Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Open Forum

Rowland's back in town. He says he won't be running for future public office.

Gov. Rell is meeting with city mayors today about urban youth violence. Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy released a youth development initiative ahead of the meeting. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano will release his later today, following the meeting.

Speaking of, apparently Malloy supports the estate tax cut, while DeStefano doesn't. Huh. It's almost as if voters will have something to go by.

And this happened a couple of days ago, but remember the contracting reform bill from last year? The one that the governor vetoed twice because of anti-privatization language? The Democrats have apparently learned their lesson, and will remove the language, allowing the bill to finally pass and be signed.

What else is happening today?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I opened the topic on the last thread, but DeanFan noted he got a denial of the quote from the Malloy campaign. I spoke with them too and again they denied Paul Bass' story. So, I guess we'll see.

Anonymous said...

G.C.:where are your refernces that you asked us to include? Naughty, naughty, naughty for a library science guy! A little indiscretion here and there is what led Johnny to go awry don't you know?.

Genghis Conn said...

I tend to only include them when I actually quote something. I know, I know... I'm lazy.

Anonymous said...

G.C.:That's better since I was starting to wonder about the ethics of this site - there's nothing wrong with being lazy when you do such a great public service as a hobby. So maybe the election year shenanigans will lead to compromise on clean contracting reform and better rehabilitaion of youthful offenders out of the criminal justice system but nothing about getting the state's fiscal house in order - and I still look forward to the end of the car tax, which would shrink CT's bloated government structure and make it more responsive at least in a very small way but it is a start.

Anonymous said...

And now I am wondering where Malloy and DeStefano stand on the waterfront juvenile jail that's supposed to go in Bridgeport courtesy of Ganim, Rowland Fabbrizi and Rell as well as one Democrat turncoat (Name?? some state rep)on the state bonding commission. It's an important issue and it could be resolved in the campaign if played honestly by the challengers.

Anonymous said...

wandererrr -
Turncoat Democratic State Rep on the waterfront juvie prison: I believe it would be the self interested and borderline sleazoid Robert Keeley from Bridgeport. Chairs General Bonding, it appears.

Anonymous said...

Scott MacLean piece from Bristol Press Today:

Calling himself a "reform Republican," Hartland’s Scott MacLean is taking aim at a four-term Democratic congressman who has disposed of every challenger so far without breaking a sweat.

MacLean, a 51-year-old television news director, knows the odds are stacked against him in his bid to unseat U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, of East Hartford.

But he doesn’t care.

"I have nothing on the line. I have nothing to lose," MacLean said. "I’m just having the time of my life now."

MacLean, the only GOP contender to enter the race so far, said he plans to raise reform issues that bridge the gap between "red state" Republicans and "blue state" Democrats, who "can’t seem to find any common ground" these days.

He said most Americans side with neither political extreme and would prefer politicians to stake out middle ground that is as "nuanced and complicated" as life instead of preaching the pieties of left or right.

"We need some bipartisan solutions to the problems out there," MacLean said. "The Republicans and the Democrats are really fighting it out like cats and dogs. I don’t think that serves our country."

MacLean doesn’t have any harsh words for Larson, whom he’s never met.

"He’s a nice guy, not an evil, demonic guy," MacLean said, adding that he doesn’t intend to lash into his foe.

"I’m more pro-me than anti-him," MacLean said.

Since 1998, Larson has represented the 1st Congressional District, which now includes Bristol, Berlin, Southington, Torrington and 24 other towns in Central Connecticut. There hasn’t been a Republican congressman elected in the district since 1956.

Larson’s peers recently chose him to serve as vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth highest position among House Democrats.

MacLean, who grew up near Philadelphia, said that running for office has been "in the back of my mind for most of my adult life," but the time never seemed right.

"After 25 years of thinking about it, you have to finally look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘Are you ever going to do this or are you going to be a big bag of wind?’"

So he’s running.

MacLean said that he’s lucky to have a good job as the early morning news director at Channel 3 in Hartford, a position that requires him to get up about 1:15 a.m., a time that many politicians are just hitting the sack.

"Politics is not my career and it’s not my paycheck," he said.

As a candidate, MacLean said, he can throw his ideas out there into the public marketplace and see if he can make any of them stick.

"I think big," he said.

For instance, MacLean said, he has a 30-year plan to wipe out the soaring national debt.

"Our children and grandchildren will pay the price for my generation’s fiscal irresponsibility," says MacLean, "and that’s not fair to them. Someone needs to be a voice for subsequent generations."

"When I was younger, there were two parties which fought like cats and dogs, much like today. Those two parties were my sister and me. Growing up, we were mortal enemies," MacLean said.

"There was one memorable fight where Robin and I fought over the one remaining slice of leftover cake. Kind of sounds like the Republicans and Democrats fighting over who gets a bigger slice of the federal pie," he said.

