Author: Daniela Altimari

During a stop this morning at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center, U. S. Rep. Larson said his offices in both Washington and Hartford have received threats, but declined to provide details.

“We have,” Larson said in response to a question from Fox 61 reporter Shelly Sindland about whether he has been a target of anger from opponents of the health care overhaul that he helped shepherd through Congress.

“We’ve reported them to the appropriate authorities,” Larson said. “We just don’t go into the nature of them. We report them immediately. There’s a procedure you follow and that has been done.

“I’m not downplaying those but it’s nothing that I want to dwell on. What were going to dwell on is having hearings out in this district, having roundtables with the business community and making sure everbody’s informed about this bill.”

As one of the highest-ranking members of the U.S. House, Larson, a Democrat from the 1st District, has been front and center on the health care debate — he’s become a familiar face on television and in news stories advocating for the measure. 

A quick poll of the rest of Connecticut’s congressional delegation reveals that none of the other members have reported threats to law enforcement.

Elizabeth Kerr, spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Himes, said the 4th District congressman has receieved a lot of feedback on the health care bill. “The congressman has been very pleased with…how much our constituents are engaged in the issue.”

In 1993, then-state Rep. Rob Simmons wrote a letter to a constituent who was concerned about the issue of global population growth.

“My mother used to serve on the board of Planned Parenthood and for years she told me that over-population is a serious global problem,” Simmons wrote. “It just seems that we do not have the resources to support our current population and yet the babies keep coming. I agree with you that something needs to be done.”

Call the letter Exhibit A as to why social conservatives don’t like Rob Simmons.
 
“I know of almost no social conservatives who are backing Simmons,” said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, a Catholic and a leading voice for religious conservatives in the state. Wolfgang keeps a copy of Simmons’ letter in a file he has on the Republican former congressman and current candidate for U.S. Senate. 
 
Two of the legislature’s most prominent social conservatives, Rep. T.R, Rowe of Trumbull and Sen. Michael McLachlan of Danbury, have endorsed Republican Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, who is pro-choice and used to run a company once known for pushing the envelope on sex and violence.

Jim Barnett, Simmons’ campaign manager, points out that McMahon has given thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates in the past. And he notes that WWE’s raunchy programming several years ago earned the company a public scolding from Brent Bozell, a well-known cultural conservative.

“Linda McMahon’s entire career and her role elevating liberal Democrats to power in Washington, D.C. is an affront to the conservative movement,” Barnett said via email.

“Conservatives should take a long look at Linda McMahon and ask themselves what they will do when liberal Democrats make them defend McMahon’s record of marketing gratuitous violence against women, graphic sex, and bra and panties matches to young children?  I think conservatives should be very careful before casting their lot with someone who has shown nothing but contempt for conservatism.  I think some of these folks may be regretting their decision once they learn more about McMahon’s distinctly un-conservative record,” Barnett said.

Wolfgang hasn’t decided which Republican he’ll back yet. (The Institute, which is primarily focused on state issues, won’t make an official endorsement, though Wolfgang expects to make a personal one.)
 
“I haven’t made up my mind, but I can understand why T.R. Rowe and Michael McLachlan would endorse Linda McMahon,” he said. “When I look at the Senate race, the math for social conservatives points to Linda McMahon.”
 
McMahon is capturing the hearts of social conservatives for a number of reasons, Wolfgang said.

“Number one concern of social conservatives in Connecticut is that Dick Blumenthal not be our next senator,” Wolfgang said. “No single politican in the state of Connecticut is more responsible for same-sex marriage than Dick Blumenthal — not Mike Lawlor, not Andrew McDonald.

“It was Dick Blumenthal by not doing his job in the Kerrigan case,” Wolfgang said.

And McMahon, with her enormous resources, represents the GOP’s best hope of blocking the man whose approval rating approaches 80 percent.
 
What about Vinny Forras, the sole anti-abortion candidate running for Senate? Or Peter Schiff, whose message of fiscal conservatism has won him some friends among social conservatives as well.
 
