Hartford Schools Test New Teacher Evaluation System, State Prepares To Finanlize Its Own

by Natalie Missakian | May 22, 2012 5:30am
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Posted to: Education, Town News, Hartford

As members of a state panel continue to wrestle over the best way to rate teachers, principals in the Hartford schools are being taught how to recognize good teaching when they see it.

The training is part of that city’s brand-new teacher evaluation system, and state officials may be looking at the same model when they roll out a plan to measure teacher performance in 10 pilot school districts this fall.

Hartford’s system is based on the latest version of Charlotte Danielson’s “Framework for Teaching,” which is being used in Chicago, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh schools and in several states that are moving toward more rigorous teacher evaluations.

State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor confirmed last week that the state is considering hiring Danielson, a respected national education expert, as a consultant to help fine-tune its new teacher evaluation system.

Danielson gave a presentation in April before a subcommittee of the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC), the panel now charged with putting the finishing touches on the evaluation system.

Pryor said he was interested in Danielson because her methods have been tested and are research based.

“It appears that most people are interested in exploring her work further,” said Patrice McCarthy, general counsel for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education and a PEAC member.

As states move to tie tenure and firing decisions to evaluations, one of the biggest worries among teachers has been whether an administrator will know enough to judge them fairly and accurately.

Both Andrea Johnson, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, and Jennifer Allen, the chief talent officer for Hartford schools, said Danielson’s rubric leaves little room for subjective opinion because it is so specific.

The framework includes a checklist of 21 teaching practices sorted into four “domains”: Planning and Preparation, Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities. Teachers are rated either “unsatisfactory,” “basic,” “proficient,” or “distinguished.”

School administrators are trained to recognize what each of the rating categories looks like in action and must pass a certification test before stepping foot in a classroom to observe.

Allen said the expectation is that two trained evaluators would be able to look at the same teacher’s lesson and come away with identical ratings. The raters are looking at not only what a teacher does, but how the students interact with the teacher and each other.

“We can’t be subjective in what we look for in the classroom,” said Allen. “We have to calibrate ourselves and be looking for the same things—what we know the research tells us about what helps students achieve.”

The Hartford Board of Education in March approved a $940,753 contract with Teachscape, the online component of Danielson’s program, which gives Hartford administrators and teachers access to thousands of videos demonstrating examples of poor, good, and exemplary teaching practices.

Teachers are also being trained in the framework so that they will know what evaluators expect of them. Johnson said teachers like that there will now be consistency in evaluations from school to school.

She said in the past teachers have complained about vague or inconsistent feedback from their evaluation but the new system will provide them with concrete examples for how they can improve.

Johnson and Allen said the only major complaint they have heard so far is the amount of time it takes to implement the system.

It remains to be seen whether Danielson can bring this same consensus to those working on finalizing the state evaluation system, which must be approved by the State Board of Education by July 1.

The head of the state’s largest teacher’s union said it could be costly to bring Danielson in this late in the process, since her model would need major tweaks to fit into the framework already approved by PEAC. 

“We highly respect Charlotte as a national expert. The problem is trying to meld her work into ours and doing it effectively so it’s fair, valid and reliable,” Mary Loftus-Levine, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association, said.

For example, she said Connecticut’s teaching standards don’t match up precisely with Danielson’s four “domains,” and the names for the rating categories under the PEAC guidelines are different: “below standard,” “developing,” “proficient,” and “exemplary.”

She questioned how Danielson’s training videos could be used by Connecticut school administrators if the terminology is not the same.

“Can we take a product that’s fully developed and make it fit what we’ve already done?” she asked.

Danielson’s framework also fails to address one of the stickiest issues when it comes to evaluating teachers: how to incorporate student test scores into teacher ratings.

Danielson’s expertise is in classroom observation, which makes up only 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation under the new Connecticut guidelines. Student performance measures make up 45 percent, with half of that coming from test scores. The rest would be based on feedback from parents, students and peers.

Danielson has raised concerns in interviews about using student test scores to judge teacher performance.

“I do think that it’s reasonable for teachers to demonstrate that their kids have learned,” she said in an interview for the New York Times’ SchoolBook. “Beyond that, though, I’m not at all convinced that it can be done fairly for teachers based on what we know now, particularly in a high-stakes environment.”

In Hartford schools, officials are still working a process to factor student achievement into teacher evaluations, said Allen.

“We know that we have to have multiple measures,” Allen said. “That’s our next conversation.”

Tags: Hartford Schools, evaluations, teachers, Charlotte Danielson, Stefan Pryor, Performance Evaluation Advisory Council, Mary Loftus Levine, education

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Hill Will Petition To Get On Ballot

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 21, 2012 4:39pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

Republican Brian K. Hill didn’t receive enough support from the delegates Friday to automatically qualify for the U.S. Senate primary, but that’s not stopping him from pushing ahead with his campaign.

Hill, who impressed many Republican insiders, only received about 7 percent of the delegates. Some of the delegates came up to him and told they liked his message and wanted to support his candidacy, but had already promised their votes to Linda McMahon or Chris Shays.

Asked what it takes to get them to change their minds, Hill shrugged.

“There were no surprises at the GOP convention, as the convention process itself favors certain types of candidates,” Hill, who was the only African-American candidate, said.

He said while he respects the decision of the convention he wants to make his case to the rest of the Republican Party.

“The Party Conventions are antiquated and counterproductive,” Hill said in a press release.

Hill said he will gather the necessary 10,500 signatures of registered Connecticut Republicans before June 11 in order to qualify for the ballot.

“If we get the 250 volunteers and financial support for a petition signature drive over the next week, we will definitely continue our efforts,” Hill said. “If not, we will support the eventual nominee, as it is important that we elect a Republican to this U.S. Senate seat.”

 

Tags: Brian K. Hill, Chris Shays, Linda McMahon, U.S. Senate, Republicans

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Shays Makes It Official

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 21, 2012 3:49pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays made it official Monday and filed the necessary paperwork to challenge Republican Linda McMahon for the U.S. Senate.

“This is a tough state, but folks in Connecticut want good, Yankee common sense. They‘re not into ideology,” Shays said Monday during an interview at the state Capitol.

After filing his paperwork with the Secretary of the State’s office Shays visited the state Capitol Press Corps in the state Capitol.

This weekend McMahon appeared on WFSB’s “Face the State” and said Shays should think about her 2-to-1 victory over him at the convention and consider uniting the party for the general election. She echoed a similar theme Friday during her informal acceptance speech from the convention floor.

“I know that some people on the McMahon camp have said it would be nice if I didn’t run,” Shays said Monday. However, he said he heard so often from the more than 1,200 delegates that they had promised their vote to McMahon before he got into the race, but will be working to make sure Shays is victorious in the Aug. 14 primary.

He said he promised from the time he entered the race that he would be on the Aug. 14 ballot even if that meant he had to collect signatures to get there. Shays won about 32 percent of the delegates Friday, which automatically qualifies him for the primary.

A March 22 Quinnipiac University poll shows Shays one percentage point behind the endorsed Democratic candidate U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy.

The same poll shows McMahon leading Shays 51 to 42 percent in a Republican primary.

Shays continues to focus his campaign on electability using the Quinnipiac University poll as proof that he had a better chance of beating Murphy in November.

“If I win [the primary] I think it will be one of the top 10 most competitive races in the country,” Shays said.

Tags: Chris Shays, Linda McMahon, Chris Murphy, U.S. Senate, primary

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Projected Deficit Shrinks By $2.3 Million

by Hugh McQuaid | May 21, 2012 2:14pm
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Posted to: State Budget

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The state’s finances showed slight improvement over last month with the projected operating deficit decreasing by $2.3 million, according to Budget Secretary Ben Barnes’ monthly letter to the comptroller.

The Office of Policy and Management estimated Friday that the state will end the year with a $272.5 million operating deficit under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. On a non-GAAP basis, OPM expects the deficit to be around $197.5 million.

Barnes said the estimates are based on expenditures through April 30 and the impact of budget adjustment legislation lawmakers passed earlier in the month. The bill, which awaits Malloy’s signature, includes a delay in paying $222 million in funds previously designated to pay off borrowing the state did in 2009.

Barnes said he expects the money that would have been spent on paying down the Economic Recovery Notes to resolve the operating deficit for the fiscal year. Though Republicans have criticized the delay as a budgetary gimmick, Barnes said last month the state could take its time making payments without hurting its finances.

“This strategy will allow state government to use money saved to pay down debt early to cover the unexpected revenue shortfall, so that we won’t be forced to cut essential services for Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents,” Barnes said. “We will continue to pay down the ERNs in accordance with the required repayment schedule.”

The $2.3 million improvement in this month’s projections come from a decline in spending, which is now estimated at $35.1 million above appropriated levels.

Revenues remained stable on a net basis from last month’s estimates.

Since there is no surplus the state doesn’t plan on paying down the GAAP differential of $1.7 billion. Republicans have been critical of Gov. Dannel Malloy for not funding the transition this year. House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said the lack of funding for the GAAP transition represented a broken promise by the governor.

“He held this up as the signature issue and now because he mishandled the budget it will not happen. So much for Executive Order 1?” he said during the budget debate on the floor of the House.

Tags: budget deficit, revenues, Office of Policy and Management, Ben Barnes, GAAP

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Blumenthal Endorses Murphy, Promises ‘Hand-To-Hand’ Support

by Christine Stuart | May 21, 2012 12:32pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

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The rest of the Connecticut Congressional delegation, aside from U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, endorsed U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy’s bid for the U.S. Senate before the Democratic convention. But U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal decided to wait until today.

The man who defeated Republican Linda McMahon in 2010 endorsed Murphy outside the entrance to Capitol Community College Monday where the duo and U.S. Rep. John Larson had just toured one of the school’s nursing programs.

Blumenthal, who said he doesn’t make these decisions lightly, said he waited until after the convention out of respect for the process where more than 1,800 delegates, who are traditionally Democratic insiders, cast their votes.

Murphy received about 76 percent of the delegates at the convention, but former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz received 24 percent which was enough to primary.

“I thought that was an important mark of respect for the party,” Blumenthal said of Murphy‘s performance two weeks ago.

Asked if he had called Bysiewicz to let her know he was endorsing her opponent he said he had not, but intends to at some point today.

According to Jonathan Ducote, Bysiewicz’s campaign manager, Blumenthal reached out shortly after noon. 

Neither surprised or concerned, Ducote said endorsements mean very little now that the convention is over. Ultimately there will be a primary and it will be the more than 700,000 registered Democratic voters in the state who will decide which candidate advances to November, he said.

However, Blumenthal’s support may be more than just an endorsement in this race. He said he hopes Murphy will allow him to campaign “hand-to-hand, face-to-face, person-to-person.”

Blumenthal’s experience running against McMahon and the $50 million she spent on her campaign in 2010 may be useful to Murphy.

Blumenthal said the only reason he’s a U.S. Senator now is because the people of Connecticut “resisted and rejected the onslaught of money that we can be sure will come this November.”

He said if Murphy allows him, he’ll be on the ground helping him muster enough resources and support to win the race.

“I am choosing someone who will be a partner, who will work with me literally every day, many hours of the day framing important decisions that are critical to the future of Connecticut,” Blumenthal said.

“I want the most effective, most articulate, most energetic, most experienced person by my side.”

Blumenthal and Murphy got to know each other back in 2003 when Murphy was in the state Senate looking to pass legislation which banned smoking in restaurants and workplaces.

“This is perhaps the most important endorsement of this election,” Murphy said. “Because Senator Blumenthal is picking his next partner in the United States Senate to fight beside him on behalf of this state.”

Tags: chris murphy, Susan Bysiewicz, Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Senate

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Future of Minimum Wage Hike Still Uncertain After Meeting

by Hugh McQuaid | May 21, 2012 5:30am
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Posted to: State Capitol, Special Session

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Last week House Speaker Chris Donovan was clear he intended to have language raising the state minimum wage inserted into a budget implementer. After meeting with Senate President Donald Williams for more than an hour Friday afternoon, Donovan was less clear.

“We’re talking about trying to figure out where it fits but I think it’s a good idea,” he said.

Donovan’s proposal to raise the minimum wage 50 cents over two years died on the Senate calendar when the legislative session ended. Senate President Donald Williams maintained that there was never enough support to pass the bill in the Senate.

But when Donovan’s signature legislation died, so too did Senate Democrats’ top priority — Senate Bill 1, a measure expanding on the jobs programs passed last October. Though the bill had bipartisan support, Donovan never raised it, in hopes the Senate would reconsider his minimum wage bill.

Williams said the two bills should never have been linked and announced he planned to raise his again when the legislature meets again to pass bills implementing the budget. Last week Donovan followed suit, effectively linking the two proposals again.

“I absolutely support SB1, which along with an increase to the minimum wage will be part of a special session bill,” he said in a statement. “Increasing the minimum wage has the support of 70 percent of Connecticut voters and will help over 100,000 state residents meet basic needs.”

On Friday Donovan still wanted to raise the minimum wage, but didn’t seem as sure it would be raised in the upcoming special session.

“I’ve always been supportive of it, [Williams] has been supportive as well, you know, we’re continuing to talk about it. We’re just trying to figure out the timeline, what issues people are talking about,” he said after emerging from the closed-door meeting.

It was the first time the two Democratic leaders sat down to discuss the budget implementer session.

Republicans argue a minimum wage proposal has no place in a session called specifically to implement the budget. House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said if Donovan is allowed to raise the unrelated concept during the session it will “open the floodgates” to every lawmaker who’s bill didn’t pass in the legislative session.

Asked about those concerns, Donovan said he and Williams were talking about that too.

“Right now we’re just more talking about the process and what things we need to talk about but this is one issue we agree we’re going to keep talking about,” he said.

Some Democrats in the Senate have expressed concerns that using an implementer as a vehicle for both the jobs package and the minimum wage bill will jeopardize the former. Asked if he thought the concern was valid, Donovan said “We’re hoping to make everybody happy. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

For his part, Williams agreed they would continue talking about the issue.

“I’ve always favored an increase in the minimum wage. Senate leadership has always favored it. It’s always been a question of the votes,” he said.

Over the course of the session, Senate Democrats caucused versions of the bill three different times but the votes were never there, he said.

“We were checking in with folks right up until the end of session,” he said.

In the week that’s passed, Williams said no one has called to say they’ve changed their position on a minimum wage increase and, at this point, he has no reason to believe they have.

The question of whether it’s appropriate to raise the minimum wage during a special session is another issue that needs discussing, Williams said.

After nearly an hour and a half of talks, the two legislative leaders did agree on at least one thing going forward, Williams said.

“We did agree that the two bills are not linked.”

Tags: Chris Donovan, Donald Williams, minimum wage, jobs, special session

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Republican Party Picks McMahon; Shays To Primary

by Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid | May 18, 2012 11:45pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

(Updated with video) Despite her loss two years ago by more than 100,000 votes to a Democrat, Republicans again crowned former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as their nominee Friday evening after just one ballot.

McMahon, who spent $50 million of her personal fortune on the last race, has worked hard to improve her image among women voters and seems to be making in-roads with the Republican Party establishment. She received 60.4 percent of the vote at the end of the night. Former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays received about 32.2 percent of the vote, while Brian K. Hill, Peter Lumaj and Kie Westby didn’t receive the 15 percent they needed to primary.

When it was clear McMahon had the easily won the nomination, she told reporters she didn’t think people really got her message during the last race.

“What I found out was people really didn’t get to know me very well in the last campaign. So I’m spending a great deal of time now having smaller groups so they can ask me questions and learn what I stand for,” she said.

McMahon said she felt she was making significant progress this year with grassroots campaigning.

As the convention hall emptied and party officials recalculated the final numbers, McMahon decided not to wait for them to complete the task and instead grabbed a loose microphone on the floor to thank her supporters. She had already missed the 11 p.m. news cycle and her staff realized the microphones on the floor were still hot. She scrapped her prepared speech and urged the party to unite behind her candidacy. But the appeal to Shays to drop out will likely fall on deaf ears as his campaign is committed to a primary.

“It’s been 100 years since the first woman senator went to Washington,” McMahon said. “Connecticut, we’re tired of waiting.”

An unknown commodity two years ago, McMahon has become a household name with Republicans. Even though Shays held office for more than 20 years in the 4th Congressional District, he may not have been making enough friends in other parts of the state.

Kevin Fealy, a Republican delegate from Enfield who had a lively conservation with Shays on the convention floor, said he had concerns about Shays’ voting record on the 2nd Amendment.

“He espouses views over the 2nd Amendment that his Democratic opponent would champion,” Fealy said.

He said he understands government is a “necessary evil,” but once you let it creep in on one issue there’s bound to be other issues where you will allow the government to intrude.

“I am a rightwing conservative and if there are enough issues you don’t support, I can’t support you,” Fealy said.

But Shays argued he has always fared better with the general electorate than he has with the Republican establishment. And unlike McMahon, Shays barely trails Democratic nominee Chris Murphy in the polls. Should he win the primary on August 14, Shays said he’ll have “more money than I know what to do with.”

“This will be one of the top 10 competitive races in the country, if I win the primary,” he told reporters.

Asked what kind of primary race he expects from McMahon, Shays said he expects her to run the same race she ran two years ago.

“She’ll spend whatever it takes. Flood the mailboxes, flood the emails,” he said.

McMahon acknowledged her campaign sent out a lot of mail in the previous race but said they will be targeting their mail differently this time around.

“It’ll be a different campaign,” she said.

Moving forward, McMahon said she would be focusing her efforts on Murphy, but she said Murphy and Shays have similar voting records.

“Part of the pushback on voting records, I think, will be the same for both candidates,” she said.

Shays said McMahon has been campaigning with the delegates for two-and-a-half years, while he entered the race late. It’s been hard convincing delegates to swap their votes in his favor, he said.

“The most difficult conversations I’ve had are with people who said, ‘I committed last year,’ or ‘I committed before I knew you were in the race,’” he said. “I’ve said to them, ‘you know what you’re not married to her, you just go up and say ‘I’ve changed my mind I’m going to vote for the candidate I think can win.’”

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, a Shays supporter, said it was always about qualifying to run a primary against McMahon.

“When Chris Shays announced he was running for Senate, he knew he announced late. He knew he was going to be the underdog. The goal was always to get to 15 percent for an August 14th primary,” he said.

When candidates run a clean primary it can actually help the party, McKinney said.

“My hope and my belief is my party is going to come out strong after August 14th,” he said.

But delegates for McMahon like former state Senator Louis DeLuca said Shays has had a few missteps by basically accusing delegates of being bought and paid for by McMahon.

“Even if you think that, you don’t say it as a candidate,” DeLuca said, referring to the WWE ticketgate story.

Tags: Linda McMahon, Chris Shays, U.S. Senate, Republican, Brian K. Hill, Peter Lumaj, Kie Westby, dh

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Roraback Wins On 3rd Ballot, But 3 Challengers Make Primary Cut

by Scott Benjamin | May 18, 2012 6:42pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

(Updated 7:18 p.m.) In the most competitive Republican convention in the 5th Congressional District in 22 years, state Sen. Andrew Roraback finally prevailed on the third ballot, but he may face as many as three challengers in the Aug. 14 primary.

Roraback, who has been in the General Assembly for 18 years, led on all three ballots and secured the nod with 161 of the 294 delegates on the third ballot, followed by businesswoman Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury, who collected 114 delegates on the final ballot. She was followed by former gubernatorial cabinet officer Justin Bernier of Plainville. Following several vote switches, Bernier fell to 29 delegates on the last ballot.

Litchfield businessman Mark Greenberg, who, like Bernier, ran for the seat two years ago, was dropped from the voting on the second ballot under the rule in which the candidate with the lowest total is taken out of the race on each roll call after the first ballot.

The last time a Republican convention in the 5th District went this many ballots was in 1990 when Waterbury Alderman Gary Franks won the nomination and then captured the seat in the sprawling district, which has elected seven congressmen since 1972.

“Democracy is a tough process,” Roraback said during his acceptance speech.

If elected, he pledged to promote the 294 Republican delegates’ values, including “limited government, lower taxes, and personal responsibility.”

Roraback edged Wilson-Foley 89 to 88 votes on the first ballot with Bernier taking 60 delegates and Greenberg 56.

On the second ballot, Roraback received 94 votes to Wilson-Foley’s 80, with Bernier at 62 and Greenberg at 58.

Former state Rep. Bill Hamzy of Bristol said Friday’s results bode well for Roraback with respect to ballot position and fundraising. Hamzy said Roraback will be near the top of the ballot along with Linda McMahon, who did really well in the 5th two years ago and who also won her senate nomination again Friday.

“If you’re not the endorsed candidate it also makes it difficult to fundraise,” Hamzy said.

The party’s endorsement gives Roraback, who didn’t get into the race until last October, a substantial boost.

Roraback said the endorsement will help him in what will likely be an expensive race, since Greenberg and Wilson-Foley, who ran for the GOP nomination as lieutenant governor two years ago, have already spent a considerable amount of their own money to help finance their campaigns.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Roraback said regarding the Aug. 14 primary. “This is the beginning of the process.”

Wilson-Foley said her second-place finish is not going to keep her from working hard and continuing to work hard to get to know all the voters in the 5th District.

“I know their dogs names,“ Wilson-Foley said of the delegates. “Literally.”

While Wilson-Foley, Roraback, and Greenberg will primary, Bernier still isn’t decided.

Bernier said he’s going to talk to his family and his supporters over the weekend about whether he will go forward with a primary.

“We’ll look at all the facts and we’ll make a decision in the near future,” Bernier said.

This is the second time in a row Bernier will have an opportunity to primary for the seat.

In 2010, former state Sen. Sam Caligiuri received 40 percent of the Republican primary vote to Bernier’s 31 percent. Greenberg received 29 percent that year even though he had to petition his way onto the ballot.

This year, Greenberg received enough support to automatically primary.

Greenberg, a real estate developer with many holdings in Connecticut and New York, declined to say how much of his own money he would spend,.

“Whatever is necessary to win,” he said after the convention.

Greenberg, who was not nominated at the convention two years ago, said he was able to build delegate support this year “by getting to know the delegates better and developing a rapport with them that I didn’t have two years ago.,”

He said he will be able to transition into the primary more easily this time since he will not have to spend the next few weeks collecting petition signatures to get on the ballot.

Former state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, R-Waterbury, who was the Republican nominee two years ago following the primary with Bernier and Greenberg, said he is becoming more optimistic about the Republicans’ chances of winning the seat.

The GOP had held it for many years up until six years ago when Democrat Chris Murphy of Cheshire won the seat in a stunning upset over Republican Nancy Johnson.

Caligiuri said the Democrats will probably make the seat a huge priority and there is a larger turnout in presidential election years, which typically favors Democratic candidates in Connecticut.

However, he said recent polling shows that Mitt Romney, the apparent Republican presidential nominee, is within striking distance of President Obama in Connecticut.

“I think Andrew can win a lot of the unaffiliated voters, which make up 45 percent of the electorate,” Caligiuri said. “I think he also can cut into the Democrats’ edge in the five major cities in the district — Waterbury, New Britain, Danbury, Meriden and Torrington.

Caligirui, who endorsed Roraback earlier this year, said a primary drains resources from the eventual nominee.

“I came out of the primary two years ago with $80,000 cash on hand and Chris Murphy had more than $2 million,” he said.

“But the dynamic is different this time because there is no incumbent and the Democrats will have to go through a primary,” Caligiuri said.

State House Speaker Chris Donovan of Meriden captured the Democratic nomination this last Monday night at a convention in Waterbury. He will be challenged in the August primary by former state Rep. Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire and Kent public relations consultant Dan Roberti.

Roraback, who was nominated by New Milford Mayor Pat Murphy, has been noted for his perfect voting record since arriving in the legislature in 1995 and his opposition to items on the Bond Commission agenda that he had deemed unnecessary, including a playground in his district.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who defeated Wilson-Foley two years ago for the GOP lieutenant gubernatorial nomination, nominated her for the congressional seat. Bernier was nominated by Waterbury Republican Town Committee Chairman Jason Van Stone and Greenberg’s name was placed in nomination by Wolcott Republican Town Committee Chairman Greg Daniel.

Christine Stuart contributed to this report.

Tags: 5th congressional district, Andrew Roraback, Lisa Wilson-Foley, Justin Bernier, Mark Greenberg, Scott Benjamin, Republicans, dh

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One Last Push To Get A Consumer Voice On Exchange Board

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 18, 2012 11:30am
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Posted to: Health Care, Special Session

The upcoming special session to implement the budget provides a glimmer of hope for healthcare advocates who have been seeking an expansion of the state’s Insurance Exchange Board.

The Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange was created last year as a quasi-public agency, which is empowered to help individuals and small employers obtain health insurance under the new federal law starting in 2014.

Kevin Galvin, a founder of Small Business for Health Care Reform, pleaded with members of the board Thursday to re-introduce a measure designed to expand the board by at least one vote for the state’s Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri.

Veltri currently sits on the board but is not one of the 11 voting members.

A bill that would have expanded the board from 14 to 18 members died in the final hours of the legislative session, despite having passed through two committees and receiving a unanimous vote in the House. Healthcare advocates blamed Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney for threatening to filibuster the bill in the final hours of the session, while McKinney blamed Senate Democratic leadership for letting the bill sit on the calendar for weeks.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said that she didn’t know whether the measure would be reintroduced as part of a special session, but that she would support such an effort.

Some have speculated that Wyman was responsible for the bill dying in the Senate because her office wasn’t consulted by the House, which added two Republican appointments to the board when it passed the bill. The two Republican appointments were in addition to the two Democratic appointments and Veltri.

Advocates told the Insurance Exchange Board on Thursday that there is added urgency to giving Veltri a vote, as new federal regulations adopted in March say that states’ exchange board must have at least one consumer vote.

Veltri said it’s possible that Connecticut risks losing federal funding if her position isn’t given a vote on the board.

By 2014, the quasi-public agency created by the Insurance Exchange Board will be the portal where everyone in the state is expected to purchase their health insurance. Advocates have complained about the number of former insurance executives on the board, some of whom were appointed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, McKinney, and Democratic legislative leaders.

Advocates contend that if the legislature does nothing, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could refuse to provide necessary funding that the state is currently seeking to support the work of the board, or to make the exchange offerings eligible for federal reimbursement.

Several executives from the Insurance Exchange Board are going to Washington, D.C. next week for a performance evaluation from federal regulators.

Next Thursday and Friday, officials from the federal government will meet with Tia Cintron, the board’s chief executive officer, and others to assess Connecticut’s progress in communications, operations, and governance structure.

Veltri said that while board members aren’t required to appear at the D.C. evaluation, a few of them will probably accompany Cintron to the nation’s capitol.

Tags: health care exchange, insurance exchange board, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, Kevin Galvin, John McKinney, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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Sunday Sales Has Broad Political Appeal Near Border

by Christine Stuart | May 18, 2012 7:00am
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Posted to: Business, Town News, Enfield, Labor, Local Politics, Taxes

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Dominic Alaimo, Enfield’s Republican “Man of the Year,” said the governor’s party affiliation never mattered to him as long as he or she was willing to sign a bill allowing Sunday liquor sales. That, he said, would make him happy.

The sign outside his package store on Route 5 seems to say it all.

Alaimo is grateful he’ll be able to open his doors on Sunday, but he said he would have liked to see the legislation go further by eliminating some of the price fixing and beer territory guidelines to which he’s forced to adhere.

The state’s beer distribution territory setup was problematic a few years ago, Alaimo said, after the horrific shooting at Hartford Distributors, which is the company that delivers Alaimo’s beer. Alaimo said he was unable to restock for eight to nine days, and he was unable to get the beer from another distributor in a different part of the state because of industry rules.

Alaimo said he “almost went out of business.”

One of Alaimo’s favorite sayings is related to the end of prohibition, during which organized crime ran the liquor industry. He said when the mob got out of the liquor business, the state of Connecticut got in. Lifting the Sunday sales ban is a step in the right direction, he said, but it doesn’t go far enough.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy doesn’t necessarily disagree with Alaimo even though they’re at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Malloy wanted to lift some of the pricing rules imposed on retailers, but with package store owners split over the issue the legislature decided to move forward with lifting the ban on Sunday sales and creating a task force to tackle pricing issues. Small package store owners attended a public hearing at the Capitol in February to let lawmakers know they had warmed up to the idea of Sunday sales even if it meant delaying other changes in the proposed legislation such as bulk discounts and the elimination of minimum pricing.

The bill, which the governor signed into law earlier this week, creates a task force to look at the issue of minimum pricing and other reforms that Malloy said would have made the legislation more consumer friendly.

During a ceremonial bill signing Thursday at Enfield Town Hall, Malloy said his endorsement of the measure back in January was to ensure Connecticut remains competitive with its neighboring states.

“It is literally about our ability to compete with states that have been taking money away from us on an ongoing basis,” Malloy said. “When the product is less expensive and more convenient to purchase in surrounding states you lose $570 million dollars worth of sales.”

The boost in revenue Connecticut expects to see from the measure is much smaller than the $570 million in sales that leave the state. The state is estimating it will see an annual $5.3 million boost in revenue from the legislation.

Malloy, who went on a field trip to a Massachusetts liquor store in February, was fond of comparing the price of a bottle of wine purchased there to the same bottle of wine purchased in Connecticut. He questioned why it would cost $21.99 in Massachusetts when same bottle costs $29.99 in Connecticut.

He concluded, like Alaimo, that for too long the liquor industry has been a “regulated and protected industry.”

The new law allows stores to sell beer, wine, and liquor 55 more days a year. It also allows retailers to discount up to one item a month and open on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey of Hamden, who also attended the ceremonial bill signing, said Rep. Kathy Tallarita of Enfield, who has championed this issue for many years, deserves a lot of the credit.

Sharkey said he meant no disrespect to the others in the room for their efforts, but he didn’t believe they would have been standing in Enfield on Thursday if it wasn’t for Tallarita.

Alaimo said the new law, which is so important to border towns like Enfield, should help Tallarita, a Democrat, get re-elected this fall. He scoffed at the mention of a primary opponent.

Sharkey, who is expected to be elected Speaker of the House next year, said part of the reason he attended Thursday’s event was to support Tallarita. As Speaker of the House, Sharkey will be in charge of the re-election campaigns for all the Democratic candidates or sitting state reps seeking a spot in the House of Representatives.

Tallarita, who was left somewhat speechless by Sharkey’s accolades, said the new law wouldn’t have been possible if Malloy hadn’t put forth such a “historic and bold” proposal.

“For me it’s never been about the alcohol. It’s always been about the fairness,” Tallarita said.

Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wetherfield, said last year there wasn’t even enough support for a similar bill to make it out of the General Law Committee. He thinks the difference this year was the governor’s backing of the legislation.

“We’re really here today because of the leadership of the governor,” Doyle said. “Mid-January I never thought we would be here today.”

Tags: Sunday sales, Brendan Sharkey, Kathy Tallarita, Domenic Alaimo, Enfield, package store, dh

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OP-ED | Gordon Gekko Lives

by Sarah Darer Littman | May 17, 2012 10:27pm
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Posted to: Opinion

Last weekend I accompanied my significant other to his business school reunion at Wharton. During one of the “Thought Leader” breakout sessions, we learned from Prof. Don Huesman, director of the Wharton Innovation Group, that immediately following the 2008 meltdown, the faculty met and posed the question: “Are we responsible or are we irrelevant?”

