Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Open Forum

Lots of interesting stuff going on.

Ned Lamont held a meet-and-greet last night in Hartford. CT News Junkie was there, as was a distinctly unfriendly Mayor Eddie Perez.

In non-Lamont news, John Larson has a Republican challenger. Poor guy.

Sen. Tom Colapietro, whose 31st district is on our list of legislative races to watch, will probably have the same challenger as he did in 2004, when he won his race by only about 5%.

And sadly, the Winchester plant in New Haven announced that it was closing. Another little piece of our history slips away...

What else is happening today?

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perez's defense of Lieberman is not surprising, given their common membership in the DLC club. May be an indication of Joe's level of anxiety.

Genghis Conn said...

If Kos is right, and Lieberman "...is freaking out, going so far as to demand that the Dem senate caucus help him eliminate this primary threat," then maybe that's exactly what it is.

Anonymous said...

MikeCT said...

Perez's defense of Lieberman is not surprising, given their common membership in the DLC club. May be an indication of Joe's level of anxiety.

----
Perez's defense of Lieberman is not suprising because Perez gets it. Having a Senator from this state who is a ranking member on important Senate Committees is good for Hartford and Good for Connecticut. Lieberman has consistently delievered for this State, and with the exception of his stance on Iraq his record is almost identical to Dodd's (I think their Iraq related votes are the same as well, its only Lieberman's publicity that gets people upset).

Perez is a good democrat, he works hard to support Democratic Senate Candidates throughout the country and has quietly become a player in the Democratic Party nationally. He wouldn't abandon another democrat when he doesn't agree with him on one issue...the Democratic Party is a big tent, disagreements are going to happen and that's ok.

Maybe if we should take a que from Perez and put as much effort into getting Dems elected as we are into attacking one of our own, we'd see a democratic Congressman in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th and might even end the 15 year streak of an R in the Governor's mansion.

ctkeith said...

Hey MikeCt,

You think any of this would have happened without at least tacit support of those three Dem contenders you mentioned in your comment.

One more thing,
Please tell me what Lieberman has delivered.Last I heard this state is last in job creation but still gets back less than 80 cents on every dollar we deliver to DC.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about return on the dollar but the state is not last in job creation and hasn't been for a while ...

Connecticut is ranked last over a 15-year span, thanks to the policies of Bill O'Neill and Lowell Weicker, not to mention John Rowland. If you look at the more recent numbers, however, Connecticut is actually 26th -- not anything to cheer about, but hardly last in the nation, and probably reflective of Connecticut's historic inability to quickly bounce back from recessions.

DeStefano loves to trot out that last-in-the-nation crap, but it's an open question whether he knows it's untrue and says it anyway, or really doesn't understand the report he's citing.

Anonymous said...

ctkeith,

You're getting me confused with mod.dem.like.jfk - note that he quoted me, then made his own comments - which I would not agree with.

Anonymous said...

Perez's visit to Lamont shouldn't surprise anyone. The mayor's staff is rife with Lieberman connections: his chief of staff, Matt Hennessy, is the son-in-law of Sherry Brown, a top Lieberman aide who recently became fodder for the national blogs for encouraging supporters to sway a Courant online poll. Hennessy apparently accompanied Perez last night. And Perez's director of constituent services, Susan McMullen, comes from this same pipeline.

Anonymous said...

"I feel a little like Admiral [James] Stockdale. Remember him? `Who am I? Why am I here?'" Lamont said, a wry reference to Ross Perot's vice presidential candidate in 1992, who appeared adrift during a televised debate.is a quote from the posted Courant article

If Lamont knew what he was talking about he'd know that Admiral Stockdale, who was a commander of POW's in Vietnam that came back home and stayed in the Navy, was unimpressed by Gore and Quayle who later played political ping pong to the right and left of him because he was used to getting things done. I didn't like Perot but Stockdale was a class act until the day he died last year.

Lamont's down ten clicks with me already and I'm no Joe vote!

Genghis Conn said...

Daffy,

Agreed about Admiral Stockdale. He was a very intelligent and philosophical man (his book about being a POW can be read as a treatise on stoicism), and I liked him a great deal.

But unfortunately, that line is what he'll be remembered for.

Anonymous said...

G.C.: I will remember him for that line but I will also remember the line for what he meant by it as he later expalined to folks. If Lamont is going to play with the big boys he needs to know what he's talking about. There are lots of Vets who don't like the way the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is being handled but unlike some young kids they are looking for a real alternative not just the anti-Joe or anti-Bush.

