Author: Christopher Keating

As the state moves ever closer to its bonding cap, lawmakers have become interested this year in de-authorizing various bond projects.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell started the trend several months ago, making a proposed net reduction of $252 million in bonding.

But the tax-writing finance committee moved to push that further to make $412.7 million in bond de-authorizations Monday, including 255 individual cancelations and reductions.

“We have not added any new authorizations,” said Sen. Donald DeFronzo, a New Britain Democrat who co-chairs the bonding subcommittee of the finance committee. “We do not include any authorizations for the UConn medical school.”

Rep. Carlo Leone, a Stamford Democrat who co-chairs the subcommittee with DeFronzo, said lawmakers are responding because of concerns about a “negative outlook” and potential bond downgrade from the Wall Street bond-rating agencies.

“We all recognize that we’re in a tough fiscal environment,” said Rep. Cameron Staples, a New Haven Democrat who co-chairs the finance committee.

With bipartisan support, the bond de-authorization bill was moved to the “consent” calendar for non-controversial items.

Lawmakers also discussed the selling of bonds to refurbish the service plazas along Interstate 95 under an agreement that was reached with the state in November 2009. Under the old contract, the state got 11 cents per gallon from gasoline sales, and now the state is getting one cent, officials said.

Lawmakers, however, were expected to vote on a bond bill – not the service plaza contract.

The committee had been expected to vote on a highly controversial business tax, but that vote has been postponed until Tuesday – the committee’s deadline. The measure is known as “mandatory combined reporting,” which is strongly supported by the New Haven-based Connecticut Voices For Children. Voices says that the bill “would close corporate tax loopholes by preventing multi-state corporations from avoiding state taxes by artificially shifting their profits to subsidiaries in other states.”

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association – the state’s largest business lobby – has been working against the combined reporting measure for years.

Lawmakers also debated over municipal fee increases on a bill that divided chiefly along partisan lines – with Democrats supporting the fee increases and Republicans against. The bill would increase certain notary fees, town clerk fees, marriage licenses, burial and cremation permits, and dog and kennel license fees.

Republicans spoke against the increases, even if some of them were relatively minor.

“I recall the public’s outrage when their fishing licenses were increased last year,” said Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton Republican.

“Some of these have not been increased in 30 years or 40 years,” Staples responded. “I don’t think overall that they’re really unreasonable.”

“Nickeling and diming people on the town level is certainly not the answer,” said Rep. Themis Klarides, a House deputy Republican leader.

Lawmakers also debated the creation of yet another blue-ribbon commission – a 17-member Revenue Accountability Commission. But veteran Republican Sen. Andrew Roraback of Goshen said the commission did not seem to have many proposed members with any expertise on taxes. Instead, members – who have not yet been named – would include people who represent large businesses, small businesses, and at least two who are “representing a policy-focused nonprofit entity.”

“It’s just a bunch of regular folks – much like the legislature,” Roraback said, adding that he would vote against the bill because a revenue commission should have expertise on taxes.

Part of the bill deals directly with the disclosure to the commission of confidential tax information, which has been a highly controversial point to the state Department of Revenue Services for many years. The debate prompted outrage by Rep. J. Brendan Sharkey, who tangled with DRS years ago when he served as the co-chair of the Program Review and Investigations Committee with Republican Cathy Cook. Sharkey has sharply criticized DRS for limiting information to the legislature.

“This is exactly the conversation that took place about four years ago,” Sharkey said. “At that time, DRS told us they could not provide us with any aggregated data. As a result, the study was not as comprehensive as I would have liked it to be. … The state of Connecticut has been trying to deal with tax policy for the last five years with one hand tied behind its back because it can’t get the data.”

Lawmakers also debated the creation of a regional hotel tax, which would funnel money to cities and towns, as well as regional councils of governments and regional planning organizations for property tax relief. The idea would generate about $19 million per year for cash-strapped cities and towns by increasing the hotel tax to 15 percent, up from the current 12 percent.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities has supported the hotel tax as a way to help municipalities, which currently generate a large portion of their revenue from property taxes.