Given Wall Street’s failure to properly analyze and assess risk, Wharton, as one of the top business schools in the country, decided to go with the assumption that it bore some responsibility. As such, they’ve been revising the curriculum to ensure that future graduates are better prepared and more responsible.

As we sat outside Jon M. Huntsman Hall, I mentioned to boyfriend how impressed I was that unlike the wider business community, the school appeared to have used the 2008 debacle as an opportunity for introspection and accountability.

He laughed. A graduate of the Class of ‘92, he entered when Wharton was clouded by the indictment of one of the school’s best-known graduates — Michael Milken, the “Junk Bond King” of the 80’s — on 98 charges of racketeering and fraud. Milken’s indictment, combined with other mismanagement, sent the firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert, where Milken headed the high-yield department, into Chapter 11 a year later.

At the time of the bankruptcy, more than 5,000 employees lost their jobs. Milken served only two years of a 10-year prison sentence.

When my boyfriend started at Wharton, a hastily arranged ethics course had been added to the curriculum in response to the Milken affair, scheduled opposite the Thursday afternoon pub hour. This was a temporary fix until the faculty could build ethics into the curriculum on a more permanent basis.

I now share my my boyfriend’s cynicism after going to the school’s website and finding that Milken is lauded as one of the 125 Influential People and Ideas celebrating the inception of the business school.

Seriously, Wharton?

According to the school’s own PR, since being founded it “has graduated nearly 100,000 business leaders.” Out of all those high-powered successful people they couldn’t find one to replace the guy who served jailtime for fraud and racketeering? Perhaps even more disturbing, in Milken’s profile, they’ve white-washed his crime to one mild and ambiguous sentence: “Milken became a magnet for controversy in the late 1980s.”

Is it any wonder that graduates — not to mention the rest of us — get a mixed message? If we’re talking risk/reward, what are 98 counts of fraud and racketeering if you’re only going to spend 22 months in prison, walk away with $700 million, and come away with your alma mater lauding you as one of its stellar alumni? Gordon Gekko is alive and well and living in America, folks.

It was an interesting time to be contemplating this because yet another bank, this time JP Morgan Chase, had just lost more than $3 billion on a large position taken by what was supposed to be its risk mitigation unit.

Chase’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been an outspoken critic of the proposed Volcker Rule of the Dodd-Frank Act, which restricts proprietary trading by banks with federally insured deposits, even going so far as to say that “Volcker doesn’t understand capital markets.” He met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on March 6 to discuss the issue, according to records recently released after prompting by the Sunlight Foundation. Dimon is also one of the three bankers who sit on the Board of the New York Federal Reserve Board, the organization that allegedly supervises the banks.

Why do we continue to let the foxes guard the henhouse?

Thanks to the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizen United decision, money speaks louder than ever in the political process. If we are not a complete plutocracy yet, we are well on the way. If legislatures continue to pass laws restricting votes, the poor and disadvantaged will lose their only voice.

Both parties have their snouts in the trough, but if we don’t want to see more of the same, we have to pin down our 2012 candidates. Like most voters without multiple zeros in their bank account, I’m sick to death of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” politics.

Tags: Gordon Gekko, Sarah Darer Littman, Wharton, JP Morgan Chase, Volcker, dh

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OP-ED | Sunday Sales: Cold Comfort During The Week

by Terry D. Cowgill | May 17, 2012 9:28pm
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Posted to: Opinion

OK, now that the post-mortems all have been written for the whirlwind 2012 legislative session, most observers have picked their winners and losers, along with their greatest disappointments.

What was my biggest bummer? The watered-down education bill? No jobs bill? The delay in instituting generally accepted accounting principles? No way. As a wine drinker, my biggest disappointment is the outcome of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s liquor sales reform proposals. Sure, we got Sunday and holiday sales, but little else.

If you think the teachers unions were the most successful interest group to stymie reform efforts during this legislative session, think again. If you want to see real power, look at the way the package store owners were able to block any meaningful repair to the antiquated and punitive system of liquor sales in this state.

No, it wasn’t a crucial piece of legislation. No child will be stuck in a bad school as a result of the tepid bill. No construction worker will remain idle because we can’t buy wine by-the-case at a discount. But consumers will continue to get soaked by a system that treats package store owners as a protected business class. And the state of Connecticut will continue to lose revenue to consumers who drive to Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge or Bevmax in Port Chester. And all this is in the name of sparing one type of business the burden of competing for customers in the same way virtually everyone else does.

Back in February when I met with Malloy in his office at the Capitol with the rest of the CTNewsJunkie editorial board, the governor was emphatic in condemning the archaic system of price controls that guarantees profits for package store owners but forces consumers to drive out of state or pay 30 to 40 percent more for alcohol. He had returned from a recent trip to Sturbridge, where a bottle of cabernet was on sale for $14.98.

“The minimum legal price that you could buy that bottle of wine in Connecticut is $21.99. There is no way that’s not causing us to lose sales. And the idea of having minimum pricing is, quite frankly, outrageous.”

Industry experts have told the governor we are losing $570 million in sales every year to more consumer-friendly states on our borders. That means that not only are we paying too much for the product, but that taxpayers have to make up the difference for the revenue that is lost to those other states. Malloy is right. It’s outrageous.

Unfortunately, negotiations in committee took out the elimination of price controls, which remain largely intact with one minor exception. Malloy had proposed that package store owners be allowed to discount five items per month. The bill that was passed only allows one item per month at 10 percent below the cost of acquisition.

Also left intact was the liquor industry’s cherished quotas that restrict the number of licenses in any town to a ratio based on population. Left virtually untouched was another embarrassing bit of protectionism limiting any single owner to no more than two stores. Malloy had proposed raising it to seven, but negotiations cut it to three.

Also left on the cutting room floor was the governor’s idea of allowing gas-station convenience stores to sell beer, as they’re permitted to do in neighboring states. The reason cited for nixing that proposal: without evidence, Sen. Edith Prague and package store owners themselves suggested the ease of beer purchases at convenience stores might increase drunken driving rates and result in a rise in underage drinking.

For most of the remaining price control and retailing issues on Malloy’s list, a task force was created for further study. In legislative-ese, that usually means it will die.

What is the cause of such inaction, aside from the little package stores’ muscular lobbying outfit? Well, some legislators — Republicans such as state Sens. Len Suzio and Andrew Roraback, no less — will tell you that it’s not fair to change the rules in the middle of the game or that deregulation will destroy Main Street and create the Walmart effect for the liquor industry.

That sounds improbable to me, but even if corner package stores migrate to the malls and shopping centers, as have many barber shops and clothiers, would it be the end of the world? Heck, retailers with more room might even buy in bulk and drive down the cost of a bottle of Jim Beam for the rest of us.

Now bear in mind that the state’s anachronistic liquor laws don’t affect me profoundly. My town borders both New York and Massachusetts, so I can easily cross the line and avoid having to deal with bad policies and high prices. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t important principles at stake.

One package store owner in the Northwest Corner told me he felt disrespected — perhaps in the same manner as Connecticut’s teachers when Malloy told them all they had to do is show up for four years to get tenure. He thought the governor had “attacked the liquor industry.” Wrong. Malloy attacked archaic regulations that are indefensible and serve to jack up the cost of living in this state. It’s almost enough to drive me to drink.

Terry Cowgill blogs at ctdevilsadvocate.com, is the editor of ctessentialpolitics.com and was an award-winning editor and senior writer for The Lakeville Journal Company.

Tags: Sunday sales, liquor, beer, legislation, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Terry D. Cowgill, dh

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Racial Profiling Bill And Secure Communities Intersect

by Hugh McQuaid | May 17, 2012 4:43pm
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Posted to: Legal

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The recently adopted racial profiling legislation that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to sign may help the state assess the impact of the controversial federal “Secure Communities” immigration policy, according to the governor’s top criminal justice adviser.

The bill strengthens a law requiring police to report traffic stop data so that it can be analyzed by the state for evidence of racial profiling. But Michael P. Lawlor, the Office of Policy and Management’s head of criminal justice, said that analysis could also uncover misuse of a federal immigration policy.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities program shares information and fingerprints collected by local police departments with the federal immigration and customs enforcement agency.

At a Thursday meeting of an advisory group created to implement the state’s new racial profiling initiative, Lawlor said he has heard concerns that police may be more inclined to fingerprint someone they believe may be undocumented because they know that the information will make its way to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Incidents that might not result in an arrest at all, or might result in a promise to appear ticket on the scene as opposed to bringing someone back to the station to be fingerprinted, may in the future result in more fingerprinting so that ICE will ultimately be notified,” he said.

Police officers have broad discretion in how they respond to crimes and the concern is, with the information sharing policy in place, some will target Latinos knowing they will be checked out by immigration. For instance, if a cop wanted federal authorities to look into someone he suspected of being in the country illegally, he might have that person fingerprinted for a minor infraction that typically would only warrant a ticket.

Lawlor said the concern is valid, pointing to the federal investigation of the police department in his hometown of East Haven. There, authorities found evidence that police were stopping Latinos with a higher frequency than whites. The investigation resulted in four East Haven police officers being charged with “biased policing, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and the use of excessive force.”

However, some of that behavior can be monitored under the traffic stop reporting requirements scheduled to be in place next year.

The advisory board has been tasked with developing a standardized form police will use to report, among other things, the race of motorists they stop, why they were stopped, and what action the officer took. So if officers make a habit of fingerprinting Latinos for minor infractions, theoretically the state will recognize it as a pattern in the data.

The state’s move to strengthen its data collection law comes at a time when it has become less common in other parts of the country, Northeastern University Professor Jack McDevitt told the advisory board. Laws requiring it in other states have sunsetted and the issue of racial profiling has fallen out of the public eye, he said. It’s also considered an inconvenience for police departments, he said.

“Any new form that you ask any of us to fill out — law enforcement or college professors — we all resent it,” he said.

However, in Connecticut racial profiling is still a prominent issue in part because of the East Haven police scandal and a Hartford Courant analysis of traffic stop data that found Black and Hispanic drivers were more likely to come away with a ticket or citation.

“The perception that this is happening for no apparent reason other than racial profiling is very real,” Lawlor said Thursday. “I think our ability to provide some empirical evidence and a case-by-case explanation of why decisions were made will really help inform the whole discussion.”

The new legislation has added significance due to its potential to keep tabs on the impact of the Secure Communities program, Lawlor said.

Connecticut has resisted implementation of the federal initiative over concerns it turns local cops into immigration agents, making victims and witnesses reluctant to cooperate. Malloy initially got the federal government to delay the implementation of the program in the state.

It has since gone live, but the state and federal government have disagreed over another provision of the program, enabling federal authorities to call on the state to hold onto prisoners after they’re scheduled to be released so that they can be transferred into federal custody.

Unlike other states, Connecticut has taken the position that the program doesn’t allow the federal government to force the state to detain prisoners for 48 hours so they can be transferred. Malloy has said the state will decide who it turns over to the feds.

Requests are looked at on a case-by-case basis and the state only complies if the inmate meets specific criteria, Lawlor said. For instance, if the individual in question is a convicted felon, a known gang member, on a federal watch list, or already involved with immigration court proceedings.

It’s a position Lawlor acknowledges the federal government isn’t happy about, but he said they have made no legal effort to challenge it.

Tags: racial profiling, mike lawlor, east haven, criminal justice, traffic stop, Police, dh

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Candidates Offer Delegate Disclosures

by Christine Stuart | May 17, 2012 12:22pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

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Two days before the Republican Party Convention where 1,245 delegates will nominate a U.S. Senate candidate, two of top contenders for the spot released the names of delegates who may have been financially compensated by their respective campaigns.

Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive, disclosed that Stefani Tinti and Alex Levin are full-time members of her campaign staff, while Justin Clark, who ran Tom Foley‘s 2010 gubernatorial campaign is a part-time staffer.

She also listed four vendors who may have benefited from her campaign. Jeff Santopietro, who owns a garbage company in Waterbury,  Louis Deluca, the former state Senator from Woodbury who owns a t-shirt company,  Michael and Amy Iezzi of Hamden who rent furniture, and Michael McGarry of Hartford who owns a newspaper where McMahon has purchased advertising space.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays campaign listed six delegates who have helped his campaign. Steve Bassermann, Rep. Brenda Kupchick, Rep. Penny Bacchiochi, Margaret Derisio, Charlie Devan, and Bryan Perry.

In January, members of the Connecticut Republican Party who still had a sour taste in their mouth from McMahon’s nomination over former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons in 2010, tried to get the state party to adopt a resolution which would have required delegates working on the campaign to identify themselves with an ID badge.

Some Republicans believe that because McMahon had the money to hire people, she was able to win the 2010 convention by garnering 737 delegate votes compared to Simmons’ 632 votes. Party rules say a candidate must receive over 50 percent of the vote to receive the party’s endorsement and McMahon had almost 52 percent of the vote.

The resolution failed, but both Shays and McMahon’s campaign have maintained that they support the spirit of it which is why they released the names of the delegates Wednesday.

Tags: Linda McMahon, Chris Shays, U.S. Senate, vendor, resolution, Republicans, convention

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New CEO Promises Better Response Time, But Says New Regulations May Increase Costs

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 17, 2012 5:30am
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Posted to: Energy, Environment, Weather

More than five weeks into the job, the new Northeast Utilities CEO Thomas J. May held unprecedented 30-minute Connecticut press conference Wednesday where he reminded reporters that he was a “poor kid from the streets of Hartford,” and that he grew up in the shadows of Trinity College.

May who took over the helm of Northeast Utilities last month when the multi-billion merger between Massachusetts-based utility NSTAR was finalized said he now splits his time between Boston and Hartford.

The merged company which includes four electric and two natural gas subsidiaries is now the biggest utility company in New England, serving millions of customers across Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, but May stressed his local credentials.

“At a time when foreign companies are buying up U.S. utilities, to me this merger means that local companies are going to stay local,” May said, though he declined to definitively say if the merger would result in layoffs for any of the 9,000 employees.

Since taking over, May’s been meeting with employees—the “troops,” he calls them—in towns across the state, telling them he’s a “nut about customer service,” which will be music to the ears of the thousands of Connecticut Light & Power customers who went without power for extended periods of time during Tropical Storm Irene and the massive October snow storm.

As part of the merger, May said that the company has “made a lot of promises to regulators,” in terms of improving services. Much of that improvement will come in the way of increased communication, May said.

May described a drill planned for July in which the company will coordinate response with each town’s emergency operating center. He said the company would be establishing a hotline and an online system where customers will be able to inquire about the status of power lines.

NSTAR has also had to answer to angry Boston customers and politicians in recent months, after a transformer fire in March that left much of the Boston neighborhood of Back Bay without power for several days. An hour-long blackout last week that left Boston Mayor Tom Menino demanding an explanation.

May said that the mishaps on the Boston power grid were analogous to Red Sox slugger David Ortiz’s start last season: a low moment in an otherwise stellar career.

Under the terms of the merger, Connecticut will receive a $25 million rate credit, which will work out to about $16 per customer.

The company also agreed to freeze electric distribution rates for customers for two years. Company executives told shareholders this month, however, that after the rate freeze expires the company will ask state regulators if it can pass the $220 million it lost in Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm on to its customers, the Hartford Courant reported.

May said that the state’s recent storm preparedness bill would create some increased costs for the company, but said that he couldn’t say whether or not ratepayers would bear the brunt of the costs until the Public Utility Regulatory Authority issues its standards.

The bill, which passed in the waning hours of the legislation, creates performance standards and fines for utility companies if they fail to meet restoration goals.

FRACKING

Connecticut may soon see an increase in natural gas obtained through the controversial extraction method hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking.”

The gas obtained by the utility through its two gas subsidiaries primarily comes from the Marcellus Shale rock formation, which covers a vast area stretching from New York to West Virginia and to Ohio and much of western Pennsylvania.

Fracking involves drilling deep into rock formations and breaking the rock to release pockets of natural gas. The method has received criticism because of reports of the gas leaking into local water supplies. In an oft-cited occurrence, people who live in the Marcellus Shale region have filmed themselves lighting the water in their faucets on fire.

The merged utility has about 500,000 natural gas customers, 200,000 of which are in Connecticut, and this number may rise soon.

Because of the high price of oil, May said that natural gas may become more widely used in the state.

A Texas company is proposing a $500 million expansion of the Algonquin natural gas pipeline, which cuts across the state and connects to the Texas Eastern pipeline to bring in gas from the Marcellus Shale region.

“Theres no doubt that we should be taking advantage of gas. For my entire career, we’ve been at the end of the energy pipeline. That’s one of the reasons why you see so much fuel oil that we heat our homes with in the Northeast, because the gas was in the Gulf, and it cost a lot of money to pipe it up here,” May said.

“I believe that is our future.”

May also stressed the potential economic benefits of using gas obtained by fracking.

“If we can have somebody heat their homes for $1.25 a gallon, instead of $4 a gallon, think of what money comes back into the Connecticut economy,” he said.

NU spokesperson Al Lara said that while there are no public plans to shift more of the companies portfolio toward natural gas, he said that “if there is gas that would make it cheaper for customers we would try to access that gas.”

HYDRO

The Canadian province of Quebec through its public utility Hydro-Quebec is currently undertaking a massive project to dam rivers in the north of the province and harvest hydroelectricity.

Much of that power is slated for southern New England.

NSTAR and Northeast Utilities have for years been partners in the construction of a $1 billion, 1,200 megawatt transmission line to bring the power south from Quebec through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Part of the commercial appeal of hydroelectric power is that several states classify it as “renewable,” which increases its value for state’s who need to meet self-imposed energy efficiency targets.

Hydro power does not currently qualify for Connecticut’s renewable energy portfolio, though the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is studying whether or not the state will join Vermont as the only states in New England that class hydro as renewable.

Last month, the Massachusetts legislature voted to “encourage” hydro power, but declined to include it in the state’s renewable portfolio standards.

Both the New Hampshire transmission line and the Quebec damming project have come under fire from activists and environmentalists, but May said it wouldn’t be a barrier to bringing the electricity to market.

“I have never seen a project that everybody loves. There’s always resistance theres alway groups that will picket. The special interest groups will find something wrong with the project. so that does not surprise us. It’s nothing we didn’t expect,” May said.

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Clark Drops Bid, Endorses Roraback

by Christine Stuart | May 16, 2012 6:25pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

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FARMINGTON—Two days before the Republican convention, the former FBI agent and Farmington Town Council President Mike Clark officially ended his campaign for Congress and endorsed his Republican opponent Sen. Andrew Roraback of Goshen.

Before giving a brief speech he told to the handful of reporters waiting for the announcement that his supporters would be lining up behind him as he made his remarks. A TV cameraman asked if he would be using a podium, and Clark half-joked that “if I could afford a podium I’d still be in the race.”

Clark conceded that the delegate support and the fundraising, which go hand-in-hand, just wasn’t there.

“I have reached the conclusion that my campaign has not gained the traction necessary to defeat the Democratic nominee in the general election,” Clark said in his formal remarks.

He encouraged the 12 delegates, some of whom were in attendance, and two super delegates from Farmington to instead give their support to Roraback.

Roraback possesses the key attributes to return the seat to the Republican party, Clark said.

“He embodies the spirit and independence of the New England Republican,“ Clark said of Roraback. “He has a record of victory in elections and has a substantive record of governance, which proves not only his Republican principles but his ability to build consensus and lead effectively.”

Roraback called Clark’s endorsement a “boost” to his campaign. He said it shows that his campaign is peaking at just the right time. Republicans will nominate their candidates Friday afternoon at the Convention Center in Hartford.

Republican Party Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr., who also attended Clark’s announcement, said his concern is that the party find the “strongest possible candidate to defeat Chris Donovan this November.”

The 5th Congressional District seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate. Earlier this week the three Democratic candidates, Donovan, Elizabeth Esty, and Dan Roberti received enough delegate support to primary. The district is considered a swing district because about 44 to 45 percent of the voters don’t belong to either of the two major parties.

“Ultimately that candidate is one that will be acceptable to the Republican base and can attract enough unaffiliated voters to win,” Labriola said. “We are very fortunate to have four terrific candidates.”

The four candidates include Mark Greenberg of Litchfield, Justin Bernier of Plainville, Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury, and Roraback.

Roraback said the fact that the Democratic State Central Committee’s video tracker was there taping everything he said was proof that he’s the candidate to beat.

“Jeff Chase has been following me every where I go,” Roraback said. “Don’t necessarily take Mike’s word for it that I’m the candidate who represents our party’s best hope. Take the word of the Democratic State Central Committee who has made it their business to commit a lot of resources to try and catch me saying something untoward. “

Clark said it’s his goal to get Chase to register with the Republicans before the end of the election cycle.

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Minimum Wage Bill, Jobs Package Won’t Stay Dead

by Hugh McQuaid | May 16, 2012 4:15pm
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Posted to: Business, Jobs, Labor

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The Senate Democrats’ jobs package and a bill to raise the minimum wage were among the those that dropped dead last Wednesday. But both appear to be ready to crawl from the grave to latch onto budget implementers when the legislature meets for special session.

The bills in question both died May 9 after a standoff between House and Senate leadership. Despite its bipartisan support, House Speaker Chris Donovan held the jobs bill hoping to convince Senate Democrats to pass his minimum wage increase. Senate President Donald Williams maintained that there was never enough support to pass the bill in the Senate.

After the legislative session concluded, Williams said people would be scratching their heads wondering why a bill helping to create jobs didn’t pass. He said he planned to have the bill, which expands job programs created last fall, inserted into to a budget implementer during special session.

“It was wrong for anyone to think that these two bills should in any way be linked at a time when our businesses need help in a very tough economy,” Williams said last week.

But he’s not the only one hoping to resurrect his signature piece of legislation. If Donovan has his way, the bills will be linked again. In a statement, Donovan said he intends to have both concepts inserted in the same implementer.

“I absolutely support SB1, which along with an increase to the minimum wage will be part of a special session bill,” Donovan said. “Increasing the minimum wage has the support of 70 percent of Connecticut voters and will help over 100,000 state residents meet basic needs.”

On Wednesday, Williams said he hadn’t spoken with Donovan about his intentions and would refrain from commenting until they had a conversation. Messages were left for Donovan, who was not immediately available for comment.

Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, who supported a later version of the minimum wage bill, said Donovan’s plan endangers a good bill for the second time.

“I think he’s jeopardizing an important piece of legislation,” LeBeau said.

As Speaker of the House, Donovan was calling the shots in the lower chamber and could have passed the jobs bill during the regular session, LeBeau said. But under his leadership, the bill was never raised.

“Ultimately, he killed the bill,” LeBeau said.

If a bill dies in session it shouldn’t be revived in a trailer session dedicated to implementing the state’s budget, House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said. When the House passed the resolution calling for a special session, Cafero said he specifically asked about the scope of the session and was told it would be strictly for budget-related bills.

“If we can make no justification on how [raising the minimum wage] implements the budget, they’re breaking their word,” he said.

The big fear in holding a trailer session, Cafero said, is that everyone who had a bill die during the regular session will try to get it jammed into a budget implementer.

“It’s a fraud on the state of Connecticut,” Cafero said.

Why have a legislative process if it will be ignored under one-party government, Cafero asked. Why not just have one massive implementer bill and cram everyone’s legislation into it?

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney said the jobs package is related to the state budget, which already plans to fund programs helping small businesses. Raising it during a session focused on the budget could be appropriate but the minimum wage hike is another story, he said.

“Reviving bills that died, especially ones that died due to lack of support in the legislature, has no business in the special session,” he said.

McKinney said Donovan’s plan to include the minimum wage bill “smacks of a lot of politics” given the fact that he is in the midst of a campaign for a congressional seat. If there still isn’t enough support for his bill in the Senate, its inclusion could jeopardize the budget implementer into which it’s inserted in.

“Maybe I should be happy about that because it’s a bad budget, but that to me is not the right course of action,” McKinney said.

Also expected to be revived is legislation removing a statutory requirement that the state employ at least 1,248 state troopers.

In place of the staffing mandate, the bill asks the staff of the Program Review and Investigations Committee to conduct a study next year and arrive at a data-driven recommendation for the appropriate number of state police.

The requirement has been largely ignored since it was adopted in 2001. The legislature has only appropriated enough money to fund that many troopers during one year. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed the bill following a lawsuit by the troopers union after 56 officers were laid off.

The bill died on the Senate calendar but Andrew McDonald, Malloy’s chief legal counsel, has said he expects it to be included in an implementer.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said Wednesday that she wasn’t sure if a bill to change the composition of the Insurance Exchange Board will be included as a budget implementer.

Meanwhile, state Health Care Advocate Vicki Veltri said the state risks federal funds if it doesn’t include at least one consumer advocate on the board. She said the federal government changed its regulations in March requiring states to have at least one voting member represent consumers. Veltri is on the board, but does not vote.

Christine Stuart contributed to this report

Tags: Chris Donovan, Don Williams, Minimum wage, minimum trooper mandate, jobs expansion, Larry Cafero, John McKinney, Zombie bills, Hugh McQuaid, walking dead, dh

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Group Ups The Ante In Education Lawsuit With High- Powered Law Firm

by Christine Stuart | May 16, 2012 12:50pm
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Posted to: Courts, Education

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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy may have signed what supporters are calling a sweeping education reform bill Tuesday, but its 185-pages don’t begin to touch upon how the state finances all of its public schools.

That thorny issue is expected to be dealt with by the legislature next year or a court in 2014, the year the education adequacy lawsuit is scheduled to go back to trial.

The Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding sued the state back in 2005 alleging that under the state’s Constitution, not only are students entitled to a public education but they also are entitled to one that works, one that assures them, at minimum, an adequate education. The state Supreme Court agreed in a 4-3 decision in 2010, which sent the case back to the trial court.

In an effort to convince the state of Connecticut to settle the lawsuit out of court, the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding has upped the ante by acquiring the pro bono services of a prestigious New York law firm with deep pockets.

Earlier this week, the organization announced that Debevoise & Plimpton LLP will take over as chief legal counsel. Yale Law School’s Education Adequacy Project will continue its pro bono involvement with the case, but instead of being the lead law firm it continue in a supporting role.

And, after guiding the case to a Supreme Court victory, Yale doesn’t mind taking a back seat.

“We are delighted that Debevoise & Plimpton, one of the nation’s leading law firms, has agreed to join this vital lawsuit,” Yale Law School Dean Robert C. Post said. “The students of the law school’s Education Adequacy Project have litigated this case since it was filed in 2005, and we are grateful for the participation of Debevoise as the case moves into the trial stage.”

One of Debevoise & Plimpton’s most talented litigators, Helen Cantwell, a graduate of Harvard Law School, asked her firm for the case.

“I am extremely excited about this opportunity to lead such an important case,” Cantwell, a Greenwich native, said in a press release. “The CCJEF lawsuit will allow us to fight for the improved capacity of Connecticut’s public schools to ensure equal educational opportunity for all students, whether poor, minority, immigrant, handicapped, or gifted.”

The Attorney General’s Office, which is defending the state, welcomed the new firm.

“We welcome Debevoise & Plimpton to this important case and look forward to a constructive and cordial working relationship,” the office said in an email.

But Dianne Kaplan deVries, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition of Justice in Education Funding, called it a “huge new development” in the case.

“With the formidable resources and litigation expertise of Debevoise & Plimpton and the continuing invaluable work of the Yale Law School Education Adequacy Project students, CCJEF now has the Dream Team,” deVries said. “The timing is perfect. The state’s broken school finance system is widely acknowledged by state and local policymakers, yet it remains unfixed.”

In the meantime, the Education Cost Sharing Task Force created by Malloy, who was one of the first plaintiffs in the lawsuit when he was mayor of Stamford, is expected to make their recommendations on how to change the formula in October. The group was formed back in 2011.

Tags: adequacy in education funding, lawsuit, Debevoise & Plimpton, Yale Law School, Supreme Court, dh

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Watchdog Group Sues Over Senate Filibuster Rule

by Hugh McQuaid | May 16, 2012 5:30am
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Posted to: Congress, Courts

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Common Cause, a Washington-based watchdog group, is suing the U.S. Senate over the constitutionality of its filibuster rule that enables a 41-member minority to block the debate of bills.

The 52-page complaint asks the U.S. District Court to declare the Senate’s filibuster rule unconstitutional because it violates the principle of majority rule. Bob Edgar, the group’s president and CEO, said the American public has lost confidence in Congress’s ability to get anything done.

“They have good reason,” he said in a press release. “Congress is mired in gridlock as partisan factions put political advantage over the national interest. Requiring 60 votes to do anything in the Senate is a big part of the problem. It creates a disincentive to compromise, and allows powerful special interests to call the shots behind closed doors.

To debate a bill, the Senate must pass a motion to proceed with the bill. However, senators opposed to the measure can debate that motion endlessly if proponents can’t get the 60 votes necessary to move forward with the bill.

The Common Cause lawsuit alleges the rule gives a dissident minority in the Senate veto power over all three branches of the federal government. Filibusters prevent the Executive Branch from filling positions by not passing nominations, which leaves the Judicial Branch with critical vacancies. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives can’t pass a bill into law unless the Senate does so as well.

The filibuster was designed to allow a bill to be debated extensively. Edgar said the framers of the constitution did not intend for it to be used to prevent a debate entirely. In a blog post on Common Cause’s website, Edgar said the filibuster was even used to prevent a discussion of the filibuster.

“When the 111th Congress opened last year, the filibuster rule even denied my friend Sen. Tom Udall [D-NM] a chance to make the case for filibuster reform to his colleagues; the minority used the filibuster rule to block discussion on Udall’s proposal to change the rule,” he wrote.

However, courts are traditionally hesitant to weigh in on the inner workings of other branches of government.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s former attorney general, said the constitution often prevents lawsuits such as this.

“[The lawsuit] faces some significant obstacles, not the least of which is whether the court can order any remedy. The Judicial Branch is barred by the Separation of Powers Doctrine from controlling the operations of another branch of government,” he said in a phone interview.

“Just as a matter of law, there are high hurdles to achieving an end to filibustering through the courts,” he said adding that litigation takes years.

However, Blumenthal said the rule is a problem that needs addressing by the Senate itself. He said one of the first votes he cast after taking office was to eliminate the 60-vote threshold and to end or dilute filibustering.

“I’m in favor of majority rule,” he said.

Though the vote failed, Blumenthal said he’s been involved in discussions about changing the rules. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently expressed frustration with filibuster abuse and there’s been significant movement in a renewed effort to scrap the rule, Blumenthal said.

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, who is running for Senate and was in Hartford for an unrelated press conference this week, agreed the Senate should fix its own rules instead of waiting for legal intervention.

“You need a majority of senators at the beginning of a session to change the rules. I think if you elect a number of senators who are committed to process reform, we can get rid of the filibuster by a simple vote in the Senate rather than by a lawsuit,” he said.

Murphy said he doesn’t want to do away with the filibuster in its traditional sense, as in debating a bill extensively.

“I’d like to see people actually have to filibuster,” he said, adding that currently senators only need to threaten a filibuster to throw up a 60-vote barrier.

If senators actually had to engage in long and drawn out debates, they might be less inclined to obstruct the passage of legislation, he said.

