Connecticut Local Politics

The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut and the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce cohosted the annual Economic Breakfast this morning in New London. The Glass is half full or half empty. The Economy is picking up or it is not. This was truly a day when all agreed with the late [...]

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Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. This afternoon Governor Rell vetoed both of the deficit reduction bills passed by the legislature during special session on December 21st.
The Democrats managed to trim state spending by a feeble $12.4 million,” Rell said in her statement. “It is a repeat of the same pattern we [...]

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The latest rounds of the Simmons-McMahon-Schiff feud were fought over the weekend. See this, this, that, this, and this.  It includes a discussion about whether Abe Lincoln would have beat Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania IX. 
Ok, I made that last bit up.  The Hulk would have dominated Abe Lincoln and everyone knows it. 
House Republican Leader Larry Cafero [...]

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In Governor M. Jodi Rell’s speech  before the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce yesterday in Ansonia, she took the Democratically-controlled Legislature to task for not taking action on the state’s budget deficit:
“When our legislature can come in — gavel in and gavel out — and not accomplish anything but the pledge of allegiance, that’s a sad [...]

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According to CT News Junkie, while the Legislature was doing nothing inside their respective Chambers, out in the hallway Legislators were talking about what to do with the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP), the state’s publicly funded election system.
One of the program’s most prominent supporters, Rep. Chris Caruso, and an apparent critic, Sen. Edith Prague:
Caruso believes [...]

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While UCONN football fans try to figure out the best way to get to Birmingham, Alabama (Looks like Southwest), the State of Connecticut is trying to figure out how to pay its bills.  It isn’t going well.
After months of paying unemployment benefits to the swelled ranks of the unemployed, the State’s Unemployment Fund is out of cash.  The State [...]

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The State of Connecticut has a deficit of $549 million, according to State Comptroller Nancy Wyman:
Wyman said receipts of the income tax remain weak, despite an increase in the tax rate for upper-income residents. Collection of the quarterly estimated income tax payments typically made by investors is down by nearly 29.4 percent, Wyman said, and [...]

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While the highways, airports, and train stations fill with travelers, enjoy an evening open forum.
The Governor wants a special session before Christmas to overhaul the Citizens’ Election Program and re-balance the budget.
U.S. Senate candidate/prospective CT Governor candidate Tom Foley speaks.
Were you excited for the sales tax cut that was supposed to happen January 1?  Don’t [...]

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According to a report by ABC News, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Stimulus) has created 25 jobs in Connecticut’s 42nd Congressional District.
In Connecticut’s 42nd District (which also does not exist), the website claims 25 jobs created with zero stimulus dollars.
Thankfully, here in Connecticut it didn’t cost any money to create jobs in a Congressional [...]

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Per the Connecticut Post:
All I want is exactly what Sonia Finch, the first lady of Bridgeport, has — a law enforcement chauffeur to shuttle me where I want to go and be at my beck and call. Election night taxpayers footed the bill for the Park City’s first lady to join her husband Mayor Bill [...]

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Back in September when the State Legislature passed a budget, many people raised concern about the extent to which borrowing was relied on to make it balance.  Perhaps no feature better defined this budget than borrowing $1.3 billion against “undefined future revenue streams”. 

CT State Budget Deficit
But with revenue continuing to sag, the red ink on the FY2010 [...]

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Sen. Joe Lieberman announced today that he would be a thorn in the side of those trying to pass a health care reform package with a government-sponsored plan:
“We’re trying to do too much at once,” Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the [...]

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According to The Day’s Ted Mann, Governor Jodi Rell’s budget strategy over the last several months has been shaped by the results of a state-funded focus group and the political advice of a UCONN Professor’s research:
That political input included the convening of a focus group as Rell was drafting her budget proposal in December 2008, a [...]

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“We don’t have a budget agreement. We have a budget disagreement.”
-Speaker Christopher Donovan, on the ongoing budget impasse. Yes, we still have one.
Work on the budget may finish this week, or maybe not.

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Governor Rell will veto the proposed fee increases offered by the Democratically-controlled Legislature:
““I will veto the revenue bill which contains about $60 million in fees over the next two years,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday morning after the state Bond Commission meeting.
The public is paying close attention right now and they’re saying ‘Enough already’,” [...]

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The State Senate yesterday approved $50 million in fee increases yesterday, including increases in just about every DMV fee.
The fee increases seem to mainly be because of an amendment that no one wants to take credit for.
The legislature will be coming back into session this afternoon to finish up the budget. Maybe.

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There’s activity at the Capitol tonight as the legislature tries to get its act together to finalize the budget and take care of other business. As usual, they are taking their time.
Here’s what’s going on:
The probate court system consolidation has been approved by the House.
Minority Leader Larry Cafero and Speaker Christopher Donovan sparred over various [...]

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Gov. Rell told us, during her press conference in which she announced that instead of signing or vetoing the budget, she was going to take a short break, that to make us all feel better she was going to line-item veto some pork.
It turned out that under the Constitution, she wasn’t allowed to [...]

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Governor M. Jodi Rell’s approval rating has dipped to a new low according to a new Quinnipiac Poll.  59% of those surveyed expressed approval for the Governor’s job performance compared to 34% declaring disapproval.  
Poll Director Doug Schwartz described the new numbers this way:
Gov. Rell’s approval is down six points to 59 percent. She has hit an all-time low, [...]

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As part of her non-signing of the budget bill last week (it goes into effect late today) Gov. Jodi Rell said she would veto $8 million in spending that she referred to as “pork.”
Turns out that pork will stand after all. Oink!
Apparently there is the possibility of a court fight, and Gov. Rell doesn’t really [...]

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