“I am concerned with our hotel industry and how decimated it has been throughout this economic crisis,” said Rep. Vincent J. Candelora, the ranking House Republican on the finance committee. The bill “is trying to provide rate relief on the backs of our hotels.”

Instead, the legislature’s appropriations committee should cut spending instead of having the finance committee raise taxes, Candelora said.

Roraback spoke next, saying that a regional hotel tax would backfire in a difficult economy.

“There’s been one goose that has been laying any golden eggs in Litchfield County, and that is our tourism agency,” said Roraback, who represents 15 towns in the state’s northwestern corner. “The goose has managed to stay alive. It hasn’t been thriving. This may end up putting a noose around the goose’s neck.”

The region would clearly lose money “if we scare people off from spending the night,” Roraback said.

But Staples, who voted for the bill, countered that the extra tax would not make Connecticut “non-competitive,” saying that the hotel rates are already higher in New York and Boston.

“We are targeting a business that is very price sensitive that has been hit hard by this recession,” said Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton Republican. “They have a particular challenge in these times.”

Klarides said she was more concerned about the hotel tax because tourists often head to certain areas of the state, like Litchfield County, for long weekends.

“I really don’t trust this legislature with any more revenue than we already have,” said Klarides, a veteran lawmaker who first won election in 1998.

Rep. Russ Morin, the former Democratic mayor of Wethersfield, said he has advocated the regional hotel tax for the past four years, saying it has been pushed by mayors and first selectmen across the state.

“A 3 percent tax is probably not going to deter folks who are traveling,” Morin said. “That has never once deterred me from traveling to a location that I want to travel to. I am not buying that argument. … I guess being here four years has not given me enough time to distrust all of you.”

Rep. Demetrios Giannaros, an economist who voted for the hotel tax, said citizens need to remember certain facts about the level of taxes in the state. Connecticut ranks No. 25 in state tax collections as a percentage of personal income, he said. Regarding sales taxes, Connecticut ranks No. 36 at 1.62 percent of total personal income. With billionaires living in Greenwich, the percentage of their incomes that they spend on various taxes is quite low.

Sen. Michael McLachlan noted that his hometown of Danbury has one of the highest amounts of hotel rooms of any community of all 169 municipalities in Connecticut.

“I think this is counterproductive in our economy,” said McLachlan, a Republican who opposed the measure. “I have a greater long-term concern about the tourism industry in general.”

Jury selection is slated to start next week in the long-delayed corruption trial of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez.

After a lengthy investigation, Perez was arrested twice last year in the detailed case that stems from improvements to his home on Bloomfield Avenue near the University of Hartford.

Depending on various factors, jury selection could take four weeks in the high-profile case.

The Hartford Courant’s Steve Goode has the details at http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-perez-trial-0405.artapr04,0,1858259.story

Could former Gov. John G. Rowland be in the running for the morning radio spot that has been vacated by conservative commentator Jim Vicevich?

Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie says that Rowland was spotted on Thursday at the WTIC-AM studios in Farmington – two days after Vicevich’s final show.

Details are at www.dailyructions.com

 

The state Capitol is closed today for Good Friday – a state holiday.

There are no committee meetings or public hearings on the official schedule.

The legislature’s tax-writing finance committee could vote as early as today on Senate Bill Number 1 – the much-touted and controversial bill by the Senate Democrats to create jobs.

The bill is designed to eliminate the $250 business entity tax for 46,000 businesses in every town in the state. The businesses must be limited liability companies, and must have less than $50,000 in annual net income – meaning the amount of profit after all of the employees are paid.

As such, this eliminates large companies that are registered as LLCs, but have huge profits that can run into the millions of dollars.

Stamford has nearly 2,400 businesses that would benefit – the highest number of any town in the state. Greenwich has more than 2,100 LLCs that would have the business entity tax eliminated, according to numbers released by the Senate Democrats. Norwalk, New Haven, Danbury, and Hartford all have more than 1,000 businesses that would benefit – ranging from architectural and consulting firms to bagel shops and delicatessens. 