“If you’re going to filibuster then do it. Bring cots to the Senate floor, stay there for weeks on end. Don’t just threaten a filibuster,” Murphy said.

Tags: Supreme Court, Senate, Richard Blumenthal, Chris Murphy, Bob Edgar, Common Cause, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Malloy Vetoes First Bill Of The 2012 Session

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 15, 2012 5:17pm
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Posted to: State Capitol

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed a bill he said would restrict the independence and authority of local charter review commissions. Read his veto message.

Malloy says he vetoed a similar bill last year so this year’s veto should come as no surprise.

The bill would “remove the authority now vested in a charter revision commission to consider all aspects of a charter in discharging its obligations,” Malloy wrote.

He said municipal charters form the “fundamental framework of local government” and he worries it could be used by a dominant political party in a given town to increase their majority. He also worries it would limit public input into the charter revision process.

What do you think?

Tags: Malloy, veto, charter revision commission, charter review, dh

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Opponents Set Aside Their Differences For Education Bill Signing

by Christine Stuart | May 15, 2012 4:46pm
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Posted to: Education

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School reform advocates and representatives of the teacher unions sat next to each other Tuesday as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a law that they all believe to be a step toward eliminating the worst-in-the-nation achievement gap.

Flanked by lawmakers and school children and facing a room full of municipal officials and school superintendents, Malloy acknowledged that the bill was hotly debated. It was the topic of discussion for months as lawmakers and administration officials seemed to go around and around on the issue of charter schools and collective bargaining.

But an 11th-hour negotiating session led to an agreement that was passed 28-7 by the Senate and 149-0 by the House the day before the end of the legislative session.

Malloy administration Chief of Staff Mark Ojakian said there was a point two weeks ago where the two sides thought they weren’t going to be able to get their opposing viewpoints back to the bargaining table, but they did.

Ojakian, who negotiated the $1.6 billion agreement with the state employee unions last year, said they had a similar incident during those negotiations where things almost “blew up” and they were able to come back together. Ojakian was responsible for getting the two sides back to the bargaining table this year as well.

He said he remained optimistic as negotiations dragged into the early morning hours the weekend before the end of the legislative session. He said he knew they’d be able to get it done as long as everyone took a deep breath and realized the importance of getting the bill passed or, conversely, the consequences of what would happen if they didn’t reach an agreement.

Based on the smiling faces in attendance at the bill-signing ceremony Tuesday, they may have done it in a way that allows both sides of the issue to claim victory.

Steve Simmons, vice chairman of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, praised the increases in preschool slots and funding for charter school students, the creation of a chart of common accounts for local school districts, and teacher “tenure that’s tied to effectiveness.”

Simmons said even though the new evaluation system being developed by the state’s Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee won’t be tied to a teacher’s salary or certification, it will mean something.

“To get tenure and retain tenure you have to an effective teacher,” Simmons said. “It’s really the end of tenure as we know it in the state.”

The tenure issue and how Malloy framed the debate over tenure caused a backlash from the state’s two teacher unions, who actively lobbied against the original bill.

Malloy’s original bill, which was changed by the legislature through the negotiations, would have required teachers to re-earn their tenure every five years based on evaluations tied largely to student achievement. Under the new law, new teachers would get tenure after three years if they earn two “exemplary” evaluations and after five years with three “proficient” or “exemplary” evaluations.

A teacher will be required to earn an “effective” evaluation to earn tenure after their first four years of teaching and in order to lose it they will have to receive an “ineffective” rating, but neither will be tied to certification or pay.

Phil Apruzzese, president of the Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said that “all of the nonsense about tenure and its effectiveness will go away” if the state can implement a good process through the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council.

“I think the great lesson here is that if we collaborate, good things can actually get done,” Apruzzese said. “I hope it was a message to the governor as well that through collaboration we got a bill that we all can live with.”

Going forward “we’re all going to have to be in the same room together to come up with a good end product for our kids,” Apruzzese said.

Asked if this legislation emboldens the private school movement, Apruzzese said charter schools have been in Connecticut for a long time now.

“They’re a part of the public school system,” he added. “It’s just that so many people get hung up on the fact that some companies come in and they’re for-profit and we have a problem with that.”

The legislation only allows nonprofit education organizations to reconstitute low-performing public schools.

Tags: education bill, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Steve Simmons, Council For Education Reform, Connecticut Education Association, Phil Apruzzese, dh

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CT Delegation Poo-Poos Partisanship Over Domestic Violence

by Elizabeth Bowling | May 15, 2012 4:06pm
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Posted to: Congress

It’s hard to understand how something like the Violence Against Women Act can get caught up in partisan politics in Washington, but members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation say that is exactly what has happened.

At a Capitol press conference Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Joseph Courtney, Rose DeLauro, and Chris Murphy accused House Republicans of placing personal ideology above the lives and health of women.

The law, originally passed in 1994, classifies domestic violence and sexual assault as crimes. It also directs federal money to encourage community efforts to combat domestic violence. The law expired last year and Congress is currently debating its reauthorization.

Murphy said the bill shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Since VAWA became law, acts of domestic violence have dropped by more than half, he said.

In April, the Senate passed its own version of the bill, which DeLauro said strengthened and modernized the law.

The Senate version, which passed with bipartisan support, would give additional protection to gays and lesbians as well as undocumented immigrants and Native American women.

Murphy said the version House Republicans crafted and passed out of the House Judiciary Committee is far weaker, and the House version submits those categories of women to more abuse because it removed the new protections.

According to Murphy, 50 percent of gay and lesbian people seeking help in domestic violence cases are denied assistance nationwide. The Senate bill addresses the problem by implementing a nondiscrimination clause, which calls for the uniform protection of all victims, he said.

He said the House version also puts undocumented victims at risk by requiring notification of their spouse if they apply for temporary Visa while their case proceeds in court. The victim’s spouse could further abuse them and would be given the opportunity to provide evidence to immigration officials that could deny the victim the Visa.

Native Americans would also continue to suffer under the House bill because it removed a provision giving tribes greater authority to prosecute attacks by people who aren’t part of the tribe, Murphy said.

Courtney called the policy counterproductive.

“We’re fighting over a bill which would take this country backward,” Courtney said.

Karen Jarmoc, executive director at the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said VAWA supports both a Stock Grant program that allows for in-depth training of law enforcement in domestic violence incidents, as well as a Victims Grant program which allows Connecticut’s 18 domestic violence agencies to reach out for legal help in high-risk abuse cases.

While Senate and House ideals differ and Republican and Democratic ideals differ, Murphy insisted that the bill must be a consensus of those who work in the field of domestic violence services.

DeLauro said Democrats would offer amendments when the House raises the bill in an effort to bring it more in line with the measure the Senate passed.

After being abused for 15 years, domestic violence survivor April Pierce sought help from the Meriden Wallingford Chrysalis Center. With the the center’s help, she became an empowered, self-confident woman and wishes for every domestic violence survivor to feel the same way. Pierce said she wants the legislation to pass so other women can be helped.

Tags: domestic violence, jarmoc, Murphy, DeLauro, Courtney, partisan politics, Washington, Congress, dh

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Veteran State Senator Won’t Seek Re-election

by Christine Stuart | May 15, 2012 11:44am
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Posted to: Election 2012, State Capitol

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Foregoing the pomp and circumstance of announcing her retirement before the end of the legislative session, longtime state Sen. Eileen Daily of Westbrook announced Tuesday that she won’t be running for re-election in the fall.

Daily, 69, said Tuesday that she made the decision this past weekend after attending a memorial service for her sister-in-law, who died last year. She’s been a state senator for 20 years.

“It made me think about how short time is,” Daily said.

With two grandchildren living in Boston where she grew up, Daily said she wants to spend more time with her family.

“I’ve been to dance lessons and hockey lessons, but I’ve never been to a school play,” Daily said.

And the long hours and late nights of this past legislative session took their toll on Daily, who once ran for re-election with two broken legs.

“The past year holding office has become more physically demanding for me and it would be difficult to initiate a re-election campaign,” Daily said in a press release. “I’ve been diagnosed with cancer, endured chemotherapy and associated treatment, and am presently recuperating from a broken ankle.”

Rep. Patricia Widlitz, co-chairwoman of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, said she knew the announcement was coming, but just didn’t want to think it was going to happen.

She said people at the Capitol are “afraid of Eileen as a committee chair, but when you get to know her she’s such a sweet, sensitive person with a big heart.”

Widlitz said she knows Daily doesn’t want the farewell tribute that Sen. Edith Prague received, but there is going to be a special session and she’s still a senator until January, so “she’s not going to get away with this.”

Daily served for five terms as the co-chairwoman of the powerful Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee and, at the national level, she served on the Fiscal Chairs Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures. She also traveled overseas to Ireland to monitor the peacekeeping efforts in the North and to Bahrain where she spent time preparing women to run in local elections.

“That’s a another way that I’ve been so fortunate,” Daily said. “As a little kid from the ghetto I had never heard of Bahrain.”

Daily credits her upbringing in Dorchester, Mass. as one of the reasons she was such an astute politician. “It made me smarter as a candidate and very hard working,” she said.

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said he learned a tremendous amount from Daily when he served with her on the Environment Committee.

“She’s an extraordinarily effective politician without a lot of people knowing about it,” he said. “She didn’t need to make a lot of noise to get things done.”

But her positions at the state and national level always took a back seat to her service to her community. She served as First Selectwoman of Westbrook from 1983 to 1989. She was first elected to the General Assembly in 1993.

Daily said she would continue to be involved with her community in retirement and plans to maintain the friendships she’s built over the years with local officials, General Assembly co-chairs, and legislative staff.

“I was always very fortunate to have great co-chairs while all the other committee chairman were fighting,” Daily said.

As a state senator, Daily represented the 12 towns of Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook.

Tags: Eileen Daily, senate, retirements, dh

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Delegates Pick Donovan in 5th, But Both Esty and Roberti Can Primary

by Christine Stuart & Scott Benjamin | May 14, 2012 10:53pm
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It was no surprise that a majority of the 336 Democratic delegates for the 5th Congressional District nominated House Speaker Chris Donovan on Monday evening. The question was, how many delegates would go for two of the other three Democrats vying for the nomination?

Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire, a former town councilor and state representative, and Dan Roberti, a young public relations executive from Kent, fought over the remaining delegates. In the end, each received enough support to primary.

Esty received 66 votes and, after a little arm twisting, Roberti was able to walk away with 54 votes. Longshot Randy Yale of Cheshire was nominated but he didn’t receive any votes.

Donovan easily won the delegates from the big cities in the 5th Congressional District such as Danbury and New Britain, while Esty did well among Farmington Valley and Litchfield County towns. Roberti was able to get enough votes from Waterbury to get him to 16 percent, just one percent more than he needed to primary.

After the more than a hour of nominating speeches, including six for Donovan, what was clear is that U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy left some big shoes to be filled when he decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Forty-four percent of the voters in the district’s 41 towns are unaffiliated, which means the district could easily go either way in the general election.

Five Republican candidates are seeking their party’s endorsement this weekend.

Murphy often speaks about how he unseated Republican Nancy Johnson in 2006 by outworking her and knocking on more than 8,000 doors. His youth was compared to that of Roberti. who has about $500,000 cash on hand heading into the stretch run to the Aug. 14 primary.

Following the vote, Roberti said he “was well aware” of which delegates might switch after the first roll call and he was able to get to them to change their votes.

“We knew where the people were that might be flexible enough to change and help us out,” he said. “I want to thank Waterbury for helping me get on the ballot and to Southbury for being with me right from the beginning.

Roberti was nominated by Southbury Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Vivian Templeton, who praised him for showing up last November and volunteering to help Democrats take over local seats they haven’t held in years.

Roberti is the son of Washington, D.C. lobbyist Vin Roberti, who once was the youngest member ever elected to the Connecticut General Assembly. Dan Roberti said he’s seen support for his campaign grow since the debates.

But there were Democrats who worried that a primary may not be the best thing for the party in such a bipartisan district. Some were concerned more about what happens after the August primary.

Michael Long, of Simsbury, stressed that the district could easily go to the Republican Party in his nomination speech of Esty. He said history has shown that many areas of the district are skewed against Democratic candidates.

“We must nominate a Democrat able to swing enough independent votes to the Democratic side,” Long said.

He compared Esty to Simsbury First Selectwoman Mary Glassman, who has been elected to seven terms by “aggressively delivering her Democratic agenda while delivering town budgets with zero percent or minimal increases.”

Anna Maloney, the daughter of former Congressman Jim Maloney, was the first to offer her nomination of Donovan, saying Donovan will stand up against the “Republican War on Women” and will protect Connecticut’s interests in Washington.

But a good campaign will require large sums of money and even though she didn’t have as much support as Donovan among delegates at the convention, Esty is leading in fundraising. She has raised more than $1.2 million, while Donovan has raised about $942,493, and Roberti has raised $1.1 million.

“We’ve been matching them in money through in-state support,” Donovan said, referring to the in-kind contributions offered by his supporters.

Although Donovan had strong support in cities like Danbury and his hometown of Meriden, the vote showed he also had considerable backing in “the mid-size suburban towns and the small cities. We took the one delegate in Warren,” he said.

Donovan said the economy will be the top issue in the primary and that his record “on promoting health care, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and women’s rights” will propel him to victory Aug. 14.

“I think a lot of it has to do with my many years in the legislature, my years as speaker, and the fact that they know I’m a fighter,” he said when asked why he scored a convincing victory at the convention.

Esty talked about her years in local office and her ability to be a “problem solver” as her greatest attributes.

“I’m the only one with a plan to bring manufacturing back to the state,” she said.

Tags: 5th congressional district, Democrat, donovan, Esty, Roberti, Randy Yale, connecticut, republican, dh

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Senate Candidate Calls Convention ‘Drop Rule’ An Outrage

by Hugh McQuaid | May 14, 2012 3:59pm
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Posted to: Election 2012

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With Friday’s state Republican convention just around the corner, at least one candidate is upset about the rules the party has agreed upon to tally delegate votes.

In question is a so-called “drop rule,” which boots a candidate from a second ballot if they receive less than 10 percent of the votes on the first ballot. The rule would only apply if none of the candidates received more 50 percent of the vote during the first vote.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Brian K. Hill issued a press release calling the rule an “outrage” that destroys the integrity of the process.
“In the past it’s always been the lowest vote-getter in each round that gets dropped,” Hill said. “These strong armed tactics taints the entire legitimacy of the convention. This isn’t North Korea. The practice is un-American. Delegates should should be free to vote for whom they choose.”

Hill, a former military JAG attorney, said some delegates have promised him support after they honor their commitments to other candidates like Linda McMahon and Chris Shays in the first round. Those delegates made their initial endorsements months before ever meeting with him, he said.

Hill is one of five candidates in the Republican U.S. Senate race, and unlike Kie Westby and Peter Lumaj, this is his second attempt at running for the U.S. Senate. Two years ago Hill was a write-in candidate.

Jerry Farrell Jr., the GOP convention’s rules committee chairman, said the rules are designed to be fair within the convention’s time constraints. The party rented the convention center until midnight on Friday, and the U.S. Senate nomination portion won’t start until 7 p.m., he said.

“We don’t want to be there until the middle of the night,” Farrell said.

This year’s convention will employ block voting, where instead of over 1,000 delegates casting individual votes, municipal party leaders will report their town’s votes.

Hill said the process shouldn’t be about how quickly it can get done.
“This process should be about selecting the right candidate to take on the Democratic nominee, not expediency,” he said.

Farrell said the drop rule, which Hill is concerned about, is unlikely to be an issue in the U.S. Senate race. Unlike some of the congressional races, like the Fifth District where there are a number of viable candidates, it’s expected that the Senate race will only require one vote, he said.

“Most people I’ve talked to do not believe it goes to a second ballot,” he said.

Hill said that was guess work and there is no way to know whether a second ballot will be necessary until the night of the convention.

“They don’t have a crystal ball, they don’t know that for a fact,” he said in a phone interview Monday. “If they don’t think there’s going to be a second ballot, why make the rule in the first place?”

Farrell, a candidate for secretary of the state during the 2010 convention, was sympathetic with Hill’s position, but said at the end of the day you need a certain percentage of support to stay in the race.

“You get your supporters there, you motivate your people,” he said. “You put time and effort into it. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Politics is a competitive event.”

However, Hill said people lose faith in the political process if they don’t feel like the game is being played fairly. Changing the rules gives them that impression, he said.

“People need to feel confident with the process. They only feel confident if they feel it’s transparent and fair to all the candidates,” he said.

Tags: Brian K. Hill, Republican Convention, U.S. Senate race

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Two-Year, $27M Marketing Campaign Seeks To Capture CT’s Past & Present

by Christine Stuart | May 14, 2012 1:43pm
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Posted to: Business, Town News, Jobs, Labor, Media Matters

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Connecticut is not a theme park or resort, but it‘s the birthplace of the constitution and so many more inventions, social revolutions, and innovations. Think Sam Colt, Eli Whitney, Igor Sikorsky, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Mark Twain. 

That’s why after four months of research, $500,000, and interviews with 1,500 residents it wasn’t afraid to adopt a “Still Revolutionary” brand.

None of the other 12 original colonies have claimed it as their position, so “it is ours for the taking,” said Kip Bergstrom, director of culture and tourism, said.

But he admitted that claiming to be a place of history can be tricky.

“It can tar you as a place that’s fossilized, stuck in the past,“ Bergstrom said at a press conference Monday to announce the new campaign.

“But in our case our history is the history of change,“ he said. “Connecticut has been at the center of every political, social, cultural, economic revolution in the history of our nation.”

He said statistics show that two-thirds of people who travel want to add a cultural experience to their trip. He said Connecticut has something both for people who want to enjoy a beach and for those looking for that cultural experience.

But what Connecticut has is not easy to see. “You have to work to find it,” Bergstrom said.

Unlike Boston where they painted a red line down the more than two mile Freedom Trail for tourists to follow, Connecticut’s path may be a little more difficult to navigate.

“This campaign will be a way to celebrate our history. Our history of innovation, our history of change, our history of leadership and it will tie very closely about how we want to be perceived by the rest of the world,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said.

Malloy said the state has years of neglect to make up for in telling its story because under his predecessor the tourism budget was cut to just $1. At that time the state also canceled its membership to Discover New England which promotes New England mostly to international visitors. Restoring Connecticut to that map was one of the first things Malloy did as governor.

As a candidate, Malloy said he would put $15 million toward marketing the state as a tourism destination. In total Malloy’s budgeted $27 million over the next two years for marketing tourism in the state.

About $7 million of the money will go toward buying advertising space on television, radio, web sites, and in train stations in New York and Philadelphia through Labor Day. A new ad campaign and advertising purchase will be unveiled for the fall season.

About $22 million of the $27 million will go to Chowder, Inc., a New York City marketing firm, who will also be working with South Norwalk-based Media Storm and Waterbury research firm The Harrison Group.  Fleishman-Hillard a communications company headquartered in St. Louis will also be involved in the campaign.

“What we wanted to do was build a campaign that had legs,” Malloy said. “We referenced the New York campaign in the past…there’s lots of additional stories to tell about Connecticut’s leadership in the nation.”

This campaign is “not just about tourism, not just about hospitality. It’s about getting our step back in Connecticut,” Malloy said.

Malloy has been a proponent of historical tourism—not just because he’s a history buff which he demonstrated Monday by retelling the story of the British Raid on Essex in 1814—but because of it’s ability to increase economic activity

Connecticut tourism generates about $11.5 billion in spending, $1.15 billion in state and local tax revenue and employs nearly 111,000 workers, according to 2011 statistics.

But the slogan goes far deeper than Connecticut’s past. Malloy said it also talks about the revolutionary accomplishments the state is making in its future in the area of stem cell research with the investment in Jackson Laboratories.

He said it’s part of a much greater campaign to redefine “who we are.”

“There are just these amazing stories that for whatever reason we stopped telling decades ago and so I think we can have an opportunity to tell them, and in doing that tell stories of the great museums, the great attractions, the great theaters, the great universities, as well as these industrial complexes that have to be understood,” Malloy said referring to Colt and Sikorsky.

The two-minute video which has been edited down for shorter television advertisements can be viewed online at the www.CTVisit.com web site. The soundtrack for the advertisement features an original score “Better With You” which was commissioned specifically for the ad and it features the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and UConn student, Dinelle Glaze. The video which they showed at the press conference includes scenes from the Mystic coastline, Essex Steam Train, Gillette Castle, and the Goodspeed Opera House.

Tags: tourism, culture, still revolutionary, brand, advertising, slogan, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Kip Bergstrom

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Unemployment Benefits End For 11,000

by Christine Stuart | May 14, 2012 5:30am
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Posted to: Business, Jobs, Labor

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This weekend about 11,000 people received their final unemployment checks. That’s because Connecticut is no longer considered a “high unemployment state.”

This week Connecticut joins seven other states in seeing its extended benefits from the federal government come to an end. 

Since 2009 there have been 99 weeks of benefits: 26 weeks of state, 53 weeks of emergency unemployment compensation, and 20 weeks of extended benefits.

In February, the number of eligible weeks dropped from 99 to 93, then in March it went down to 86 weeks after Connecticut lost seven weeks of extended benefits as a result of improving unemployment rates.

As of April  Connecticut’s unemployment rate was 7.7 percent, down from a high of 9.3 percent in January 2011.

In April Connecticut’s Department of Labor received notice it would lose the remaining 13 weeks of extended benefits on May 12 as a result of the improving unemployment rates. Reducing the weeks of unemployment to 73 weeks.

In September that number is expected to drop off to 63 weeks and by December, unless Congress takes action to reinstate some of the benefits, the state will be back to the regular 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.

The Department of Labor estimates that by the end of 2012, there will be 75,000 long-term unemployment insurance claimants that have exhausted all benefits and have not found work. By the end of 2012, about 17,500 unemployed people will no longer receive extended benefits.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he’s working with Department of Labor Commissioner Glenn Marshall and the Department of Social Services to develop a plan to assist individuals who will no longer be receiving unemployment.

Malloy has suggested food stamps and Medicaid services may be programs the unemployed can apply for if they qualify.

Tags: unemployment, Connecticut, federal government, congress

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OP-ED | Politically Poetic: Week of May 13

by Jennifer Just | May 13, 2012 3:16pm
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Posted to: Opinion

This was the week we took off our coats-
And put on our boxing gloves, fighting for votes!

Sunday France made it plain to see
They had no amour left for Sarkozy,
But instead had formed a bond
With mild-mannered Francoise Hollande.

There were oodles of votes at the CGA
A lot of bills put into play –
The budget and ed reform squeaked right through
Min wage and jobs they couldn’t do.

And before they’d even started messin’
With the final bill, we heard “Special Session”.

North Carolina’s vote on equal marriage
Had a ton of Dems in quite an outrage.
But Joe Biden’s Sunday talk propelled
Our Prez to speak views he’d privately held.
And all at once Progessives were gay!
He said what so many had hoped he’d say.
Suddenly NC’s vote didn’t seem so bad –
As long as the Convention’s sponsored by GLAAD!

Speaking of which a special mention
To Kevin Lembo who urged that we rethink the Convention…

Or at least talk about what we need
To say as Dems about this ….Way to lead!

In some non-electoral news,
Courant readers got the blues –
But I wouldn’t want to gamble
On a CT press without Sue Campbell.

In the Legislature there was nothing vague
About goodbyes to Donovan and Edith Prague.
More are leaving, too many to list –
But one and all you will be missed.

I was very glad to say farewell
To John Edwards’ trial – a living h__l!
Speaking of hair, Hill’s ‘au naturale!’
And stories emerged from Romney pals
That he forced a haircut on a kid,
Time will tell how this hits his election bid.

And Michelle Bachman! Did you miss
The crazy? She was back this week, but alas not Swiss.

On Saturday the State Convention
Crowned Chris Murphy – but do not mention
This to a certain woman…
Was she even there?? (I mean Lee Whitnum.)

Susan B got the votes necessary
To do what she needed, i.e. primary.

Will we see the same with McMahon and Shays?
We’ll find out in just five more days!

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Murphy Wins, Bysiewicz Received Enough Support To Primary

by Christine Stuart | May 12, 2012 2:02pm
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

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NEW BRITAIN — Democrats crowned U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy their nominee for U.S. Senate with 76 percent of the delegate vote Saturday, but former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz received enough support to force a party primary.

Some delegates switched their votes from Bysiewicz to Murphy as the vote counting continued at CCSU’s Kaiser Hall throughout the morning, but Bysiewicz was able to secure the support of 24 percent of the delegates — more than enough to primary.

Click here to view the vote tallies.

The North Branford delegation, which was lobbied by Murphy, ended up changing two of their six votes from Bysiewicz to Murphy, but Andrew Esposito and Ashley Joiner were not among those who switched.

“It’s not about not liking Chris Murphy — it’s about giving our word to someone who is a genuine person to us,” Esposito said.

Esposito said that even though Murphy’s been in Washington, D.C. quite a bit, he’s been back to the state often and hasn’t visited North Branford. Bysiewicz, on the other hand, has visited and has even helped candidates such as Joiner knock on doors as she was running for state representative.

“She talks the talk and walks the walk,” Joiner added.

Bysiewicz did fairly well in the first three congressional districts, which is what her campaign expected, but the fourth and the fifth congressionals went to Murphy by large margins.

Murphy received 1,378 of the delegates and Bysiewicz’s total was 444. New Haven, one of the largest delegations, gave 73 of its votes to Murphy and 10 to Bysiewicz.

Murphy, who had hoped to avoid a primary, said this was his first convention so he had nothing with which to compare the experience. He joked that he’s accustomed to running for seats no one else wants.

“I think we’d be better off as a party without a primary,” Murphy said. “Clearly, Linda McMahon is already on the air today running ads and it’d be better if we could focus our efforts on winning in November. But this party has had primaries before and we’ve won general elections after primaries.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he also would have liked to avoid a primary to give Democrats a better chance against Republicans in the fall. Malloy told the delegates before their vote that the party should unite behind Murphy because “he has the fortitude to get the job done.” Malloy, security detail in tow, walked a few laps around Kaiser Hall on Saturday to make his preference known. But he stopped short of calling upon Bysiewicz to drop out.

Malloy also placed Murphy’s name into nomination Saturday with a brief speech. State Sen. Beth Bye of West Hartford and Carmen Boudier of SEIU District 1199 seconded the nomination.

“The difference between Susan Bysiewicz and I is that I prevailed among the majority of delegates at this convention,” Murphy said. “She may talk about standing up for the middle class, but the fact is I’ve done it.”

Bysiewicz’s post-convention press conference was interrupted by music coming over the sound system as Murphy began his acceptance speech.

“People in the state know I am very committed to take this to the voters of Connecticut,” Bysiewicz said. “I have had uphill battles before when I ran as a challenger for state representative and Secretary of the State.”

In 1998, Bysiewicz lost the party’s endorsement for Secretary of the State to former state Rep. Ellen Scalettar. She later won that election and ended up serving for 12 years. Earlier in her career she challenged a popular former mayor in order to win a seat in the state House of Representatives.

But Bysiewicz lost some of her support when she explored a race for governor in 2010 before bowing out to run for attorney general. Pressed about her qualifications for the AG’s office by a blogger, she filed her own lawsuit to get a ruling. She got a favorable decision from the lower court, but the Republican Party appealed and the Supreme Court ruled that Bysiewicz wasn’t qualified to run, forcing her to sit out the rest of the 2010 election cycle.

Bysiewicz has predicted that 175,000 Democrats will vote in the primary Aug. 14, a figure larger than last year’s Democratic gubernatorial balloting, but smaller than the party’s record turnout for the 2006 U.S. Senate primary when Ned Lamont beat U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman won the general election later that year as an independent.

Bysiewicz said the difference between herself and Murphy is clear. She said she will stand up for working class families in Connecticut and will hold Wall Street accountable for the housing crisis and ensuing financial collapse and recession. She continued to try to tie Murphy to Wall Street in a refrain she’s used over and over again during the debates.

But Murphy’s position on the issues isn’t that much different. He also vowed to fight for “working class values” and “middle class values.”

A third candidate, political newcomer Matthew Oakes of East Hartford was nominated at the convention but he only received one vote. He’s already collected 9,000 signatures to get on the ballot, but Oakes said he hasn’t made up his mind whether he will continue his campaign or support Murphy, with whom he feels he has the most in common of the two candidates.

Lee Whitnum of Greenwich was not nominated at the convention and did not attend.

The Republican Party Convention will be held Friday at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

Tags: chris murphy, Susan Bysiewicz, U.S. Senate, Democratic convention, North Branford, dh

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Bysiewicz Lobbying Hard for Delegate Support in New Britain (watch Realtime Results Grid)

by Christine Stuart | May 12, 2012 10:15am
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NEW BRITAIN — Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is no stranger to tough party battles, and Saturday morning at CCSU’s Kaiser Hall in New Britain she showed no signs of backing down from her fight for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Bysiewicz needs 15 percent of the Democratic Party Convention’s 1,845 delegates in order to force an automatic primary against U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, who is the frontrunner in the race and the likely Democratic nominee. Bysiewicz expressed confidence that she would receive more than the minimum.

“I’m not arrogant enough to believe that a tiny percentage of the electorate would make a better decision than the Democratic voters of the state,” Bysiewicz said.

Delegate had yet to start at 10 a.m., but Murphy said he expects Bysiewicz to see the growing momentum for his nomination in the convention hall and get the hint.

“Enthusiasm is growing every minute we sit in this convention hall, ” Murphy said.

Bysiewicz said she has not received any phone calls urging her to drop out of the race, but her delegates reported that they have received calls. According to Jonathan Ducote, Bysiewicz’s campaign manager, delegates committed to Susan were receiving calls as early as 4 a.m. Saturday morning.

“I know while the insiders may not be on my side, I’ve always had the voters of the state on my side,” Bysiewicz said of the more than 700,000 registered Democrats.

If she does not receive 15 percent of the convention’s delegates, Bysiewicz said she would petition her way to a primary.

“If I have to have my strong grassroots volunteers collect signatures, I will do it,” Bysiewicz said.

Matthew Oakes of East Hartford a newcomer to politics was nominated at the convention, but he predicted he wouldn’t receive enough votes to reach the 15 percent threshold. He’s already collected 9,000 signatures, but hasn’t made up his mind whether he will continue his campaign or support Murphy.

Lee Whitnum of Greenwich was not nominated at the convention. It was unclear if she even attended. In 2010 she showed up at the Republican convention which was being held across town from the Democratic convention.

Results are being posted below in realtime. Grid shows up fine in regular browsers but is difficult on smartphones.

 

Tags: Democrat, convention, Election 2012, Bysiewicz, Murphy, CCSU, dh

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The Things They Didn’t Fight About

by Hugh McQuaid | May 11, 2012 2:34pm
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Posted to: Jobs, State Capitol, Veterans Affairs

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In a legislative session fraught with battles over the death penalty, medical marijuana, and contentious negotiations on education reform, it’s easy to overlook areas where everyone seemed to find common ground.

Lawmakers had no shortage of issues to fight about this year, but in between the partisan bickering there were moments of consensus.

For instance, bills helping veterans found broad support. No one voted against a bill allowing veterans arrested for nonviolent crimes to participate in pretrial diversionary programs a second time instead of going to prison. Another bill, aimed at combating fraudulent organizations posing as veteran charities, also passed the House and Senate unanimously.