Anonymous said...

mikect---

you are way off base with your attacks on the DLC-- it is funny that all of the real contenders for the Dem Presidential nomination in 2008 are using the DLC as a launching pad. Mark Warner, Hillary Clinton, Tom Vilsack, Evan Bayh-- and I believe John Edwards was a member of the DLC. (although I could be mistaken on Edwards). Progressive and DLC are not mutually exclusive "clubs" and if Democrats keep up with the lock-step labels-- the Democratic party will keep being marginalized nationally.

Anonymous said...

BranfordBoy said...

The complete transcript of Ned Lamont's remarks in Hartford have been posted at MyLeftNutmeg.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize the DLC was hurting the Democratic Party. Should we chastise them for providing a launching platfrom for Bill Clinton's 92 win and giving us the only Democratic President to be elected to two terms since FDR?

ctkeith said...

MikeCT,

Sorry for the mistake.

GC,

With all the formats available for websites don't you think your readers deserve a better one than this current abomination?

Genghis Conn said...

What, and spend money? Ha!

Seriously, if you can think of some improvements I could make around here, I'd be glad to hear them. Web designer I ain't.

Anonymous said...

Hey former state party official---

We have not had a sniff at the Governor's office since O'Neill-- a pretty long run and it looks like a non-race this time through.

Our "pretending to be progressive" state legislature has chickened out on campaign finance and equal marriage laws.

Maybe Democrats in CT should start worrying about the future of the party-- rather than eating it own.

Anonymous said...

CTkeith: Want some Lieberman accomplishments in Connecticut?


How about just a few weeks ago: Trying to solve the jobs issue in CT with some healthy Defense Spending by a ranking member on Armed Services:

Highlights for CT from the Defense Approps Budget:

--Electric Boat, Groton: $2.5 billion for one new Virginia-class attack submarine; $15 million for a multimission module for Virginia-class submarines; $1.8 million for research and development of large aperture bow array for Virginia-class submarines.

--Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford: $2 billion for 83 H-60 Blackhawk Army and Seahawk Navy helicopters; $272 million to develop the CH-53X Marine Corps heavy-lift helicopter.

--Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford and Middletown: $3.7 billion toward purchase of 24 F/A-22 Raptor Air Force fighter jets, which are powered by F-119 Pratt & Whitney engines; $5 billion to continue research and development of the Joint Strike Fighter, which will be outfitted with Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines; $3 billion to buy 15 C-17 Cargo Aircraft, which are powered by Pratt's F117-PW-100 engines; $21 million to continue upgrades to F-16 Air National Guard aircraft engines; $12.5 million to re-engine E-8C JSTARS surveillance aircraft with newer JT8D-219 engines.

--Hamilton Sundstrand, Windsor Locks: $2.5 million to develop the Electric Start System for large gas turbine engines onboard the Navy's Ticonderoga, Kidd and Arleigh Burke-class ships.

--Colt's Manufacturing Co., West Hartford: $63 million above President Bush's budget to procure additional M-4 rifles for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.

--Norden Systems, Norwalk: $2 million above Bush's budget to fund real-time precision targeting radar; $7.5 million above Bush's budget for color weather radar system for C-130 aircraft.

--FuelCell Energy, Danbury: $3.75 million to develop a one-megawatt fuel cell at Pearl Harbor Naval Base.

--Kaman Corp., Bloomfield: $3.75 million to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle that could be used to resupply soldiers deployed under combat conditions; $1 million to begin developing composite small main rotor blades for Army helicopters.

--Goodrich Pump and Engine Control Systems, West Hartford: $2 million for research and development of a full-authority digital engine control system for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and Mission Enhanced Little Bird helicopters.

--DRS Systems, Danbury: $1.5 million to continue research and development of a high-speed permanent magnet generator for use in electric propulsion and ship service generation; $1 million to develop a universal solid-state circuit breaker to improve lightweight generators on U.S. naval ships.

--Proton Energy, Wallingford: $1.25 million to develop hydrogen-oxygen regenerative fuel cell high-altitude technology.

--Fermont Corp., Bridgeport: $2 million to buy lightweight 100-kilowatt generators to meet the Army's power demands in Iraq.

--Moore Tool, Bridgeport: $1.75 million to continue research and development of precision micromanipulation and SuperPulse laser machine tool systems for work on turbine engines.

--Purdy Corp., Manchester: $4.5 million to supply the Army with key components for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter as the Army struggles to meet the surging demands being placed on these critical aircraft.

--Oxley, Branford: $5.25 million for research and development of a Future Medical Shelter System for the Army to deploy two mobile health care units, fully equipped with biological and chemical decontamination facilities.

--Invitrogen, Branford: $1.4 million for multipurpose biodefense immuno-arrays to accelerate development of vaccines against biological threats; assess the vulnerability of individuals and populations to specific biological threats; improve bioterrorism response; and develop core technology for detection and diagnostics.