The bill is controversial because it would be paid by taxing the bonuses of Wall Street executives whose companies received federal bailout money, known as TARP bonuses. At least eight large banks that received the federal TARP funds have offices in Connecticut.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell has vowed to veto the Democratic plan to tax the huge bonuses. Those bonuses to high-level executives at AIG and other bailed-out Wall Street companies prompted huge outrage across the country, and lawmakers responded by calling for the special surcharge to tax the bonuses.

The narrowly written provision would apply only to bonuses of $1 million or more in 2010 and 2011 – and would only apply to executives at companies that were bailed out. With concerns about a special tax increase on a relative handful of people, Rell and some attorneys are questioning whether the idea is Constitutional.

“How will the state credibly estimate revenues at the time of the passage of the bill? How will the tax be enforced?” Rell asked in a letter sent last week to top legislative leaders. “Can and will the tax be avoided by employers restructuring the bonuses, and how will this affect the state’s proposed revenue? Simply put, at this time, there are too many uncertainties surrounding the proposed tax surcharge to make reliance upon it responsible.”

Rell added, “Thus, I would be forced to veto any such proposal or proposals even though most people in the state rightly believe that such executive bonuses were, at a minimum, inappropriate given the use of federal taxpayer funds to bail out their host companies.”

But Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, one of the chief proponents of the tax surcharge, told Capitol Watch last week that Rell was siding with Wall Street fat cats instead of with Main Street.

“It’s a smoke screen,” Williams said of Rell’s position. “Folks in Washington have opined that this is Constitutional at a much higher [tax] rate.” 

One of the ideas in Congress is to tax the bonuses at 90 percent – thereby almost erasing the entire bonus.

“Ours is a three percent surcharge,” Williams said. “Ours is much different and extremely reasonable.”

The current maximum income tax rate in Connecticut for couples earning more than $1 million per year is 6.5 percent, and the surcharge would add another 2.97 percent to that rate. One bill on the bonuses has been voted out of the Democrat-controlled commerce committee, while the other is Senate Bill No. 1 that is pending in the tax-writing finance committee.

Rell’s comments came after Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that taxing the bonuses was “likely” constitutional. Rell ripped that ruling, saying it “is hardly a steadfast legal endorsement, and studied opinions to the contrary have already been offered.”

She distributed a legal opinion that was contrary to Blumenthal’s view, adding, “The final determination about the legality of such a proposal will undoubtedly be determined by a court of law at some future date.”

Williams responded that the idea is essentially a self-contained proposal that can pay for itself and can allow the suspension of the $250 annual fee that is paid by small businesses across the state. The so-called “business entity tax” would be suspended for two years for small businesses only, even though some large corporations are registered as limited liability companies in essentially the same way as small businesses.

The Hartford police union has endorsed former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy for governor, saying they expect him to create jobs and work with labor unions.

“Connecticut needs a change. We’re standing with Dan because he’s the candidate with the best track record and best experience to help Connecticut get back on track,” Hartford police union president Richard Rodriguez said in a statement released by the Malloy campaign. “Dan’s record in Stamford proves he’s committed to public safety, committed to partnering with police and other workers, and committed to growing jobs. And, his background as a prosecutor gives him a perspective on law enforcement that other candidates don’t have. He’s the kind of leader Connecticut needs.”

The union represents more than 460 workers in the capital city.

“As a former prosecutor and former mayor of a large and diverse city, I understand the pressures put on local law enforcement – especially in urban environments,” Malloy said in a statement. “Revitalizing Connecticut’s capital will be an essential part of revitalizing Connecticut, and the Hartford police will be a partner in that effort.”

Malloy touted his record as a former prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., in which he tried 23 felony cases, including four homicides, that led to 22 convictions.

Malloy is running in a highly competitive primary against Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont, Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden.

Lamont has been leading Malloy in the past three Quinnipiac University polls, and Lamont has been the front-runner among Democrats since Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz dropped out of the race in January in order to run for attorney general.

U.S. Rep. John B. Larson of East Hartford is scheduled to endorse Sen. Jonathan Harris today for Secretary of the State.

Harris is running for the Democratic nomination against House Majority Leader Denise Merrill of Storrs.

The endorsement is scheduled at 11 a.m. at West Hartford town hall, where Harris once served as mayor. They will be joined by the current mayor, Scott Slifka.

