Lieberman Switches Party Affiliation

So says Tony Snow in the White House Daily Press Briefing:

Q Okay. Republican Senator Gordon Smith, last week, said, "Our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day, it's absurd. It may even be criminal," and that he can no longer support this. What is your reaction to a Republican senator saying that what's going on right now in Iraq is criminal?

MR. SNOW: Well, we dispute the "criminal" part, obviously, and at the same time, understand the senator's concern. We share the concern about not doing well enough fast enough. But do not assume that people are simply being blown up. They are on missions. And as General Chiarelli said last week, "There's not an engagement our people have lost, but it is still important to continue the work of building greater capability and capacity on the part of the Iraqi government and helping them out."

People on both sides are going to have disagreements, much as Joe Lieberman, formerly a Democrat, apparently run out of his party for disagreeing with what was seen as orthodoxy at that time, but Gordon --

[emphasis mine]

Um, Tony? I think you were supposed to let him announce it before you allude to it in your briefings...

Also, I know we have done this a few times before, but Senator Lieberman wasn't "run out" of the party for "disagreeing" with "orthodoxy."

He made some "constituents" unhappy with his position on an issue important to them, an "opponent" ran against him in a "primary election" and won. Here in Connecticut, we call it "democracy." You can look it up.

Hat tip to BarbinMD.

Amann: Millionaire's Tax off the Table for Now

Surplus May Turn to Deficit by 2008

Those expecting the new supermajority in the General Assembly to raise taxes on the rich, as they've been threatening to do for years, may be in for a disappointment:

Raising taxes is not on House Speaker James A. Amann's (D-118) radar screen, and Gov. M. Jodi Rell has been warning the legislature not to spend the state's ballooning surplus.

"I don't know why anybody would be talking about raising taxes now," Amann says. "The economy is doing well and we're in surplus. The gross 2005 receipts bill on diesel products to pay for highway improvements generated way over our estimates. The trucking industry supported the bill, but nobody could have foreseen the increase in the price of petroleum products."
[...]
"If somebody brings it up, I'll listen," he says. "But it would have to be a heck of a good reason."(Singer)

Some good news is that, according to Rep. Cameron C. Staples (D-96), House chairman of the state Finance Committee, property tax reform will be a priority for the upcoming session. Whether this means some sort of great and complicated tax reshuffling or something more permanent remains to be seen (I'm betting on the former, by the way).

There is some bad news, however. The situation which is leading Amann to dismiss the Millionaire's Tax now won't last long:

Between October and November the state budget surplus almost doubled to $486.5 million, according to the state Office of Policy & Management (OPM).

Budget shortfalls, however, are forecast as soon as fiscal 2008 by OPM and the legislature's Office of Fiscal Analysis. (Singer)

Expect the Millionaire's Tax to make its glorious return when we arrive in Budget Shortfall Land.

Source
Singer, Karen. " The Rich Get Poorer?." Business New Haven 11 December, 2006.

Dodd Could be Squeezed Out of Race by Obama

If Sen. Barack Obama gets into the presidential race, which is looking more and more likely, he may wind up dashing the chances of lesser-known candidates like Sen. Chris Dodd. From the Courant:

"If Dodd is counting on black support, and Sen. Obama as well as Hillary Clinton are in the race, Dodd is in trouble," said David A. Bositis, senior research associate at Washington's Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which studies African American voter trends.
[...]
Dodd's troops say that whatever moves Obama or anyone else makes will not influence the Connecticut senator's possible entry into the White House race, a decision he hopes to make next month. (Lightman)

Obama could be the perfect candidate for the Democrats. He's relatively young, he's neither too liberal nor too conservative, and he has star power that even Hillary Clinton can't hope to match. Dodd will probably try to tout his own long, long, long record in Washington--but I have a feeling that voters aren't going to be looking for experience. George W. Bush had served exactly six years in government when he became president--Obama will have served eight. Dodd will have served thirty-five.