Both sides of the aisle also lauded the passage of a bill increasing the penalties for vandalizing war memorials, making it a Class D felony.

This year’s bipartisanship extended into other areas as well.

Democrats and Republicans alike approved of a bill expanding the state’s Learn Here, Live Here program. The initiative currently helps students graduating from regional technical schools and state colleges make a down payment on a home in Connecticut. As of 2014, the program also will include any student who graduates from a private college in the state as well as medical schools.

Both parties also were on board with legislation requiring the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to post a map on its website showing where sewage spills may have contaminated a body of water. The goal is to give beachgoers the opportunity to check online before leaving the house only to find a swimming area closed.

Late in the session, a bill ensuring that best practices are used during police suspect lineups passed quietly through Senate without objection.

No lawmaker voted against a bill requiring state agencies to post their regulations online rather than publish them in the Connecticut Law Journal. It also creates an 11-member task force to implement the transition to online regulations.

Other bills passed with bipartisan support included:

• Legislation making it a crime if a parent or guardian knows a child under 12 years old is missing, but fails to report it to the police within 24 hours.

• A bill requiring school boards to keep a record of incidents when students must be restrained or put in seclusion.

• A bill allowing children separated from their siblings in foster homes to see each other at least once a week, as long as they live within 50 miles of each other.

• A bill requiring the Judicial Department to inform breastfeeding mothers that they can apply for a 10-month postponement of jury duty. It also requires the department to provide discreet accommodations for breastfeeding mothers.

• Legislation allowing students above the age of 16 to enroll in internships at manufacturing companies. The bill gets around hazardous duty restrictions on minors to increase the state’s manufacturing workforce.

• A bill establishing a “Pet Lemon Law.” Similar to car lemon laws, which allow someone who unknowingly buys a defective car to seek reimbursement, the bill will allow new pet owners to seek up to $500 from pet stores for veterinary fees if the animal they bought is sick shortly after purchase.

• Legislation expanding eligibility for the Alzheimer Respite Care Program, which compensates people, usually family members, who care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and related disorders.

• A bill requiring hospitals caring for babies to test them for critical congenital heart disease, unless parents object for religious reasons. The measure will take effect next year.

Tags: legislative session, Bipartisan, veterans, manufacturing, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Harris Named Executive Director of Democratic Party

by Christine Stuart | May 11, 2012 2:07pm
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Posted to: Election 2012, Town News, West Hartford, Local Politics

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Former Deputy Treasurer, State Senator, and West Hartford Mayor Jonathan Harris will take over the reigns of Connecticut’s Democratic Party as its new executive director.

Harris, 48, said Friday in a phone interview that the state is at a critical point in its history and heading up the party is an amazing opportunity to continue his public service and work with the first Democratic governor in more than two decades.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy welcomed the announcement.

“From advocacy on behalf of seniors to his efforts to improve access to healthcare to his work to improve local government, his energy and dedication to our shared Democratic principles make him an ideal candidate to serve the State Central Committee as its executive director,” Malloy said in a press release.

Harris will replace Eric Hyers, who was with the state party for about a year before he left to take a job as Rhode Island Congressman David N. Cicilline’s campaign manager, a position he held before coming to Connecticut. Before Hyers, Dan Kelly, Malloy’s former campaign manager, filled in as executive director as the party searched to find a replacement for Justin Kronholm, who took a position with Attorney General George Jepsen in 2011.

“We’ve made huge gains in the last several years — time and again, turning back the wave of right-wing Republican influence and appealing to the voters with a message of fairness and equality,” Democratic State Central Committee Chairwoman Nancy J. DiNardo said. “I strongly believe that Jonathan’s style of leadership is exactly what the party needs to move forward.”

Most of Harris’ political career has been focused on public policy, at both the state and municipal levels. The inside political game will prove a new challenge for him as he balances the various desires of the Democratic Party in a critical election year.

But Harris is no stranger to politics. In 2010 he gave up his Senate seat in order to run for Secretary of the State. Harris finished a close second at the Democratic State Convention and vowed to primary, but decided against it and ended his bid a few weeks later.

Harris served for six years in the Senate where he served as co-chair of the Human Services Committee and later as co-chair of the Public Health Committee.

Prior to his service in the Senate, Harris served as mayor of West Hartford from 2001 to 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and Russian studies from Brandeis University and a juris doctorate from the New York University School of Law.

Tags: Democratic State Central Committee, Jonathan Harris, executive director, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Nancy DiNardo, dh

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OP-ED | So Much Legislation, So Little Time

by Heath W. Fahle | May 11, 2012 12:08pm
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Posted to: Opinion

The annual flurry of lawmaking activity that accompanies the end of the legislative session mercifully came to an end at the stroke of midnight. As is custom in the General Assembly, most of the action was crammed into just a few days. Though normal, the process should prompt legislators to adopt some common sense reforms to make it more rational.

Of the 387 bills that passed the State Senate in this session, 193 (50 percent) were approved in the final 10 days, including 72 on the last day of the regular session. The tallies from the State House were no better. They passed 385 bills during the entire session with 199, or 52 percent, coming in the last 10 days.

As I wrote last year, this is the way they always do it. During the final 10 days of last year’s regular session, 172 bills passed the House, or 39 percent of their total, and 229 zoomed through the Senate, an incredible 49 percent of the bills they passed. The 2010 regular session produced similar numbers: the House completed 226 bills, or 51 percent of its work, in the last 10 days while the Senate addressed 293 bills, or 62 percent of its business, in the same timeframe.

The bills passed in this manner were just as varied this time as in previous years, spanning from a bill allowing the president of the board of the Agricultural Experiment Station to excuse board member absences to one that established a fine art secured lending license, an education reform package, and allowing the sale of alcohol on Sunday.

It is true that this is the way it is always done, but that does not mean it should continue to be done this way. Several changes should be made to address the problem:

• Consider fewer bills at a slower pace — With the end of the Speaker Donovan era, there is an opportunity for the next Speaker to reform the legislative process via control of the legislative calendar. Pushing fewer bills and spreading them out over more days to consider, especially if one is not taken away from the task by a busy congressional campaign schedule, would be helpful.

• Make the legislative session shorter — One way to put downward pressure on the number of bills considered is a bit counterintuitive: shorten the legislative session. With less time to do damage, legislators will be forced to prioritize

• Longer terms for legislators — It is a big challenge for a legislator to get their “good ideas” enacted into law in the narrow span of two legislative sessions. Lengthening terms in office would give them more time to try and have the happy byproduct of attracting better candidates. Connecticut remains one of just 14 states in which legislators serve two-year terms regardless of chamber or point in the election cycle. A total of 27 other states allow Senators to serve four-year terms to end at least a bit of the campaign rat race. Connecticut should do the same.

• Term limits — Changing the status quo in the legislature requires sending new people to the legislature. Term limits would revive the concept of “rotation in office,” in which individuals move in and out of the legislature on a regular basis.

One major challenge to attracting high quality candidates into public service is the uncertainty of the time commitment. Every year, people that would be terrific legislators eschew the opportunity because of the uncertain hours, long periods of absence from work and family obligations, and other concerns. Adopting these reforms would make it easier to attract better candidates and, in turn, produce better legislators.

Tags: heath w. fahle, legislation, last-minute, time management, legislative calendar, term limits, race to the finish, connecticut, dh

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Frantic Texts Save Cell Tower Bill

by Diana Stricker | May 11, 2012 11:57am
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Posted to: Energy, Environment, Town News, Branford, Local Politics

Only minutes before the midnight deadline for the legislative year came to a close Wednesday, state Rep. Lonnie Reed’s cell tower bill was unanimously approved by the state Senate.

Reed (D-Branford) said the legislation, which updates the way the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) approves cell towers, is expected to be signed into law by the governor. The Assembly approved the bill unanimously in April.

Click here to continue reading the Branford Eagle’s report.

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OP-ED | 2012 Legislative Session: Winners and Losers

by Susan Bigelow | May 11, 2012 8:42am
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Posted to: Opinion

The hectic, productive and contentious 2012 legislative session’s a wrap, finally! That was an incredible amount of action for a short session. Now that everyone’s gone home exhausted, all that remains is to figure out the winners and losers. So without further ado:

Winners

Liberals — In a country where progressive reforms have been rolled back in many states, Connecticut has been busy outlawing the death penalty, allowing same-day voter registration, and making medical marijuana legal. Yes, the education reform debate left a bad taste in many liberals’ mouths, and the minimum wage and a few other bills didn’t make it this year, but on the whole what we’ve seen in Connecticut is two straight sessions of progressive advancement. Connecticut liberals haven’t had it this good at the state level in a long, long time.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy — He didn’t get everything he wanted, but the governor still had a very good session. “Over the course of the last 16 months we have pushed more change through these two chambers than has occurred in Connecticut in a long, long time,” Malloy said, and he’s right. Malloy still has to contend with low approval ratings and lingering hard feelings from the education reform debate, but his first two years have largely been a success.

Education reformers — It could have gone much worse. The education reform bill seemed to teeter on the brink, but in the end a compromise passed with near-unanimous support. More aggressive reformers might feel the changes weren’t broad enough, but they’re an excellent step. Now the challenge is to make sure that education isn’t put on the backburner again.

Unions — There was a distinct whiff of anti-union sentiment to the original education reform bill, but in the end the teachers unions were pleased with the bill that passed. Two other big pro-labor bills, one a controversial initiative allowing home- and day-care workers who are paid through state programs to bargain collectively and the other allowing the requirement of project labor agreements by public entities, passed. Unions may have had a disastrous 2011, but 2012 was an awful lot better. 

Drunks — Sunday liquor sales. That is all.

Losers

Party harmony — Democrats in the House and Senate are pointing fingers at one another over the failure of two signature bills: the Senate’s jobs package and the House’s minimum wage increase. These aren’t the only cracks in the Democrats’ armor, though; the large Democratic majority felt plenty of strain over issues ranging from the death penalty and education reform to Sunday sales of alcohol and campaign finance reform. In a party this big there are bound to be splits and tensions, and they were definitely on display this session.

Republicans — Only sort of, though. Republicans didn’t win a lot of (or any) victories, but they seemed a lot more together this session than in previous years. Republicans made stands on issues that they believe are winners for them, like the busway, the death penalty, and medical marijuana, and they may be able to capitalize on irritation with Hartford out in a few marginally Democratic districts this fall.

Budget hawks — Remember last year when the budget was balanced and everyone felt good? What happened to that? This year, Gov. Malloy and the Democrats were embarrassed by an ever-increasing deficit and were forced to delay the implementation of GAAP — a key Malloy campaign promise. They also increased spending, which, in light of the deficit problems, looks like Democrats trying to have it both ways. Republicans were quick to pounce on spending hikes and what they said were some fishy maneuvers to close the gap.

Who do you think the winners and losers were?

Tags: winners, losers, legislature, education reform, Dannel P. Malloy, minimum wage, death penalty repeal, GAAP, Democrats, Republicans, Susan Bigelow, dh

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Security Guards Strike; Abandon State Building Posts

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 11, 2012 7:02am
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Posted to: Town News, Hartford, Labor

Just over five weeks ago, security guards at state office complexes announced they were ready to strike, alleging they had been harassed and intimidated by their employer, SOS Security.

Thursday they did, but only for the day. The workers say SOS Security has not been making its required pension contributions under its contract with the state. Currently, the company offers a 401k, but it does not match an employee’s contribution and charges a $19 maintenance fee.

So starting at 6 a.m. Thursday, the guards took their grievances to the street. Starting at the state office complex at 25 Sigourney St., and later in the day at 450 Capitol Ave., workers picketed and chanted in a sea of the trademark Service Employees International Union purple T-shirts.

By 11:30 a.m., SOS stood for something new: “same ol’ shit.”

The sound of chants, drums, and megaphone speeches pulled coffee drinkers out of La Paloma Sabanera, and the freshly groomed out of the barber shop down the block, many of whom clapped along with the workers.

Outgoing House Speaker Chris Donovan was on hand to lend his support.

“We depend on you for security so that must mean that we have to take care of you. We have to give you security as well, that’s why you need to have a pension,” Donovan told the security guards.

After addressing the crowd, Donovan said that SOS Security is required under the state’s standard wage law to provide employees with pension contributions, not just a 401k option.

According to Kurt Westby, a district supervisor for the union, SOS does offer a health care plan, but premiums cost $14,000 a year. No workers have taken the plan, he said.

The Department of Administrative Services, at the request of the union, is conducting an audit of the company’s compliance with state law.

A man who picked up the phone at the company’s headquarters in New Jersey declined to comment.

The guards have been trying for months to join SEIU Local 32BJ, a union that represents commercial cleaners and food service workers. They say that since signing union cards almost a year ago, they have been threatened with termination and have been spied upon by the company.

Juan Hernandez, a Hartford-area leader of 32BJ, said “it’s a shame they’re using tax dollars.”

Alexis Lozano, who has been a guard with SOS for eight years, said he earns about $12 an hour and has no health benefits or pension.

According to memos obtained by CTNewsJunkie, SOS has been telling its employees that 32BJ doesn’t have the right to organize them because it’s not strictly a “guard” union.

“Unlike the case with an actual union guard, Local 32BJ can only be your bargaining representative if SOS agrees to it. And that’s not going to happen — strike or not,” says a memo from George Goodwin, SOS’s director of Human Resources.

That’s the reason why there hasn’t been contract negotiations yet, Goodwin wrote.

According to Matt O’Connor, political director for 32BJ, “that’s a non-argument. It’s their attempt to keep the guards from being members of a strong union.”

He pointed out that the union has successfully represented thousands of guards in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

A second memo,  also signed by Goodwin, states that while workers are free to go on strike, they can be replaced “temporarily or permanently.” The memo says that SOS has “good contracts with real union guards.”

“I can assure you that the state buildings are going to remain guarded and secure whether there is a strike of one day or one month,” wrote Goodwin.

The second memo also reminds workers that the state already is auditing SOS’s compliance with the state contract, and that a strike action will not “settle a legal issue between business partners.”

Tags: 32BJ, security guard, state building, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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In End of Session Tug & Pull: It’s Dem Against Dem

by Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid | May 10, 2012 1:15pm
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Posted to: Business, Town News, Hartford, Labor, Local Politics, State Budget, Taxes, State Capitol

(Updated 4:27 p.m.) Breaking with tradition, House and Senate Democrats did not hold a joint post-mortem press conference Thursday to discuss the 2012 legislative session. Instead, Sen. President Donald Williams and Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney held their own.

Williams claimed there were “scheduling” issues between the party leaders. However, a spokesman for House Speaker Chris Donovan said the Senate didn’t want to do a press conference with House leaders and dueling press conferences would have been “unproductive.” The conflict highlighted the tension between the two leaders in the final days of the session when each had their top priority legislation die in opposite chambers.

Williams was unable to convince the House to pass the Senate’s signature legislation to expand job programs created last fall during a special session. The bill passed the Senate 32-2 with broad bipartisan support.

Donovan was unable to convince his Senate colleagues to raise his minimum wage increase. Williams said that’s because it never had the votes.

“It was wrong for anyone to think that these two bills should in any way be linked at a time when our businesses need help in a very tough economy,” Williams said.

He said he was told if the Senate had run the minimum wage bill on Tuesday night that the jobs bill would have been run in the House.

“But we don’t run bills when we don’t have the votes,” Williams contended.

Messages were left for Donovan, who was not immediately available for comment Thursday. Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, said there is always an expectation that the House and the Senate will work with each other on making sure their priority bills clear the opposite chamber.

The minimum wage bill was one of those things that was very important to the House, Sharkey said in a phone interview.

“There’s always an expectation that the Senate and the House will help each other and when that doesn’t occur there are consequences,” Sharkey said.

It’s the nature of compromise and Sharkey didn’t feel the Senate had put forth very much effort in making sure the bill was passed.

Williams, who supports the minimum wage in general, said Donovan worked hard to lobby his Senate members, but he said “at the end of the day the votes simply were not there.”

Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, a proponent of the minimum wage increase, said Wednesday that she was just two votes shy of getting the Senate to vote on a two-year, 50 cent minimum wage hike.

Republicans, who held their own joint press conference later in the day, saw the death of a bipartisan bill as an example of dysfunction within the majority party and a reason why one-party government isn’t working for Connecticut.

“Obviously no one’s ever going to admit it, but the reality is, a good bipartisan jobs package working, off of what we worked on last fall, died because of one man’s insistence on passing the minimum wage increase,” Senate Minority Leader John McKinney said, referring to Donovan. “The blame for that falls squarely on his shoulders.”

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said he resented being caught in the middle of a dispute between Democrats.

“The irony of it was that decision was made the night before. As Sen. McKinney indicated, this was a tradeoff between the minimum wage and S.B. 1. When that did not happen on Tuesday evening, it wasn’t going to happen,” he said.

Williams vowed to resurrect the jobs bill or a version of it during the special session to implement portions of the budget.

However, Cafero said he may have trouble getting it raised because of the narrowly defined call to special session, which targets bills needed to implement the budget.

“I think they have to be true to their word and what they said publicly,” Cafero said. “If they do try to bring it up, I think we’re going to call them on it and point that out.”

What the legislature decides to address during its upcoming special session will be up to them, Malloy said Thursday morning. But he said there were useful aspects of the Senate Democrats jobs package.

“I think making dollars available to small companies but bigger than 50 makes a lot of sense,” the governor said.

But if he brings up the jobs bill, does that mean Donovan will continue to push a hike in the minimum wage? Sharkey said that’s a question still up for discussion.

Williams said there is “no sensible link” between the two bills. He said his bill has overwhelming bipartisan support and it should not be linked to a bill that “never had support throughout the session.”

Sharkey said one person’s perception about something is not necessarily a view shared by others.

But the session wasn’t a complete loss, according to Williams.

Repeal of the death penalty, strengthening racial profiling laws, medical marijuana, Sunday liquor sales, allowing home care and daycare workers to organize, and campaign finance reform were all victories for the Democratic majority in both chambers.

“One of the crowning achievements for Senate Democrats this session was rescuing the education bill,” Williams said.

He said when they got to the end of the session it looked like Malloy’s signature piece of education legislation would fail and would need to be finished in a special session. But that all turned around last Sunday morning when lawmakers were able to reach an agreement which pleased both education reform advocates and the state’s two teacher unions.

The bill not only “provides real reform” but it was able to do so in a way that “respects the teaching profession,” Williams said.

At a separate press conference Malloy said he saw no cause for disappointment in what was accomplished during the short session.

Malloy said lawmakers passed bills this year that have been issues at the state Capitol for years.

“We really accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. Folks were good enough to work with our administration to see those things like voting rights and Sunday sales and design-build and medical marijuana and storm response all pass,” he said, speaking to reporters. “I’d be hard pressed to come away from this session disappointed.”

Malloy said he plans to sign the Sunday liquor sales bill early next week so that alcohol would be available for purchase the following Sunday.

The education reform package that passed late in the session gives the state a whole new toolbox to bring about education reform in the state, he said, but don’t expect it to happen overnight.

“We’ve moved from being dead in the water to being in a situation where, if properly implemented, our state will surge ahead of other states,” he said. “Surge in education reform means that five, or seven, or 10 years from now we’ll be in a substantially better situation than we are.”

The governor remained lukewarm on his position regarding legislation to re-work the state’s campaign finance system. The bill cleared the legislature despite the concerns of his chief legal counsel, Andrew McDonald, who said provisions in it may be unconstitutional.

“I have not reached a conclusion but there’s plenty of time to study it at this point. Certainly we’ll reach out to some legal scholars on that subject,” he said. 

Moving forward, the governor said the state needs to focus on continuing to foster an economic recovery. He said he’s always concerned about the state’s fiscal situation.

“If I had a billion dollar surplus I’d worry about the state’s finances. I’m watching very carefully what’s going on in Europe,” he said. “... Fundamentally I think we’re in a pretty good place.”

Republican lawmakers disagreed.

“One party government has given us the biggest tax increase in the state of Connecticut,” McKinney said during their post-mortem press conference Thursday afternoon. “It’s given us a budget that’s out of balance and a budget that’s not honest and transparent.”

Tags: Chris Donovan, Donald Williams, Brendan Sharkey, John McKinney, Lawrence Cafero, Dannel Malloy, Senate, House, Democrats, minimum wage, jobs, dh

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Advocates Unhappy With Health Exchange Bill’s Death; McKinney Says Dems Didn’t Call the Bill

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 10, 2012 1:30am
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Posted to: Health Care

Shortly after midnight and the end of the legislative session Wednesday, the finger-pointing began over the death of a bill that sought to expand the state’s Health Insurance Exchange Board by five voting members.

The bill, HB 5013, was approved by two committees and cleared the House on a unanimous vote April 25. The bill would have added four members to the board and give voting rights to State Health Care Advocate Victoria Veltri.

Veltri currently sits on the board but cannot vote. The four additional voting members would be made up of two representatives of small businesses, and two healthcare consumers.

Healthcare advocates wearing their trademark red T-shirts have been a regular fixture at committee meetings, public hearings, and outside the House and Senate chambers, especially in the final days of session.

The bill had enough votes to pass the Senate, according to several advocates and some Democratic lawmakers. However, by about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said he’d been told that the bill would not be called.

McKinney also disagreed with the assertion that the bill had enough votes to pass.

Sen. Eric Coleman, D-Bloomfield, had said Tuesday that he expected the bill to pass should it be called, but that it would have some sort of compromise amendment.

Eric George, a lobbyist from the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said that he wasn’t actively lobbying against the bill, and said he liked the direction the healthcare exchange board was heading.

So what killed the bill?

“Time,” McKinney said.

The bill did not seem to be on anyone’s radar — other than its advocates — in the final days of the session.

Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, said Tuesday he hadn’t heard much talk about the legislation, and neither had Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford.

Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, said it wasn’t a bill she was tracking, but that if it had come up it would have passed.

Lynne Ide, a lobbyist with the Universal Healthcare Foundation of Connecticut, had a different theory.

“Republicans would not budge,” she said.

The minority party, she said, had threatened to “talk” the bill, delaying its passage to the point of obstructing other legislation by running out the clock on the session.

Advocates also said that McKinney opposed the bill because of criticism he had received over his appointment of Mickey Herbert, the former CEO of ConnectiCare.

Just minutes after midnight, McKinney responded to Ide’s suggestion that he opposed the bill because of criticism of his appointment of Herbert. He acknowledged that he had in the past told advocates that “you can attract people better with honey than you can with vinegar.” But he rejected the characterization that the criticism of the Herbert appointment was the ultimate reason the bill failed.

McKinney said he had previously spoken to advocates and agreed upon the original addition of two members and providing a vote for State Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri, but he was caught off guard by the revised version of the bill that came out of the House. The House version would have added four members in addition to empowering Veltri with a vote.

McKinney said that he didn’t kill the bill. Rather, he said it died because the Democrats didn’t call it.

“They didn’t call it yesterday, and they didn’t call it Monday, and they didn’t call it Friday, and they didn’t call it Thursday,” McKinney said. “If they had called the bill on Friday, it would have been impossible for anyone to talk the bill to death.”

In a statement released just after midnight, healthcare activist and former gubernatorial candidate Juan Figueroa still placed the blame with Republicans.

“It was irresponsible and reckless of the GOP to hold Democrats hostage on this bill since last week,” Figueroa said. “Consumer and small business advocates, and labor, good government and clergy activists fought long and hard over the past eight months for a solution and in the final hours of the session, the Senate still couldn’t get the job done.”

Tags: health insurance exchange board, health care advocates, Universal Health Care Foundation, Victoria Veltri, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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Short Session: Progress or Setback?

by Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid | May 10, 2012 1:12am
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Posted to: State Capitol

For years, the General Assembly has been trying to abolish the death penalty, legalize medical marijuana, and allow both Sunday liquor sales and same day voter registration. This year they did all of that in addition to an omnibus education reform bill.

And all in a short session.

At the urging of an impatient and ambitious governor, Connecticut’s Democratically-controlled legislature celebrated their accomplishments Wednesday as they prepared to retire or run for re-election.

“Over the course of the last 16 months we have pushed more change through these two chambers than has occurred in Connecticut in a long, long time,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in his midnight address to the General Assembly.

Malloy described the change as “positive” and “meaningful,” but there are those who would disagree.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero and Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney sat stone-faced and tired in the House chamber as the rest of their colleagues went home or to the after-session party.

“Disappointment” would be the one word Cafero said he would use to sum up the session.

“It was a setback for fiscal responsibility,” McKinney said. “He said we wouldn’t engage in the shell games and fiscal gimmicks of the past and he’s stealing money and sweeping money from funds to cover operating deficits.”

Malloy used his 10-minute post-session speech to highlight what he felt were the accomplishments of the legislative session from closing the deficit to “putting more education dollars into our lowest performing districts.”

The governor may have gotten what he wanted out of the session, but legislative leaders in both chambers saw their signature bills die on the other chamber’s calendar.

Before the session began, Senate Democrats made a package expanding programs passed during last year’s special session on jobs their top priority. The bill, designated Senate Bill 1, passed the chamber with broad bipartisan support and has been awaiting action in the House. It died at midnight.

House Speaker Chris Donovan had been holding the bill in hopes the Senate would pass his legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage by 50 cents over the next two years. Williams has maintained that the bill did not have enough support among Senate Democrats, who were wary of the bill’s timing.

“We only pass bills when we have the votes to pass bills,” Williams said early Thursday morning.

The jobs package, on the other hand, was expected to easily pass the House. Asked why the bill was never given final passage, Williams said, “That’s a really good question.”

“I think folks are going to have a hard time understanding how a bill that was so popular — with such bipartisan support, that helps our economy when we need it most — did not make it out of the House,” he said.

Williams said he and Donovan worked well together throughout the session but said constituents would be scratching their heads over the inaction. Williams said he hopes to have the language inserted into a budget implementer during the upcoming special session.

Neither the Democrats, Republicans, nor Malloy declared victory. Instead of sticking around for the end of session party, many left to go home to their families, which may have been a sign of just how exhausted they were.

But Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy’s senior communications adviser, said the session was a productive one.

“In a few months, you’ve had education reform, far-reaching, meaningful, the biggest education package that’s ever been done in Connecticut, which most people didn’t think was going to happen in a short session,” he said.

Occhiogrosso said the session saw the passage of legislation allowing for design-build projects, enabling public entities to enter into project labor agreements, an expansion of voting rights, all in a very short period of time.

Sen. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said Democrats tried to do too much in a short session, forcing lawmakers to rush on important issues. He said it started with the governor’s education package being drafted behind closed doors.

“I think that made it a very difficult and contentious session right off the bat. Teachers upset, legislators not agreeing, suburbs versus cities. It was awful from my point of view,” he said.

Lawmakers are supposed to address big issues during long session years and stick to adjusting the budget during short session, he said. That’s not how it worked out this year.

“We did death penalty, we did education, we did liquor laws, we had to obviously do the budget. We did huge bills,” he said. “That doesn’t help the state of Connecticut.”

Connecticut has a part-time legislature and many lawmakers have other jobs to work, he said. Attempting to address far-reaching and controversial issues over a period of three months isn’t right, he said.

“I find it somewhat offensive that you have a majority party with a governor of the same party who just pushed through an agenda that they wanted to push through,” Fasano said.

Malloy acknowledged the hard work of the legislature Thursday morning when he told them “being a legislator is supposed to be a part-time job, but it’s turned into a full-time commitment.”

The House chamber started laughing as soon as he uttered the word “part-time.”

And while the session is adjourned the General Assembly will return sometime at the end of May or June to pass what has been described as two bills to implement the $20.5 billion budget.

Tags: legislative session, Dannel Malloy, Larry Cafero, Don Williams, Chris Donovan, John McKinney, dh

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Storm Bill Headed To Gov. As Lawmakers Battle In Waning Hours

by Christine Stuart and Michael Lee-Murphy | May 9, 2012 8:53pm
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Posted to: Energy, Environment, Town News, State Capitol

In a brief show of bipartisanship Wednesday, the House unanimously voted to hold utility companies accountable for storm restoration and power outages.

Lawmakers, many still angry from the damage their towns sustained during the two storms that rocked the state this past fall, sent to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk a bill that expands the power of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to monitor and track storm readiness.

The bill already passed the Senate overwhelmingly on Saturday.

Fielding questions from lawmakers, Rep. Vickie Nardello, D-Prospect, said that this bill was one of the best pieces of legislation the House raised this year.

The bill requires utility companies to submit readiness plans to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority every two years, rather than every five. It also allocates about $15 million for a program that would create self-sustaining electrical grids for the most important pieces of infrastructure, like hospitals, police departments, and fire stations.

But that’s where agreement seemed to an end.

Democratic legislative leaders have been frustrated with the pace of the opposing chamber, according to House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero.

Cafero said House Speaker Chris Donovan and Senate President Donald Williams have been bickering all day. Each had their signature piece of legislation for the session poised to die on the other’s calendar at midnight.

“Everybody’s fightin’, everybody’s fightin’,” Cafero said Wednesday night.

Donovan said earlier in the day that they weren’t able to raise the Senate’s job expansion bill because Republicans will filibuster it until the bitter end. Cafero suspects Donovan is upset because the Senate has been unable to garner enough support to raise a bill increasing the minimum wage, which passed in his chamber.

Williams conceded a week ago that he doesn’t have enough votes to raise the minimum wage. He said Wednesday evening that the story hasn’t changed.

“We would do it if we had the votes,” Williams said of the minimum wage.

Williams insisted that the jobs bill, which his caucus made its number one priority this year, has had overwhelming bipartisan support and he’s at a loss as to why Republicans would suddenly have concerns.

While Malloy touted this session as the “Year of Education,” Williams and his caucus — members of which are are facing re-election — were focused on jobs and the economy.

“Of course we’ll have time for other issues like education, energy, consumer protection, but the overriding concern for us is to continue the momentum that we started in the last regular session, the jobs special session, and to do more to help revive the economy,” Williams said back in February when the 2012 session got under way.

On Wednesday his narrative had changed.

“These were priorities for us, but if you look at everything we passed this entire session, I think it’s a very strong record, especially for a short session,” Williams said.

Cafero said they’ve had concerns about the jobs expansion bill since February.

“To blame the House or Senate Republicans is a joke,” Cafero said.

Rep. Selim Noujaim, R-Waterbury, said he brought his concerns to Williams before the Senate vote and expected him to take his suggestions to heart, but he failed to include them in the version the Senate passed a few weeks ago. He said he likes the bill and wanted it to pass with just a few modifications.

Democratic legislative leaders also were trying to negotiate the call to special session Wednesday, which they will have to adopt before midnight so they can return to finish their business. Lawmakers are expected to return to adopt a bond package for infrastructure improvements and language which will help it implement the budget.

Depending upon how tightly they craft the call to special session, lawmakers may be holding out hope that they will be able to reintroduce legislation to boost the minimum wage or expand the jobs bill they passed last October.

Malloy is expected to address a joint session of the General Assembly at midnight.

Hugh McQuaid contributed to this report.

Tags: senate, House, Republican, Democrat, session, jobs expansion, minimum wage, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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Final Day Farewells

by Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid | May 9, 2012 4:04pm
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Posted to: State Capitol

(Updated 7:28 p.m.) With the session’s major legislation passed and sent to the governor’s desk, the General Assembly took some time out on the last day of session to bid farewell to some long-serving members.