Harris, who has been exploring a run for higher office, will make his candidacy official on Thursday.

State Rep. Jamie Spallone, an Essex Democrat, recently ended his exploratory campaign and threw his support to Merrill.

A Texas man who died in a leap from the observation deck of the Empire State Building on Tuesday has been identified as a student from Yale University.

The New York Daily News is reporting that he left a suicide note in his dormitory on the Yale campus in New Haven.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/31/2010-03-31_man_who_leaped_to_death_from_empire_state_building_idd_as_yale_university_studen.html

Visitors to the New York City landmark know that the fence around the observation deck is difficult to climb. Seven people were on the observation deck at the time, and one of them tried to talk the Yale student down from the fence, according to the Daily News.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/30/2010-03-30_man_leaps_to_his_death_from_86th_floor_observation_deck_at_empire_state_building.html

Conservative radio talk show host Jim Vicevich is off the air at WTIC-AM radio following a contract dispute.

The morning host, Ray Dunaway, was on the air at 9 a.m. today in Vicevich’s regular spot.

The details by The Courant’s Mara Lee are at http://www.courant.com/business/hc-jim-vicevich-wtic-am-0331,0,1646612.story

Roger Catlin’s view is at http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2010/03/jim-vicevich-out-at-wtic.html

Gov. M. Jodi Rell left the state Capitol shortly after 12 noon Wednesday to head south to assess the heavy flood damage in Stonington and Jewett City.

The flood waters have been rising for days in southeastern Connecticut as police and firefighters have been scrambling to help homeowners and business owners as they face the worst flooding in years.

Rell intends to speak with the Stonington first selectman at 1:30 p.m. in the town’s Pawcatuck section before traveling to visit a sewage treatment plant in Jewett City at 2:45 p.m.

The state Department of Transportation and the Connecticut National Guard have been called out to help, while the state Department of Environmental Protection is monitoring dams around the state. She spoke for about 90 minutes during a briefing with various state agencies on Wednesday morning before heading out.

“Once the dam breaks, it’s a disaster for those that are down below,” Rell told Channel 8 before leaving the Capitol. “All hands are on deck.” 

Facing low poll ratings and an uphill battle, Newington Mayor Jeff Wright dropped out of the governor’s race early Tuesday afternoon – less than two months after officially announcing for the race.

Instead, Wright will seek the Republican nomination for state treasurer against longtime Democratic incumbent Denise Nappier of Hartford, who has won three statewide races for treasurer over the past 12 years.

Wright, 38, made his announcement to reporters at the state Capitol press room, saying his experience as a certified financial planner since 1994 gives him the experience to run the state’s large pension fund and serve as the state’s chief financial officer.

While serving as the volunteer mayor of Newington since 2007, Wright earns his living by giving financial advice to retirees, small businesses, and working individuals on how to develop their financial plans.

An outspoken Republican, Wright was encouraged by Republican state party chairman Christopher Healy to run for treasurer. He instantly moved into front-runner status because the only other person to express interest is Andrew White of Ridgefield, a political unknown at the statewide level who does not hold elected office.

“The constitutional offices are important,” Healy said. “He’s got the background. … I hope he’s nominated.”

Having Nappier in the treasurer’s office for 12 years is “more than enough,” Healy said.

Wright was far behind in the polls among Republicans to former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley of Greenwich, who is the GOP frontrunner. Foley is being challenged by Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis of Hamden, longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury, and Chester First Selectman Thomas E. Marsh.

In the most recent Quinnipiac University poll, Foley had 30 percent of those polled, followed far behind by Fedele and Boughton at 4 percent each. The others had even lower percentages. Some insiders believe that the Republicans, based on the votes of nearly 1,500 delegates at the party convention on May 22, could have a three-way primary between Foley, Fedele, and Boughton.

Wright predicted that Foley, a close friend of former President George W. Bush, will be Connecticut’s next governor.

“Ambassador Foley seems to be pulling away dramatically,” Wright said. “The rest of the field, we were in the margin of error, essentially. … I think he’d be an excellent governor. I think, at this point, Tom Foley will probably go on to win the party nomination.”