Best of all, he's a new face. He wasn't there to vote on authorizing the Iraq War, he wasn't around for Bill Clinton's scandals or for the fall of the Democrats in 1994. Better yet, he was born in 1961--which by some measures puts him out of the baby boom and into Generation X. Regardless of where he falls on the generational map, he isn't carrying around the kind of cultural baggage that makes so many of our leaders paint Iraq and today's issues with the broad brush of the 1960s and Vietnam. The question of what a candidate did during that time has often come back to haunt them. Ask George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and John Kerry.

Then again, it's very, very early and Obama's relative youth and inexperience could wind up costing him. He could be a flash in the pan, starting strong and fading away as the summer of 2007 wears on, leaving the field to Hillary. The media could turn on him, like they turned on Dean. We'll see.

The only thing that's certain right now is that Dodd still has about zero chance.

Source
Lightman, David. "Obama Fever: Dodd At Risk." Hartford Courant 12 December, 2006.

Open Forum

New U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy announce that they'll vote to raise the federal minimum wage as part of the Democrats' ambitious "first 100 hours" agenda.

Murphy was on the radio today with Susan Bysiewicz and Kevin Sullivan (Colin McEnroe lost a bet--I'm not kidding). Bysiewicz has job security for at least four more years, while Sullivan's future is a lot less certain after Lt. Governor-elect Michael Fedele is sworn in on January 3rd. He seemed to think he wasn't done with politics, although he admitted that "politics might be done with me." Sullivan explored a gubernatorial bid this year, but gave up on the idea. I have a hard time seeing a Governor Sullivan in our future.

Speaking of: the inaugural ball is on for January 3rd! You can go--but it'll cost you $150 for a ticket. The invitations expressly forbid any sort of gifts.

What else is going on?

Simmons to Fight On

There's a lengthy look at Rob Simmons in today's Hartford Courant:

Simmons makes it clear, above all, that he is ready for more political combat. Unlike most of his soon-to-be-former colleagues, he's not complaining. The Vietnam veteran and former CIA operations officer has been schooled to absorb the blows. He understands you suck it up when you're down and get ready for the next mission.
[...]
Probe a little, it doesn't take much, and he explains just why he's feeling pretty good. Six years ago, he won his seat in a district that George W. Bush lost, a district that had elected Democrat Sam Gejdenson to Congress 10 times between 1980 and 1998. Connecticut's 2nd is a place where, as political analyst Amy Walter put it, Republicans begin a race "with 20 pound weights around their legs."

"I didn't get the feeling there was dissatisfaction with me personally," he explains. He will make the same point over and over during an hourlong conversation: "I was operating in a hostile environment." Lightman)

That's absolutely true. Simmons himself is still well-liked--unlike, say, Nancy Johnson who lost the trust and respect of her constituents on the way to an ignominious defeat. That's what makes his prospects so interesting.

Simmons, the article mentions, will continue to live in Stonington. He's not going to become a consultant or a lobbyist down in Washington--he's going to stay in Connecticut.

Narrow defeat may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to Simmons. Now his options are wide open. He can chair the Republican Party in Connecticut, think about another run for Congress in 2008, governor or senator in 2010 or any number of other possibilities. For those who were hoping he'd just go away, think again. He'll be back, in one form or another.

Source
Lightman, David. "Simmons Readies For More Battles." Hartford Courant 11 December, 2006.

Lieutenant Governors of the 1950s

One in an occasional series of profiles of historical figures you've probably never heard of

Edward N. "Ned" Allen (R) of Hartford
Lt. Governor from 1951-1955

Edward N. Allen (1891-1972) was a respected Lt. Governor under Gov. John Davis Lodge, but may be best known for being President of the Sage-Allen company, a department store chain in the Hartford area (for those who don't remember). He joined the company, a family business, in 1915 and became president in 1936. He was president of the company until 1963.