--Z-Medica, Wallingford: $3 million for QuickClot high-tech wound treatment for use by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

--Hexcel, Southbury: $2.7 million to develop carbon fiber technologies to improve the materials used to protect airframes on such high-performance aircraft as the F-22 and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from high temperatures and other strains.

--Ensign-Bickford, Simsbury: $2.7 million to procure rapid wall breaching kits to provide troops with equipment for quickly breaking down walls in urban terrain operations.

(Moran, John. “Connecticut fares well in defense budget” The Hartford Courant 12/23/05)

That money = future Connecticut jobs

Anonymous said...

mod.dem.like.jfk, please stop trying to use facts as a basis for agrument. it will only confuse ctkeith.
mr rubenstein, Lieberman has in fact contributed and raised quite a bit of money to dems here in ct so just bc you say the opposite, doesnt make it true.
i find it terribly ironic that the same people who are chastising Lieberman for his ill-advised comments about limiting debate, are the same ones who insist that DLC dems are a detriment to the party bc they offer debate with the more progressive wing of the party. I like alot of the things the DLC says, i am tired people like rubesnstein trying to make me feel like i am not a democrat bc of that. instead of focusing on our differences, how bout focusing on what we have in common. if we ever took the time to do just that, i bet we would find alot more common ground than great divide. the best way to effecuate policy change is to first win elections. as dems, let's start doing that.

Anonymous said...

mod.dem.like.jfk

Are any of those companies also contributors to Lieberman?

In the interest of full disclosure, I've lost all respect for the man, since he hasn't had the decency to attend one funeral in Connecticut for our fallen military.

Anonymous said...

I know Democrats in elected office who say that Howard Dean frequently does not represent their views. Not all Democrats think Republicans are white Christians who have never made a living in their lives.

Anonymous said...

You're wasting your breath, Anon(1:48) ... You'll never persuade DF84 that the real reason Howard doesn't run the world is not that people aren't buying what he's selling (and haven't since a brief fling with it in the 1960s). In his mind there's only one reason: A vast moderate conspiracy.

Anonymous said...

Another case of the lackluster Rell administration, her Broadwater Task Force missed a Coast Guard filing deadline.

A simple thing, but hundreds of others made the filing dealine.

Anonymous said...

Two points ...

Looks like it was Brian Emerick, supervising environmental analyst at the DEP, one of the precious, hard working state employees democrats are so enamored of, who actually screwed this particular pooch.

Second, according to the story, Sen. Leonard Fasano, R-North Haven, said the Coast Guard's denial is “not that big of a deal.” The state will still be able to comment on the plan, he said, and once the formal application is filed the state may have another chance to request a review of compliance with coastal laws.

Anonymous said...

Anyone have any reaction to Scott MacLean, who wants to challenge John Larson?

Anonymous said...

represents the unrepresented

ROTFL

Honest, DF84, you're killin' me. Stop. Please. That's even funnier than yesterday's "I haven't demanded anything of Ned Lamont."

Anonymous said...

DeanFan, it's always a riot when you chastise others for stereotyping. I consider myself as part of the DLC crowd, and am not, in fact a K street loving whore.

Anonymous said...

Phantom:

Yes. My reaction is, lotsa luck, fella. You're gonna need it.

Anonymous said...

Early prediction:

If there is a primary:

Lieberman 59%
New Ned Lamont 41%

Dan Malloy will be bolstered by a Senate primary.

DeanFan84 blames the aformentioned "vast moderate conspiracy"

Anonymous said...

Anon(2:10) Mr. Emerick can't speak nor write for Gov. Rell. This process is moving forward without Rell, she has yet to "officially" question this project or present her views to the federal agencies charged to consider Broadwater's application.

Anonymous said...

Franks:

Maybe, maybe not. But that's not what you were complaining about, is it? You were complaining that "her" Broadwater Task Force - which is still meeting and has yet to report back - missed a deadline. It didn't. Some "lackluster" (to use your word) state employee did.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter whether or not it was a lackluster state employee or the employee of the month that screwed up. Rell is in charge and she is...well, you know...and this thing did seem to be some kind of a priority.

Anonymous said...

deanfan, thank you for your one-sided information regarding the DLC. I am aware if what and who they are. i dont agree with all that they do, however, i do think their views have, can and will play a vital part in our great party and will be part of winning back the white house in 2008. as i said, please try to work on finding common ground with members if your own party, not creating a larger divide.

Anonymous said...

Anon(3:25) That state employee at least had the sense to say something and question the review, Rell's still considering and awaiting her task force.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard questioned Broadwater's proponents.

Anonymous said...

Franks:

FWIW, Rell has said she is opposed to the LNG barge; she said so in August of last year.