A commissioner of the Metropolitan District Commission for seven years, Wright abruptly stepped down this year to protest the tenure of Democrat William DiBella, a former state senator and lobbyist who is the controversial chairman of the MDC.

Wright joins a growing group that has dropped out of the governor’s race for 2010, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, former House Speaker James Amann of Milford, and state Sen. Gary LeBeau of East Hartford.

In one day, Wright turned from being a long-shot for governor to being a politician with a solid chance of being on the statewide ballot this fall.

“I wanted to be part of the solution, and I wanted to be on the Republican team for this November,” Wright said.

Democrat Ned Lamont unveiled his jobs plan Tuesday, saying that he will use his background as a business entrepreneur to kick-start Connecticut’s sluggish economy.

One of the first steps, he said, is that the state must do a better job in reaching out to small businesses so that they will expand their operations in Connecticut.

“Recently, Alexion, our fastest-growing biotech company, born and bred in Connecticut, decided to open its first production facility in Rhode Island,” Lamont said in the introduction to his jobs plan. “Alexion could have expanded here, but Rhode Island beat us to the punch. And who knows when another Marlin Firearms will leave? I will ensure businesses like Alexion and Marlin stay.”

Lamont told the story of Alexion in a room Tuesday at CT Works on North Main Street in northeastern Hartford, where unemployed workers arrive to gain skills to return to the workforce. In a roundtable discussion on the first floor, Lamont chatted with citizens with various work experiences through the years.

He said that Alexion, of Cheshire, received seed money from the state to start up the business, but they never received any further assistance.

“They set up their production facility in Rhode Island because they never heard from the state of Connecticut,” Lamont told a small group of workers and reporters. “They heard from Rhode Island. … They go to states that are on offense.”

As governor, Lamont said, that would not happen, and jobs would not go to the high-tech corridor of Route 128 outside Boston.

“Taxachusetts doesn’t have cheap taxes, and they have tens of thousands of jobs – and we can do that, too,” he said.

Lamont, who burst onto the national scene in 2006 in a race against U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, is currently the leader for the Democratic nomination in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. He has been leading former Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy in the past three polls, and he became the frontrunner after Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz left the race to run for attorney general.

“There are a few things I think we need to do that aren’t in Ned’s plan – such as instituting benchmark systems that would help the state identify critical economic needs and ensure that state resources are allocated as efficiently as possible,” Malloy said in a statement released by a spokesman. “It makes no sense that, to this day and despite repeated attempts by the Auditors of Public Accounts to get this policy changed, Connecticut still refuses to release a list of companies that have received state aid and their respective records on job creation.”

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-lamont-jobs-plan-0331.artmar31,0,4409551.story

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley for governor.

Romney, a national GOP figure who previously served as governor of Massachusetts, is considered among the party’s potential leaders in the 2012 presidential race.

“Tom Foley is a smart businessman and a good problem-solver who can find and apply common sense solutions to the problems facing Connecticut,” Romney said in a statement. “Tom has a long and successful history of turning around troubled companies in difficult settings, and these are the leadership skills that are required in today’s challenging times. Tom is capable of putting politics aside and going to work on behalf of the people of Connecticut.”

Foley, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to the post in Ireland and a high-level post in Iraq to privatize government-owned businesses, has declared that he would decline the governor’s $150,000 annual salary as part of a plan to reduce the $18.9 billion state budget by $1 billion per year.

Romney’s “record as a no-nonsense leader, capable of identifying problems and implementing solutions is a model I plan to follow,” Foley said. “Facing an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature, Governor Romney was able to lead based on the quality of his ideas. That is what leadership is all about.”

Foley is battling for the GOP nomination in a large field against Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis of Hamden, longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury, and Chester First Selectman Thomas E. Marsh.

Newington Mayor Jeff Wright dropped out of the governor’s race on Tuesday and will run for state treasurer against longtime Democratic incumbent Denise Nappier, who won her first race for treasurer in 1998 against Republican incumbent Paul Silvester. Silvester later pleaded guilty in a wide-ranging scandal at the state treasury and served time in prison.