Allen, a World War I veteran, had served in the State Senate from 1926-28, and later as mayor of Hartford from 1946-48. Allen was the last "strong mayor" of the city before the council-manager form of government was instituted. Hartford wouldn't have a strong mayor again until Eddie Perez. Allen was also a strong proponent of civil rights, and served as chair of the State Interracial Committee. "Some of the things that happen regarding minority groups just make me damn sore," he once remarked. "There is no reason for discrimination and bigotry in a country like ours." (Schonrock)

Allen was promoted for Lt. Governor in 1950 as being well-liked not only by Republicans, but by independents and Democrats. Allen's popularity in Hartford was seen by Republicans as a chance to reverse their declining fortunes there (they had lost the city by 24,000 votes in 1948). He was selected as running mate for U.S. Rep. John Davis Lodge (grandson of famous Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of MA) of Westport in 1950. Lodge handily defeated incumbent Gov. Chester Bowles, but Allen won by only a small margin. Allen was the first Lt. Governor to serve a four-year term. He continued to serve as president of Sage-Allen while Lt. Governor, and also served as a member of the Yale University Corporation. Allen tended to split his day between Sage-Allen in Hartford and the Capitol, and spent his weekends in a "hide-away" in Enfield along the Connecticut River.

Allen decided against running for re-election in 1954, citing the need to manage his business full-time. Republican leaders tried to get him to change his mind, to no effect. State Sen. Charles Jewett was chosen to run in his place. Interestingly, Allen's wife Mildred decided to run for Secretary of the State in 1954, and won nomination at the GOP convention despite significant opposition. She was elected that November and served one term. Charles Jewett won election as Lt. Governor despite Lodge losing to Democrat Abraham Ribicoff.

Allen was concerned with the relationship of Hartford to its suburbs: “Hartford and West Hartford are tied together whether you like it or not. What’s good for West Hartford is good for Hartford, and vice-versa. Neither can survive without the other in the future prosperity of the area.” (M.E.)

Allen died in 1972. Sage-Allen, where I can remember shopping as a boy, survived until the early 1990s.

--------

Sources
“M. E. Rulnick Is Installed By Chamber; Allen Says Hartford, West Hartford Need Each Other To Survive.” The Hartford Courant Nov 12, 1954.

"Brochure Booming Allen's Candidacy Issued By Friends." The Hartford Courant May 28, 1950.

Schonrock, Keith. "He's the State's Genial Second In Command; Lieut. Gov. Edward N. Allen Also Finds Time To Engage In Business, Civic Duties, Hobbies" The Hartford Courant Mar 23, 1952.

"Edward N. Allen Dies; Executive, Ex-Lieutenant Governor, Mayor." The Hartford Courant Nov 15, 1972.

--------

Charles W. Jewett (R) of Lyme
Lt. Governor from 1955-1959

Charles Jewett (1913-2000), a lawyer from Lyme, was Lt. Governor from 1955-1959, and was the last Lt. Governor before Kevin Sullivan to be of the opposite party from the governor. Jewett had been unemployment compensation commissioner for the 2nd Congressional District (a post he had to fight for--Gov. Raymond Baldwin appointed him just before his resignation, and another man was appointed by Baldwin's brief successor, Wilbert Snow), and was a state representative, a state senator and majority leader of the Senate from 1953-55, where he made an enemy of Democratic state party chairman John Bailey. He declined to run for the state senate again in 1954, but was nominated to replace retiring Lt. Governor Edward N. Allen on the ticket with Governor John Davis Lodge. Lodge was defeated by Abraham Ribicoff, but Jewett won his race for Lt. Governor (at the time, the two positions were elected separately--they were linked during Jewett's term).

Perhaps Jewett's greatest contribution to Connecticut politics during his tenure as Lt. Governor was his push to have the legislature convene every year, instead of every other year. "The state of Connecticut has grown too big," he said in 1955, "and can't be run on biennial sessions," (Jewett) .He otherwise had little influence, and complained that the governor ignored him (Schonrock). Kevin Sullivan, take heart.

Jewett declined to run for re-election in 1958. A rival of Jewett's, Fred Zeller, was nominated for governor in 1958, but was heavily defeated by Ribicoff. Zeller and Jewett belonged to two warring factions in the GOP that split the party for many years, making it difficult for them to regain their former prominence. Jewett was succeeded in office by Democrat John Dempsey, who became governor following the 1961 resignation of Gov. Abraham Ribicoff to join Kennedy's cabinet.

Jewett remained on the Republican state central committee until 1966. He died in 2000.

