Saturday, March 25, 2006

Weekend Open Forum

So.

Some alarming health care news. Apparently the number of uninsured in Connecticut is skyrocketing... not a good sign. Our number of uninsured is up 14%, compared to a 2% increase nationally.

Two Republicans may seek the nomination for Treasurer. One of them is Jack Orchulli, the other used to be a Democrat. Another strong GOP underticket begins to take shape! I guess they can't do any worse than 2002...

In the meantime, the current treasurer's office is having trouble staying on top of things. Despite this, Nappier will probably be re-elected anyway.

What else is happening?

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

I imagine that a lot of Republicans figure that they might actually have a chance this year if the Rell coat tails prove to be strong.

Anonymous said...

Dem legislative recruitment has been less than steller...I can't wait for the 9th district train wreck

Anonymous said...

Following the Money, Episode B!

REPUBLICANS LOVE JOE!

Houston's Philip Burguieres, heavy Republican donor, maxes out to Joe for $4200!

Palm Beach FL's Norman & Elinor Belfer sent $4000 to Bush in 2004, and now $4000 more for good ol' Joe!

UBS' employee John Baldo maxes out to both Bush and Lieberman.

Westport's Barry and Eileen Blau are heavy hitters! $4000 to Bush, and $8400 to Lieberman!

California's Lawrence Bond, yet another Bush donor giving $4200 to Lieberman!

Heh! A Zell Miller/Joe Lieberman donor! Gotta love Atlanta's Steven Berman!

Greenwich's Susanne Brody-- $2,000 to Shays, $4,000 to Lieberman. (Hey Susanne! Diane Farrell also endorsed Joe!)

Brooklyn's Boymelgreen family sends $6000 to Lieberman in three $2000 contributions!

Wow! Baltimore's Blum family hearts Joe to the tune of $20,200! (Cousins? I hope...)

Elyse and Andrew Barroway of Villanova PA give Lieberman four $8400 contributions.

Maureen Benofiel of Kirkland, WA antes up $4000. (psst, Maureen, you can still give another $200!)

NYC's Keith Barket sends Joe $4200 worth of love. An old classmate?

WHO OWNS OUR CT SENATOR?

Anonymous said...

all the Dems enthusiasm will be sucked out of the races after the bloodbath Joementum unleashes to hold his senate seat

Jodi wont break a sweat

Anonymous said...

yeah, well Zell Lieberman is sweating. And it's a very good thing.

Anonymous said...

Bad news for Joe, the Republican incuments, and any stupid Democrats:

A new national poll shows that a near majority of voters either strongly or somewhat agree with a pledge not to vote for pro-war candidates. This makes the antiwar movement's potential impact on elections larger than pro-gun, anti-abortion, or anti-gay marriage voters. Politicians will have to pay heed to this new political force....This poll demonstrates that antiwar voters are significant enough in size to affect the outcome of elections - if they become organized.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, like the polls in the early 90's that gun control was going to guarantee a decade of Democratic congressional dominance..and Michael Moore's flick was going to run Bush out of office

Anonymous said...

Due to poor leadership, list identity, focus on three congressional races.... House Dems will run fewer challengers since 1984.

I expect that more than half state house races will be unopposed.

Look to House GOP to gain 5-7 seats, Senate R's 2.

Anonymous said...

Orchulli is actually quite a good candidate for Treasurer. Far from the predictions of many he didn't make a fool of himself in '04, and he can claim a relevant resume.

He'll win the convention (and possible primary) in a walk and go on to give Nappier one hell of a run, if she's indeed seeking another term.

At least the GOP will have a minimun of one credible candidate on the under-ticket.

Anonymous said...

I can't beleive I'm actually saying this, but Orchulli could win that race.

Anonymous said...

Just an update from the 16th senatorial race, Mazurek dropped out due to lack of support and Dave Zoni is the lone Dem candidate.

Aldon Hynes said...

Joe Courtney is having a fundraiser in Groton today. (More information here)

I've been really impressed with the way Joe has been reaching out to encourage grassroots participation. First, his bowling night, now a fundraiser where he is particularly reaching out to bloggers.

We need to see more candidates working on bringing new people into politics.

Anonymous said...

CT Blog has video of John DeStefano's appearance before the Shelton DTC. Largely talks about strategy, but it's interesting. A Lamont delegate makes the case against Joe.

Anonymous said...

Let's define "lack of support" re: Corky Mazurek.

He got in the race when Southington Rep. Zeke Zaleski declined, and at that point the Southington Democrats all were happy with Corky.