“Vinny Forras is the only true pro-life candidate in the race but he is a minor…candidate,” Wolfgang said. 

Schiff has an “iron sharp intellect,” Wolfgang said, adding that “no one doubts that this man is a true fiscal conservative.” But Schiff’s libertarian views include support of abortion rights. 

“Conservatives need to think strategically,” Wolfgang said, and that might mean going with McMahon and her massive war chest, even if Rowe and others wrestle with the implicatiuons of the former WWE CEO serving in the U.S. Senate.
 
“Our Number One concern is that Blumenthal not be a U.S. Senator,” Wolfgang said. “Our Number Two concern is that Rob Simmons not be the Republican nominee.”

Barnett said that Simmons has won the backing of several conservatives, notably former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, state Sen. Rob Kane, Mayor Peter Nystrom, state Rep. Marilyn Giuliano, and others. 

“Rob is pro-choice,” Barnett added, “and he respects people who have other views…he thinks the Republican party is big enough for both perspectives.”

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post indicated McMahon opposed the federal Defense of Marriage Act. “Linda supports DOMA because she supports states rights,” her spokesman, Shawn McCoy said in an email. “She does not support repealing it.” In an interview earlier this month with Mark Pazniokas of the CT Mirror, McMahon expressed reservations about the DOMA and said same-sex marriage is a “state’s rights issue.”

According to McCoy, “Linda opposes a federal law banning same-sex marriage.”

The Morris Republican Town Committee has taken back its endorsement of 5th District candidate Justin Bernier and given it to one of his intra-party rivals, Sam Caligiuri.

Both candidates hope to unseat U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, but “Sam’s background and experience particularly in larger cities like Waterbury give him a much better chance of winning,” Morris GOP leader Jerry Hickey said this afternoon. “It’s absolutely imperative that we get rid of Chris Murphy.’

UPDATE: On Thursday Bernier announced that he’s picked up the endorsements of the Bethel and Bethlehem RTCs.

“‘With his military service and background in economics, Justin Bernier is the best Republican candidate and will draw the clearest contrast with Chris Murphy,” Bethlehem selectman and RTC member Ed Roden said in a statement.

The Morris town committee endorsed Bernier months ago, Hickey said, back when Caligiuri was still a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Hickey said there some town committee members were initially reluctant to switch their endorsement. “We don’t like to go back on our commitments, but after having met with Sam on two occasions, we just felt he was what’s required to win in.”

It’s not the first time one of Bernier’s fellow Republicans have pulled the rug out from under him: Nancy Johnson, the former occupant of the seat both men covet, also switched her endorsement from Bernier to Caligiuri.

Joe Lieberman says he’s weighed “all the pluses and minuses” and decided to vote “yes” on health care reconcilliation.

But from his comments today on the Senate floor, it sounds like it wasn’t an easy decision.

His full statement:

“Let me begin with the beginning before us now. The Reconciliation Act that is before us preserves most but not all of the health care reform the Senate adopted and I voted for in December.  I concluded then and repeat now that together these measures achieve real change in the three big areas in which our health care system needs to be changed: reforming health care delivery to put a brake on the skyrocketing costs of care for individuals, families, businesses, and our government; better regulating health insurance companies to protect consumers, including those with pre-existing conditions; and helping millions of middle income Americans who can’t afford health insurance now to buy it.  For me it is particularly noteworthy that the Senate bill plus the Reconciliation Act achieves all that progress without a government takeover of health care or health insurance.

“That would have been a very costly, deficit-exploding mistake, and would have fundamentally and adversely altered the traditional American balance of power between the public and private sectors that has worked so well over our history to create economic growth and opportunity and to build the American middle class. That is why I opposed the “so-called” public option so strenuously and why I am so grateful that it is not in the Reconciliation Act the House has sent us. 

“Those are the big and good things I really appreciate in this health care reform package.

“What worries me about it? First, the size of this proposal concerns me, particularly at this time of national fiscal indebtedness and economic stress. I wish we had chosen to achieve health care reform, step-by-step, beginning with delivery reforms that would lower health costs, and then moving on to expand middle-class access to affordable health insurance and more aggressively regulating health insurance companies.  But there was never enough bipartisan support for such step-by-step reform; I know because I tried to find it.  So, now, along with each of my colleagues, I must vote on the proposal we have before us, not on one I wish we had before us.
 