--------

Sources
"Court Finds Jewett Holds Job Legally; Satti Loses Contest To Unseat Lyme Man Named by Baldwin." The Hartford Courant Jun 28, 1947.

"Jewett Asks For Yearly Legislature" The Hartford Courant Jun 11, 1955.

Schonrock, Keith. "Lt. Gov. Jewett Says Ribicoff Ignores Him." The Hartford Courant May 9, 1956.

Zaiman, Jack. "Jewett Not A Candidate Again For Lieut. Gov." The Hartford Courant Apr 7, 1957.

Lieberman: Create Senate Iraq Group

Sen. Lieberman has proposed, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the formation of an Iraq Strategy Group in the Senate. From the Courant:

Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman and Susan M. Collins today proposed creating a new kind of Senate group to deliberate over Iraq policy, a group that would bring together top Senate leaders behind closed doors to debate and perhaps reshape U. S. strategy.

"The current strategy in Iraq has failed to achieve the goal of a peaceful, stable Iraq," said Collins, R-Maine.
[...]
...Lieberman and Collins will next month introduce legislation to create the Senate Consultative Group. It would include the top Democratic and Republican members of five key committees: Appropriations, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Homeland Security and Intelligence. (Lightman)

I am interested to see what Sen. Lieberman and others will come up with, but I have to think that he, like Bush, could potentially be a roadblock to a phased withdrawal or any sort of timeline for exit.

I'm not actually sure how much credibility Lieberman really has on Iraq anyway. He could serve as a bridge between hawks and those favoring withdrawal if he were willing to moderate his own hawkish stance. We may hear ideas like diplomatic engagement (on strict terms) or an increase in the number of troops from him.

Or we may hear nothing at all. This could just be more posturing. I can't really tell with Lieberman anymore. It could be a serious attempt to create workable policies, or something to add to his resume for 2008.

Source
Lightman, David. "Lieberman, Collins Propose Iraq Strategy Group." Hartford Courant 8 December, 2006.

Rell Shuffles Staff

From the Courant:

Judd Everhart is out as Rell's chief spokesman. Chris Cooper, who twice served as the top press aide to Gov. John G. Rowland, is in.

Anna Ficeto is taking over as the governor's legal counsel, a sensitive post that has been vacant since the resignation of Kevin Rasch in July.

Ficeto, 42, most recently was deputy to M. Lisa Moody, the governor's chief of staff, longtime confidant and most influential adviser.
[...]
Cooper, 54, will be Rell's third press secretary in less than three years. Despite Rell's high approval ratings and personal popularity, Moody frequently has been dissatisfied with the gubernatorial press office since Rell took office July 1, 2004, after Rowland's resignation. (Pazniokas)

It's worth noting that Rell is apparently re-arranging her staff on Moody's say-so. Ficeto, the new legal counsel, was Moody's deputy, and Moody was "dissatisfied" with the way Everhart was running things.

So why Cooper? He worked as Rowland's press secretary until 2003, when he was fired as part of a reshuffling intended to distract from the governor's mounting troubles. He was a registered Democrat, and may still be. He became Rowland's spokesman again during the twilight of his administration in April of 2004, when Dean Pagani left. Basically, he's a guy with a long history in the Rowland administration, although he hasn't been tainted with the scandal that brought the governor down. Apparently, this is what Moody wants--and she gets what she wants.

Source
Pazniokas, Mark. "Changing Of Guard On Rell's Watch." Hartford Courant 8 December, 2006.

Chief Justice Possibilities

The Connecticut Law Tribune reports on the five judges that have been pre-qualified for the Chief Justice slot on the Supreme Court (hat tip to CC):

In addition to the current members of the state Supreme Court, only five judges are set to be pre-qualified by the state Judicial Selection Commission to take the reins of the Judicial Branch as chief justice, The Law Tribune has learned.

Two Superior Court judges and three Appellate Court judges have filled out the necessary chief justice application forms, three sources intimately familiar with the vetting process confirmed today. All five have been or are expected to be found qualified for the chief justice post, those sources said.

Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Richard E. Arnold, a Republican from Orange, won the commission'’s approval last summer, followed by Judge Dennis G. Eveleigh, a Hamden Democrat. New Canaan's Chase T. Rogers, a registered independent, who was appointed to the Appellate Court in February, also has received the commission's stamp of approval, the sources said.

The biggest surprise is former Appellate Court Judge Anne C. Dranginis, who stepped down from the bench earlier this year to become a partner at HartfordÂ’s Rome McGuigan. Sources said Dranginis and Appellate Court Judge C. Ian McLachlan, of Chester, are expected to have their final interview before the Judicial Selection Commission on Dec. 13. The commission typically grants a letter of approval for successful candidates within a day or two.

Because Connecticut's Supreme Court has the ability to grab interesting cases from the Appellate Court before they are decided and because Superior Court judges are constrained by Supreme Court precedent, it is hard to know where these potential Chief Justices stand on any spectrum. I will see what I can dig up in the next few days.

While former Chief Justice nominee Peter Zarella and Acting Chief Justice David Borden are largely considered out of the running (Zarella because of scandal surrounding his nomination and Borden because he is facing mandatory retirement soon), the other current Justices are eligible for elevation:

The other Supreme Court justices eligible for chief justice are all Democrats. They are Associate Justice Richard N. Palmer, of Cromwell, who was appointed by former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., as was Justice Joette Katz, of Fairfield, and Justice Flemming L. Norcott Jr., of New Haven. Justice Christine S. Vertefeuille, of Cheshire, was appointed by Rell's predecessor, Gov. John G. Rowland.

It is interesting that, of the sitting Justices considered to be possibilities, they are all Democrats who were appointed by (at least nominally) Republican Governors.

The article notes that there is another short list, of fifteen names, of judges who are eligible for elevation to the Supreme Court, but not to the Chief Judge's chair. Those judges would come into play if one of the sitting Supreme Court Justices were to get tapped as Chief.

Update: I unbloggered the words that were "corrected" by the Blogger spell-checker.

Blumenthal Calls for Utilities to Cover Rate Increase

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is calling for a windfall profits "refund" and a postponement of rate increases until at least January 1st:

Urging reform of the electricity system, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal asked state utility regulators Thursday to require the two biggest power companies in Connecticut to absorb the cost of delaying upcoming rate increases.[...]
"The rate increases should be deferred at least until the system is reformed with a windfall profits refunds and a Connecticut Electric Authority that will return money to consumers and effectively eliminate these unfair rate increases," Blumenthal said.
[...]
Gov. M. Jodi Rell made a similar request to the DPUC earlier on Tuesday. She asked regulators to defer any rate increases until the General Assembly has had a chance to work on reform when the legislative session opens Jan. 3. (AP)

Wow, deregulation is working great. Now both the electric companies and the consumers are over a barrel.

A "Connecticut Electric Authority" sounds like another terrible idea, however. What, exactly, would it do that DPUC can't?

Is there a way out of this? Do we need to build more power plants? Is this a symptom of the northeast's antiquated power grid? Rising oil costs? All of the above?

Source
"AG wants utilities to bear the cost of deferred rate increases." Associated Press 7 December, 2006.

Optical Scan Machines Performed "Very Well" Says Audit Report

The Secretary of the State's office and the University of Connecticut today released a preliminary report on the recent audit performed on optical scan voting machines. The report suggests that the optical scan machines are just as reliable as the lever machines. From the press release:

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today released a report from her office and the University of Connecticut which shows that the optical scan voting machines used in several cities and towns on Election Day performed extremely well, and were proven to be a safe and secure form of voting technology.

The report was released following a randomly conducted series of audits in a number of cities and towns which used optical scan machines in place of lever machines this year. The audits were performed during the final week of November on optical scan machines used in seventeen polling precincts in nine cities and towns throughout the state.

The audits involved performing a manual recount of each voting machine used in these seventeen precincts to match the machine results with the separate hand-count. In the majority of the precincts, the counts matched up perfectly, and in those where the results did not match, there were only minor changes reported. In each instance, the change was due to a mismarked ballot, not to machine error, Secretary Bysiewicz said.

