Connecticut Local Politics

One of the better teachers I knew back when I was still faculty at a local high school was a young guy, maybe five to ten years older than me. He’d been in the military and had done a lot of other things, as I remember. I ran the school paper (for some reason) and [...]

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After the president’s speech tonight, Rep. Courtney will be discussing their reactions to the speech and health care in general with his guest, Dr. Dinesh Kapur, the Medical Director of Oncology at The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. Dr. Kapur is also an Attending Physician in Hematology, Oncology and Internal Medicine. You can watch [...]

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This is a nice post to do today, when it seems like the debate over health care is starting to shift into the legislative endgame.
Rep. Joe Courtney held a telephone town hall on health care on August 24th. According to what Brian Farber, Deputy Chief of Staff/Communications Director for Rep. Courtney, said near the end [...]

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Here are the final questions from the Town Hall Meeting held by Second District Congressman Joe Courtney.
22. You haven’t taken my phone calls, your office has not responded to my questions so I came here in person. I am a small business owner. My standards are “profit and simplicity” (Loud cheers from [...]

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Continuing the saga of last night’s, September 2, 2009, Town Hall Meeting held by Second District Congressman Joe Courtney.
15. The collection of people in this hall is less than one percent of a voting precinct. Please don’t let a skewed audience swing your vote. (Shouts and rumblings from the audience). A [...]

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My account of last night’s, September 2, 2009, Town Hall Meeting with Second District Congressman Joe Courtney continues below. For those interested in a shorter summary than my many part tome may chose to the account in the New London DAY or the Norwich Bulletin.
We are picking up the questioning with the seventh question [...]

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I attended the Town Hall Meeting that Second District Congressman Joe Courtney held at Montville High School tonight, September 2, 2009. Because of the length of the Town Hall Meeting and the over twenty questions asked, I am splitting the report into two or more posts, one tonight and the others throughout the day [...]

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According to today’s New London DAY Daria Novak, a business person from Madison, CT is planning to challenge for the Republican nomination for 2nd District Congressperson. She joins Glastonbury Republican Matthew Daly on the hustings. Neither of these Republican candidates have much, if any, name recognition in Eastern Connecticut so it will [...]

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Rep. Joe Courtney makes a strong argument for a public option in his opening remarks on health care reform in the House Education and Labor committee. Courtney reminds those members of Congress who are against government-run health care that they all benefit from just that.
I think this is one of the better speeches I’ve seen [...]

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This morning, June 29, 2009, 2nd District Congressman Joe Courtney, defended his YES vote for the recently passed House Energy Bill to the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut. Courtney recognized that there were a number of questions regarding the bill but pointed out that the energy bill has been under discussion in the [...]

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Rep. Joe Courtney, other members of Congress, AARP, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) are holding a press conference today at 10:00am to emphasize the importance of including language that protects patients by ending the practice of pre-existing condition exclusions in any final healthcare reform package. Rep. Courtney introduced a bill this [...]

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I contacted Rep. Joe Courtney and the “Armada” trade mission to the European Union using Skype today (Saturday 6/6), and recorded our conversation. The trade mission, which began Thursday and will run for two more days, is focused on building connections between Connecticut businesses and EU markets. Anne Evans of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s [...]

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CTNJ has the story: John Larson is spearheading efforts to institute a national public campaign financing law similar to Connecticut’s landmark 2005 reform.
Under Larson’s proposed legislation, candidates for the US House of Representatives would be required to raise 1,500 contributions of no more than $100 from constituents in their district. The qualifying limit to receive [...]

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Rep. Joe Courtney and the Commerce department are putting together a delegation of small and local businesses that will head to Europe in the summer to explore new businesses opportunities for the state. They are, for some reason, calling it an “Armada.”
From the release:
The Armada Business Development Mission will include European Union business briefings along [...]

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Back in November, Rep. Joe Courtney sent a letter to Gov. Jodi Rell complaining that eastern Connecticut had been overlooked when federal stimulus dollars intended for foreclosure assistance were distributed.
Well, according to this editorial in The Day from Tuesday, New London and Norwich (along with Danbury) will receive some of the money after all. However, [...]

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Democrat Roger Pearson of Greenwich, a potential primary challenger to Sen. Chris Dodd, will be appearing on WFSB’s “Face the State” this Sunday at 11:00am. He’ll be talking about why he’s thinking of challenging Dodd.
Also appearing will be Rep. Joe Courtney to talk about the stimulus, and I will also be appearing to offer analysis [...]

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CT-4 Freshman Congressman Jim Himes has beat out all of his longer serving colleagues in the CT Congressional delegation in this quarter’s fundraising, having raised an impressive $422,138. Of that, $230,154 came from individuals and $191,839 from PACs. Clearly Himes is out to prove he’s not going be as easy to pick off in 2010 [...]

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From The Onion The Hill:
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is not ruling out running as a Democratic candidate in his reelection race in 2012.
Lieberman said on Thursday that he has been asked by friends about the possibility of returning to the party that nominated him for vice president in 2000.
…
“It’s a ways away,” Lieberman told The [...]

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Rep. Joe Courtney recorded a short audio reaction to the president’s speech. Listen to it here (MP3).
I thought Obama did very well, for the most part. What did you think?

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In an effort to reach out to constituents, Rep. Joe Courtney has launched a YouTube channel, which you can see at http://www.youtube.com/user/repcourtney. Said Courtney via press release:
“With the advance of new media technology, I want to make sure that my constituents can follow my work wherever they are and whenever they want,” stated Courtney. [...]

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