Evidently they must think they have a legal entitlement to a nominee from Southington and went down the list of possible candidates until they got a first term councilman to jump in. Then all of Corky's "friends" in Southington threw him under the bus.

There's no reason Corky should not have been nominated, since he was a sitting state rep. with no visible drawbacks, except he turns left when he gets off I-84 at Exit 28.

There was a lack of something, but my thesaurus says "loyalty" and "veracity"; not "support"

Anonymous said...

The Corner Report has a great interview with Chris Murphy. Some highlights:

“Chris is very, very articulate and he says all the right things about all the right issues, but I think the thing that impressed me the most was he said you can bitch about Bush all you want and the horrible things the Republicans have done, but what we want to do is think about what are the positive things we can do to counteract what the Republicans have done -- how can we make things better? – and I liked that,” Nauts said.

~~How much money have you raised?

We reported on Jan. 1, $420,000. We will report again on April 15 which will reflect what we’re raised as of April 1. We’re not saying what that number is, because we don’t know yet, but it’s going to be among the highest numbers in the country for challengers, so we’re going to undoubtedly have the money to compete.

--What is your solution to the health care crisis? It isn’t just about prescription drugs.

The health care crisis isn’t just about getting health care to people. It’s about growing jobs. Why has the Connecticut economy stagnated? In part because we haven’t done enough to build new jobs, but in part because health care is so expensive in this state that businesses can’t afford to employ more people to build more jobs and build the economy. Why can't we compete with Japanese manufacturers? Because an average of $2,000 worth of the price of an American care simply goes to retiree health care benefits that doesn’t go into the price of a Japanese car.

So a movement toward universal health care has to take place and it has to take place on a national level. It’s not going to happen in 50 states one at a time.

Universal health care is not only the right thing to do for our health care system, it’s the right thing to do for our economy. And that’s a hard thing to say. I’m not sure the polls would tell me to talk about universal health care, but I’m absolutely sure that it’s the right conversation to be having.

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Anonymous said...

Jack Orchulli will have no chance against Nappier.

He was lackluster in 2004 and is STILL lackluster this year.

Anonymous said...

There's something a bit masochistic about CT Dems, since their agenda seems to be

a) tax rich people
(when we have more of them than anyone else)

b) cut defense spending
(so the Pentagon can't buy stuff from our remaining manufacturers)

c) eliminate private insurance companies (so the insurance industry can move from Hartford to the DC area).

It's like they really do want us to fail economically

Anonymous said...

Anon11:27--
Brilliant analysis. Thanks for the heavy lifting. Dems want to destroy our CT economy. I never understood that.

Anonymous said...

From the linked article by GC on healthcare is this Connecticut ranks 12th nationwide with 11.6 percent of the population uninsured, less than the national average of 15.7 percent. just to put things in perspective with the rate of change that he highlighted. There is actually an acceptable uninsured rate ( except in MA where individual insurance is mandated - a great bi-partisan policy recently adopted/legislated) just as there is an acceptable unemployment rate when you get down to reality but I confess I do not know the number.

I agree with Chris CT, that the high cost of healthcare in CT - higher per capita than MA and NY and only outranked by Alaska - is a detriment to job growth in the state and it needs to be addressed but it will have to be addressed by the state in cooperation with the Federal government and businesses as well. Universal healthcare to me, though, is nothing but a catchphrase and its Sunday and I'm not up to posting my thesis on the issue here.

And GC, your old way of highlighting quotes worked just fine for me.

Anonymous said...

anon 11:27 and his cousin 1:26 say ) eliminate private insurance companies (so the insurance industry can move from Hartford to the DC area). thinking that health insurers still reside mainly in Hartford - they left years ago by selling off their portfolio.

The real problem anyway is the GOP started sleeping ten years ago with the docs and hospital administrators.

Anonymous said...

And like a broken record on compettitiveness, CT uses State and local Police officers as flaggers at DOT construction sites while every other competitive state - even new Jersey - uses contacted out professional flagging companies. Is there a cost differential that makes CT highway construction more expensive? I tink so as you might agree form this here on the subject in today's New haven register. Lowering the cost of govenment in CT can be done but it will be by bunts and singles not out of the park home runs.

Anonymous said...

bluecoat,

There is actually an acceptable uninsured rate.... just as there is an acceptable unemployment rate

Is the acceptable rate the one in which you and your family members are insured, and 46 million other American are not?

Anonymous said...

Well, folks lets just trade our problems for someone else's

from that notorious right wing soapbox, CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/20/health/main681801.shtml

"The system is going broke, says the federation, which campaigns for tax reform and private enterprise in health care.