See the full report here. Some of the key findings summarized on the first page of the report:

1. The overall discrepancies between the machine counts and hand counts are not statistically significant.
2. The effect of individual machines (locations) is not significant.
3. The machine counts and hand counts are proportional with the proportionality constant 1, although the machines have a tendency to overcount, on the average by 1/2 vote.
4. The accuracy of the voting machines did not affect the election results (although no audited races were particularly close). One needs to be careful, however, in relying on machine counts when the total number of ballots is small, especially in multi-opening races.

The report itself is worth a read, especially if you're interested in statistics. It's important to note that there were some minor problems where ballots were mismarked, but the machines themselves seem to have performed well enough. The nice thing here is that these sorts of audits can be performed at all. Neither lever voting machines nor touch-screen machines have a paper trail that can be verified.

I'm looking forward to using these machines myself next November.

Open Forum

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. It's been 65 years.

The Iraq Study Group report is here--very interesting reading.

Commuters are using trains more, at least on the New Haven line.

Rob Simmons is being considered for GOP state chair. The Republicans could do a lot worse, and Simmons would stay visible in state for a possible 2008 or 2010 run.

Colin McEnroe says that Rell ought to "some heads on her desk by the end of January" over the state police scandal.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz will announce the results of the audits of optical scan voting machines later this morning (11:30am). I'm very curious to find out how they performed.

Some of the best suggestions from commenters for a Dodd presidential book title:

Wigging Out with Chris Dodd
Why Senators are Better than Ordinary People
How To Do Nothing in the Senate
Give Dodd the Nod. His head's better than sod
Eyebrows of Inspiration

What else is happening today?

The Literary Candidate

You know what the Dodd presidential campaign needs?

A crappy book. Everyone is doing it. Even Hillary Clinton is re-issuing It Takes a Village.

These books are all terrible. The writing (which, admittedly, is rarely done by the candidate) stinks, the points (when they exist) are dull and the conclusions are uninspiring. But they're great excuses to go on talk shows, and they get your name in front of Barnes & Noble browsers and library patrons, so why not?

Here are some possible titles:

Hair: The Chris Dodd Story

Doddering Off into the Future

My Dad was a Senator, Too

Experience! Lots and Lots of Experience!

I'm Not Hillary

I'm Not Joe Lieberman, Either

My Meeting with the Little People

Eh, You Could Do Worse

Any other suggestions? He really needs to get on this.

Danbury Restricts Sex Offenders from City Recreation Areas

From the Danbury News-Times:

The city became the first community in the state Tuesday to bar convicted sex offenders from city-run recreation areas, but a gap that weakens the measure remains and questions linger about whether the new ordinance will uphold in court.

The Common Council voted 18-1 to adopt an ordinance that prohibits people who have been convicted of sexual offenses from about 40 parks, playgrounds, sports fields and other recreational facilities controlled by the city...
[...]
Mayor Mark Boughton [...] said the ordinance sends a message to the community that the city cares about its children.

"It's something, and it's better than nothing," Boughton said. (Putnam)

Really?

It's vague, mostly unenforceable (how do you keep someone out of a park?, full of holes and may not stand up in court. There's also little evidence that this new ordinance-- indeed, that laws restricting the movements and residency of sex offenders in general-- will actually protect children. In fact, sometimes strict requirements like this either lead sex offenders to go to another town which doesn't have these laws, or become homeless and disappear from sight (and from the registry).

Therefore, kudos to Danbury for passing a law that actually isn’t better than nothing.

Source
Putnam, Elizabeth. "Danbury bars sex offenders from parks." Danbury News-Times 6 December, 2006.

Things to do with $500 million: School Security

From The Day (subscription after first day):

State Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, and state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, used Norwich as a backdrop Tuesday to propose legislation that would provide $15 million to Connecticut schools to improve security. The money would be available for one-time capital expenditures, such as the installation of security buzzer systems, so-called “smart card” admission keys and cameras.
[...]
Williams said the state funding would come in part from the $500 million state surplus and partly through state bonding. (Bessette)

Some questions: are these systems really effective? Are schools asking for them?

And is this the beginning of the piecemeal dismantling of the surplus?