“

“My biggest concerns about this proposal are its prospective fiscal consequences. I worry that the savings this bill achieves in Medicare and the revenue it raises from new Medicare taxes to help pay for health care reform will soon be urgently needed to save Medicare itself from running out of money that it needs to pay the bills for seniors’ health care.  And most of all I worry that the bottom line, consequences of this health care reform will be to increase our already ominous national debt. 

“I am, of course, greatly encouraged by the conclusion of the independent non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that this health care reform legislation will not only not increase the debt but actually decrease it by more than a trillion dollars over the next two decades, and that its savings in Medicare will not only pay for part of health care reform but actually extend the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund.   According to the Chief Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the solvency of the Trust Fund will be extended by ten years as a result of the Senate health care reform bill that is now law.

“However, for those good and significant things to happen, future Congresses will have to be very disciplined and keep the promises that are made in this legislation to reform health care delivery to cut costs.  Most of these reforms will over time be opposed by providers and beneficiaries.  The record of Congress in resisting such pressure to stick with the costly status quo is not encouraging. 

“In the end, after weighing all the plusses and minuses, I have decided to vote for this health care reform package, choosing its real change over the broken status quo, raising my hopes above my fears, and adding a personal prayer that future Congresses and Presidents do not weaken the reforms in this bill that will stop the constant increases in health care and health insurance costs and help reduce our national debt.

“That will happen best if we can achieve the bipartisanship in overseeing the implementation of this historic healthcare reform legislation that we unfortunately were not able to achieve in its passage.”

. 

Zach Howell, national chairman of the College Republicans sent out an ominious-sounding fundraising email yesterday, after President Obama signed the health care bill “$1 trillion dollar government takeover of our healthcare system.”

Howell makes a pitch for donations and says College Republicans will be launching a 25-person field program targeting Congressional Democrats who supported the measure.

“Democrats like Bart Stupak, Dick Durbin, Henry Waxman, Max Baucus, John Dingell, and Sandy Levin will in the crosshairs of the College Republicans in 2010, who will, like the last 118 years, be on the front lines ensuring democrats like these aren’t re-elected,” Howell writes. “Join us today in helping defeat the Democrats in November. Mortgaging the future of young people has consequences and Nov. 3, 2010 will be judgment day.”

The Republican have long painted Richard Blumenthal as lawsuit-happy, but this time, they want the Democratic attorney general to take legal action to stop implementation of the health care overhaul.

“Where is Dick Blumenthal when we need him?” state GOP Chairman Chris Healy said in a press release. “Our attorney general should put partisan politics aside and protect our rights as patients and tax payers. This legislation is the broadest grab of federal power over the states ever and our elected leaders should resist it with all legal weapons available.”

According to CNN, 14 AGs filed suit today to block the health care bill. Florida AG Bill McCollum’s lawsuit was joined by his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota Texas, Utah and Washington, CNN reports. Virginia’s AG, Ken Cuccinelli, filed a separate case in his state Tuesday afternoon.

 “Dick Blumenthal always says he wants to protect and fight for consumers,” Healy said. “Now is the time to fight for Connecticut’s rights as consumers and taxpayers. This health care bill is an assault on freedom and it interferes with the state’s ability to provide services in an equitable manner.”

The latest Simmons web ad takes aim at WWE’s raunchy past and the McMahon camp strikes back.

“Rob Simmons lost a 38-point lead in this primary and now trails Linda by 10 points because he’s more focused on boats, wrestling and negative attacks than he is on job creation,” said McMahon spokesman Shawn McCoy.

Watch for yourself.

Rick Torres, a Republican running in the 4th District against incumbent Democrat Jim Himes, took Himes to task for his support of the health care bill.

