per year, and more than 1,100 are paid more than the governor’s annual salary of $150,000.

CANTON – The three Republican U.S. Senate candidates met for the first time on the same stage Tuesday night, and they largely avoided the harsh clashes that have recently characterized the increasingly nasty race.

The candidates momentarily seemed uncertain where to sit on the stage at Canton High School, and wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon said she had the chance to be “a rose between two thorns” if she sat between her two main rivals – Wall Street investor Peter Schiff and former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons.

The group, though, eventually sat in alphabetical order with McMahon at the end of a long table. In her opening statement, McMahon paused briefly before announcing to the crowd that “for a minute, I forgot what town I was in because I have been traveling to so many towns.” She then recovered and mentioned the forum that was being jointly sponsored by Canton and Avon Republicans.

The GOP candidates bashed the Democrat-written federal stimulus and healthcare plans, and only Simmons briefly mentioned the Democratic candidate whom they will likely meet in the November election – Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

The forum featured 10 Republican candidates overall – four from the governor’s race, three from the Senate, and three from the battle for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 5th District that stretches to the New York and Massachusetts borders. The candidates jumped from topic to topic as they answered questions from the moderator following their opening statements.

Looking out over the large crowd in the school auditorium, Simmons asked for a show of hands for how many of them operated small businesses.

“What did you get under the stimulus package?” Simmons asked. “Nothing!”

Regarding Blumenthal, Simmons said, “He’s Dodd-lite. … We don’t need another lawyer down there” in Washington, D.C.

Schiff, a Weston resident who has a national reputation from his television appearances regarding the economy, focused his comments almost exclusively on the fiscal problems facing the nation. He said he correctly predicted the collapse of the Nasdaq stock market, which peaked in March 2000 at more than 5,000 and is still far below that level – nearly 10 full years later. He also predicted the 2008 credit crisis and the sharp downturn in the economy that is only now starting to recover.

“I was screaming as loud as I could to anyone who would listen that there was a bubble in the stock market,” Schiff said. “The government is repeating all of the mistakes that created the Nasdaq bubble and the housing bubble. … Unfortunately, we’re doing everything wrong.”

Despite running for one of the most powerful positions in the country, Schiff said, “I don’t have political ambitions. I’m going to the Senate because the country is in trouble.”

McMahon noted that she has been married to her husband, Vince McMahon, for 43 years and that they had worked closely together to take their professional wrestling company from a small, regional operation to the World Wrestling Entertainment empire that is now seen in 140 countries and translated into 35 languages. That was accomplished, she said, after starting off as “two people sharing a desk in the basement of a house.”

She told the crowd that one of the reasons why “the Bush tax cuts were not successful” was because the spending by the federal government continued to increase by large amounts.

The live exchanges did not feature any of the attacks mentioned in two recent mailings by McMahon against Simmons regarding the “card check” system that casts aside secret ballots in the decision to form a labor union and the controversial “cap and trade” legislation that would limit greenhouse emissions.

Instead, the candidates were cordial to one another during less than 30 minutes on stage. When Schiff was starting his opening remarks, McMahon turned to him and said, “Can you remember what town we’re in?”

Before the Senate candidates took the stage, four candidates for governor told their stories – Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford, former U.S. Ambassor to Ireland Tom Foley of Greenwich, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, and longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury.

Noting his lack of name recognition, Boughton told the crowd that “I recognize that a lot of you don’t know me.”

But he told them that he is the mayor of “the safest city in the state of Connecticut” that also has “the lowest unemployment rate in the state of Connecticut.”

Boughton declared that he would reduce the size of the state workforce as a way to bring prosperity back to the state.

“If I sound angry, it’s because I am,” Boughton said. “I’m tired of it.”

Citing his experience running businesses over a 25-year period, Foley said he would cut $1 billion from the state’s projected $18.91 billion fiscal plan. One of the ways of saving money, he said, would be to merge three different, independent business-development agencies into a single agency that would be more efficient. He added that savings could be achieved in large agencies such as the Department of Social Services, which has a budget of about $5 billion, and the departments of correction and children and families, which are roughly approaching about $1 billion each.

But Fedele said that Foley’s comments were unrealistic, adding that Foley was correct when he said he was an outsider and did not know all the details of the system in Hartford.

“You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to cut a billion dollars,’ ” Fedele said, asking why the number wasn’t $2 billion. “Just to throw an arbitrary number out there doesn’t do it.”

Sitting at the far end of the table on the stage, the 60-year-old Griebel noted that he has spent his entire life in the private sector and has never run for public office in a career that includes graduating from Dartmouth College and serving as president of the MetroHartford Alliance regional chamber of commerce for the past nine years.

“My slogan tonight,” Griebel told the crowd, “is vote for the old guy.” 

With a major snowstorm approaching, the state legislature has already canceled a series of meetings and public hearings that were scheduled for Wednesday.

A long-awaited hearing on the controversial campaign finance reform law has been postponed by the Government Administration and Elections Committee.

The budget-writing appropriations committee has postponed all-day hearings on Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposed $18.91 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. The hearing had been scheduled to focus on the budgets for the University of Connecticut, UConn Health Center, Connecticut State University System, and department of higher education, among others. The night-time hearing for the general public, which was scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., has also been postponed until Friday, February 19. The timeframes and the location, in Room 2C, will remain the same.

Meetings of the public health and environment committees, among others, have been postponed.