Source
Bessette, Claire. "Legislators Say Some Of State's Surplus Should Be Set Aside For School Security." New London Day 6 December, 2006.

Snowy Open Forum

It's Tuesday morning, and it's actually snowing. Who knew?

Groups in Eastern CT are pushing for better transportation. Route 11, anyone? How about Route 6?

John Bolton's resignation was a big boost for Sen. Chris Dodd. Will it help him on the presidential campaign trail? If being a key figure in Bolton's ouster doesn't help, nothing will.

The New Haven Independent reports that some activists are gearing up to fight for universal health care. Neither Jim Amman nor Jodi Rell seem interested, however.

Update by Gabe - NH Register: Ranks of uninsured grow.

An estimated 6.4 percent of Connecticut’s population — 222,600 residents — lacked health insurance when they were surveyed over the summer, up from 5.8 percent in 2004, according to a study released Monday by the state Office of Health Care Access.
...
Working adults, most of whom have full-time employment, accounted for 61 percent of the state’s uninsured. Nearly two-thirds of those working adults are employed by firms that don’t offer health care benefits, and another 13 percent are not eligible for their employers’ coverage.

The state is looking at proposals for the Hartford Civic Center's next operator. Here's an idea: how about not Madison Square Garden again? They've run the place into the ground. Howard Baldwin's idea of renaming the AHL team the Whalers is weirdly compelling--although they'd be guaranteed never to win the Calder Cup again.

A Quick Poll: With all the talk about Obama, I'm curious:

If, say, you had to choose:
	Barack Obama
	Hillary Clinton
	Chris Dodd
	Mitt Romney
	John McCain
	Rudy Giuliani
	Someone Else!
Free polls from Pollhost.com

What else is happening today?

Waterbury Rumors: Jarjura May Not Run

The Waterbury Republican-American explores next year's mayoral election:

Police Superintendent Neil O'Leary said last week that he's not running for mayor in 2007, but that's only because he remains loyal to Mayor Michael J. Jarjura, who says he'll seek a fourth term.
[...]
Former Alderman Richard Scappini is less reluctant about signaling he will challenge Jarjura in August for the Democratic nomination.

Scappini retired from the U.S. Navy on Friday after 24 years with the Judge Adjutant General's office, which clears the way for him to be in Waterbury full-time.
[...]
Alderman J. Paul Vance Jr., who has made no secret that he would like to be mayor, said he's not going to challenge Jarjura in a primary.

Talk continues around the city that Jarjura ultimately will back out of the race.

Jarjura dismisses that talk, and insists he's going to run. He also denies a story going around that he was considering running as an unaffiliated candidate to avoid a costly primary. (Gambini)

So will he run or not? As you may remember, Jarjura was defeated in a bitter primary in 2005, only to win re-election as a write-in candidate. If he doesn't run, expect a primary battle to determine his successor. There may be a primary even if he does run.

It should also be noted that Republican candidates can win in Waterbury despite a heavy registration advantage for Democrats.

Source
Gambini, Steve. "Waterbury: Challengers waiting in wings to take on Jarjura." Waterbury Republican-American 4 December, 2006.

Who protects the guards?

Under no circumstances should any part of this post be construed as legal advice.

The Courant has a story today on the changing of the company that provides security to ESPN in Bristol:

At 12:01 a.m., her employer, Guardsmark LLC, which had supplied sentries at the sports television network's Bristol headquarters for years, yielded to a rival, having lost a recent bidding contest.
...
Securitas USA, the incoming security contractor, wanted to hire nearly all the outgoing Guardsmark guards, who numbered about 140 as of late October. ESPN also wanted them to stay.

The problem was Guardsmark's contract with its employees.

Last month the firm, based in New York and Tennessee, announced that it would strictly enforce a provision of the guards' employment contracts forbidding them from working for rivals at sites where they had worked for Guardsmark in the previous 12 months.

The article notes that this type of non-compete clause has been successfully defended in Connecticut and elsewhere. Generally, non-compete clauses are judged on their reasonableness as to time and location of the restriction. Also, each non-compete clause is to be judged by the circumstances of the clause (for example a non-compete for an executive at Target that prevents him/her from going to rival Wal-Mart might be judged reasonable even though thousands of miles separate the headquarters because the stores directly compete. A non-compete that prevented a manager from a five-and-dime store in Minneapolis, MN from moving to a five-and-dime in Bentonville, AR would most likely be judged not reasonable).