With cheers and some tears, each departming member was celebrated in their respective chambers by their colleagues.

The Senate honored the work of departing Sen. Edith Prague for 90 minutes.

Prague, an 86-year-old Democrat from Columbia, is retiring after serving eight years in the House and 18 in the Senate, as well as two years as commissioner of aging. In a sometimes tearful send off, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle hailed Prague as a tireless and tough advocate for the elderly and the working class.

Late last year, Prague suffered a minor stroke but she returned this session and helped pass a bill extending collective bargaining rights to home and daycare workers paid through state programs.

Prague said that while she made a miraculous recovery from the stroke, her doctor advised her not to get into stressful or exhausting situations. Campaigning qualifies as both, she said.

“I can’t run that risk because I don’t want to go to my grandson’s graduation from college in a wheelchair,” she said. 

However, her colleagues credited her as a zealous advocate.

“Representatives and senators half her age do not have the energy or the persistence that Sen. Prague has right now,” Senate President Donald Williams said. “For her entire career she has been a tireless fighter for working men and women and their families.”

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney said he and Prague often weren’t on the same side of issues but he’s respected her position nonetheless because they were always rooted in her convictions.

“I remember all the times we stood up and asked you many questions, perhaps too many questions, and you always stood, unwavering and answered all of them to the best of your ability and never backed down,” he said.

Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, said the only group that may miss Prague’s presence at the Capitol more than the Senate will be members of the press corps, referring to her tendency to make quotable statements.

“Some of the quotes that Edith’s had over the year, I’m not going to repeat,” LeBeau joked.

Several senators tried their hands at quoting her and attempting to imitate her distinctive voice.

“I’m going to miss you,” Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I’m in this chamber and I don’t hear ‘That’s outrageous!’ Because only you can make that statement.”

When it came time for her to speak, Prague made good on a bet by making it through her remarks without tears, but she said her colleagues made her feel like she had accomplished her life’s work during her time as a lawmaker.

“I can’t thank you, each and every one of you, enough, for making me feel so wonderful. What a feeling that is, to feel so good about yourself,” she said.

Then she went back to work.

With only a few hours left in the legislative session, Prague was still lobbying to get enough votes to raise a bill increasing the minimum wage in the Senate. The bill passed the House but hasn’t had strong support from Senate Democrats. So Prague was trying to pick up votes elsewhere, from Republican Sen. Tony Guglielmo, who supports the bill.

“Tony, think you can get me two more votes out of your caucus?” she asked after he congratulated her.

House Speaker Chris Donovan

Speaker of the House Chris Donovan of Meriden, who is leaving the House of Representatives after 20 years to run for Congress, got choked up as he talked about his relationship with House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, who gave him a touching farewell speech.

Cafero recalled some classic battles between himself and Donovan when the two served on the Labor Committee together years ago. But despite their ideological differences, they became friends, he said.

“We got close because I respect a person who’s comfortable in their own skin, and that’s what Chris is,” Cafero said.

Donovan understood he was speaker of the entire chamber and was always respectful of the voice of the minority party, he said.

“I’m going to miss him a lot. He’s become a very dear friend of mine,” Cafero said.

Donovan joked that his hair has gotten lighter and Cafero has gotten thinner over their 20 years together in the House.

Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, who will succeed Donovan as speaker next year, took a more serious tone. He called Donovan a “consummate vote counter” who is dedicated to his principles.

“You have held firm with your beliefs and you have sought to make this state, this chamber a better place because of the things that you believe in,” Sharkey said. “You never lost sight of notion that in a position of power that you have you have an opportunity to do a lot of good things, or a lot of selfish things, in everything that you’ve done it’s been the selfless that you’ve had in mind.”

Former Speaker of the House Jim Amann, who is now a lobbyist, said he remembers his last day as a mix of emotions.

“You get excited looking forward to all the things you want to do going forward, but it’s almost like leaving your family for the first time,” Amann said.

Amann left the House in 2008 to launch his gubernatorial campaign. Almost two years later he was one of the first candidates to drop out. Donovan is hoping his Congressional campaign doesn’t end the same way, but there are a lot of unknowns for politicians upon retirement from the General Assembly.

Donovan’s departure and Congressional campaign may have some wondering what will happen to “The Bad Reps,” his band.

Donovan may be the frontman and guitar player for the band but said he has no plans to go solo and leave Reps. Peter Tercyak and Chris Perone behind. He said if he gets elected to Congress he would still be a representative so the name of the band wouldn’t have to change.

However, Tercyak said he wouldn’t be surprised if Donovan finds a second band in Washington, D.C. to occupy his Sunday afternoons. Tercyak said the Bad Reps won’t be performing until after the election though, because he doesn’t want Donovan to lose votes if his bass line is off.

In addition to Donovan, Reps. Chris Coutu, Lile Gibbons, John Hetherington, John Rigby, Melissa Riley, Richard Roy, Linda Schofield, Peter Villano, and Bruce Zalaski also won’t be seeking re-election

Sen. Andrew Roraback

The Senate also said goodbye to one of Donovan’s potential congressional opponents, Republican Sen. Andrew Roraback. Roraback has the distinction of never having missed a roll call vote during his time in the General Assembly. He’s cast 8,468 consecutively.

Roraback has been described as a “Yankee Republican” for his progressive position on social issues and has served in the General Assembly since 1995. Colleagues praised him for his ability to work well with members on the other side of the aisle.

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, said Prague and Roraback retiring on the same day was a loss to the Senate. Bye said when she was a House member, Roraback was the only senator she wasn’t a little afraid to approach because he was always so welcoming.

“You’re a gentleman senator who works so hard at your craft to make sure you get it right,” Bye said.

Though Roraback never served as part of the majority party, Sen. Tony Guglielmo, R-Stafford, said he managed to make a mark by carving out a niche on environmental issues.

Roraback said he was proud to have served in the Senate, which he said is an amazing institution.

“The delicious irony is that there are a whole bunch of state senators sitting around saying nice things about one another when there’s complete pandemonium and chaos about 30 feet away,” he said.

Unlike Washington, D.C, where he’s hoping to serve next, Roraback said that members of the Senate in Connecticut still have the ability to be friends at the end of the day, despite their differences.

Tags: Edith Prague, Chris Donovan, Andrew Roraback, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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N.C. Vote Prompts Obama to Announce Support for Same-Sex Marriage

by Politico | May 9, 2012 3:35pm
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Posted to: Equality, White House

President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage Wednesday, telling Robin Roberts of ABC News, “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

“I’ve stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient,” Obama said. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word ‘marriage’ evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs.”

But he said he felt the time had come for his self-described “evolution” to finish.

Read more from Politico’s Jennifer Epstein

Tags: gay marriage, Obama, dh

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Lembo Calls On DNC To Respond To Vote In North Carolina

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 9, 2012 3:25pm
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Posted to: Election 2012, White House

An openly gay Connecticut elected official wrote a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz Wednesday to express his concerns about the party holding it national convention in a state that just banned gay marriage.

“How can we, as a party committed to the rights and freedoms of all Americans, tacitly endorse the North Carolina vote by marching our leadership and our president into Charlotte in September?” state Comptroller Kevin Lembo wrote in this letter.

He acknowledged it may be logistically impossible to move the location and the date of the convention, but at the very least he believes the party should be addressing the issue possibly through a resolution.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee was not immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon.

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Southington Lawmaker Among Handful To Retire

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 9, 2012 11:44am
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Posted to: Election 2012, Town News, Southington, State Capitol

State Rep. Bruce “Zeke” Zalaski of Southington announced Wednesday morning that he won’t be seeking re-election this fall.

The five-term co-chairman of the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee said in a press release that after 10 years he “decided to leave due to family considerations.”

“This will also give someone else an opportunity to run for my office and serve the great people of Southington,” Zalaski, 61, said.

Zalaski fought to increase the minimum wage this year and is considered a friend to the labor movement. He earned a reputation as a lawmaker with endurance after he handled an 11-hour debate on paid sick leave last year.

But Zalaski’s last year in office didn’t come without struggles. In December he was arrested on a drunken-driving charge and had his license suspended for six months. He won’t be able to drive again until August 4.

Zalaski is just one of several lawmakers announcing their retirements Wednesday, the final day of the 2012 legislative session.

Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, Zalaski’s co-chairwoman on the Labor and Public Employees Committee, also will officially announce her retirement today.

The Day of New London was the first to publish a report about Prague’s retirement.

Tags: Zeke Zalaski, Edith Prague, dh

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A Sprint To The Finish

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 9, 2012 11:21am
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Posted to: Health Care, State Capitol

In the chaotic final days of a legislative session, advocates and lobbyists make a final push for that one bill that might just get forgotten or left behind in the chaotic final 12 hours of the session.

One such bill this year that advocates are sweating is the effort to expand the state’s Health Insurance Exchange Board from 11 voting members to 16.

Since making it through the House last week, the bill has stalled in the Senate and is now in a race against the clock.

Lawmakers and advocates both are saying that the bill has the votes to pass, but it’s only a question of whether the bill gets called by Democratic Party leaders.

Sen. Eric Coleman, D-Bloomfield, said that while there is plenty of support for the bill in “the circle,” the bill that gets passed likely would be a compromise. “It won’t pass in the form that it is currently,” he said, though he declined to outline any potential changes.

The bill, in its current form, would add four members to the board and give voting rights to State Health Care Advocate Victoria Veltri.

Veltri currently sits on the board but cannot vote. The four additional voting members would be made up of two representatives of small businesses, and two healthcare consumers.

The bill that the Government, Administration, and Elections Committee sent to the House would have one consumer and one small business representative, both appointed by Democrats.

The House version increased the new members from two to four: another consumer and another small businessperson. It gives two of the four appointments to Republican legislative leaders.

The small army of healthcare reform advocates in red shirts were outside the Senate chamber late Tuesday, flagging down Senators to encourage them to bring up the bill.

Juan Figueroa, president of the Universal Healthcare Foundation of Connecticut, said that “when you’re in the last 48 hours of the session, time is really the biggest issue.”

He said that he felt “optimistic” about the senate being able to get through the budget and bring up the healthcare bill, and that the red shirts would be in the Capitol until the end.

Connecticut is one of only a few states that have actually taken steps to set up its own healthcare exchange allowed under President Barack Obama’s federal healthcare legislation.

Advocates in Connecticut have been agitating for months to get more voting members onto the board, particularly more consumers.

Eric George, the healthcare lobbyist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said that his group didn’t oppose the expansion of the board.

“I think that the movement of the exchange right now has been really in a positive direction,” George said, saying that the board would help with the growth of the private sector.

Karen Schuessler, director of Citizens for Economic Opportunity, was mostly concerned with the voting rights of the healthcare advocate. She said that it would be an “injustice” if the bill didn’t go through.

Tags: insurance exchange board, health care advocates, Universial Health Care Foundation, Eric Coleman, Victoria Veltri, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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Senate Gives Campaign Finance Reform Final Passage

by Hugh McQuaid | May 9, 2012 12:53am
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Posted to: Election Policy

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The Senate gave final passage early Wednesday to a bill reworking the state’s campaign finance disclosure laws, sending it to the desk of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Thus far the governor has been less than supportive of the legislation.

The bill aims to increase transparency in the election process by requiring corporations to disclose their campaign activity. It’s a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations, unions, and special interest groups to funnel unlimited funds into political campaigns.

The bill passed 20-15 shortly after midnight on the last day of the legislative session.

Sen. Gayle Slossberg, co-chairwoman of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said people should know who’s funding campaign ads.

“The purpose is to ensure that voters are fully informed about the person or the group who is speaking about the candidate or the issues in an election,” she said.

However, Andrew McDonald, Malloy’s chief legal counsel, said Tuesday that the governor’s not enamored with the legislation.

“[Malloy] has significant concerns with it and he has not made any commitment about what he would do if it reached his desk in its current form,” McDonald said.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, the Connecticut ACLU, and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association have also voiced concerns about the potential impact of the bill.

During the Senate debate, Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, criticized the reporting requirements placed on businesses that spend money to influence elections.

“Why are we demonizing our local businesses and saying there’s some sort of mystery? They’re right in front of us,” McLachlan said.

Tags: campaign finance, elections, citizens united, gayle slossberg, Senate, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Is The State Budget Like A Household Budget?

by Hugh McQuaid | May 8, 2012 11:14pm
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Posted to: State Budget, Taxes, State Capitol

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An argument over whether the state budget should be as simple a household budget highlighted ideological differences in the Senate on Tuesday as the chamber passed a bill closing deficits in both 2012 and 2013.

The bill adjusts the second year of the $40.11 billion budget in light of revenue projections that didn’t meet targets last month. The state discovered that revenue was about $150 million short in 2012 and $235 million short in 2013.

The Senate passed the bill with a 22-13 vote after nearly four hours of debate. The House voted 95-49 to approve the bill early Tuesday morning. The legislation will now head to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk.

Appropriations Committee Co-Chairwoman Sen. Toni Harp said lawmakers must consider much more than just balancing spending with revenue when they craft a budget.

“We often hear that the budget is like our budgets at home, but the reality is, the state budget is not like a household budget. The state budget is a budget that looks at the public good and takes care of the overall public good,” she said.

The state budget must address transportation infrastructure, public safety, education, the economy, as well as taking care of vulnerable populations, Harp said, adding that the budget Democrats presented was balanced without additional tax revenue by making cuts and finding money left on the table in the Medicaid fund.

Every state department, with the exception of the Education Department, will be forced to make cuts, Harp said. “It gives us an opportunity to look at what we really, really need to do as a state and what things are important to do. To have the departments become a little slimmer and a little more nimble and they’re not really happy. But the reality is that they can do it and we think this is a budget that we can grow upon as a state.”

However, Sen. Rob Kane, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said he and Harp disagreed on how much the state should be reducing its spending as well as her dismissal of the household budget analogy.

“Citizens of the state of Connecticut, all 3.5, 3.6 million of them, have certainly tightened their belts in their own budgets,” he said. “I think everyone in this room has done that. I think small businesses have done that. I think everyone has done that over the last couple of years — except for state government.”

The state is the only entity “living in a fishbowl,” Kane said. Constituents wonder why the state government can’t tighten its own belt and with revenues declining the state should be cutting expenditures enough to offset it, he said.

“I think we have a spending problem. Members around this circle have even called it an addiction to spending,” Kane said.

Sen. Scott Frantz, R-Riverside, said in times of fiscal crisis the state budget must be run with the same discipline as a home budget.

“You simply can’t provide for your family, you simply can’t provide for the people, the people who so desperately need it,” Frantz said.

Republicans offered their own alternative to the budget through an amendment, which would have spent $208.5 million less than the bill that passed. The amendment would have eliminated or modified a number of Democratic policies unpopular with Republicans.

It would have repealed early release credits for inmates convicted of violent crimes. The amendment sought to freeze longevity payments for unionized state employees and eliminated them for all others. It proposed eliminating funding for the Citizens’ Election Program and transferred the money to the General Fund.

It would have also diverted state funding for the New Britain-to-Hartford busway to transportation infrastructure projects. The Republican budget amendment also would have ended the state Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor that was passed last year.

Harp argued that the Republican budget made cuts in areas where the state either shouldn’t or can’t make cuts. For instance, the Republican amendment proposed cutting $82 million from the Department of Children and Families, but Harp said state spending on DCF is determined in part by court orders.

Harp said the amendment would have made it almost impossible for the state to maintain revenue by making additional cuts to the Department of Revenue Services.

“This budget is an interesting idea that absolutely doesn’t work, doesn’t take into consideration our [State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition] obligations, our court-mandated obligations, and doesn’t take into consideration what we do as a state, which is enhance the public good,” Harp said.

However, Senate Minority Leader John McKinney said that unlike the Democrats’ budget, the Republican alternative actually spends less money than originally budgeted and funds the transition to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Speaking to reporters earlier, Senate President Donald Williams said the GAAP transition always was supposed to be funded out of surplus. When last year’s budget passed, Republicans criticized it for having a built-in $1 billion dollar surplus. Many anticipated the state would have enough money to pay down the GAAP transition and start contributing to the Rainy Day Fund, he said.

“The economy has not come back as fast as it did after almost every other recession we have lived through,” Williams said. “In point of fact, we don’t have that billion dollar surplus that the Republicans predicted. We don’t have any surplus.”

The alternative budget was voted down 21-14 along party lines. 

In their concluding remarks Republicans said the debate underlined the philosophical differences between them and the majority party. While the two parties found common ground on issues like pension and education reform, budgetary issues seemed to be firmly partisan territory.

McKinney criticized Malloy for employing the same budgetary gimmicks he condemned as a candidate. The budget takes $70 million from the Special Transportation Fund and diverts $222 million in funds previously designated to pay off borrowing the state did in 2009.

McKinney conceded it’s probably not possible to run the state like a business or family budget.

“But we can make the tough choices the hard working people across the state of Connecticut have been making every day during this economic recession, the worst of our lifetimes,” he said.

Williams defended the budget as an honest one that moves the state in the right direction.

“Will you be able to find at the edges of this budget areas where we could have done a little bit better here and there? Of course,” he said. “But compared to previous budgets submitted by Republican governors, this budget is about as good as it gets in times economic crisis.”

Tags: state budget, Toni Harp, Rob Kane, John McKinney, revenues, spending cuts, household, Senate, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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House Unanimously Sends Education Reform To Malloy

by Christine Stuart | May 8, 2012 10:18pm
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Posted to: Education

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After several hours of debate the House unanimously approved a sweeping education reform proposal aimed at closing Connecticut’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap.

The chamber erupted in cheers as the vote board lit up green.

The bill now goes to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for approval. It passed the Senate 28-7 early Tuesday morning after a press conference late Monday during which Malloy stood with Democratic legislative leaders and announced that after months of negotiation they had reached a compromise.

Malloy didn’t get everything he wanted in the final bill, but he got more than legislative leaders initially wanted to give him after he shocked them with his opening day remarks regarding teacher tenure. 

The governor opened up the legislative session in February telling teachers, “basically the only thing you have to do is show up for four years. Do that, and tenure is yours.” The statement would haunt him for the next three months as he traveled the state holding public forums where teachers turned out in large numbers to voice their displeasure with Malloy’s plan.

At Monday’s press conference, Malloy he didn’t talk about how the revised legislation handled teacher tenure — except to say that the bill in its entirety upheld the six education principles he detailed last December.

Education reform advocates praised the legislation as a forward step toward changing the state’s educational achievement, and the state’s two teacher unions were content with how collective bargaining and tenure changes were handled.

Earlier today Malloy admitted to a New York radio show host that it got “a little dusty” for awhile, but it all worked out in the end. He said the bill doesn’t do away with tenure, but the compromise bill establishes an evaluation system that isn’t stopped by tenure.

“We don’t do away with tenure, but tenure doesn’t save you your job if you’re not performing at an acceptable level,” Malloy told WCBS 880’s Steve Scott.

Malloy’s plan would have required teachers to re-earn their tenure every five years, based on evaluations tied largely to student achievement. Under the proposal, new teachers would get tenure after three years if they earn two “exemplary” evaluations and after five years with three “proficient” or “exemplary” evaluations. 

Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, co-chairman of the Education Committee, said the tenure situation described by Malloy in his opening remarks back in February is not what he’s witnessed as he went on to describe the legislation on the House floor Tuesday afternoon. The bill requires teachers to be evaluated on an annual basis, and their tenure will be based on their performance evaluations.

A teacher will be required to earn an “effective” evaluation to earn tenure after their first four years of teaching and in order to lose it they will have to receive an “ineffective” rating, but neither will be tied to certification or pay.

In addition, 8 to 10 schools will be asked to pilot an evaluation system using the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council’s guidelines, which are still being finalized. The evaluation process will then be assessed by the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, and in the following year all districts will employ an evaluation system.

Rep. Marilyn Giuliano, R-Old Saybrook, said she hoped “that we might find how to craft that fair and equitable linkage of teacher evaluation to student learning.”

The state advisory council, which is finalizing the evaluation framework, has recommended that student performance should count as 45 percent of a teacher’s evaluation, another 40 percent should be based upon an administrator’s observation, and parent and student feedback should make up the rest.

Giuliano worried about what would happen to a hypothetical teacher named “Mrs. Fudge,” who she described as an excellent kindergarten teacher talented enough to take on autistic children and English Language Learners. Giuliano expressed concern that under an evaluation system, Mrs. Fudge may be viewed as a failing teacher if too much weight is given to student test scores.

Fleischmann did not address Giuliano’s concerns directly, but explained how the bill would treat evaluations.

“The goal of teacher evaluations should be to continuously improve and reform teaching so as to better educate our students,” Rep. Noreen Kokoruda, R-Madison, said quoting one of the teachers who contacted her during the past 90 days.

“There’s a lot to like in this bill,”  Kokoruda said, praising the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus for taking the initiative to release their own proposal and help those negotiating the bill to find compromise. 

“I feel it really was that caucus that got us back on track,” Kokoruda said.

The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus also was praised by national reform advocates, such as Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst organization that spent as much as $790,000 on advertising in favor of the governor’s original reform package.

“The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus stood up for reforms while the governor made clear he would veto anything that did not advance student interests,” an email to a StudentsFirst supporter reads. “This combination of political forces withstood an intense lobbying effort by those vested in the status quo, including the national NEA and AFT, who poured in resources and pulled out all the stops to try to derail reform in Connecticut.”

The teacher unions said their lobbying efforts pale in comparison and while they weren’t able to give an exact figure for how much they spent, they were confident they didn’t spend as much as StudentsFirst and other reform groups.

The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus released a position paper last week to urge those negotiating the bill behind closed doors to reach a consensus that included using charter schools and “impact bargaining,” which would allow teachers to bargain working conditions such as longer school days outside of their larger contract. That idea, along with a kindergarten to third grade reading initiative, was included in the final bill.

“I don’t know if it was us that changed things around,” said Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, chairman of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. “Some people realized you can be a Democrat, you can be progressive, you can be pro-teacher and still want to make sure reform is as strong as possible.”

Fleischmann bristled at the notion that the bill, with its 97 sections, was just one step forward. “It is more than a nice step. It is a giant leap which is long overdue,” Fleischmann said.

The teacher unions also praised the legislation.

“This will give teachers the support and training they need to be successful in their profession,” Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut, said.

She was joined in her praise by Phil Apruzzese, president of the Connecticut Education Association, who talked about the ups and downs of the past few months of debate.

“At its lowest point, the debate demonized teachers,” Apruzzese said. “Fortunately, with leadership in the Education Committee and in the House and Senate, the state turned a corner and put the emphasis on where it belongs: more pre-K, early literacy, health and social supports for disadvantaged students, respect for teachers bargaining rights, improved and fair teacher evaluation and dismissal, and access to innovative programs with proven track records.”

Tags: education, Andrew Fleischmann, Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, Sharon Palmer, Gary Holder-Winfield, teachers, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, dh

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OP-ED | Reform Worth Waiting For

by Rae Ann Knopf | May 8, 2012 7:32pm
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Posted to: Opinion

The process we followed these last few weeks in search of education reform is uniquely American: messy and confusing, but glorious in its ability to bring diverse peoples together to do what’s right for the whole.

With the passage of Senate Bill 458, Connecticut took a major step toward resuming its rightful place as a haven for enlightened education and a leader in championing the civil rights of all its citizens.

Coming together after months of deliberation and polarized and contentious debates, Governor Malloy, the State Board of Education and Commissioner Pryor, and legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle have artfully drafted a meaningful framework for reconstructing public education in Connecticut. Rather than drib and drab low profile reforms over multiple years, Governor Malloy took a bold stance and proposed a massive comprehensive reform bill based on six principles for righting a listing ship (the State of Connecticut) by articulating education reform as the foundation for economic revival.

Spanning early childhood to graduation, and touching upon all aspects of public education and those who carry out its mission, this proposal brought to a fulcrum the many comprehensive recommendations for reform that were drafted in the state in recent years. Delivering his vision with firm resolve, the Governor never wavered on the importance of systemic change to ensure all children will end up with access to a high quality education in Connecticut. In the end, legislative leaders, leaders of organizations representing teachers, principals, superintendents, boards of education, businesses and civic leaders found common ground by setting adult fears aside, and putting children’s needs first.

Ann Plato, 19th century African American poet said, “a good education is another name for happiness.” One can only hope. Her statement resonates now, as it did then. She speaks to the ways in which a good education opens up the world for a child and invites them to contribute to it in their own unique way. It speaks also, to the importance of preparing our children in ways that afford them freedom of choice – the economic freedom to choose where to live, where to work, and where and how to raise their own children. It speaks to opening the doors of free will, the foundation upon which America was built. 

We celebrate the choices made by so many in our state to do the right thing on this day – to put down the hammer used in recent weeks to beat down this issue and pick up a chisel so that we might artfully craft over time, the legislation and practices needed to compel sustained improvement and innovation in every school in Connecticut, throughout the 21st century and beyond.

Rae Ann Knopf is executive director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform

Tags: education, reform, legislation, teacher, Rae Ann Knopf

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OP-ED | Connecticut’s Health Insurance Exchange Bill: Get it Done!

by Kevin Galvin | May 8, 2012 7:23pm
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Posted to: Opinion

With fewer than one day left in this legislative session and tens of bills to act on, the Senate needs to act with the appropriate urgency and approve House Bill 5013, which expands the board composition of the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange (The Exchange) by five votes.

This will ensure the voices of small business people and individual consumers are genuinely heard at the table where key decisions about the future availability of affordable, accessible and quality health care coverage are being made. On April 25, the bill cleared the House with a unanimous vote of 146 to 0. However, somehow the Senate can’t see its way to taking up the bill and getting it done. This is troubling.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, the state Health Insurance Exchange is supposed to operate as a centralized marketplace, where small businesses with fewer than 50 employees can buy insurance. In a recent survey of Connecticut small businesses by Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, almost two-thirds of respondents said they cannot afford to offer their employees health insurance. And 78.8 percent said health plan costs must decrease to make it possible for them to provide coverage. 

To be ready to open for business in January 2014, the exchange board will need to negotiate with insurers to develop a range of insurance plans affordable to small businesses. The small group market is not one insurers have traditionally seen as profitable. The current board membership has the traditional insurance perspective on it, and not that of small businesses struggling to retain and attract good employees so they can build their businesses.

Here are three reasons why it’s urgent that the Exchange board composition be fixed:

Over the coming months, the Exchange board has numerous important decisions to make.  It must decide what benefits it will require insurers to design products around. Affordable coverage must be accompanied by quality health benefits, not a shell insurance plan with high deductibles as a ploy to keep premiums down. 

The board must market the Exchange effectively, and figure out how best to get the word out to small businesses. In the survey mentioned earlier, more than half of the respondents were unaware of the federal tax credit available through the ACA (35percent since the ACA was enacted and 50 percent starting in 2014). The board is hiring staff and has engaged a range of consultants but it is not at all clear that it recognizes small business owners with many responsibilities s to juggle will need assistance to take maximum advantage of the resources available to them through the Exchange. 

Another key decision the board has before it is creating of the standards they will use to qualify health plans to be sold on the Exchange. One such standard small employers would want to weigh in on is how benefits are designed to encourage prevention, improve health outcomes and reduce costs. For instance, eliminating co-pays on certain chronic illness medications to promote people adhering to their regimen makes health sense and is known to control costs. These are just some of the many decisions needed. As the saying goes, “if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu!” Small businesses in Connecticut must be at the Health Insurance Exchange table.

Kevin Galvin is the chair of Small Business for Healthy Connecticut.

Tags: insurance exchange board, Kevin Galvin, business, consumers, health care

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House Passes Campaign Finance Bill, Fate Uncertain

by Hugh McQuaid | May 8, 2012 2:40pm
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Posted to: Election 2012, Election Policy

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Though he stopped short of using the word “veto,” the governor’s chief legal counsel said he had serious concerns about the constitutionality of the campaign finance reform bill the House passed Tuesday afternoon.

The goal of the bill is to increase transparency in the election process by requiring corporations to disclose their campaign activity.

Government Administration and Elections Co-Chair Russell Morin, D-Wethersfield, said the legislation provides necessary reforms.

“It’s about making sure the candidate backed by the voters wins the election, not the candidate backed by the most corporate dollars,” Morin said.

The bill passed the chamber in a 94-54 vote, but outside the hall more than one group was grumbling about the bill’s potential impact.

The bill includes a provision to allow military members to fax or email their ballots to town clerks if they waive their constitutional right to privacy. Andrew McDonald, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s top lawyer, said that’s a first.

“The governor’s office sought changes to the bill but those issues with which we were concerned have not been modified,” McDonald said as House members debated the bill.

“[Malloy] has significant concerns with it and he has not made any commitment about what he would do if it reached his desk in its current form,” McDonald said.

Under the bill, nonprofits would be prevented from communicating with lawmakers running for re-election within 90 days of the primary or general election.

The bill was conceived as a state response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations, unions, and special interest groups to funnel unlimited funds into political campaigns.

Malloy proposed the original language which, among other things, would have allowed publicly financed candidates to accept unlimited contributions from private sources if they were outspent by a privately funded opponent. Currently, candidates receiving public funds are limited to raising just enough money to qualify for a state grant.

However, the bill was revised by the Government Administration and Elections Committee, which removed the provision and replaced it with more modest increases in the funds a publicly funded gubernatorial candidate would receive. Those increases were eventually stripped from the bill as well. On Saturday, attempts to the debate the bill were thwarted when rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers expressed concern about increasing funding for a gubernatorial campaign while staring down a budget deficit.

McDonald said the Citizens United ruling created problems for the state’s clean elections program, but the bill doesn’t solve them.

“The Citizens United case was, in my opinion, wrongly decided. Passing flawed legislation in response to a bad court decision doesn’t make a bad situation better, it just makes it more complicated,” McDonald said.

The governor’s administration wasn’t the only group to have problems with the bill. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said she was concerned with the provision allowing a vote to be cast by fax or email.

“We’re opposed to Internet voting because we don’t believe it’s secure,” Merrill said. And if a voter wants to email or fax in their ballot, the bill requires people to waive their right to a private ballot.

Both of those issues are a concern for Merrill, who said there also wasn’t enough time to vet the proposal.

Sen. Gayle Slossberg, co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, defended the bill, saying the provision allowing soldiers to email or fax their ballots to registrars is a secure process because they waive their right to privacy, allowing their identities to be verified, she said.

“Our soldiers have said repeatedly they want that choice. We should be giving them the opportunity to vote if they’re comfortable with waiving their right to privacy. We shouldn’t be disenfranchising them because we’re not comfortable with it,” she said.

Slossberg said 19 other states have been using a similar process for years without incident.

Betty Gallo, lobbyist for the Connecticut ACLU, said some of the groups’ concerns with the original bill have been addressed. However, the bill still puts restrictions on advocacy and the ability to petition the government, she said.

“Our concern was that the way the bill was written, and to some extent the way the bill is still written, is it actually puts new burdens on your ability to lobby or advocate before the government,” she said.

For 90 days around an election, any time a group communicates and urges someone to contact a lawmaker to oppose or support a bill, they trigger reporting requirements, she said. Under the bill, that group would have to disclose their donors, she said.

