Connecticut Local Politics

MetroHartford Alliance chief Nelson ‘Oz’ Griebel announced yesterday that he is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination at an event at the State Capitol in Hartford:
“We have to combat our problems and opportunities with a different attitude, with a much more private sector approach,” Griebel said.
His website can be found at http://www.ozforgovernor.com.
Mr. Griebel joins a [...]

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President Barack Obama will fulfill his constitutional obligation as required by Article II, Section 3 this evening when he delivers his first official State of the Union Address.
Numerous news sources have already reported that he will propose a spending freeze on discretionary non-defense related spending. The news has U.S. Rep. Jim Himes warning local leaders [...]

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A new study out by the Center for Public Integrity ranked Connecticut 12th in the nation and graded us a “C” for the financial disclosures required of elected officials.
The revelation has sparked a couple of stories (Stamford Advocate and CT Mirror) in recent days analyzing whether more disclosure should be demanded of those in state government.
Some advocates believe [...]

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I had to check this morning if I was reading the press release of the new Quinnipiac Poll or a Marvel Comic book. (Where’s Connecticut Bob with his Mad Photoshop Skilz when I need him?) Check out this breathy opening paragraph:
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has 35 to 47-point leads over three Republican candidates [...]

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I had the chance to chat with Jerry Labriola, who has announced a run for the Republican nomination for the 3rd Congressional District seat held by Rosa DeLauro (D-New Haven). The district stretches from Stratford to Middletown, from Waterbury to Guilford, with Labriola residing in Wallingford. DeLauro usually wins by a landslide, but this year’s [...]

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If you want to know exactly just how unpopular Senator Joe Lieberman in CT with his former party, consider this from the latest PPP poll
Barack Obama’s approval rating with Connecticut Republicans (15%) is higher than Lieberman’s with the state’s Democrats (14%). But if Joe’s thinking of running as a Republican, well, they don’t love him [...]

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PPP should probably get the “Most Serendipitously Timely Poll of the Year” Award for this one (PDF). And it’s news that’s bound to have Rob Simmons, Linda McMahon and Peter Schiff reaching for the Tums.
Chris Dodd’s retirement has shifted one of the Democrats’ most vulnerable seats to one of their safest…Attorney General RichardBlumenthal with [...]

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Just had a breaking news announcement from the Washington Post moments ago, that Senator Chris Dodd has scheduled a press conference for later today (Wednesday) at which he is expected to announce that he will not run for re-election in November.
According to the Post’s Chris Cillizza:
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is widely expected [...]

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Remember the strange not so little matter of $567,000 of in-kind donations in Linda McMahon’s 3Q FEC report? The ones The New London Day’s ace reporter Ted Mann questioned in a piece on Dec 11th because they appeared to obfuscate the identity of who was providing what to McMahon’s campaign?
Those outlays are for “computer support,” [...]

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Connecticut just won a “spirited” vote on Public Policy Polling for which state should be polled next. PPP goes into the field tonight.
They’re asking some interesting questions:
-We’ll test Chris Dodd against the trio of Republican candidates but we’ll also look at how Richard Blumenthal or Chris Murphy might do as a Democratic alternative.
-We’ll look [...]

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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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An internal poll for the Dodd campaign conducted December 15-17 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research among 601 likely Connecticut voters found Dodd and McMahon locked in a dead heat with 46 percent of the vote apiece, and the Senator trailing Rob
Simmons by a margin of 46 to 51 percent.
This poll tried to feel out [...]

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The McMahon campaign sent out an email to supporters today showing the results of an internal poll conducted by Hans Kaiser of Moore Information during December 15-16, 2009 among 400 likely Republican voters in the state. According to Ed Patru, McMahon’s communications director, the results show:
remarkable momentum for Linda, even as the numbers paint a [...]

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Former Shays for Congress Campaign Manager Michael Sohn has been arrested by the FBI following a lengthy investigation into charges that Mr. Sohn embezzled campaign funds.
After Shays failed re-election bid in 2008, it came to light that there were major problems with the campaign’s finances.  Speculation quickly focused on Mr. Sohn, who had moved back and [...]

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Justin Bernier, one of the GOP candidates running for Congress in the 5th Congressional District speaking to Goshen RTC:
“I am still running for Congress. I am not running for governor. I am not running for Senate.”
I’m so glad he clarified, because it’s been getting mighty confusing around here what with all the musical office seeking. [...]

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One of Ghenghis Conn’s last pearls of wisdom before he left on what I hope is just a short sabbatical (c’mon, you know you miss us Ghenghis…) was:
John Larson and Rosa DeLauro could be running against Hiram Bingham’s zombie and still win.
I make no comparisons here, of course, but merely report the news that [...]

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The Hartford Courant reports that according to Kevin Rennie’s Facebook page, one of his friends says that:
GOP Senate hopeful Tom Foley told the West Hartford Republicans last night that he is considering hightailing it into the less competitive race for governor. He’ll decide in 2 week’ developing…’sounds like decision has been made
Wow. I feel like [...]

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This evening the Senate passed the motion for debate on the healthcare bill.
Here’s what Senator Dodd, who took over work on the HELP committee for his ailing friend and colleague, the late Senator Edward Kennedy, had to say:
if you’ve watched the debate here in the Senate over the past few days, you’ve probably [...]

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The comments section knows all. 
State Rep. Jason Bartlett has been arrested for driving on a suspended license:
Newtown Police Sgt. Dominic Costello says Bartlett was pulled over by an officer who saw him driving while speaking on his cell phone, without a hands free device. After a short investigation, the officer determined that his registration had [...]

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Don Michak of the Journal Inquirer(subscription only) had interesting piece on November 4th that got lost in the election day shuffle. Apparently, on one day last summer, GOP senate contender Rob Simmons took in nearly $105,000 of campaign cash from contributors associated with the coal industry, according to FEC records.
The money, which amounted [...]

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