Here, while the time of 12 months is almost certainly reasonable, the evaluation of location is different: The two companies compete, but the competition as to the specific location is complete at the time that one company would want to hire workers from the other company. Guardsmark has already lost the ESPN contract at the time that it prevents the employees that it hired to guard ESPN from moving to its successor company, Securitas USA.

Guardsmark claims that the clause is necessary to prevent being underbid by a rival who knows they will not have to pay recruiting and training costs. Fair enough (although Guardsmark would have the same advantage in its bidding and not having that advantage did not prevent Securitas from winning the bid), but who is hurt here is Guardsmark's own employees:

Guardsmark said it wanted to place every one of its guards elsewhere, and was "working diligently" to do so. Securitas backed off and brought in new guards.

But by Friday Guardsmark had abandoned at least 40 of its ESPN guards, telling Attorney General Richard Blumenthal through a lawyer that it would make no effort to place them, according to Blumenthal.

As of Friday afternoon, 44 of 123 guards still stationed at ESPN facilities had been offered work elsewhere with Guardsmark, said Blumenthal, who took up their cause last month and is considering further action. Some of the new job opportunities are out of state.

So between 40 and 80 of the former guards have to look for new employment and even the guards who were placed may have to move their families out of state or choose to find new employment, all because of the non-compete clause.

Attorney General Blumenthal has threatened legal action and is considering introducing legislation that prevent this type of non-compete clause. I have a call in to the AG's office to see what types of legal action they are considering (I will update when I get a response).

He hits it right on the head though when he notes that Guardsmark is using its employees to make life harder for its competitors - its competitors will hire new workers and recover, its employees may not.

Nonpartisan Nagging and Naysaying

This is a period of flux on Iraq. There are a lot of shifting positions out there, and maybe we'll see some new direction soon. John McCain and George Will think that sending more troops is the right way to go. Others favor a gradual pullout--and there are a lot of different ideas about how to do that, as well.

Fortunately, we have Joe Lieberman to tell us what not to do:

Despite mounting pressure from both parties for a change in direction in Iraq, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., said Sunday that withdrawing American forces would be a "statement of weakness."

"In the end, there has to be an Iraqi political settlement," Lieberman told CBS' "Face the Nation," "but they can't do it without security. And they can't achieve security if we begin to withdraw." (Lightman)

So... how do we do that, then? How do we give the Iraqis more security? More troops? Help from Iran and Syria?

Despite suggestions from others that the U.S. try to talk to Iran and Syria about ways to calm the Iraq violence, Lieberman said such overtures would "missing the reality."

"Asking Iran and Syria to help us succeed in Iraq is about like your local fire department asking a couple of arsonists to help put out the fire," the senator said. "These people are flaming the ire. They are the extremists. They are supporting terrorists in Iraq, in Lebanon and, of course, in the Palestinian areas." (Lightman)

So, okay. We don't do that. What do we do, then?

C'mon, Joe. You were re-elected because you promised to cut through the partisan clutter and get things done. Now's your chance to do just that. Lead on. What do we do? What course do we take?

Well?

Source
Lightman, David. "Lieberman Opposes Iraq Pullout." Hartford Courant 4 December, 2006.

Addendum Also notice that David Lightman seems to have forgotten that Lieberman is now an Independent Democrat, thank you very much.

Newton Sentence Being Reviewed

Might Ernest Newton go free a little sooner? From the AP:

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing to review the five-year prison sentence given to former Bridgeport state Sen. Ernest E. Newton II.
[...]
The panel wants the judge to explain how he arrived at a 60-month sentence when the 2003 federal sentencing guidelines calculation called for only a 33- to 41-month term.

For example, why did Newton get five years in the slammer when John Rowland got a stern lecture and twenty minutes in the corner to think about what he did?

Source
"Judge to review corruption sentence of former state senator." Associated Press 4 December, 2006.