“ACLU has for a long time been opposed to the requirement that you expose your donors in order to advocate before the government,” Gallo said.

Slossberg said a 2010 law already requires disclosure of independent expenditures within 90 days of an election if the expenditure clearly identifies someone running for office.

“If you’re a business or entity and you’re going to participate in political speech or influence the electorate, you need to own your speech,” she said. 

Eric George of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association said the bill represents unprecedented infringement in corporate activity by requiring the votes of individual board members to be posted on the organization’s website if they vote to spend more than $4,000 on a campaign-related expenditure.

“It’s egregious,” George said. “I would say the chilling effect that this would send to the business community is very, very significant.”

However, Slossberg said that before the Citizen’s United case, corporations weren’t even allowed to participate the way they can now. She said it’s appropriate for people who invest in a company to know how their money is being spent. Lawmakers, for instance, could invest in a corporation without realizing the group was actually spending money on campaign ads against them, she said.

Slossberg said Iowa has a similar law that is triggered if a group spends $750 dollars, which is much lower than Connecticut’s requirements.

“This is simply about owning your speech. What is everyone trying to hide?” she asked.

The bill will still need to be passed by the Senate before the legislative session ends tomorrow at midnight.

Tags: House, campaign finance, election, Russ Morin, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, CBIA, disclosure, Gayle Slossberg, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Latinos Boost Murphy, Put Pressure On Bysiewicz

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 8, 2012 11:55am
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

Leaders in the Democratic Party and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy’s campaign turned up the heat Monday on Susan Bysiewicz to drop out of the U.S. Senate race when they announced that they have the support of the Connecticut Democratic Hispanic Caucus.

The endorsement came less than a week before the state convention where Bysiewicz, the former Secretary of the State, will need to secure 15 percent or 277 delegates in order to force a Democratic primary for retiring U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s seat.

Democratic Party leadership announced their support for Murphy last week when state Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, dropped his bid and endorsed Murphy.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, as leaders in the party, also put their considerable weight behind the outgoing 5th District congressman.

Yesterday, in what appeared to be a final show of force in sealing up the party’s nomination, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and the Connecticut Democratic Hispanic Caucus said that Murphy was their man.

Murphy called the endorsement “one of the most important days of this campaign,” probably because the race for the nomination is now all but over.

“If you want to win an election in this state, you need to have the support of the Latino community,” Murphy said.

According to U.S. Census figures, there are 318,000 Latinos over the age of 18 in Connecticut. Tomas Reyes, chairman of the Connecticut Democratic Hispanic Caucus, said the caucus itself has 55 members.

Segarra said that Murphy “has stood side-by-side with me waging many battles that other people would shy away from,” including the fight over marriage equality. Segarra is openly gay.

“Murphy not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk. He has been very supportive of many organizations and programs that benefit our community directly,” Segarra said during a press conference outside Hartford City Hall.

Reyes said he was impressed by Murphy’s performance in a Meriden debate this past Saturday hosted by his caucus and the Spanish-language newspaper La Voz Hispana.

Reyes said Latinos need a Senator “that we can talk to, that understands what we’re saying when we speak to him, and has the knowledge and the ability to go back to Washington and work in trying to enact the programs and the laws and the funding streams that we need for our community.”

Murphy pointed to the influence of the Latino community in various cities around the state — and specifically in his district — calling it a “success story.”

Murphy, who is leading Bysiewicz in the polls and in fundraising, is actively courting the Latino vote. He reiterated his support of the federal DREAM Act, which would provide a path toward citizenship for those undocumented immigrants who graduate from college or go through military service.

Murphy also decried the Department of Homeland Security program known as Secure Communities, which connects data obtained by local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities. The program has come under fire in New Haven in recent months, where city officials have said it would “destroy” trust between residents and police.

“I worry that Secure Communities is not working as it was intended, because there are too many law abiding citizens that are caught up in the web of law enforcement. I want to go back to the drawing board,” he said, adding that the program has increased the “unjustifiable profiling” of Latinos.

He said he would also work toward a comprehensive immigration reform package that “affirms our values.”

Bysiewicz’s campaign manager said Monday that “when Democrats had the opportunity to pass immigration reform, they didn’t do it,” referring to Murphy’s terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Ultimately, this campaign comes down to who will stand up for the middle class and hold Wall Street accountable,” Ducote said, sticking to the campaign’s number one talking point.

“Part of standing up for the middle class is real immigration reform,” he added.

Murphy may lead Bysiewicz in fundraising and a few points in the polls, but the last Quinnipiac University poll in March found that Bysiewicz would beat Republican Linda McMahon. She loses by a percentage point to former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays.

Tags: chris murphy, Susan Bysiewicz, U.S. Senate, Latinos, Hartford, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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Education Reform Passes Senate Early Tuesday Morning

by Christine Stuart | May 8, 2012 3:51am
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Posted to: Education

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The 185-page education reform bill was praised by Democratic Senators and panned by Republicans, who didn’t have any time to read the bill before debate began shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The bill, which was negotiated for the better part of the past month by lawmakers and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s staff, passed the Senate 28-7 at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Many of the Republicans voiced their displeasure with the process, but ended up voting for the legislation.

“This is vampire legislation,” Sen. Joseph Markley, R-Southington, said. “A bill emerges out of a backroom after midnight and it passes through the Senate before dawn and the debate never sees the light of day.”

Markley said he decided he wasn’t going to support the bill because once he saw it, he wasn’t going to have time to read it or understand it.

Republicans suggested they be given time to go back and talk to their constituents about the contents of the bill, but after protests about the process more than half the Republicans voted for the measure.

Markley said they won’t do that because “it’s a house of cards and it will fall over with the first small breeze that hits it.”

At a 10 p.m. press conference, Malloy admitted that people have been negotiating for a long time, especially during the last few days, “so there’s a chance we missed something.”

But with Sen. Steven Cassano, D-Manchester, said lawmakers need to trust their leaders who negotiated the bill. He said it’s difficult not to be part of the process, but that’s just the way the building works.

“The system of public education will continue to be the major way children will learn in Connecticut,” Cassano said in a statement. “Charter and magnet schools will continue to function with additional funding, but draconian changes proposed over the last few months will not happen.”

Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, praised the bill for addressing the achievement gap once and for all.

She said there were versions of this bill that would have had the General Assembly take one percent of the dollars and “pretty much privatize” education and forget about the other 99 percent of children who attend public schools.

“What this bill does is say ‘we’re going to think about everyone, and we’re going to face the fact that we live in a knowledge-based economy,’” Harp said.

Two of the most difficult issues for lawmakers were in figuring out where charter schools fit into the state’s education picture and how teacher tenure is handled under a newly developed evaluation system.

Charter school funding was boosted in the bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday morning, but it wasn’t funded to the extent that Malloy had requested. Funding for charter schools was increased from $9,400 to $10,500 in the first year, $11,000 in the second, and $11,500 in the third. It also allows nonprofits to operate six of the 25 schools identified as turnaround schools, in effect prohibiting for-profit companies from doing so.

As far as teacher tenure goes, Sen. Andrea Stillman, co-chair of the Education Committee, said a teacher after four years of good evaluations should be granted tenure in their fifth year.

“Tenure, as you know, is due process,” Stillman said. “If a teacher has tenure and their evaluations fall off then the administrator can step in and help mentor that teacher.”

If that teacher doesn’t improve, then a termination process can begin, Stillman said.

“What we’ve done in this bill is shorten that length of time,” she added. The bill also calls for the new evaluation system developed by the Performance Evaluation and Advisory Council to be piloted in 10 schools.

The bill allows for teacher unions to use impact bargaining to negotiate working condition changes in the low-performing schools, which become part of the Education Commissioner’s network.

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said he has to admit he hasn’t read every word of the legislation and isn’t happy with the process, but he praised the inclusion of a reading proficiency measure initially proposed by Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield of New Haven.

The bill includes a pilot program to enhance literacy for kindergarten through third grade students. It also creates 1,000 new preschool slots, mostly for low-income communities.

Click here to read more about the press conference announcing the education compromise.

Tags: education, senate, Joseph Markley, teacher, charter, Andrea Stillman, dh

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House Approves Midterm Budget Adjustments

by Hugh McQuaid | May 8, 2012 2:28am
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Posted to: State Budget, Taxes

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Depending upon who you asked, the budget adjustments debated in the House Monday night were either carefully tailored to reflect fragile economic circumstances, or they were a wad of gum plugged into a dam that’s about to burst.

The bill adjusts the second year of the $40.11 billion budget in light of revenue projections that didn’t meet their targets last month. The state discovered that revenue was about $150 million short in 2012 and $235 million short in 2013.

The bill passed 95-49 after more than three hours of debate.

Appropriations Committee Co-Chair Rep. Toni Walker acknowledged that consensus revenue estimates are about $200 million less than projected for Fiscal Year 2013, necessitating spending cuts and adjustments.

“This bill has been designed to be cognizant of the fact that we are in a very, very fragile state of affairs in this economic recovery,” Walker said. “We are rebounding, we know that, but it is moving slowly and things are starting to change. This bill also reflects the need to continue to give our state the support they require to continue in that direction.”

Walker listed some aspects of the bill of which she said she was proud: job expansion programs and adult training, bioscience initiatives like the Jackson Labs project, and the plan also doesn’t cut municipal funding.

“We know that the cities are waiting for the dollars that we’ve had and we want to make sure that we stay true to that commitment,” she said.

The bill also funds the compromise education reform package, which was released just before the budget debate started Monday night. The budget adjustments include funding for early childhood education, math and science preparations, and money to ensure students can read, she said.

“One of the things we heard over and over again — Little Johnny needs to read and we need to be there making sure that that happens and that’s what we do in this bill,” Walker said.

Walker conceded the legislation wasn’t perfect and included flaws and shortcomings, she said.

“But with the things that we had before us this year, this is a good bill and it ought to pass,” she said.

Not everyone thought so. Republicans said the bill was a return to the sort of gimmicks, smoke, and mirrors that last year’s $1.6 billion tax increase was supposed to avoid.

Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said last year’s budget was supposed to put the state back on the path to economic prosperity. This year’s budget adjustments represent broken promises, he said. Instead of being back on track, the state is just returning to the unsustainable budgeting policies it’s used in the past, he said.

“There is a crack in the dam and we are plugging that crack with chewing gum, and the biggest wad of them all is the sweeping of the Economic Recovery Notes,” he said.

Candelora was referring to the $222 million in funds previously designated to pay off borrowing the state did in 2009, which were diverted to close the 2012 deficit.

Republicans also criticized the legislation for taking $70 million from the Special Transportation Fund and failing to realize any of the savings that were supposed to come from the state employee “suggestion box,” as part of last year’s labor agreement.

“Here we are a year later and the savings have not been met, nonetheless the concessions were given and the state is now, whatever the latest numbers are — $284 million? Pick a number — under budget. We’re in the red,” Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, said.

One thing that won’t be funded in the budget is the year’s payment on the state’s transition to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The GAAP transition is required by fiscal year 2014, according to the governor’s first executive order.

Asked if his budget comports with the promises he made on the campaign trail in 2010, Malloy replied “yes.”

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said the lack of funding for the GAAP transition represented a broken promise by the governor.

“He held this up as the signature issue and now because he mishandled the budget it will not happen. So much for Executive Order 1?” he said.

However, Ben Barnes, the governor’s budget director, said Republicans were staying on factually incorrect talking points when it comes to the budget.

Failing to make a down payment on the transition this year does not break the law, which requires that available surplus be used to fund the transition, he said. Unfortunately, this year the deficit has left no funds available, he said.

“That was the law of the land a year ago, that’s the law of the land now,” he said.

Republicans offered their own adjustments through an amendment which, among other things, set aside $50 million for the GAAP transition. The amendment also froze longevity payments for unionized state employees and eliminated them for all others.

The amendment would have eliminated funding for the Citizens’ Election Program and transferred the money into the General Fund. It would have also diverted state funding to the New Britain-to-Hartford busway to transportation infrastructure projects. The Republican budget would have also ended the state Earned Income Tax Credit passed last year.

Rep. Sean Williams, R-Watertown, said the Republican budget “offers the dose of medicine this state needs to get the economy back on track.”

“We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and over again because we’re getting the same results, and we all know what that produces,” Williams said.

The amendment failed along party lines.

The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate.

Tags: budget, increase, spending, cuts, Ben Barnes, lawmakers, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Bill Targeting Sex Trafficking Passes House

by Hugh McQuaid | May 8, 2012 12:26am
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Posted to: Business, Courts, Legal

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The House unanimously passed a bill Monday night that makes it a felony to advertise the commercial sexual exploitation of a minor.

The chamber passed the bill 149-0 after less than 10 minutes of debate.

“In our state and in our cities and towns, we do have an issue with those young people who are being victimized and are being advertised when it comes to escort services,” Judiciary Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Gerald Fox said. “What this bill would do is make it clear that such activity is a crime.”

Fox said people can currently place ads and sexually exploit young people. The bill makes it a Class C felony — punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 — to either knowingly place such an ad or place one without investigating the age of the individual advertised.

Rep. Jeffrey Berger, D-Waterbury, said the issue comes down to the prostitution of children as young as 13 years old. He said that even raising the bill and holding hearings on it has resulted in many of the ads being pulled.

A previous incarnation of the bill would have made newspaper and magazine publishers guilty of a felony for publishing an ad depicting a minor. That provision was scrapped over concerns that it violated the First Amendment.

The bill will still need to be passed by the Senate before the legislative session ends Wednesday at midnight.

Tags: sex trafficking, prostitution, justice, jeffery berger, connecticut, escort services, escort ads, escorts, prostitutes, publishers, Gerald Fox, dh

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Democrats, Malloy Announce Education Compromise

by Christine Stuart | May 8, 2012 12:07am
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Posted to: Education

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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders celebrated what they called an “historic” agreement on a sweeping education reform proposal that believe will help Connecticut erase its largest-in-the-nation achievement gap.

At a 10 p.m. press conference, Malloy told a packed room of reformers and leaders of at least one of the state’s teacher unions that the bill the Senate is expected to take up later this evening is just a beginning.

“We will not fix what’s broken overnight — we can’t. But we will begin to,” Malloy vowed.

The package allocates an additional $100 million for reform.

Malloy said the agreement reached is a compromise, but not a compromise on the six principles he laid out last December. The bill which Republican lawmakers said they have yet to see increases the number of preschool slots, allows the Education Commissioner to intervene in 25 of the lowest performing schools, increases per-pupil funding for charter school students, and “awards tenure on the basis of effective practice.”

Two of the thorniest issues and the most controversial as Malloy toured the state touting his education package were the issue of charter schools and whether they should be allowed to take over low performing public schools, and teacher tenure and how it was tied to an untested evaluation system. Malloy never mentioned the later, which caused teachers to show up and boo him at public forums, in his remarks Monday evening.

According to the bill, there will be an increase in per-pupil funding from $9,400 to $10,500 in the first year, $11,000 in the second year, and $11,500 in the third year. It also allows a nonprofit school operator to take over six of the 25 schools targeted as turnaround schools.

As for teacher tenure, it requires annual performance evaluations and allows for “ineffective teachers to be terminated” on an expedited basis.

Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut, said she thinks what she knows of the bill will put people’s minds at ease. Many teachers were anxious about their jobs being tied to an untested evaluation system.

She said tenure always has been tied to evaluations. Itt was just the “how” that was the problem. She said the process is not significantly different than what we already have, except that it’s shorter and it’s one arbitrator and it delineates the factors in a stronger way.

“At this point, it’s fairly reasonable,” Palmer said.

Patrick Riccards, CEO of ConnCAN, said he believes the bill is a step forward.

“Just because this was the ‘Year of Education Reform’ doesn’t mean this is the only year we’re going to reform education,” he said. “This is an important first step for Connecticut in terms of education reform.”

Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, the co-chair of the General Assembly’s Education Committee, said there were times she wasn’t happy about the challenge to move forward with education reform in a short legislative session.

“Having this as a priority this year has awakened all of us to the fact that education reform is really the number one issue for our state and our children,” Stillman said.

She said they were often reminded by their colleagues in the House that this bill was about the children. “We have never forgotten that this was about the children,” she said.

Rae Ann Knopf, executive director of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, said she didn’t think the legislation was a compromise on principles.

“I think the governor has definitely delivered on his promise of education reform,” Knopf said. “We’re supportive of the notion that effectiveness is introduced and evaluations will be used to determine effectiveness, and the results will be used to help teachers improve.”

Mary Loftus Levine, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association, said her organization has always “agreed teachers who are deemed to be ineffective should have the opportunity to go through a hearing.” She said it’s her understand that the bill reduces the number of arbitrators from three to one, and “limits the number of hours of testimony and evidence at a termination hearing.”

Republican lawmakers said that as of 11 p.m. they were still waiting to see legislative language so that they could determine whether it agrees with the two-page memorandum they saw earlier in the day. The documents didn’t arrive until shortly before midnight.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said the press conference the governor and Democratic lawmakers held at 10 p.m. was originally scheduled for noon when it was canceled because the language didn’t match the memorandum.

“As a matter of fact, it would be fair to say that the governor has not seen it,” Cafero said. “That probably at this point 99.9 percent of the General Assembly has not seen this bill.”

Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, co-chairman of the Education Committee, said he’s been around long enough to understand the Senate is about to go into a process that’s “akin to giving birth.”

Stillman will usher the bill through the Senate debate and Fleischmann will handle the House debate.

Tags: education, teacher tenure, compromise, charter schools, dh

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House Sends PLA Bill To Malloy

by Hugh McQuaid | May 7, 2012 7:55pm
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Posted to: Business, Labor, Legal

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A bill allowing public entities to require the use of project labor agreements cleared the House of Representatives Monday and will now head to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk.

The legislation, which passed the Senate last week with bipartisan support, easily passed the House in a 109-37 vote.

The permissive language, which allows labor unions to negotiate working conditions, was added to a bill allowing construction companies to both design and build highway projects. PLAs are pre-hiring agreements that cover the terms and conditions of a construction project.

Proponents of the agreements argue that they ensure work and safety standards and facilitate the timely completion of projects. However, others say the agreements favor labor unions at the expense of non-union contractors.

“Municipalities tend to save more money by the use of PLAs by having that extreme workforce that is handy and also by having a no-strike clause in there, which advances the construction of the project to move more quickly,” Rep. Antonio Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, said.

But some Republican lawmakers disagreed, saying PLAs make construction projects more costly. Rep. Tony D’Amelio, R-Waterbury, used the construction of Waterbury City Hall as an example of a project that came in under budget and on time because it didn’t use a project labor agreement.

Debate over the bill was briefly side-tracked by discussion of the New Britain-to-Hartford busway after Rep. Whit Betts, R-Bristol, proposed an amendment that would have scrapped the project and redirected the funds to infrastructure investments. Sen. Joseph Markley offered a similar amendment to a different transportation bill last month. Both amendments were defeated.

Following the bill’s passage, Malloy issued a statement thanking House leadership for “their clear commitment to ensuring that thousands of hardworking men and women in the building trades have good-paying jobs.”

Tags: project labor agreements, Tony Guerrera, Tony D'Amelio, Whit Betts, dh

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Best Dressed Survey 2012

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 7, 2012 7:47pm
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Posted to: Poll

Click here to continue the tradition started by former Rep. Ken Green and vote for the best dressed lawmaker, lobbyist, and staffer. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to spell their name closeness counts. Voting will close at 4 p.m. Wednesday and results will be announced Thursday morning in the Morning Coffee and Politics email. So if you’re not signed up please click the link to the email blast above and get going.

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Lawmakers Look To Vote On Increase In Budget

by Christine Stuart | May 7, 2012 4:59pm
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Posted to: State Budget

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(Updated 7:29 p.m.) Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders cut and borrowed their way out of a deficit and were still able to increase total state spending by about $143 million, according to the latest budget bill.

Democrats were forced to adjust the second year of the $40.11 billion budget when revenue projections didn’t meet their targets last month and the state discovered that revenue was about $150 million short in 2012 and $235 million short in 2013.

Budget Director Ben Barnes suggested diverting about $222 million in funds designated to pay off borrowing the state did in 2009 to close the 2012 deficit. Republican lawmakers panned the idea, but Barnes defended it, arguing the promise to pay those Economic Recovery Notes didn’t carry much weight with the credit rating agencies. He has said that paying off the debt at a slower pace wouldn’t hurt the state and would only save about $8.7 million over the next four fiscal years.

Even with the 2012 deficit resolved, most of the big policy initiatives such as education reform are in the 2013 budget. The 2013 budget maintains most of the increased funding Malloy planned to attribute to his education proposal.

The 1 percent increase in spending is attributed largely to changes to the state employee pension fund and the education reform package, which was a priority for Malloy this year.

The new budget bill, which could be voted upon as early as today (Monday), eliminates the Department of Transportation’s scheduled 4 percent fare increase for bus and ADA transit riders. The increase was expected to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

The bill would reduce the general fund contribution to the special transportation fund by about $70 million and decides to use borrowing to cover the $30 million it planned to spend on town aid for road repairs. The budget also maintains $8.5 million for a 1 percent cost of living increase for private service providers who contract with state agencies.

Further, the new budget restores a $160,000 line item for stocking pheasants, funding for which had been stripped under Malloy’s previous budget proposal. The elimination of the mostly self-sustaining fund prompted an outcry from sportsman across the state.

The budget also revives a $7.6 million cut lawmakers had hoped to restore to the Teachers Retirement Board.

Currently, the state pays a third of a $110 monthly contribution toward health care costs for retired teachers while active teachers pay a third of that $110 and the retiree pays a third. But the revised budget reduces the state’s share from 33 percent to 25 percent and shifts the additional cost to the retiree, bringing their portion up to 42 percent.  The budget released Monday holds retirees harmless and takes the state’s contribution from the Teacher’s Retirement Fund. A move Republican lawmakers said will make the retirement fund unstable.

Another cut lawmakers had hoped to avoid involves the Medicaid program for low-income adults. The budget document seeks to impose a $10,000 asset test for anyone who applies for the program. At least some lawmakers believed this move was an attempt to gut the program, which gives health care benefits to low income and disabled individuals.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said the Democratic leadership and governor decided not to adjust the revenue estimates for 2013 even though they’re coming in lower than projected.

“Since the beginning of this session the revenue picture has gotten worse,” he said. “One of the biggest ironies is the governor is using all the gimmicks that he once ran against and two he pledged never to use.”

Raiding $70 million from the special transportation fund, which is levied through gasoline taxes, is another one of those gimmicks Malloy promised to avoid when he was on the campaign trail, Cafero said.

“Every gimmick you can think of is being used in this,” Cafero said.

Check back later as this report is updated

Tags: budget, increase, spending, cuts, Ben Barnes, lawmakers, dh

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High Hopes For Smooth Finish

by Christine Stuart | May 7, 2012 1:07pm
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Posted to: State Budget, State Capitol

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There was no lack of optimism among legislative leaders Monday morning as they prepared for the last minute push to their adjournment by midnight Wednesday.

Legislative leaders were behind closed doors reading what they hope are final drafts of both the budget and education reform package, which has been hotly debated since February.

Sen. President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said there is a “tentative” agreement on 2013 budget adjustments, and a “tentative” agreement on the education package.

“It’s not official at this point we’re still trading language,” he said.

Both the budget and the education package are intertwined because the budget needs to include any increase in education spending necessary to implement the reforms.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are prepared to flex their muscle.

“We recognize the fact that we have the clock on our side,” House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said Monday. “We look at it from two points of view: things that we want and things we want not to happen.

“What is somewhat unique this year as opposed to other years is typically by this time with three days left we’ve done most of the major big bills,” Cafero said.

At the moment, “we’re looking at campaign finance, the budget, education reform,” Cafero said. “The management of the clock with these particular issues has not been very good.”

Cafero believes it puts the minority Republicans in a better negotiating position than past sessions.

This year Cafero has decided to use a post-it note system to instruct his caucus how to handle the debate on particular bills when he’s not on the House floor. He said it’s modeled after Homeland Security’s alert system.

Red means keep talking, threat level is severe; orange means the threat level is high, keep the debate going; yellow means the threat level is elevated; blue means guarded, and; green means to stop talking so everyone can vote.

Democratic press aides have gotten so frustrated with the new alert system they’ve taken to telling reporters to look at the color of the post-it notes if they want to figure out how long a debate may last.

House Speaker Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, who is running for Congress and won’t return to the House next year as speaker, said they’re working on finding agreement with all parties, including Republicans, when they can.

“We’re trying to negotiate,” Donovan said.

No one was able to offer any details about what the budget and the education package will look like. As of Saturday the two sides were still determining whether charter schools could be used as turnaround schools and if teacher unions will have collective bargaining rights when the state comes in to reconstitute a low performing schools.

Tags: final stretch, legislation, Democrat, republican, connecitcut, cafero, Homeland security, post it notes, donovan, education, budget, negotiations, dh

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Racial Profiling Bill Headed To Governor’s Desk

by Hugh McQuaid | May 7, 2012 12:26pm
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Posted to: Town News, Legal, Local Politics, State Capitol

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With bipartisan support, the House gave final passage Monday to a bill strengthening a law requiring police to report traffic stop data. The data will be analyzed by the state for evidence of racial profiling.

The bill modifies the 1999 Alvin Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act.

For more than a decade, the state has failed to enforce the law requiring municipal police departments to annually report traffic stop data to the African-American Affairs Commission. The data was then going to be analyzed for racial profiling. But since the law was passed in 1999, only one report has been issued. According to 2010 data, only 27 of the state’s police departments comply with the reporting aspect of the law and the data that has been reported hasn’t been assessed by the state.

The bill cleared the chamber in a 142-1 vote after 90 minutes of debate.

The legislation puts the Office of Policy and Management in charge of enforcing the reporting requirements and assessing the data. It also requires the creation of a racial profiling advisory board, and a standardized form police will use to report the data.

The form will include details and reasons for the traffic stop as well as the officer’s perception of the drivers race, color, ethnicity, age, and gender.

The bill’s proponent, Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, said it also requires police to provide the individual stopped with a notice so they may file a complaint if they feel their stop was motivated solely by race, color, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.

“The individual who may feel aggrieved knows where to go and what to do but it will not trigger a complaint automatically,” he said.

Members on both sides of the aisle stressed the importance of stopping racial profiling in Connecticut.

Rep. John Shaban, R-Redding, said until recently he played semi-pro football with men of several different minority groups. Several were African American and perceived racial profiling to be a very real problem while they were driving.

“Almost all of them were concerned about driving to certain games or certain events or practices because of the color of their skin. And that was a genuine feeling these guys had,” Shaban said.

“I experienced it personally because some of these guys would throw me in the front seat of the car and call me ‘EZ Pass,’” said Shaban, who is white.

While the bill may be slightly more of a burden on police departments, Shaban said he would support it because it was worth determining whether perception was reality.

“Nobody in our state should get pulled for DWB,” he said, meaning “driving while black.”

A similar bill died in committee last year. But Holder-Winfield raised the bill again, and this year it had additional traction after several high-profile instances of racial profiling.

In December, the U.S. Department of Justice found the East Haven Police Department engaged in racially profiling Latino motorists. In January, four East Haven police officers were arrested for targeting Latinos for harassment and beatings.

Later, a Hartford Courant analysis of traffic stop data found that Black and Hispanic drivers were more likely than white drivers to come away from a traffic stop with a ticket or citation.

The bill, which already passed the Senate, now goes to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy who has said he would support the legislation. Last year, Malloy’s administration opposed the legislation because it didn’t have enough money to transition the collection of the data from the African-American Affairs Commission to the Office of Policy and Management. However, Michael Lawlor, the governor’s top criminal justice adviser at the Office of Policy and Management, said there is a federal grant with the Department of Transportation that the state can use in order to help fund the initiative. The $1.2 million grant has been sitting untouched by the state since 2006.

“Last year, I instructed the Office of Policy and Management, with the help of Central Connecticut State University, to create the advisory group called for in the bill, and they have begun to develop standardized methods and guidelines to improve collection of racial-profiling data,” Malloy said in a statement Monday. “In recent months, I have met with a number of groups to hear their concerns. This is a real problem that deserves a real solution, and my administration is committed to carrying out the spirit and letter of this law. I look forward to signing the bill when it arrives at my desk.”

Tags: racial profiling, Gary Holder-Winfield, East Haven, John Shaban, white, black, hispanic, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Supreme Court Upholds Damages In Discrimination Case

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 7, 2012 7:30am
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Posted to: Courts

From 1991 until 2004, Luis Patino was routinely called derogatory names based on his sexual orientation on a Bloomfield factory floor.

Despite numerous letters and official complaints, the company — Birken Manufacturing — failed, according to court documents, to correct this hostile work environment.

Now it’s going to the cost the company $94,500.

In a decision released Friday, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that says employers have a duty to create a safe work environment for employees who are discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation.

Ending a saga that began more than 20 years ago, the court upheld a jury trial ruling that awarded $94,500 to Patino, who is now 72.

Legal experts are saying that this is one of the first times that a state supreme court has directly addressed the issue of discrimination in the workplace based on sexual identity.

The ruling, which found the trial court “did not abuse its discretion when it concluded the award was not excessive or shocking,” also sets something of a precedent, experts are saying, with regard to the amount of damages being paid for purely psychological damage.

Here’s how the story goes.

Patino, of Enfield, worked at Birken Manufacturing from 1977 to 2004 as a machinist. In 1991, Patino says he started getting called derogatory names referring to his sexuality. The abuse, according to Patino’s testimony, would happen several times a day. He would shake with anger and lose sleep over it.

After years of the abuse, Patino began to complain to his supervisor. The supervisor held a meeting with one of the offenders, and after nothing changed, transferred the offender to a different facility. But the abuse didn’t stop. So in 1995, Patino got a lawyer to send a letter to Gary Greenberg, then the company’s vice president.

Greenberg suggested that Patino be evaluated by a psychologist, because it was dangerous to operate precision machinery while his “mental facilities were compromised,” the court’s summary reads.

For the next eight years until 2004, Patino wrote letters describing his harassment to his bosses, as well as filing five complaints with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

In the fifth complaint Patino argued that the company was violating Connecticut statute by “failing to take adequate measures to alleviate the harassment or to remedy the hostile work environment.”

A jury found in Patino’s favor and awarded him $94,500 in damages.

An appeal by the company sent the case to the state Supreme Court where it unanimously upheld the jury’s original ruling Friday.

In a statement, released through his lawyer Friday afternoon, Patino said that he was determined to see the trial through to the end.

“This type of discrimination happens to gay people everywhere, every day. I am aware that some victims have committed suicide because of this hostile treatment,” he wrote.

The decision, wrote Patino, “means that employers must take seriously these complaints and these situations, or face the consequences.”

Greenberg, now the president of the Birken, issued a statement saying he was “disappointed” with the court’s ruling, and that the company will “continue to diligently work to protect our employees against discrimination.”

Jon Schoenhorn, Patino’s lawyer, said that the ruling is “putting employers on notice that they have a duty to stop locker room behavior.”

The case is significant because it is one of the first instances in which a state Supreme Court ruled that sexual identity can be protected in employment discrimination the same as race or gender, referring to anti-discrimination statutes from the early 1960s.

Jon Bauer, a clinical law professor at the University of Connecticut who teaches a class on employment discrimination, said that the court’s decision “sets a clear precedent” in terms of establishing that employment discrimination law can apply to sexual orientation.