 

Republican John Pavia, who is running for attorney general, weighs in on the idea of privatizing Interstate 95.

He is seeking the Republican nomination against state Sen. Andrew Roraback of Goshen and longtime attorney Martha Dean of Avon, who lost in a previous race against Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news12522.html

A former IBM Corp. executive from Ridgefield has pleaded guilty in an insider trading hedge fund scandal.

Some believed that Robert Moffat, 53, at one time had a chance to become the CEO of IBM.

The details are at http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-hedge-fund-insider-trading,0,2335495.story

An employee of the state Department of Children and Families – Suzanne Listro – has been found not guilty of manslaughter in the death of her foster child.

The ruling came after a lengthy trial at state Superior Court in Rockville.

The Hartford Courant’s veteran reporter, David Owens, has the details at http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-dcf-suzanne-listro-not-guilty-0329,0,5350064.story

The judiciary committee narrowly approved a controversial bill Monday that would eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits in cases of sexual abuse.

The measure was approved, 23 to 20, on a topic that divided both Republicans and Democrats.

Currently, the law allows lawsuits by those up to the age of 48, which is 30 years after reaching the age of 18. If adopted into law, Connecticut would become the fourth state in the nation to eliminate the statute.

The bill – House Bill 5473 – is related to the case of the late Dr. George Reardon, a former physician at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. Multiple lawsuits are pending in that case against St. Francis and the Archdiocese of Hartford.

Sen. Paul Doyle, a Wethersfield Democrat, said he has a problem with an unlimited statute of limitations because the limit in many personal injury cases is three years. An attorney, Doyle said the defendants in a lawsuit have the right to defend themselves, and some of the potential witnesses in the case might have died.

“Today, of course, we have the emotion before us,” Doyle said. “No one can disregard the emotion and the seriousness of it. … But it’s my job to vote on what’s in the best interest of both sides.”

“I have some constitutents who are going to be upset with my vote,” Doyle said. “I think I will vote no.”

Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat who co-chairs the committee, noted during the debate Monday that someone can sue a dead person – through the form of their estate.

“This would apply to future cases as well,” said Lawlor, who voted in favor of the bill.

Some lawmakers said during the debate that they were struggling with a difficult issue.

“I have no sympathy for anyone who commits these acts,” said Rep. William Hamzy, adding that those who are guilty of such acts “will answer to a higher being.”

“I don’t want my opposition to this bill to be read as being sympathetic to anyone who engages in this type of conduct,” Hamzy said. “The whole concept of statute of limitations has a long history in our jurisprudence.”

Rep. Themis Klarides, an attorney and deputy House Republican leader, said, “This is clearly partly a religious debate in a sense. … I would have to lean in the direction of the victim having that right.”

Rep. Arthur O’Neill, a Southbury Republican who serves as the committee’s ranking member, asked how a photograph of a child could be connected to a particular defendant.

“You’d have to have some documentary evidence to directly link the defendant with the conduct,” Lawlor replied.

Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele has released his first television ad of the gubernatorial campaign, targeting conservative Republicans on the Fox News Channel.

Fedele’s 30-second commercial will be broadcast on the most popular programs on the network, featuring conservative commentators Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. The ads will also be on “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, “Fox and Friends,” and “Fox News Prime Time.”

Overall, the commercial will be shown 71 times per week at a cost of $10,000 per week, said Christopher Cooper, a spokesman for Fedele. The first week and a half cost $15,000, and the campaign expects to eventually spend $100,000 through the state GOP convention in late May.

“They are programs we believe that Republican primary voters watch” as compared to general-election voters, Cooper said of the Fox shows. “We are working very closely with our media consultant on doing that kind of targeting. … We know who watches those shows. This is a targeted buy.” 

Fedele is seeking public financing of his campaign – meaning that he cannot immediately match a statewide television blitz like the one funded by his primary opponent, Greenwich multi-millionaire Tom Foley. Foley has already contributed $2 million to his campaign, and most insiders believe he will contribute more.

“We still believe that the right message and the right qualifications are going to be compelling,” said Cooper, a former spokesman for Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

Besides being broadcast in the Hartford and New Haven markets, viewers in Fairfield County will also be able to see the commercial in the expensive New York City television market.