But, he said, his mother had the solution: "One of you gets to cut, the other gets to choose."

A painstaking effort to slice the cake evenly followed naturally.

Applying the same logic to the national debt, MacLean said, the Republicans should get to decide which government programs to ax while the Democrats get to decide which taxes get raised.

"If the Republicans decide to only cut programs that affect Democrats, guess whose taxes will be raised in retaliation? If the Democrats want to keep their most cherished government programs, they had better be reasonable about whose taxes get raised," he said.

MacLean said that Larson, "like all professional politicians," wants "to have his cake and eat it, too."

Rather than argue incessantly about tough issues such as the debt, he said, Congress needs to come together.

"We need fresh blood in there, any fresh blood," he said, and fewer professional politicians.

MacLean has been in the television news business for decades, moving around the country in the process, and is also an ordained minister in the Congregational Church.

He and his wife, Lisa MacLean, have two daughters in elementary school.

The Republicans will nominate a candidate to take on Larson this summer. The general election is in November.

Anonymous said...

"Applying the same logic to the national debt, MacLean said, the Republicans should get to decide which government programs to ax while the Democrats get to decide which taxes get raised."

HUH?????

Anonymous said...

GC--

Your polls are flawed. Perhaps unwittingly, you consolidate Rell's support, and then distribute the other side of the equation.

A quick look at the 2nd poll would suggest a majority of us favor Rell's proposal. But this is only because you divide those of us who disapprove between choices B & C.

A small, but important point.

Anonymous said...

MacLean must have graduated from the same college as Jodi Rell did.What an idiot.

I hope this means Larson can encourage his supporters to send their money to the 3 districts where D pickups are available

Anonymous said...

Democrat Paul Hackett dropped out of the Senate race in Ohio and blasted the Dems for being double-dealers. Disappointing that such a good candidate was pushed out of the race, but the Washington pols always think they are smarter than they are.

Hackett was a rising star and now is bitter.

Anonymous said...

Larson has Southington in his district, isn't that Chris Murphy's town?

Anonymous said...

I heard Murphy moved to Cheshire, the other side of his Senate district, and incidently, in the 5th C.D.

Genghis Conn said...

That's true, Anonymous, he did. Here's what he said about that during a Q&A on this site some time ago:

I am confident that this campaign will be about issues and ideas, not about street addresses. It seems a little silly that there might be an issue with my decision to move a few miles down the road within my own Senate district simply because that move put me in a different congressional district. Redistricting threw us all for a loop in 2001. Until then, I lived in Johnson's district (then the 6th), but that year's decision to combine the 5th and 6th put one of my towns into the reconfigured 1st district. I moved to Cheshire because I found a house that I loved and it was the right time for me personally. But I'll never suggest that my interest in taking on Johnson (with whom I've been associated with since I ran Charlotte Koskoff's race in 1996) didn't factor into this decision as well (a reporter from The Hill mis-paraphrased me on this once).

Draw your own conclusions.

Anonymous said...

Chris Murphy=Toby Moffett

Anonymous said...

Tony Moffett did make a donation to Chris Murphy.

Anonymous said...

But Moffett screwed around while still married to his first wife. Murphy's never been married.

Anonymous said...

What does that have to do with anything, "Murphy has never been married?" There are plenty of reasons to support him (or not to support him)-- his lack of a wife or partner is not one of them.

Anonymous said...

as a 5th CD Republican I agree Murphy's marital status is irrelevant.

His shameless district shopping is relevant

Anonymous said...

I'll say it again:
Chris Murphy=Second Place.

But I digress, because this Cheney thing is KILLING me!!!

Attention all Ron Burgundy fans out there... can you just imagine what it must have been like in the Cabinet Room on Monday???

W: Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast!

Rummy: It jumped a notch!

Condi: It DID, didn't it?

Dick: Yeah, I shot a man in the face!

W: I saw that! Dick killed a guy! Did you throw a trident?

Dick: Yeah, there were birds, and a man on fire, and I shot a guy in the face!

W: Dick, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safe house or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you're probably wanted for murder.

Laugh, people!! Politics is just too rich for words!!

Anonymous said...

Second place only of Curry doesn't run and Vance drops the hint of a primary.

Anonymous said...

Anon:12:29: just to clean up the record, Keeley fought the waterfront jail with his own money to boot while Finch and Fabrizi supported it - the turncoat was an out of Bridgeport Dem state rep on the bonding commisssion that obviously was in with Finch since every other Dem voted against it but I can't remeber 'her' name or locale.

Anonymous said...

What does Murphy know about the struggles families have? He's too busy partying it up. Another playboy like Moffett who wants to go to where the action is in Washington.

Anonymous said...

Lets see if Murphy will make good on his promise to sponsor legislation about Equal Rights/Marriage or will he sacrifice his ideals to cuddle up to the 5th CD.