It calculates that at present rates, Ontario will be spending 85 percent of its budget on health care by 2035. "We can't afford a state monopoly on health care anymore," says Tasha Kheiriddin, Ontario director of the federation. "We have to examine private alternatives as well."

The federal government and virtually every province acknowledge there's a crisis: a lack of physicians and nurses, state-of-the-art equipment and funding. In Ontario, more than 10,000 nurses and hospital workers are facing layoffs over the next two years unless the provincial government boosts funding, says the Ontario Hospital Association, which represents health care providers in the province. "......

"An estimated 4 million of Canada's 33 million people don't have family physicians and more than 1 million are on waiting lists for treatment, according to the Canadian Medical Association. Meanwhile, some 200 physicians head to the United States each year, attracted by lower taxes and better working conditions. Canada has 2.1 physicians per 1,000 people, while Belgium has 3.9, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development."

" Canadians can buy insurance for dental and eye care, physical and chiropractic therapy, long-term nursing and prescriptions, among other services. But according to experts on both sides of the debate, Canada and North Korea are the only countries with laws banning the purchase of insurance for hospitalization or surgery.

Meanwhile, the average wait for surgical or specialist treatment is nearly 18 weeks, up from 9.3 weeks in 1993, according to the Fraser Institute, a right-wing public policy think tank in Vancouver. A Fraser study last year said the average wait for an orthopedic surgeon was more than nine months. "


I'll let young Christopher get the squirrels off his roof before he starts trying to cause us to join (or drink heavily of) this "Canadian Club"

Anonymous said...

Weicker---

Got a little "Orchulli Envy" ??? hmmm??????

Anonymous said...

Lamont was interviewed on CPTV's On the Record today and the Lamont Resource page has video.

Anonymous said...

Im not envious....

Jack Orchulli was out of touch with the needs of average voter in the State of Connecticut when he ran for the US Senate in 2004.

And he is still out of touch in 2006.

Anonymous said...

Young Murphy did a great job as Chair of Public Health in the debate on Plan B. Especially when he compared the Catholic church to new age religions that use marajuana and heroin as part of their 'workship'. That should be popular in the 5th CD.

Anonymous said...

Mike CT: that's the kind of logic, assumption, and rhetoric Cheney used to attack Iraq; some people choose not to be insured for a number of reasons just as some reject medicine in its entirety and I could go on from there but I won't.

Anonymous said...

Senator Murphy in that same interview says, "In Connecticut, we did the right thing. We passed campaign finance reform. It was the first bill I introduced when I got to the state legislature. That’s the right thing to do and we should be talking about it nationally, about taking special interests out of politics and bringing regular people back into the conversation."

Senator, why do you speak about the ethics of campaign finance reform and then prostitute the loopholes, raising money from those who have business in front of your committees? Do you find this to be a bit inconsistent or simply how to get ahead?

Anonymous said...

Weicker Liker...."out of touch with the needs of average voter in the State of Connecticut" ...WOW, thats an original line. Where did you get that one from, Ray Occhigrosso?

Anonymous said...

Jack Orchulli is an empty suit.

I have no jelousy over his aspirations.

Anonymous said...

No.

I am a Republican.

Don't know Roy O. from Roy Rogers.
Never met him.

The voters will vote for compelling candidates that can relate to reall people.

Millionaires just dont register with the voters in Norwich or Newington.

Anonymous said...

Latest buzz from the LOB.... Rell will pick Bob Genurio (OPM Secretary) as her running mate.

Former Senator, from a city, trusted by Rell (and Moody). Also ethnic, well respected....

Anonymous said...

Corky has no support from anyone in Wtby, Cheshire or Southington. The Democratic leadership in the Senate didn't even want Mazurek to be the nominee. It has nothing to do with "loyalty" but the political reality of a vacant Senate seat- Corky can't win outside of Wolcott or in a race against even a cardboard cutout.

Anonymous said...

Genurio would actually make some sense...

Anonymous said...

But he can't win in 2010 which is her #1 criteria.

Anonymous said...

You think she really cares about 2010?

Anonymous said...

Anon 7;36, since I'm told Don Williams wanted Corky to run and not Zeke Zalaski, and Corky had $20K in his campaign account, seems your story doesn;t match what it being said in Hartford.

as far as anyone knows Zoni IS a cardboard cutout.

Anonymous said...

Genurio does make sense for VP. I think we have a lot of Italians here in Connecticut and they tend to vote for their own kind. Would be a smart play.

Anonymous said...

There's no serious buzz about Bob Genuario for LG from people that know anything.