In addition to Fedele and Foley, those seeking the GOP nomination include longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury, Newington Mayor Jeff Wright, former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis of Hamden, Chester First Selectman Thomas E. Marsh, and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.

Fedele’s campaign is confident that he can raise $250,000 in contributions of $100 or less in order to qualify for public financing. If Foley spends millions, as expected, Fedele could receive a maximum of $2.5 million in the primary that will be held on Tuesday, August 10.

Cooper told Capitol Watch that the 30-second commercial started running on Friday morning on the Fox News Channel.

 The GOP convention has nearly 1,500 delegates, and the Fedele campaign is assuming that many of those delegates will be watching Fox News.

http://www.fedele2010.com/

The cavernous state Capitol was becoming quiet.

It was 2 a.m. Saturday, and much of Connecticut was sleeping.

But the debate in the state Senate was droning on as Republican John Kissel of Enfield was asking detailed questions of Democrat Toni Harp of New Haven on a budget amendment.

“Only eight people are watching this,” a lobbyist said outside the Senate chamber, talking about the wee hours of the morning and the building frustration of legislators, staff members, and lobbyists.

When legislators arrived at the Capitol on Friday morning to tackle the state’s financial problems, Connecticut had a projected budget deficit of about $350 million for the current fiscal year.

And when they woke up today, the state still has a projected budget deficit of $350 million.

Despite a marathon day of fits and starts, rhetoric and rancor, nothing was passed into law when the smoke cleared. By 5:30 a.m. Saturday, the Senate had voted, 21 to 15, on a deficit-cutting plan that increased taxes and cut spending.

But Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell promised to veto the bill, saying the tax increases were too high and many of the spending cuts were either phantom or unachievable.

Prompted by Rell’s veto threat and the Senate’s failure to pass the bill by a veto-proof margin, the state House of Representatives abruptly pulled the plug and canceled a scheduled Saturday session. The House had been expected to convene in its rare weekend session because lawmakers were scrambling to pass a deficit-cutting plan before the Passover and Easter holidays. The cancelation marked the culmination of a bizarre 24-hour period in which there originally was no House session expected – only to be scheduled on short notice and then changed once again when it was canceled.

Friday’s squabbles focused on the easiest of the ongoing problems – the current fiscal year. Lawmakers have still not resolved the problems for next year, in which the deficit is projected at more than $700 million, and the 2012 fiscal year, in which the deficit could balloon to more than $3 billion. The reason for the rising deficit in 2012 is that the state will have nothing left over because it will have already spent the entire $1.4 billion “rainy day” fund and $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money to close the deficits over the previous two years.

“I hope the governor will join us in making these difficult decisions because they pale compared with the challenges that lie ahead,” said House Speaker Christopher Donovan.

The budget battle is fraught with election-year politics, posturing and rhetoric as each side seeks to gain advantage over the other in a political, financial and policy battle under the Gold Dome.

Friday marked one of the longest days in recent memory at the Capitol as the Senate Democrats struggled to pass the plan. While long days are commonplace during bitter political clashes, no one expected the battle to last almost until 5:30 a.m.

Even before the Senate voted, the few lobbyists and lawmakers remaining in the hallways were debating over whether the House would convene for its scheduled 12 noon session Saturday. Some said definitely yes. Others said no.

The reason that the House bailed out, insiders said, came directly from Rell’s veto threat. That threat came at about 11 p.m. Friday night, and it changed the dynamics in the building. Only minutes later, at 11:12 p.m., the Senate clerk’s booming voice came over the loud speaker, saying, “There will be an immediate Senate Democratic caucus! Will all Senators please return to the caucus room.”

Strategically, insiders said, the liberal Democrats in the House did not want to be forced into taking any votes on Saturday to cut spending if the Senate Democrats did not have 24 votes to override Rell’s veto. In addition, moderate Democrats wanted to avoid taking votes on tax increases, such as postponing tax breaks under the estate tax. Why, they asked, should Democrats be forced to take difficult votes on both taxes and spending if the bill would not become law?

Some Senators themselves asked that question, wondering why they were sticking their necks out in an election year on a tough vote.