“Jim Himes has betrayed the people of this district with his vote,” Torres said in a statement.  “The public is outraged at the fiscal chicanery which has not honestly portrayed the costs of the bill.  And they are stunned at the arrogance of the Congress in the dishonest process they have utilized to pass this legislation.  At a time when our country is suffering through a severe and devastating recession, Himes is casting a vote which will hurt the ability of our economy to create new jobs.” 

Torres denounced the bill, saying it is chock full of “new middle-class taxes and government spending, numerous federal boards and bureaucracies, mandates and penalties, an entitlement expansion…unprecedented taxpayer funding of abortion…[and] flagrant inequities: special back-room deals at the expense of Connecticut taxpayers for Florida, Nebraska, and Louisiana.”

Lamont, who chaired Obama’s campaigns in the state, said the federal bill will provide a good foundation for Connecticut-based efforts to make health care more affordable to small- and medium-sized businesses.

“For the state that’s dead last in job creation with some of the highest health care costs in the country, health care reform cannot come soon enough,” Lamont, a Democrat running for governor, said in a statement.

“Let’s make sure that Connecticut is prepared to take full advantage of the legislation passed last night, making health care more affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses in our state and giving them the financial freedom to hire new employees.      

“As Governor, I will work to build on President Obama’s health care reform efforts here in Connecticut, promoting smart prevention efforts, expanding electronic health records, and inviting small and medium businesses, as well as towns, to join a large insurance purchasing pool, giving them the bargaining power needed to save money.” 

Never mind what David Frum says: Minority Leader John Boehner’s call to repeal the health care bill is getting a warm reception from several prominent Republican candidates in Connecticut.

Three GOP candidates for U.S. Senate, Rob Simmons, Linda McMahon and Peter Schiff, all back the idea. 

“This is not the time to give up and go home. Now is the time to fight. We will take this battle all the way to November, and we will win,” Simmons said in an email to supporters. “Stand up and fight with me to repeal this bill and restore the American free enterprise system that has been the envy of the world for more than 200 years.

“Linda absolutely supports repealing this misguided bill, which increases the deficit, adds to the debt, raises premiums on working families, slashes Medicare, and places an even greater burden on small businesses with higher costs and mandates,” says McMahon spokesman Shawn McCoy. “Linda believes we need common sense, bipartisan health care reform to address unsustainable rising costs.”

Schiff also favors repeal, said his spokeswoman, Jennifer Millikin.

“Our political leaders have once again chosen to offer us an entitlement, instead of solving the underlying problems in our health care system that prior acts of congress helped create,” Schiff said in a statement.

“Common sense dictates that prior to adding a new entitlement Congress should first solve the huge problems in the ones that already exist.  Such sheer incompetence reinforces that we need to send people to Washington who aren’t politicians and who understand what drives markets and business, otherwise we’re never going to turn our economy around. We’ll continue to fall back to mediocrity, instead of being the world leader we should be.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is keeping track of which Republicans have taken the repeal pledge. The DSCC clearly hopes to make political hay out of opposition to the health care overhaul.

“”Republicans in Washington want their Senate candidates to run on the repeal of health care reform, and many like Mark Kirk, Kelly Ayotte, and Trey Greyson have succumbed to the pressure from the establishment,” said DSCC Spokesman Eric Schultz.

“Others, like Mike Castle, Jane Norton, and John Boozman have dodged the question. We believe that every Republican should be clear on if they would support the repeal of health care reform if elected to the Senate. If Mike Castle is going to look voters in the eye and pledge to repeal health care reform which will have afforded coverage to 109,000 Delawareans, eliminated the doughnut hole for seniors, offered tax credits to small businesses, lowered the deficit, and ended appalling insurance practices  – then good luck to him.”

What about the House? Three Republicans running against Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy in the 5th have taken the pledge.

“This matter is not finished,” Justin Bernier said in an email to supporters last night, “because it will take at least two years to fully implement the bill, we have time to put on the brakes.

“By electing a Republican House we can ‘starve the beast’ — denying billions of dollars in funding necessary to implement the bill.  Without that funding, the takeover cannot take effect. To stop this bill we must win back the House. Furthermore, I believe Republicans should continue to propose low-cost and no-cost improvements to the health care system, even if the Democratic leadership will not listen.”