The other important facet of the ruling, according to legal experts, is that the supreme court affirmed the decision to award monetary damages to the plaintiff for psychological pain.

The ruling, according Attorney Charles Krich of the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, shows that “these types of indignities are worth real money,” he said, referring to the slurs Patino endured at work.

Connecticut is one of 20 states, as well as the District of Columbia, with laws on the books making workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal.

Thomas Ude, Jr. , a senior staff attorney at Lambda Legal — a national organization active in LGBT discrimination issues — filed an amicus brief in the case. In a phone interview, Ude said that this “is the first state supreme court that I’m aware of that has been called upon to address this issue.”

“We’re very pleased to see that the Connecticut Supreme Court remains consistent with other anti-discrimination laws,” he said. “In far too many states it’s completely legal to fire someone or refuse to promote them or to allow them to be harassed because of their sexual orientation.”

Tags: sexual identity, supreme court, damages, Birken Manufacturing, CHRO, Lambda Legal, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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Politically Poetic | Week of May 6

by Jennifer Just | May 6, 2012 11:58pm
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Posted to: Opinion

This week seemed to be all about
Who/what was in, who/what was out.

CT is in – the red that is.
Didn’t get enough taxes from biz?
Whatever the case, we need 200 mill
And hope that the 2nd Q has more for the till.

Republicans were even more scared of Red
When $ for the People’s Center was nearly bonded.
Really? Communism? In this day and age?
When we can’t even increase the minimum wage?

The one-year anniversary of killing bin Laden
Passed by – was it politicized?? Yadda, yadda.

Meanwhile new documents showed something hilarious:
Al Qaeda thought of shopping their message to various
News outlets. Didn’t know where to talk-
This was before the trial of unfit Murdoch.

Newt Gingrich is finally technically out,
And into the stratosphere John Edwards - what a lout!

And apparently you cannot have a say
In Romney’s camp if you are gay

In China, who was out, and then he was in again?
Hopefully out again: Chen Guan Chen the dissident.

William Tong left the Senate candidate turf.
But smiling faces surrounded him when he endorsed Murph.

In the 5th CD, a GOP hot topic loomed:
Rowland literally the elephant in the room.

Rowland – surprise- played both sides of the street:
He was in AND out this week – a trick quite neat!
He’s off Foley’s campaign – think they’ll miss him?
But made a soft landing into our pension system,

Session was in, many bills realized-
Day care workers got unionized.
Year-round ownership of Santa’s reindeer(??)
And soon on Sundays we can all buy beer.
And they cast yet another historic lot:
The legalization of medical pot.

Bills in danger include minimum wage hike
And the red light cams do not have the green light.

Huge on the horizon is ed reform.
Will it get passed before session is done?
Will a special session be necessary?
In this election season? I guess we’ll see!

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One Step Closer To Same Day Voter Registration

by Christine Stuart | May 5, 2012 11:36pm
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Posted to: Election Policy

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Check another perennial issue off the list. The Senate gave final passage Saturday to a bill that would allow voters to register and vote on the same day.

The bill passed the Senate 19-16 after opponents alleged the measure would lead to fraud and add to the chaos at the polls on Election day.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he would sign the measure and make Connecticut the 11th state to allow for what is called Election Day Registration.

“Despite the pervasive climate across the U.S. to restrict voting rights, Connecticut has moved in the opposite direction—one that ensures the integrity of our electoral process and fair, accessible elections,“ Malloy said in a press release. “People are the key to our democracy, and this legislation improves participation in the most fundamental way —the ballot box.”

Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said it will increase voter participation in a state where only one out of three eligible voters is not registered. She dismissed the allegations of fraud.

“I’m disappointed quite frankly this falls along party lines in terms of our discussion,” Slossberg said.

Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen, said the registrars recognize there’s nothing more important than getting people registered to vote. He said it is easy, but when you make it too easy there is a fear that making it too easy invites fraud.

He said his registrars have encouraged him to vote against the bill because they’re not confident the tools are in place to allow this policy to be implemented and withstand the scrutiny that should be applied.

“Election day can be a chaotic day,” Roraback said. “We don’t have to look too far back to be reminded just how chaotic it can be.”

Roraback was referring to the balloting debacle in Bridgeport during the 2010 election, which delayed the naming of Malloy as governor.

But the issue in Bridgeport wasn’t related to fraud. It was the lack of ballots that caused issues at polling places.

Slossberg maintained that the names of voters will be able to be checked against a statewide voter database and they will be asked to swear that the information they provided is truthful.

But opponents said voter participation remains low, not because people can’t find the time to register, but because they’re not interested in politics.

“People aren‘t coming out to vote because they can‘t make this seven day window. I think they‘re not coming out to vote because we‘re not giving them a reason. I think we‘re the problem.” Sen. Jason Welch, R-Bristol, said. “We’re either too boring or we’ve broken too many promises.”

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill applauded the move.

“This will make the right to vote much easier to exercise for the eligible voters of Connecticut and lead to increased voter participation,“ Merrill said. “We have the technology to allow eligible voters to register online from any computer or mobile device, and we have the security in place to allow those late deciding, busy and mobile voters to register and cast ballots on Election Day.”

Tags: same day registration, election day registration, Denise Merrill, Gayle Slossberg, Jason Welch, Andrew Roraback

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House Postpones $9M Campaign Finance Question

by Christine Stuart | May 5, 2012 9:11pm
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Posted to: Election 2012, Election Policy

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Lawmakers had intended to fast track a bill that would strengthen the state’s campaign finance laws through the House Saturday afternoon when proponents hit several roadblocks.

The bill would have done several things including boost public campaign funds for a gubernatorial candidate, require companies to receive pre-approval from their boards for political expenditures over $4,000, and identify individuals who give more than $1,000 to an entity for political purposes.

Democratic lawmakers expressed concern during a closed-door caucus about increasing the amount a gubernatorial candidate may receive in a general election under the state’s Citizens’ Election Program from $6 million to $9 million. The amount for a gubernatorial candidate in a primary would increase from $1.25 million to $2.5 million.

A handful of lawmakers said they would have concerns about increasing the grant amount around the same time they will be asked to do a budget mitigation plan and cut spending in the second year of the budget. One lawmaker said his colleagues were concerned they would have to explain the increase to constituents during an election year.

But the bill also delays the increase until 2018—four years after the next gubernatorial election.

“If the governor decides to run for reelection it would be better to have $9 million versus $6 million,” Roy Occhiogrosso, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s senior communications adviser, said Saturday.

Occhiogrosso complained that the governor’s office was not involved in drafting the legislation.

In March, the Government Elections and Administrations Committee rejected the governor’s proposal to allow publicly financed candidates to raise unlimited funds if they have been outspent by an opponent. It was Malloy’s answer to Citizens United and the unlimited amount of money that could come to candidates not participating in the public campaign finance system.

Malloy, who was the first governor elected under the new public campaign finance laws, received a $6 million grant for his general election campaign after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision that would have allowed the state to issue supplemental funds triggered by the spending of an opponent.

In 2010, the legislature overrode former Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s veto in order to give Malloy more money for his gubernatorial bid, but the honeymoon with the governor seems to have come to an end.

“We haven’t had any conversations with them today,“ House Speaker Chris Donovan said referring to the governor’s office. “We just didn’t have a chance to get together.”

He said the bill is “under discussion” and there’s still time to work something out before session ends midnight May 9.

But the clock is ticking and the issues are piling up.

The increase in gubernatorial grants is not the only problem with the bill, according to Occhiogrosso. There are several “disclosure and constitutional” problems too.

Rep. Russ Morin, who co-chairs the General Administration and Elections Committee, said parts of the bill people are suddenly upset about have been in the legislation since the beginning.

He said his door has always been open and if there were concerns he’s always happy to address them.

“People are complaining about disclosure because they don’t want to do it,” Morin said Saturday outside the caucus room.

He said following Citizens United there’s millions of dollars flowing into politics and people have a “right to an open process.” He said he wants to work with anyone who has concerns about the legislation.

Karen Hobert Flynn, vice president of state operations for Common Cause, said this bill would make Connecticut’s clean elections laws, post-Citizens United the strongest in the nation.

She said requiring those giving money to political candidates is “not going to prohibit anyone’s speech in any way.”

She said this legislation makes sure there’s no way to hide or transfer money to shell corporation. In fact, a provision in the bill requires a board to vote 48-hours in advance of making an expenditure and requires it to be informed of the money’s specific use, including whether it may target or benefit a candidate.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association who were not happy with the disclosure requirements in the bill.

Joseph Brennan, senior vice president of public policy for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said he’s concerned with the disclosure requirements because it would only impact Connecticut businesses and corporate boards can’t approve every expenditure.

“It was one of those things that was so bad that we thought it wasn’t going to happen,” Brennan said Saturday.

He said the board of any corporation or nonprofit doesn’t have the resources to approve every expenditure over $4,000 in a 48-hour time frame.

He said the intention of the legislation is to stop Super Pac money from coming into Connecticut, but if it’s raised elsewhere it can be spent in Connecticut without disclosure. He said it’s just going to drive more business out of the state.

As things began to unravel behind the scenes Saturday, House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero was hanging out in his Capitol office waiting and watching as plans changed.

“I find it ironic that something that was initially passed to take money out of politics, to have ‘clean elections,’ to be immune from special interests, is a bill that has all three elements involved and is the reason it’s not being done right now,” Cafero said.

Tags: House, campaign finance, election, Russ Morin, Roy Occhiogrosso, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, CBIA, disclosure

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Storm Response Bill Clears Senate, Includes Utility Penalties

by Christine Stuart | May 5, 2012 6:05pm
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Posted to: Energy, Environment, Town News, Weather

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The state Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Saturday which will help improve state and utility company response to widespread power outages created by natural disasters.

Lawmakers were prompted to draft legislation after 1 million Connecticut customers lost power during Tropical Storm Irene, and soon after that another 1.4 million customers were without electricity during the freak October snowstorm.

Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, said the two storms “crippled our state” and this bill goes a long way toward preparing for future storm events.

The bill allows the Public Utility Regulatory Authority to open a docket to make sure the utilities are properly staffed, have adequate mutual aid agreements, and are meeting restoration targets.

A report by an independent agency brought to the state by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy following the October snowstorm found that Connecticut Light & Power prepared for a storm where only 100,000 customers would be without power. The dramatic underestimation lead to several other problems, including a delayed response from out-of-state contractors who were only called when the storm was just hours away from hitting the state.

In addition to opening up a docket, the bill also creates penalties for utilities unable to comply with emergency storm restoration. If utilities fail to meet reasonable standards the state can apply civil penalties not to exceed 2.5 percent of a utility company’s annual distribution of revenue.

The bill also requires enhanced tree trimming efforts to be undertaken by the utilities, establishes a pilot micro-grid program, and a study of the impact of potentially requiring backup power systems for telecommunication towers and antennas. It also calls for a statewide drill of all emergency responders and the utilities.

In addition, it asks the regulatory authority to initiate a docket to study the feasibility of establishing a program to reimburse residential customers for food spoilage and medication lost during power outages.

Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen, who lost cellphone service following the October snowstorm, said he was glad to see the state was beginning to look into the issue of requiring backup electricity generation at cellphone towers. The issue first arose after Tropical Storm Irene and repeated itself during the October storm. He pointed out that cellphones have become the main source of communication for many households where people have pulled the plug on their land lines.

“It’s a matter of life or death,” he said.

Roraback said he doesn’t understand why cellphone companies wouldn’t want to install backup generation when erecting a tower. “The incremental added cost of backup power shouldn’ t be cost prohibitive when weighing the circumstances of emergency power,” Roraback said.

He admitted that asking about whether the cellphone carrier had backup generation on their towers was never a consideration he made when purchasing his cellphone contract.

The legislation requires the telecommunication companies to disclose the information about where they have or lack backup generation, but exempts it from the state’ s Freedom of Information laws.

Sen. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, supported the legislation, but wished it included language which would allow municipal responders to get roads cleared quicker.

But overall “it’s not a baby step, it’ s a big huge step in the right direction,” he said.

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, agreed even though he wasn’t fond of the “food spoilage” docket.

“I think the last section with respect to a docket for food spoilage is unrealistic,” McKinney said. But “That section alone isn’ t a danger to a very good bill in my mind.”

Tags: October snowstorm, Tropical Storm Irene, cellphone, utility, Connecticut Light & Power, dh

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Teacher’s Union Mobilizes Members

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 5, 2012 3:14pm
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Posted to: Education

AFT Connecticut has mobilized its teachers and turned them loose on Malloy’s Communications Director Andrew Doba.

The message posted on the AFT Connecticut website encourages members to call Doba and leave a message for him to convey to the governor.

“Contact Governor Malloy and tell him to stop stalling on education reform. This is about education and children not egos,” the message on the website says.

Eric Bailey, spokesman for AFT Connecticut, said they sent out emails to their members at 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday to contact the governor’s chief spokesman. There is no answering service at the governor’s residence or office on the weekends, so Doba’s phone number was the best way they could think of to convey their message, he said.

Their message: “Governor Malloy is stalling on education reform. AFT Connecticut has proposed numerous solutions that will help improve education for every child in Connecticut without undermining collective bargaining and selling out our public schools to private for-profit corporations.”

Negotiations on the legislation are still ongoing, and there didn’t seem to be any resolution Friday night. The two sides had circled back to their two sticking points: charter schools and collective bargaining.

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Boucher’s Last Stand

by Hugh McQuaid | May 5, 2012 2:34am
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Posted to: Agriculture, Health Care, Legal, State Capitol

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Sen. Toni Boucher stood up at 5:22 Friday afternoon to oppose a marijuana bill for what might have been the last time. She didn’t sit back down again until nearly five hours later when discussion began on the first of many amendments.

Boucher led a lengthy filibuster during a debate that lasted close to 10 hours. It was an effort to block the final passage of a bill allowing licensed pharmacists to dispense marijuana to patients with certain debilitating illnesses such as glaucoma, cancer, or HIV.

The Wilton Republican has been fighting annual bills to loosen the laws on marijuana for years. Last year, despite her objections, the legislature passed a bill decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed it into law.

That debate lasted only three hours because Boucher had agreed to limit her discussion in exchange for an amendment which automatically refers people to a treatment program after getting caught with cannabis a third time.

With the substance decriminalized, the remaining perennial marijuana bill was legislation allowing the chronically ill to use it to relieve their symptoms. A similar bill passed both chambers of the legislature in 2007, but Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed it.

This year, the Judiciary Committee crafted a more restrictive bill that requires a doctor to recommend the drug and a pharmacist to dispense it. Advocates have hailed the measure as the best-tailored law in the country that avoids the pitfalls other states have encountered after passage.

At each of the bill’s public hearings, Boucher testified at length against it.

Early Saturday morning the Senate passed the bill 21-13 and sent it to Malloy, who has pledged to sign it. But not before Boucher questioned proponents of the bill for hours, warned colleagues of the dangers of the substance, and raised several amendments to the measure.

“I have to say that it is disheartening that this year’s session of educational reform should be over shadowed by a bill that, for some of us, would send a negative message to our children,” she said early in the debate.

Before the bill was raised, Boucher spent much of the day in the Senate Republican caucus room reviewing notes and amendments. A total of 48 were filed ahead of the debate. When she was done, the files were put in a cart and taken out onto the Senate floor. Even as the preceding bill was being debated, she was at her desk marking up language with a blue pen, highlighting passages with a yellow marker.

Supporters of the bill anticipated Boucher’s filibuster and even lauded her for her efforts. Sen. John Kissel, an Enfield Republican who opposed last year’s bill because he felt it was poorly crafted, said he was supporting this year’s bill but understood the opposition.

“[Boucher] has argued passionately and fervently and believes to the depths of her soul that her position on this issue is the correct one and I applaud her for her diligence,” Kissel said. “I look forward to her amendments and her discussion and her debate.”

But Kissel said that from his perspective it was impossible to forget the faces and names of the individuals who testified before the Judiciary Committee in support of the bill. Many, like former lobbyist Barry Williams, told painful stories. Williams was forced to retire after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Over the past few years, Williams has returned to the Capitol to lobby in support of medical marijuana bills. He said the substance is the only way he can relieve the symptoms and find a sense of normalcy. He was in the Senate gallery as Kissel spoke.

“Since 2006 he hasn’t really lobbied me for anything, but he has asked me for one thing,” Kissel said. “He’s saying if you can support this legislation that makes sense, he would be very grateful. And Barry, I think you still make a lot of sense on this issue.”

But Boucher maintained that the health risks of marijuana far outweigh the relief patients might find. She said the substance would be fine for a terminally ill patient “but not for those who have any chance of getting better.”

“I’ll repeat this over and over this evening, that if this was for terminal patients, we could all get on board, it would take us all of 10 minutes and we would be out of here tonight in an half an hour,” she said.

Though Boucher offered an amendment to narrow the bill to usage by terminal patients, it was voted down.

Boucher cited studies suggesting marijuana leads to cancer, lung tissue damage, depression, and schizophrenia. She said it causes heart problems and affects the reproduction system by causing sperm to swim abnormally.

She linked marijuana with increased crime, gang activity and Mexican drug cartels. She said it will increase driving under the influence and auto accidents.

Sen. Eric Coleman, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said supporters of medical marijuana likely could produce a study to contradict every study Boucher cited.

Still, Boucher referenced convicted Cheshire home-invasion killer Steven Hayes as an example of where drug use leads. She said Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was not accepted into the military because of his cannabis use.

She pointed to a letter from Connecticut U.S. Attorney David Fein saying the bill creates a “licensing scheme” that authorizes conduct contrary to federal law.

The federal government considers marijuana to be a Schedule I controlled substance, with the most stringent regulations, but the bill requires the Consumer Protection commissioner to reclassify the substance as Schedule II.

Boucher said the change wouldn’t protect the state from the federal government, which still has the power to enforce its laws.

“Let’s all work to keep our children and our neighborhoods safe by not approving this bill in the Senate this morning,” she concluded at around 2:30 a.m.

Despite her efforts as well as opposition and amendments from other senators, the chamber approved the bill soon after.

Tags: medical marijuana, Senate, Toni Boucher, marijuana, filibuster

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Mixed Martial Arts Bill Gets Mixed Reviews In Final Push

by Christine Stuart | May 4, 2012 8:32pm
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Posted to: Business, Town News, Hartford, Sports

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This week Vermont became the 46th state to embrace the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, but a similar bill that would legalize it in Connecticut is stalled in the Senate.

The fast growing sport which combines wrestling, boxing, and karate has been met with opposition from the state’s labor unions.

Russell Leak, who owns Underdog Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Hartford where he trains MMA fighters, said he’s being told the perception of the sport is positive, but the unions are opposed because they’re trying to show solidarity with a Las Vegas union. Leak has spent the past few days at the Capitol talking to lawmakers about what he thinks are the benefits of the legislation.

Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said there are concerns about the bill both substantively, about the sport itself, and union related issues.

“There’s a concern about some of the promoters in other states that would be looking to promote this activity in Connecticut taking an anti-union stance,” Looney said Friday.

Lori Pelletier, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, told the Public Safety and Security Committee in March that “people involved with the MMA world have created many problems for members of the Nevada AFL-CIO and we cannot in good conscience condone their actions by supporting this bill.”

“With nearly 87 unfair labor practices clearly these owners are not responsible partners,” Pelletier said. 

Leak, who believes legalizing the sport will only benefit the economy, was surprised that a union issue in Las Vegas is holding up approval of the bill in Connecticut. He said most of the testimony on the bill was positive.

The fiscal note attached to the bill also was positive. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates it would generate about $53,000 to $98,000 annually in licensing and admission fees.

“This bill is going to bring jobs to the state,” Leak said. “I have taken my fighters to other states to compete. So it’s not like this stops our guys from fighting.”

Fighters can train legally in the state and they can participate in bouts at the state’s two Indian casinos.

“The only thing it stops is the state from benefiting from having these events at these arenas that are looking to fill seats,” Leak said, referring to places like the XL Center.

When people leave these fights, Leak said, they “go out into the community and spend money at restaurants.”

But there are some like Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, who don’t believe the state should be getting involved with an industry based around fighting.

Leak said there has never been a death attributed to professional Mixed Martial Arts. He said fighters have blood work and other health exams done on a regular basis.

The bill would also allow the state to more closely regulate the sport.

Asked why Connecticut shouldn’t regulate the sport, Bye said the state doesn’t regulate “cock fighting and dog fighting,” either. 

“I don’t want to be part of the sanctioning of it,” Bye said.

However, Stacey Scapeccia, an MMA fighter who runs a training gym in Oakville, said lawmakers are looking at the issue with an untrained eye.

“They’re looking at the photos of the aftermath, they’re not looking at the athlete involved in it,” she said. “They don’t understand the techniques and tactics and different arts that go into training.”

Scapeccia said the object of the sport isn’t to hurt another person, it’s make enough points to win a match. Injuries are present in all sports, she said. Allowing MMA to be regulated would bring safety standards to fighters in Connecticut, she said. Unofficial matches are happening in Connecticut anyway, she said.

“It’s going to keep happening even if they don’t pass this bill. We need the bill passed because we need events to show kids out there that these are athletes who are training properly in school with certified coaches,” she said. “Without them seeing in in front of them in venues, they’re going to keep doing in the back alley venues without the proper training.”

Hugh McQuaid contributed to this report.

Tags: MMA, mixed marshal arts, Russell Leak, Martin Looney, Beth Bye, Lori Pelletier, Stacey Scapeccia, dh

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Special Session For Education?

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 4, 2012 2:56pm
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Posted to: Education, Special Session

According to Courant education reporter Kathleen Megan, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Friday a special session to tackle education reform is “absolutely” a possibility if an agreement can’t be reached by May 9.

After Megan posted the comments on Twitter Malloy’s senior communication adviser Roy Occhiogrosso responded “this is nothing he hasn’t alluded to before. Also said he’s ‘optimistic’ a deal can be reached and voted on before next Wed.”

Outside the hall of the House, Mark Ojakian, Malloy’s chief of staff, was also optimistic that a special session wouldn’t be necessary.

“The last week around this building is hour by hour. We’re continuing to work really hard to come to an agreement with the hopes of avoiding one,” he said referring to a special session.

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OP-ED | A Few Thoughts On Education Reform

by Sarah Darer Littman | May 4, 2012 2:47pm
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Posted to: Opinion

As the education reform debate comes to a head in our state, I hope our legislators and the people of Connecticut will think long and hard about what constitutes education and the true nature of learning, not just for our state, but for the entire country.

Let’s have a look at how some of Connecticut’s “reformers” view education. Here’s a post from ConnCAN CEO Patrick Riccards’ blog about the “13 Most Useless College Majors.” They include most of the liberal arts majors, like English, Political Science, Philosophy. History, Fine Arts, etc.

I find this incredibly short sighted. It’s the sign of someone who doesn’t understand what makes young people tick, what’s more, what our nation requires of its workforce to be successful in the 21st Century global economy. It’s symptomatic of what’s wrong with the entire corporate reform movement and our country’s current education policy.

Look at the company with a $600 billion market capitalization, Apple Computer. It was led by a man who attributed a major part of his success to auditing a course in calligraphy. Not all Fortune 500 CEO’s were STEM or business majors. In fact, in an article in Business Week Peter Crist of executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates spoke of the advantage liberal arts graduates have over those with undergraduate degrees in business or the STEM subjects: an expansive and inquiring mind, without which the leap from middle management to the top job is impossible. “I don’t believe leaders are born,” Crist says. “I believe over a long period of time, leadership traits are imbued in an individual.” One of the ways that this happens is through studying literature, history and philosophy – the history of big ideas.

Last night on Twitter, Jeff Klaus, husband of Achievement First CEO Dacia Toll, responded to the statement “Education reforms do not have to be paid for with bargaining rights” with this. It’s not the first time Klaus has compared educators, teachers or those opposed to provisions of SB24 with a slavery analogy. This isn’t just astonishing and offensive, but if we consider the true meaning and value of an education, one has to wonder who is really fighting for what is best for our kids.

Two weeks ago, Darryl Robinson, a graduate of DC charter schools, an eloquent, passionate op-ed in the Washington Post, in which he spoke about how he felt his schools had failed to prepare him for college: “I did what I’d been taught growing up in school: memorize and regurgitate information. Other Georgetown freshmen from better schools had been trained to form original, concise thoughts within a breath, to focus less on remembering every piece of information, word for word, and more on forming independent ideas. I was not. I could memorize and recite facts and figures, but I didn’t know how to think for myself. Now, in an attempt to think deeper, I sometimes overthink myself into silence.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s stated attitude towards reform is: “I’ll settle for teaching to the test if it means raising scores.”

The reason why so many teachers and parents oppose the original form of this bill is because we’re not willing to settle. We aren’t “plantation owners.” We believe all children are more than their test scores and with equitable funding (which, contrary to CCER’s misinformation, was a major factor in reducing the achievement gap in Massachusetts) they can learn not just to read and perform mathematical calculations, but more importantly to think critically about the world around them and become lifelong learners. Far from wanting to keep kids in “slavery”, we don’t want to sell them short by believing they should be taught to a test.

Sarah Darer Littman is a columnist and an award-winning novelist of books for teens. Long before the financial meltdown, she worked as a securities analyst and earned her MBA in Finance from the Stern School at NYU

Tags: education reform, Patrick Riccards, Jeff Klaus, Sarah Darer Littman, liberal arts, critical thinking

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Advocates Make 11th Hour Minimum Wage Pitch Outside Coffee Shop

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 4, 2012 11:59am
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Posted to: Business, Town News, Hartford, Labor

HARTFORD — As the legislative session heads into its final days, Senate Democratic leaders are saying that there isn’t enough support for an increase in the state’s minimum wage, but that’s not stopping advocates from making a last-minute pitch.

Outside the Dunkin’ Donuts at the corner of Lawrence Street and Capitol Avenue, Miranda Simonds, a Willimantic gas station attendant, joined the Working Families Party and union members in calling on lawmakers to pass the bill.

Even though Simonds makes 75 cents more an hour than the current minimum wage, she figures an increase may also give her a bump in pay. She said any increase would go a long way to improving her quality of life.

Last week, after paying taxes and child support for her three children, she ended up with about $90 dollars in her pocket. Simonds is currently on state-funded health insurance, as well as Section 8 housing assistance, which means she pays about $200 a month for her apartment in Willimantic.

“I just bought these shoes today. It took me two years to be able to buy shoes,” she said.

How could she support herself on $90 a week?

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said.

“In order to buy my shoes today, I can’t do my laundry till next week.”

Simonds, 30, dropped out of school in the ninth grade to care for her mother, who was unemployed. At a certain point things got so bad, she said, that she and her mother lived in their Ford Pinto for three months.

She said she’s disappointed that the minimum wage hike being discussed by lawmakers has been reduced from $1.50 over two years to 50 cents. She called the decision to lower it “ridiculous.”

Back at the Capitol, Kia Murrell, associate counsel for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said that advocates for the working poor are misguided and that the Earned Income Tax Credit program is a far better method for alleviating poverty. Under the EITC program, low-income workers get a tax credit back from the state based on their income and how many children they have.

In what Murrell calls a “battle of the experts,” those advocating for a minimum wage increase and those opposing it often make claims directly contradicting each other. For example, advocates like the Working Families Party say that the so-called “mom and pop” small businesses would not be adversely affected by a wage increase, but rather it would be large corporations like Walmart and McDonalds with massive profit margins. Groups like the CBIA are saying the exact opposite. Murrell said that the disagreement comes primarily from competing studies from different economic policy centers.

A report from the National Employment Law Project, released Thursday, asserts that “real wages” have declined in the past year, and that the economy is becoming increasingly dependent on low wage jobs.

Those on different sides of the issue disagree about the value of $10 in this economy, which is the increase in weekly wages under the bill’s 25 cent increase in the first year.

Ten additional dollars a week “could fall out of my pocket,” and is not worth the negative impact it would have on business, Murrell said.

Asked how her life would change with an extra ten dollars a week, Simonds said “it would be a lot easier to be able to support [my children], and to be able to take them to see a musical or take them out to Bushnell Park if we had more money.”

“For children it should be possible to do anything,” she said.

After the rally outside the Dunkin’ Donuts, Simonds and Working Families Party Communications Director Carl Gibson went to the office of Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn.

Earlier this week, Williams told reporters there wasn’t enough support in his caucus to raise the bill, which passed the House last month.

“Barring some significant turnaround, we have a number of folks who would not support the minimum wage bill as it’s currently written,” Williams said Tuesday.

Simonds wanted to talk about it, but Williams was meeting with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy at the time. Simonds met instead with an aide, who said she would pass the message on to Williams.

Tags: minimum wage, hartford, Dunkin' Donuts, Miranda Simonds, Willimantic, EITC, Kia Murrell, CBIA

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OP-ED | Grading One-Party Government

by Susan Bigelow | May 4, 2012 10:39am
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Posted to: Opinion

Single party rule is approaching the end of its second legislative session, and how it’s going? Less well than before, perhaps, but still better in many respects than divided government.

The short legislative session is rushing to a close and even though there’s still doubt about the fate of education reform, there is no doubt about the accomplishments of the General Assembly elected in 2010.

In terms of bills actually passed into law, this legislature has been one of the more progressive and productive in memory. Need proof? Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley’s think tank has exhumed the corpse of initiative and referendum, a bad idea that was last killed in 2008 when voters rejected calls for a constitutional convention. It’s hard to blame Republicans for feeling utterly helpless as bill after bill is passed and signed over their objections, and looking for long-shot solutions like this. The one problem? The legislature would have to act upon it to make it happen.

People who are annoyed about Democrats not enacting huge cuts in government spending and passing a package of business tax cuts have been griping about “one party rule,” which is a technically accurate way of describing the current status quo. It’s also somewhat simplistic, since having a wide majority and a governor from a single party doesn’t mean Democratic leaders can do whatever they want.

The negotiations over the governor’s education bill, a surprising defeat for a medical malpractice bill, and the uncertain fate of a relatively small minimum wage hike are good examples of how different factions among Democrats can give leaders headaches. But, on the whole, the past two years have been all about Democrats governing without a real check on their power from Republicans for the first time since the 1980s.

The list of this legislature’s achievements is long, from the governor’s budget and his “First Five” economic incentives package last year to Sunday sales of alcohol and the repeal of the death penalty this year. Despite all this, if polls are to be believed, the people aren’t fans of legislature no matter what they’re doing.

The one universally popular thing that the government has done this year is probably Sunday liquor sales. But, if we assess the General Assembly’s effectiveness by how much they accomplish in terms of legislation that actually impacts life in the state, the past two years have been above average, at the very least. If nothing else, it’s a change from the way things have been running since the Rell years began.

So does one-party governance work? It’s hard, given the list of legislative achievements above, to deny that at least in some respects it does. Surely it’s more productive than divided government was during the last decade. At the national level, one-party government was more effective in this way than the current divided government, and bipartisan cooperation is often overrated anyway. But is government now more responsive? More effective? More in tune with the needs of the state? That’s very hard to say. Republicans would claim that it isn’t any of these things, and in some ways they are probably right. Hence the renewed interest in ballot initiatives.