A large part of the day – for the senators, Rell’s budget office, lobbyists, and the press – was spent waiting for the bill and supporting documents to be finalized. Complicated bills are technical, detailed documents, and putting the finishing touches on them takes hours. The actual debate on the Senate floor took about 4 1/2 hours, stretching to about 5:20 a.m.

In the end, three Senate Democrats broke with their caucus, making the final vote 21 to 15. The Democratic Senators – Jonathan Harris of West Hartford, Joan Hartley of Waterbury, and Gayle Slossberg of Milford – broke with their colleagues and joined the Republicans to oppose the plan that would have laid off 21 deputy commissioners, mandated two more unpaid furlough days for non-union state employees, imposed a tax on hospitals, and postponed about $75 million in tax cuts for wealthy families under the estate tax.

When it was all over, the Democrats blamed the Republican governor. Rell, in turn, blamed the Democrats for refusing to make real spending cuts and reduce the size of government.

The Democratic leaders “are disappointed that Governor Rell’s veto threat has intimidated the House into canceling their agreed-upon Saturday vote,” said Derek Slap, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats. “Senate Democrats hope the opportunity to regroup will enable the House to approve this bill and place it on the governor’s desk in the next few days.”

But Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for Rell, said, “The taxpayers of Connecticut should be grateful that the House of Representatives canceled their Saturday vote. The cancelation saved taxpayers money, time, and unnecessary political theater.”

He added, “The people of Connecticut want a resolution to our budget problems. They do not want political fighting and sniping. Now is the time for all sides to work together, make tough decisions and tackle this deficit head on.”

The state House of Representatives abruptly canceled a scheduled Saturday session today after a Senate plan failed to gather enough support to override an expected gubernatorial veto.

The House had been expected to convene in its first Saturday session of the year as lawmakers scrambled to pass a deficit-cutting plan before the Passover and Easter holidays. The cancelation marked the culmination of a bizarre 24-hour period in which there originally was no House session expected – then it was called on short notice, and then it was canceled on even shorter notice.

The situation is fraught with election-year politics, posturing and political rhetoric as each side seeks to gain advantage over the other in a political, financial and policy battle under the Gold Dome.

Friday marked one of the longest days in recent memory at the state Capitol as the Senate battled to pass a Democratic-written, deficit-cutting plan. The two sides could not even agree on how much of the cuts were real and how many were phantom.

The bill was finally passed, 21 to 15, at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The measure, however, needs 24 votes in the Senate to override Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s threatened veto.

Even before the Senate voted, the few lobbyists and lawmakers remaining in the Capitol were debating in the hallways over whether the House would convene for its scheduled 12 noon session. Some said definitely yes. Others said no.

The reason that the House bailed out, insiders said, came directly from Rell’s threat to veto the Democratic bill. That threat came at about 11 p.m. Friday night, and it changed the dynamics at the Capitol. Only minutes later, at 11:12 p.m., the Senate clerk’s booming voice came over the loud speaker, saying, “There will be an immediate Senate Democratic caucus! Will all Senators please return to the caucus room.”

Strategically, insiders said, the liberal Democrats in the House did not want to be forced into taking any votes on Saturday to cut spending if the Senate Democrats did not have 24 votes to override Rell’s veto. In addition, moderate Democrats wanted to avoid taking votes on tax increases, such as postponing tax breaks under the estate tax. Why, they asked, should Democrats be forced to take difficult votes on both taxes and spending if the bill would not become law?

Some Senators themselves asked that question, wondering why they were sticking their necks out in an election year on a tough vote.

In the end, three Senate Democrats broke with their caucus, making the final vote 21 to 15.

As such, some insiders were convinced – four hours before the Senate even voted – that the House would pull the plug and cancel Saturday’s session. And that’s what happened.

Some Senators themselves asked that question, wondering why they were sticking their necks out in an election year on a tough vote.

In the end, three Senate Democrats broke with their caucus, making the final vote 21 to 15.

As such, some insiders were convinced – four hours before the Senate even voted – that the House would pull the plug and cancel Saturday’s session. And that’s exactly what happened.