Longtime U.S. Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania died after his large intestine was damaged during surgery, according to his friend.

A Vietnam War combat veteran, Murtha was highly respected among his House Democratic colleagues, including Rep. John B. Larson of East Hartford. He had political enemies, too, for his outspoken comments about the Iraq War during the presidency of George W. Bush.

Details on the surgery are at http://www.courant.com/news/politics/sns-ap-us-obit-murtha-hospital,0,4282192.story

Details on Abscam are at http://www.slate.com/id/2244127/

Naugatuck Deputy Mayor Tamath K. Rossi has launched her rematch against longtime incumbent state Sen. Joseph J. Crisco in the 17th district.

Rossi was seen by Republicans as providing one of the best chances for defeating an incumbent Democrat in 2008, but it never happened. Crisco, who has held the seat in his hometown of Woodbridge and surrounding communities since first winning in 1992, won yet another victory in a long streak that has now reached nine elections for the Senate.

The senatorial district also covers Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Naugatuck, and Hamden. Naugatuck is the political base for Rossi, where she has served as the deputy mayor since 2003.

Saying she started late in 2008, Rossi says she is now running again because Connecticut’s economy is still weak as the state faces a budget deficit of more than $500 million in the current fiscal year.

“I believe in the old adage that ‘the more government tries to do, the less it does well,’ ” said Rossi.  “State government needs to get back to basics and that starts with balancing the budget by reducing spending, not raising taxes.”

“Connecticut continues to lose their talented young people to other states,” said Rossi, a mother of three children.  “I have a 17-year-old headed to college this fall, and my greatest concern, as the concern of many parents, is whether or not he will be able to find employment and be able to afford to stay in his home state of Connecticut. We need to create sustainable jobs for our young people to insure they can settle in their home state after school and afford to raise their families and enjoy a good quality of life in our state.”

Crisco, a consultant who was born in New Haven, ranks among the longest-serving senators. A veteran lawmaker who has been involved in many business issues, he has served for years on the commerce, banks, and insurance committees.

After pouring through public records, the Yankee Institute For Public Policy reports that 1,138 state employees earn more than the governor’s annual salary of $150,000.

In addition, 175 retired state employees currently receive more than $100,000 per year in pensions.

The information is detailed at www.CTSunlight.org, which is a new web site of public information that was created by Hartford-based Yankee, a right-leaning institute with offices on the campus of Trinity College.

Fergus Cullen, a 1994 Yale graduate and longtime Connecticut resident who later became the state Republican chairman in New Hampshire at the age of 34, arrived at the institute last year with plans for reenergizing the organization. Part of that includes close scrutiny of the $18.6 billion state budget.

Among the findings:

• The state spent more than $2,500 at multiple Dunkin Donuts locations

• Referees and umpires were paid more than $250,000 from the Department of Education.

• Guida Dairy received $2.8 million for providing milk at the state’s prisons.

• Crystal Rock was paid more than $3,000 for providing bottled water to the governor’s office

• Private law firms received more than $5 million for attorneys’ fees from the attorney general’s office.

The Middletown energy plant that was heavily damaged in an explosion on Super Bowl Sunday would have been one of the largest in New England.

The plant has been controversial for years in Middletown.

Reporter Josh Kovner has details at http://www.courant.com/community/middletown/hc-middletown-power-plant-explosion-kleen-energy,0,4366953.story

Rep. John Murtha, one of the best-known members of the U.S. House of Representatives, has died at the age of 77.

The Pennsylvania Democrat was a Vietnam War combat veteran, one of the most powerful lawmakers on defense issues, and a close friend of U.S. Rep. John B. Larson of East Hartford.

“In John Murtha, America has lost a true hero and patriot, and the United States Congress has lost a giant,” said Larson, who is one of the highest-ranking Democrats in the House.  “Our hearts go out to his wife, Joyce, and his entire family.  John Murtha was a true gentleman whose handshake and promise you could trust.  I have been lucky during my years in Congress to count him as a close friend and mentor. He has provided me, and every member of the Congress, with guidance and strength throughout his service.”

Larson continued, “Jack Murtha was the staunchest ally our military has ever had.  He never backed down from a fight to make sure our brave men and women in uniform had the equipment they needed and a mission they could accomplish.  He stood up for Pennsylvania and his district, never losing sight of where he came from.”

He added, “I am reminded at times like these of just how fleeting life can be – Jack Murtha made the most of his time. The country will miss him, this Congress will miss him and I will surely miss him.”

President Barack Obama released the following statement:

“Michelle and I were deeply saddened today to hear about the passing of Congressman John Murtha. Jack was a devoted husband, a loving father, and a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years. His passion for service was born during his decorated career in the United States Marine Corps, and he went on to earn the distinction of being the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress.  Jack’s tough-as-nails reputation carried over to Congress, where he became a respected voice on issues of national security.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife of nearly 55 years, Joyce, their three children, and the entire Murtha family.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32691.html

 

 

The  Speaker’s domestic violence task force is recommending that shelters should be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as part of a broader list of suggestions to combat the problem of domestic violence.

The Hartford Courant’s Amanda Falcone has the details at http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-web-ct-domestic-violence-0209feb09,0,7997839.story

Jury selection has been postponed once again in the murder trial of Steven Hayes, who is charged in the murders at the Petit family home in Cheshire on July 23, 2007.

The Hartford Courant’s Alaine Griffin has details at http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-web-hayes-court-0209feb09,0,7954208.story