Republican Mark Greenberg, who is also seeking to unseat Murphy, backs repeal of a bill that he says puts the nation on course for European-style socialism.

“When I am elected to Congress, I will fight to repeal this disastrous piece of legislation.  We can find ways to lower the cost of heath care without government intervention.  You don’t tear down the whole house to repair the kitchen floor,” Greenberg said in a statement.
 
“This trillion dollar, job-killing piece of legislation endangers our children and grandchildren, and will saddle them with a debt that they can never repay.”
 
“One has to wonder what is next?  The Obama -Murphy agenda has us clearly on the path to European socialism.”

Another Republican running in the 5th, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, was the first candidate for federal office from Connecticut to sign the Club for Growth’s “Repeal It!” pledge, said his spokeswoman, Tiffany Romero Grossman.

Lembo, the state’s health care advocate, said he was moved by last night’s vote in the House.

“Perfect or not, this legislation finally gives hope to Americans who have suffered the financial and emotional stress of being without health insurance, and I look forward to meeting opponents on the campaign trail in the coming months,” Lembo said in a statement.

“If Republicans truly believe it is okay to deny coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions, health status and gender, that it is okay to set lifetime limits on coverage, and okay to drop coverage when it is needed most, I welcome that debate.”

Lembo is exploring a run for lieutenant governor. In other Lembo news, he recently received the endorsement of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

“Kevin’s career demonstrates a deep commitment to public service and to making government work for everyone,” Victory Fund President and CEO Chuck Wolfe said in a statement announcing the endorsement. “His victory will be an affirmation of openness and honesty in politics, so we are proud to stand with him in this important and exciting campaign.”

If elected, Lembo would be among the highest-ranking gay elected officials in the U.S. 

While he congratulated Congress, and the state’s Democratic delegation in particular, for passing the health care bill, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Malloy said the state needs to tackle the issue as well.

“This progress should serve as a reminder of not only what government can accomplish, but also of the work still left to be done in Connecticut.”

Sam Caligiuri, a Republican hoping to unseat Democrat Chris Murphy in the 5th District, said he’s ready to debate the health care overhaul, which Murphy supported and Caligiuri did not.

The Lt. Governor says the bill is “particularly harmful” to residents of Connecticut because “about 95 percent of our citizens do have health insurance.”

Murphy, a Democrat representing the 5th District, was the target last summer of much wrath from those opposed to the health care overhaul.

Rob Simmons, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, said tonight’s vote will be remembered “as one of history’s worst examples of Washington thumbing its nose at the American people.”

“Rather than listen to the voters, Democrats engaged in a series of legislative tricks to force through a partisan rewriting of one-sixth of the American economy,” Simmons said in a statement. “In the face of record unemployment, shrinking family budgets and unprecedented deficit spending, Democrats have chosen to jam through a bill that will raise taxes, increase premiums and without the bill’s accounting gimmicks, raise the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

“The American people have sent a loud and clear message to Democrats: uncontrolled spending, special back-room deals and business as usual are no longer acceptable. This November, Connecticut voters will have a choice between my vision of lower taxes, less government spending and patient-centered health care reform that controls costs, or Richard Blumenthal who will serve as a rubber stamp for Democrats’ tax and spend agenda.”

“Chris Murphy did not vote for the meaningful health care reforms we need – he voted for significant tax increases, new entitlement programs, an unconstitutional individual mandate, Medicare cuts, and premium rate increases for seniors,” said Sam Caligiuri, a Republican running against U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy in the 5th District.

“In just three short years, Murphy has been completely absorbed by the increasingly out of touch Pelosi-led majority.  I look forward to bringing more responsible, responsive leadership to voters in the Fifth District, and taking on the fight to repeal the most disastrous parts of this bill.  Given the policies Murphy has supported in the past three years, we literally cannot afford to send him to Washington for another two years.”

State GOP Chairman Chris Healy calls tonight’s vote “illegal” and predicts it’s impact will be  “disasterous.”