The task force is working on a six-month timeline. It might be politically more expedient to rant now, but it would probably accomplish a lot less in terms of actual impact on siting, etc.

Maybe Rell is more interested in actually accomplishing something than scratching political itches.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

The Hartford Courant, Connecticut -- August 11, 2005
Aug. 11--Gov. M. Jodi Rell Wednesday authorized the formation of a task force to advise her on the liquefied natural gas facility planned by Broadwater Energy for Long Island Sound, stopping just short of saying she would oppose the project.

The task force, which was created by executive order after the legislature did not approve it during its session, will have 13 members, including the commissioners of six state agencies -- Environmental Protection, Public Health, Public Safety, Transportation, Agriculture, and Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

The remaining members will be appointed by the governor and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders.

Its purpose is mainly to advise the governor on how to proceed as the Broadwater proposal moves through its approval process.

"Connecticut has little to gain and, potentially, a great deal to lose if this project moves forward," Rell said in a statement noting the importance of Long Island Sound to Connecticut environmentally, economically and recreationally. "It does not make sense for our state, environmentally or economically, and I will fight on behalf of every citizen to make certain that our interests and the public health are safeguarded."

Anonymous said...

MacLean, 51, of Hartland, a television director and ordained clergyman with no political experience, is challenging Democrat John B. Larson, the Hartford area's four-term congressman.

"I can proudly say I have never run for political office before,... This is the first time ever. I haven't even made a political contribution before."


OK, I've heard enough from him.

Anonymous said...

Franks:

John DeStefano's web site, a news release dated August 10:
On Monday, President Bush signed an energy bill that includes a proposal for a natural gas storage facility (the Broadwater Natural Gas Facility) that Governor Rell described today in a press release as “a clear and imminent danger to our citizens and the environment.”


(DeStefano goes on to excoriate Rell for not opposing the project earlier, but according to the New Haven Advocate DeStefano had not announced his own opposition to the proposal by late August.)

Anonymous said...

Anon,

I agree that Rell says a great deal, but doing something? Awaiting a task force is a stall.

Anonymous said...

[Lamont's] campaign will focus on the war, civil liberties, affordable health care and a still-developing, wider agenda, he said.

Uh-oh

MikeCT said:
May be an indication of Joe's level of anxiety.


Sure. Could also be sound advice.

Let's see now. Nick or Eddie? Nick?... or, Eddie? Me, I'm thinking Eddie. Then again the DLC doesn't send me into convulsions.

How many people in Connecticut do you suppose go into convulsions over the DLC? Hint: most voters couldn't tell you the difference between the DLC and the DNC.

Daffy said:
There are lots of Vets who don't like the way the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is being handled but unlike some young kids they are looking for a real alternative not just the anti-Joe or anti-Bush.

On this subject, I had coffee with some of my much-to-my-left-friends-who-aren't-activists today, and their reaction was very close to this - we disagree profoundly about the neo-cons' war and we are extremely worried about the direction of the country. We wish Joe would knock off the Fox News thing and stop with the "I'm reaching across the aisle" on the war stuff. But to put him in play like this - no enthusiasm.

I'll wait to hear from a few others, but everyone so far balks at going through with this.

Too bad, in a way. I genuinely want us to discuss and debate what we should do once we take our government back.

Genghis Conn said...

I have a lot of opinions about Democratic division, Lamont's chances, Lieberman, etc., but I'll wait until after the Q&A tonight to write them down.

Anonymous said...

Franks:

Let's review.

* First you blamed the Rell administration for missing the deadline. Only it wasn't the Rell administration, it was some half-assed state employee.

* Then you said it was Rell's fault after all because she hadn't said anything about the project. Only she had spoken out about the project, even to the point where she was getting quoted in DeStefano's press releases.

* Then you bitched that instead of flying off half-cocked, she was actually waiting for a bipartisan panel of legislators and experts studying the issue and making recommendations to, well, make its recommendations.

Well, you convinced me. Damn that Rell for her foot-dragging insistence on substance and facts over Blumenthalian rants and pointless, expensive and inevitably unsuccesful litigation.

Anonymous said...

Rell called a task force on Bradwater because she had absolutley no idea what to do about it. You don't reaaly think it was her doing that Groton Stayed open do you?

Anonymous said...

Anon(10:10)

Your ignorance is exceeded only by your typing skills. Reaaly.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

I guess the difference is that, unlike Rell Blumenthal made the deadline to partipicate and comment.

Anonymous said...

Franks:

Like I said, you win. Curse Rell for her dilatory insistence on lining up those ducks.

Anonymous said...

Anon(10:51):Your ignorance is exceeded only by your typing skills. Reaaly.