On the whole, however, the past two years have seen a productive legislature working together with a very active, reform-minded governor. Love or hate the policies that are coming out of Hartford, things are getting done. I’d give them a solid “B.”

Malloy and the Democrats have two more years, barring some kind of shocking Republican surge in the 2012 legislative elections, of having things their way. At that point the governor will have to make the case for government by one party continuing. So far he has plenty of good arguments in favor.

Susan Bigelow is the former owner of CT Local Politics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats.

Tags: general assembly, legislature, Democratic Party, initiative and referenda, Susan Bigelow

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Controversial Collective Bargaining Bill Heading To Governor’s Desk

by Hugh McQuaid | May 3, 2012 11:28pm
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Posted to: Labor

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The Senate gave final passage Thursday night to a bill extending collective bargaining rights to home and daycare workers paid through state programs. The bill passed on a party line vote after more than six hours of debate and 11 amendments.

The House passed the bill two weeks ago and it now heads to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk.

The executive orders that set the bill in motion have generated controversy since Malloy signed them last year. Three lawsuits have been filed in Superior Court alleging the governor overstepped his authority in issuing orders that they say amounts to the forced unionization of the groups.

Malloy’s executive orders created a pathway for the workers to form a union and both groups have since voted to do so.

Proponents of the bill argue that both groups are hardworking but low paid and deserve a collective voice to improve salaries and benefits.

“This bill represents a policy choice by the General Assembly that granting a voice to these workers will, in the long run, improve the lives of these people and the people they serve,” Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, said.

The bill includes a provision aimed at ensuring services to clients aren’t impacted by the groups’ ability to negotiate terms with the state. Should either union bargain better wages for workers, the legislature would have to appropriate more money for the program that pays them.

“If it’s not appropriated they don’t get it. We the legislature have the final word,” Prague said.

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, said that reimbursement rates for early child care workers haven’t increased in 10 years.

“The fund has never gotten to the level where it’s supporting a living wage for people who work in child care,” Bye said.

Facilitating better training for the people who work with children when their brains are developing may help the state correct its worst-in-the-nation achievement gap, she said, adding that the state invests a lot of money in family child care without any quality controls.

“The ability to organize this disparate workforce that’s taking care of our youngest brains offers incredible opportunities in Connecticut,” Bye said.

Opponents objected to the process that led to the bill, as well as the policy it represents. Sen. Jason Welch said people who will be impacted by the bill weren’t part of the discussion, which took place in a back room somewhere.

“It was a little short sighted to not include them in the discussions,” Welch said, suggesting that this is probably why there has been such grassroots pushback against the legislation.

Welch said the workers the bill impacts don’t have the typical relationship with their employers. He questioned whether there were any other examples of unions bargaining with the state for workers who aren’t state employees.

“I have yet to be able to find a circumstance where we have done something like this in the state of Connecticut,” he said.

Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, said he has been fighting the concept since last year when Manchester resident Cathy Ludlum, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, brought a similar bill to his attention.

“She said ‘neither I nor my attendants want to have a union come between us. We have a good relationship, we work things out for ourselves, and it’s not necessary,’” Markley said.

The bill was not passed last year, but Malloy’s executive orders set the process in motion anyway.

“I can hardly say how grave an error I believe those executive orders were,” he said. “I thought it was a definite case of overreach.”

Markley, a plaintiff on two of the lawsuits against Malloy, said he is now fighting the executive orders in the court system by challenging their constitutionality.

Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, said he didn’t think there was really a demand among workers for union representation.

“We are inserting ourselves into a process that’s working now,” he said. “I guess there’s an old adage — if it works don’t fix it. That’s what we’re seeing here.”

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney argued that the unions would try to collectively bargain increased wages. The legislature should just set aside the money for better pay now, he said. McKinney offered an amendment which would have appropriated a total of $15 million for personal care attendants and child care workers.

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney said the purpose of the bill was to offer the two groups long-term benefits rather than a short-term pay increase. The amendment was defeated 20-14.

Tags: personal care attendants, day care workers, unions, edith prague, beth bye, joe markley, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Doctor Leads Defeat of Medical Malpractice Bill

by Christine Stuart | May 3, 2012 9:57pm
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Posted to: Health Care

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A measure that would have modified how medical malpractice lawsuits are brought to court in Connecticut was defeated by five votes in the House on Thursday, possibly on the strength of testimony from a Republican lawmaker who also practices medicine.

The outcome drew an audible gasp from lawmakers in the chamber, where bills are seldom called unless legislative leaders are sure they have the votes.

The strike-all amendment, which already had passed the Senate on a 32-3 vote, would have made it easier for people to file medical malpractice claims against health care providers. But the amendment died in the House after several hours of debate and a 74-69 vote.

The bill would have allowed patients to use a doctor in a “similar” health care field to provide to the court a written opinion, called a certificate of merit, regarding a doctor’s medical negligence.

“I thought we had the votes,” Rep. Gerald Fox III said after the measure was defeated. He added that it was too soon to know late Thursday whether the House would try to raise the bill again before the session ends May 9.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said he voted for the amendment, but couldn’t have been prouder of the opposition led by Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, R-Glastonbury, who is a practicing allergist. Cafero believes Dr. Srinivasan’s argument persuaded lawmakers to vote against the measure, which is a rare occurrence these days in the chamber.

“I think it’s sort of neat,” Cafero said.

Dr. Srinivasan said that all he did was inform his colleagues of the impact the legislation would have had on the number of doctors and specialists in Connecticut. He said specialty practices are returning to the state and this bill could easily hinder that growth. He said the bill could easily cause medical professionals to move or retire. He said the current medical malpractice law, passed in 2005, is adequate.

“Your peer judging you has to be in the same specialty,” Srinivasan said.

But proponents of the legislation said the current law is too restrictive for consumers.

The bill was supported by the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, but it was opposed by medical organizations and hospitals. The trial lawyers testified in March that the current law sets a higher standard for a certificate of merit than it does for an expert witness who testifies in court. They said a medical expert who is not able to sign a pre-litigation letter would be allowed to testify as an expert in court.

The Yale New Haven Health System testified in March that “the ‘similar healthcare provider’ requirement under current law serves as a gatekeeping function that eliminates frivolous lawsuits.” The Connecticut State Medical Society testified that doctors would flee the state if the legislation was passed.

Tags: medical malpractice, doctor, Prasad Srinivasan, Gerald Fox, Lawrence Cafero, certificates of merit, dh

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Hartford Superintendent Defends Charter Schools

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 3, 2012 8:17pm
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Posted to: Education

Hartford Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto wrote  Democratic leadership in the House and Senate Thursday to express her concern about recent drafts of the education reform legislation.

Recent drafts of the bill, which Kishimoto has seen, change how the state treats low performing schools in the Commissioner’s Network.

“These changes run contrary to the national educational reform agenda and do little to boldly address Connecticut’s place as the state with the nation’s worst achievement gap,” Kishimoto wrote.

“Hartford Public Schools has adopted a wide variety of successful school models, including charter schools, as part of its reform strategy and for which it has received broad national recognition,“ Kishimoto wrote. “Our work in Hartford serves as an example of turnaround success. Success, however, can only be achieved and maintained if we have the proper mechanisms in law to do our job.”

Kishimoto said recent drafts of the legislation she’s seen “eliminates the charter school option as a model for turning around low-performing schools.”

Another section, according to Kishimoto, would prohibit the Education Commissioner from choosing an entity such as a charter management organization to operate the lowest performing schools.

“Charter schools are public schools and those with proven achievement records should be seen as viable options to turnaround our historically low performing schools in this state,” Kishimoto wrote.

Tags: Hartford Schools, Christina Kishimoto, education reform, lawmakers, dh

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Black & Puerto Rican Caucus Not Completely United On Education Reform

by Christine Stuart | May 3, 2012 5:38pm
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Posted to: Education

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Members of the General Assembly’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus held a press conference Thursday to outline what their members could support in an education reform bill.

Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, who chairs the caucus, said the caucus has reached consensus on several issues outlined in a one-page document that includes support for reconstituting low-achieving schools as state or local charter schools.

However, Rep. Toni Walker and Sen. Toni Harp, also of New Haven, told reporters that they’re not entirely on board, and that the document Holder-Winfield gave the media was never voted upon by the 19 members of the caucus. The two Toni’s said they agree with many of the concepts outlined in the document and believe most of it is included in the most recent draft of the bill. However, they pointed out that the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus were not working off the most recent draft of the bill.

As the co-chairs of the Appropriations Committee, Walker and Harp are members of legislative leadership and have been included in discussions with the Education Committee co-chairs who have been drafting, and re-drafting the bill.

“We really tried to ask them to wait until they could see the full bill,” Harp said, referring to the caucus.

But in the end, “We think they will be happy with some of what they see,” she said. Although “. . . there are some things they aren’t going to be happy with.”

There are a few sticking points which haven’t been settled yet, Harp and Walker said. What role charter schools will play and what changes will be made to collective bargaining are the two biggest sticking points still being negotiated behind closed doors.

“There’s been drafting going back and forth between the administration and leadership and the whole idea is compromise, so we’re trying to make the best compromise,” Walker said.

Holder-Winfield said he never expected lawmakers to stop working on various versions of the bill as the caucus went through the draft they had line-by-line.

“Obviously they’re continuing to work on the bill. That has nothing to do with what we were doing, which was looking at the two bills we had the latest copies of and responding and talking about what we want in the bill,” he said.

Holder-Winfield did not portray the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus position paper as supporting Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s version over the Education Committee’s version, but the caucus document would restore in the legislation language for the commissioner’s authority to reconstitute a low-achieving school as a state or local charter, which is more in line with what Malloy had proposed.

He said the caucus wasn’t saying it supports charter schools over public schools, but it’s saying charter schools shouldn’t be excluded as an option.

“We did not plan to produce a piece of information that lined up with the governor. We got in the room as representatives of urban communities and decided by consensus what we thought would be best moving forward on education reform,” Holder-Winfield said.

The caucus position paper also called for the commissioner’s network schools to engage in “impact bargaining,” which would allow teachers to bargain working conditions such as longer school days outside of their larger contract.

Holder-Winfield said there were no conversations with Malloy, or anyone else outside the caucus, over the document.

“It would not make a lot of sense if the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus didn’t have a voice on this,” he said. “It’s not a matter of strategically doing it at this point. It’s just the way it organically happened.”

The members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus represent schools that will be impacted the most by education reform efforts, and Holder-Winfield wanted to make sure their voices were heard.

The proposal was praised by Connecticut Charter School Association President Michael Sharpe, who also heads Jumoke Academy in Hartford.

“I think it’s a very fair sort of midpoint that still impacts kids getting a hand up,” Sharpe said, also urging the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus to take a stand on the issue.

Sharpe said 87 percent of the charter schools in Connecticut are outperforming the districts in which they sit.

“I want us to continue to allow charter schools to be a part of closing the achievement gap in Connecticut,” Sharpe said.

Immediately following the press conference, two Connecticut Education Association lobbyists approached Holder-Winfield to talk with him about the proposal. A CEA spokeswoman said the union wouldn’t be commenting on the proposal.

But AFT Connecticut offered a brief statement.

“AFT Connecticut represents teachers and other school personnel in many of the lowest performing districts and has worked with the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus over the last several years on a variety of education issues,” Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut, said. “We value their ideas and look forward to ongoing discussions with all legislators as we work toward education reform that improves education for every child in Connecticut.”

Tags: Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, Gary Holder-Winfield, Toni Walker, Toni Harp, education reform, dh

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Malloy Touts Labor Credentials

by Hugh McQuaid | May 3, 2012 1:31pm
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Posted to: Labor, State Capitol

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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s relationship with the labor community that helped get him elected has been rocky at times. But his message to a group of nearly 200 construction workers Thursday was clear — “We do not have to agree on every political issue every time, but we can never be divided.”

Malloy’s comments came during something of a victory lap celebrating the Senate’s late-night passage of a bill allowing public entities to negotiate working conditions with labor unions before a construction project goes up for bidding.

The bill was expected to be controversial but found support even among most Republican senators Wednesday night because its language on Project Labor Agreements was permissive.

The governor received a warm welcome from the unionized construction workers, even as his sweeping education reform proposal remains a point of bitter contention among the state’s teachers unions.

“Before Gov. Malloy, we couldn’t get within 100 yards of the governor’s office. Now we have a seat in the governor’s office. He’s a friend,” said David Roche, president of the State Building & Construction Trades Council.

Malloy took the opportunity to tout his labor credentials, saying his office helped draft the PLA language for the bill. He also pointed to his efforts to give new groups of workers the right to collectively bargain. He said Connecticut stood in stark contrast to the anti-labor sentiment present in other states.

“Where there is a broad assault on the right of men and women to organize, a broad assault on the middle class . . . we have to stand in the breach,” Malloy said to applause.

There’s also likely a stark contrast between how the construction unions view the governor and how the teachers unions perceive him.

Malloy announced his priorities for what he planned to be the year of education reform late last year. And early on, he and the Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, seemed at least in partial agreement.

In January, Malloy’s Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor and CEA Executive Director Mary Loftus Levine appeared at the same press conference where Pryor highlighted the areas where the administration and the union were in agreement on reform.

But whatever spirit of cooperation there was, it seemed to sour after the session’s opening day when many teachers took exception to the governor’s allegation that the only thing teachers had to do to earn tenure was to “show up for four years.”

Malloy has since tried to explain the comment but teachers haven’t been shy about expressing their displeasure. He was met by angry educators in New Haven in March, when they booed him as he was trying to explain the reform package.

CEA also has launched several ads attacking the governor’s proposal as “a bad experiment.”

With less than a week left in the legislative session, Malloy’s education package is still a work in progress. The administration has been negotiating the bill with legislative leaders behind closed doors since the Education Committee altered the bill so much that Malloy threatened to veto it.

While the governor may be unpopular with the teachers unions, the PLA bill wasn’t the only evidence of Malloy’s pro-labor agenda on display Thursday. The Senate was expected to take up a bill extending the right to collectively bargain to some day and home care workers.

Malloy set the bill in motion when he issued two executive orders that allowed both home care workers and daycare workers to vote and form unions. That effort has already made the governor the subject of three lawsuits claiming he overstepped his constitutional authority.

At the PLA rally, SEIU Director Paul Filson urged construction workers to lobby for the bill.

“SEIU, just like you, is working every day to grow the labor movement, to organize new workers,” he said. “We’re working to expand the labor movement by 12,000 new workers . . . By bringing in new union members to Connecticut we’re going to have a stronger voice.”

Tags: labor, PLAs, Dannel Malloy, teachers union, construction, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Questions Remain About No-Bid Consulting Contracts

by Michael Lee-Murphy | May 3, 2012 11:36am
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Posted to: Education

Since becoming Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education this past fall, Stefan Pryor has brought in highly paid consultants with ties to the charter school community to help craft Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s sweeping education reform package.

Last week, allegations surfaced that these contracts were hidden from normal bidding procedures by the use of the State Education Resource Center (SERC), a quasi-public agency that is primarily funded by the Department of Education.

A whistleblower complaint  filed last Friday by Tom Swan of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group alleges that the contracts were performed through SERC in order to circumvent the state’s contracting laws.

Pryor initially told the Connecticut Post that operating the contracts through SERC was legal because the state agency was a nonprofit and therefore didn’t have to follow state bidding procedures. Swan’s complaint, however, claims that SERC is not registered as a 501(c)(3), and has not filed the requisite reports with the Attorney General’s office. A search for SERC on the site nonprofit database GuideStar.org returned no results, and the center is not registered as a charity with the Department of Consumer Protection.

Jim Polites, an Education Department spokesperson, said that SERC qualifies as a nonprofit because it operates under Rensselaer Hartford Graduate Center Inc., a job-training facility in Hartford. The SERC website lists Rensselaer as its “fiscal agent.”

The complaint questions the status of SERC as a nonprofit and refers to a previous legislative attempt in 2011 to “establish” SERC as a 501(c)(3) — the provision never became law.

Swan’s complaint, which the Malloy administration has dismissed as “reckless,” calls for the contracts to be terminated and the contractors banned from working in Connecticut for five years.

“What it is starting to look like is that this administration is trying to use SERC in a similar manner to how the Rowland administration used [the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority],” Swan said.

The Malloy administration had no comment beyond what it told the Connecticut Post last Friday, when the governor’s chief legal counsel said Swan’s allegation was “reckless” and “devoid of any evidence.”

LEEDS EQUITY

According to emails  obtained by Swan under the Freedom of Information Act, the biggest of the contracts — $195,000 — was for consultant Jonathan Gyurko, senior vice president of Leeds Equity, an investment group that specializes in the “knowledge industry,” according to its website.

Leeds Equity was paid $195,000 for just under four months of work, specifically to “assist in the development of a legislative strategy and package.” The Leeds contract also shows that the firm “will assist in the analysis of collective bargaining agreements, within and outside of Connecticut, and produce recommendations on how innovative collective bargaining arrangements” can help the commissioner turn around failing schools.

The emails show that money for the contract was initially budgeted through the Council of Chief State School Operators, which is a national association of education commissioners of which Pryor is a member. But on Jan. 19, William Cox of DSA Capital emailed representatives of Leeds Equity to tell them that the contract would instead go through SERC, though the emails didn’t explain why.

Asked about the decision to change funding sources, Polites offered the following in an email Wednesday:

“In Connecticut, to assist Commissioner Pryor’s transition following his appointment, CCSSO has provided expert assistance to the state Department of Education (SDE) on topics such as organizational design and the departmental transition. CCSSO was open to engaging others regarding additional subjects. However, SERC was specifically created by the General Assembly to assist the department in the provision of programs and activities that promote educational equity and excellence. The State Education Resource Center (SERC) is ideally situated to work with SDE on ongoing priorities.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, Cox did not respond to phone calls seeking comment, and the DSA Capital website showed a screen saying that the site is “under construction.”

Last year, Cox was paid $60,000 by the state of New Jersey to assemble a team of consultants to assist in reform efforts there. The contract with Connecticut was not part of Swan’s Freedom of Information complaint.

Peter Lyons, Leeds Equity’s Chief Financial Officer, referred press inquiries to the Department of Education.

Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut, said that she thought it was haste in education reform efforts that led to the contracts being signed.

“He wanted to get some consultants in right away,” she said, “so he rammed in some no-bid contracts to get off and running quickly.”

Pryor, one of Malloy’s last appointments, wasn’t hired until September 2011, just months before the start of the so-called Education Session.

“We certainly would not like to have that practice continue, particularly as it goes to [the education reform bill],” Palmer said.

Asked if she expects anything to come of the whistleblower complaint, she said, “I hope so,” but stopped short of agreeing with the call for the contractors to be banned from doing business in the state for five years.

A spokesperson for SERC declined to comment for this article and referred all questions to the Department of Education.

Tags: education, consulting, charter schools, Leeds Equity, DSA Capital, Stefan Pryor, Jim Polites, Malloy, Michael Lee-Murphy, dh

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OP-ED | Daycare Provider Says ‘Yes’ To Union

by Lisa Hinman | May 3, 2012 10:34am
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Posted to: Opinion

Connecticut is taking a big step forward for working families and their children by giving family child care providers an official voice with the state.  After more than 6 years of working to form our union, a bill at the capitol has finally been voted on by the House of Representatives that will allow us to sit down with the state and negotiate a contract. Our bill is now headed for the Senate where we’re optimistic that State Senators will do the right thing and support our right to collectively bargain.

Providers like myself fill an important niche in Connecticut. We are professionals who take children into our homes at all hours of the day and night for parents who work third shift in nursing homes, and hospitals — times when child care centers are normally closed. We are often the first teachers a child has outside their own home, and the work we do helps our kids begin kindergarten ready to learn. But many family child care providers are struggling because the state doesn’t give us the resources we need to do our job. We are basically treated as low-wage contractors to the state. We are working without a say in the Care 4 Kids program, which is integral to our small businesses.

Many of us can’t afford health insurance, and that has led thousands of quality family child care providers to leave the field in search of more stable working situations.  Our collective bargaining bill has been deemed controversial, but it’s hard to see why. It’s common sense that if you want to attract and keep good people, you have to make it so they can make a decent living doing the job. The right to sit down and negotiate doesn’t cost anything but it will go a long way toward correcting this brain drain and help improve standards for our kids.

Opponents of our collective bargaining bill range from tea party republicans eagerly engaged in the war on women, to daycare centers trying to stomp out competition. They have been railing away against our efforts, making outrageous claims to news media with no deference to the facts. They have claimed everything from “we are being forced into forming a union” to declaring that maybe we are just too stupid to understand what’s going on. Last month, a self-proclaimed “constitution lobby” even filed a lawsuit against Governor Malloy for issuing the order that gave us the right to vote in a union election. The group declared that our right to a democratic vote was a “violation akin to slavery.” It’s downright insulting. Let’s call this smear campaign what it truly is — an effort to stop low income women (98 percent of daycare workers are women) — from having rights.

We voted 1603 to 88 to form our union for a reason: Respect. This bill is about respect for the work we do preparing children for school and making it possible for working families to earn a living. If we, as a state, value preparing children so they can begin school ready to learn by retaining the best child care providers, then our right to negotiate a contract is something you should support.

Lisa Hinman is the owner of Lisa’s Little Angels Daycare in Naugatuck.

Tags: day care workers, union, labor, low-wage workers, children, connecticut, Malloy, lisa hinman, dh

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Project Labor Agreement Bill Clears Senate With Broad Support

by Hugh McQuaid | May 3, 2012 12:54am
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Posted to: Jobs, Labor

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The Senate approved a bill late Wednesday night giving municipalities the option to negotiate project labor agreements for public construction projects.

The permissive language, which allows labor unions to negotiate working conditions, was added to a bill allowing construction companies to both design and build highway projects.

PLAs are pre-hiring agreements that cover the terms and conditions of a construction project. Proponents of the agreements argue that they ensure work and safety standards and facilitate the timely completion of projects.

However, others say the agreements favor labor unions at the expense of non-union contractors.

The legislation comes four months after a Supreme Court decision allowed Electrical Contractors Inc., a non-union company, to sue the Hartford Board of Education. The contractor had won a bid and declined to sign a PLA to build two schools in Hartford.

The Supreme Court decision opened the door for future litigation against communities that called for project labor agreements. However, the bill the Senate passed puts into statute the option to require PLAs.

The bill was expected to be controversial with a debate lasting until Thursday morning, but even senators wary of project labor agreements seemed comfortable with the permissive nature of the bill. It passed 32-3 after around 90 minutes of debate.

Sen. Edith Prague, co-chairman of the Labor Committee, said the decision to require an agreement will be at the discretion of the community funding the project. Communities can decide to require a PLA if they determine the agreement will have direct or indirect economic benefits, she said.

“How many community people would be employed, how well the project would be handled, the issue of getting the project done on time so there will be no cost overruns,” she said. “Those are all benefits to the community.”

The bill received the support of two of the Senate’s conservative Republicans on the grounds that it permits PLAs but doesn’t require them. Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, said his town was looking to build two high schools. He said PLAs have become a hot topic there.

Suzio said he likes that the bill gives towns the ability to make decisions about their own projects.

“There’s nothing coercive about this legislation. It’s permissive,” he said.

Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, said it’s a common perception that projects that use PLAs are more expensive than projects without them. However, the bill’s fiscal note doesn’t anticipate any financial impact because communities would already be required to pay prevailing wages for any project where a PLA might be used.

McLachlan said he was supportive of the bill because of the underlying design-build proposal.

“Design-build is a best practice of corporate America and has been for years,” McLachlan said, adding in most cases it’s the best way to get to the finish line on a construction project.

He was a little unsure about the project labor agreement portion of the bill, but supported it because towns would not be required to use them.

“That tells me that if that information that we’re assuming tonight is incorrect, then the PLA gets kicked aside in favor of other alternatives,” McLachlan said.

Jim Finley, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said the bill gives municipalities the option of “determining” whether to use a PLA for any school construction project that’s more than $10 million. He said it’s problematic because it ties the determination to the size of the project and it’s unclear who in a town would be making the determination. He concluded it could lead to further litigation.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a former mayor, said he’s been a supporter of PLAs.

“At a time when too many people in our state are still searching for gainful employment, project labor agreements ensure that we have the best trained workforce in place for our more important projects,” Malloy said in a statement.

But Lelah Campos, president of Associated Builders & Contractors of Connecticut Inc., said non-union contractors account for 80 percent of the construction trades in the state and she pointed out that 12 states have banned them. Campos further argued that PLAs increase the cost of any given project by at least 20 percent.

Malloy, who was aware of opposition to the bill from non-union contractors, said “this is not another unfunded government mandate.” And he lobbied for the legislation.

“All this bill does is give municipalities the option of entering into a project labor agreement if they choose to do so, without the added risk of costly litigation,” Malloy said. “It’s just a common sense measure, one that will ensure that the hardworking men and women in the building trades can find employment that will support their families.”

The bill now heads to the House.

Christine Stuart contributed to this report

Tags: design build, project labor agreements, senate, edith prague, len suzio, Michael McLachlan, PLAs, dh

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Ice Cream, Education Reform, & Lawmakers

by Christine Stuart | May 2, 2012 8:15pm
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Posted to: Education

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AFT Connecticut lured lawmakers and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy downstairs Wednesday for some free ice cream and a little conversation.

Like most people at the state Capitol, the state’s two teacher unions are out of the loop as legislative leaders and members of the Malloy administration try to reach an agreement on the details of the omnibus education reform bill.

“We haven’t been in the room since the Education Committee bill came out,” said Mary Loftus Levine, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association. Like other lobbyists, CEA and AFT are relegated to the roped-off areas of the Capitol where they can talk to lawmakers as they walk by or grab them as they head for the restroom.

Mark Ojakian, the governor’s chief of staff, has been negotiating the bill with lawmakers. But he is unwilling to give any specifics about where the bill stands.

“We have been working very hard on reaching an agreement on real education reform,” Ojakian said Wednesday. 

“That’s what we all want,” Loftus Levine, who was standing near him, was quick to add. 

Sen. Andrea Stillman, co-chairwoman of the legislature’s Education Committee, is also part of the conversations.

“We’re having a good exchange of ideas,” on how to handle the state’s lowest performing schools, Stillman said.

Those schools and what the state is able to do with them outside of a contract with the unionized teachers is one of the unanswered questions. Malloy’s bill would allow for the state to come in and change working conditions or hire a consulting firm to turn a school around. Legislative leaders — especially Sen. President Donald Williams — are opposed to allowing changes like that to happen without an agreement to reopen the teacher contract.

Meanwhile, the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus has spent the past few days behind closed-doors reading over a draft of the bill. The interpretation of the bill by those 19 lawmakers could make a difference in determining whether a bill is moved forward before May 9.

Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, chair of the caucus, said the group may emerge with a position Wednesday evening. But he warned people not to expect a document that says they agree with one side versus the other side.

He said they’ve been going through the bill section-by-section and will express their opinions on each.

“Ultimately we want a bill that works for everybody,” Holder-Winfield said.

Most of the Black and Puerto Rican caucus represent the lowest performing schools at the center of the debate, and whatever they decide could hold considerable sway over what happens with the bill.

“I just hope they get it done,” AFT Connecticut President Sharon Palmer said Wednesday afternoon, noting that there wasn’t much time left. She said she hopes they at least move forward with the things everyone agrees upon, such as the increased preschool slots.

Sen. Len Suzio, a Republican from Meriden and a former school board member, said he told Malloy that they should have done the education bill during a special session so that it could have been the sole focus of the legislature and wasn’t competing with hundreds of other bills.

“If you rush, you make mistakes,” Suzio said. And despite being one of the most conservative members of the state Senate, Suzio seems to sympathize with the teachers and their unions on this issue of tying evaluations to tenure.

He said if he was a teacher he would be having an “anxiety attack” if his job was going to be based on “an undefined evaluation system.”

The Performance Evaluation Advisory Council has adopted a framework for a statewide evaluation process, but that process and the rubrics it will create won’t be completed until June 30.

Teachers from New Haven, West Haven, Meriden, and Hartford were all at the Capitol on Wednesday to talk with lawmakers about how they’ve been handling their evaluations.

Andrea Johnson, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, who spoke earlier about the collaboration that went into the new evaluation system her school district adopted this week, asked the governor if he would visit a Hartford school without the news media to see what really happens in the classroom.

She said he seemed agreeable to the idea. But it’s unclear if there will be time before the legislature adjourns May 9.

With the legislature sprinting to the finish and conversations happening mainly behind closed doors, Johnson said waiting for them to pass education reform is like “waiting for a baby to be born.”

Tags: education, Sharon Palmer, AFT Connecticut, CEA, Dannel Malloy, Andrea Johnson, Mary Loftus Levine, Andrea Stillman, dh

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Senate Votes For More Sibling Visitation Time

by Hugh McQuaid | May 2, 2012 2:26pm
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Posted to: State Capitol

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The Senate passed a bill Wednesday to give children in Department of Children and Families custody more visitation rights with their separated siblings.

The department currently facilitates one visit a month between separated siblings. The bill would allow siblings at least weekly visits as long as they live within 50 miles of each other.

In October, Alixes Rosado was among a group of youth advisers to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to improve the foster care experience for children. One of the things advocated by Rosado, a former foster child, was more contact between siblings who have been placed in separate homes.

On Wednesday, Rosado commended lawmakers for acting on the recommendations. He said he was separated from his three siblings while he was in foster care, but he longed for a closer relationship with them.

“It was rough growing up for us because we never had the opportunity to be together, to have a relationship. DCF facilitated our monthly visits but it was not enough to build or maintain our relationship,” he said.

“Bills like this are very important because they are giving our youth the opportunity to have that relationship with their siblings,” Rosado said.

The bill passed on the Senate’s consent calendar, meaning no lawmaker opposed the measure.  Sen. Terry Gerratana, D-New Britain, said it will have a wonderful impact on children who have been removed from their homes and don’t have enough contact with their brothers and sisters.

“This is monumental because . . . it means we’re devoted to families, keeping families intact,” Gerratana said.

The bill will still have to be acted upon by the House before the legislative session ends in a week. Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, said the bill will help kids who have already undergone a lot of stress in their lives.

“I’m very hopeful that we will be able to move on this bill and build families in the state of Connecticut, instead of separating families,” she said. 

DCF Commissioner Joette Katz said that when the bill goes into effect in 2014 it will apply to around 35 children. Currently, there are around 200 who are separated from their siblings but the department is in the process of rolling out other initiatives aimed at placing children with family members. The bill’s fiscal note anticipates the measure will cost the state around $91,000.

Tags: department of children and families, senate, foster youth, dh

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Lawmakers Form Manufacturing Caucus

by Christine Stuart | May 2, 2012 12:17pm
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Posted to: Business, Town News, East Hartford, State Capitol

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There’s the Sportsmen’s Caucus, the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, the Rural Caucus, the Long Island Sound Caucus, and now we have the Manufacturing Caucus.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers gathered Wednesday morning to announce the formation of the new group within the legislature.

Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, said that over the last 10 years Connecticut has lost 50,000 jobs in manufacturing and that equates to 419 jobs lost each month. He said those jobs aren’t necessarily being replaced with employment opportunities of the same quality.

Individuals in the manufacturing industry earn an average salary of $74,000 a year, LeBeau said. According to a Connecticut Industrial Energy Consumers report, manufacturing contributed $25.9 billion to the gross state product and accounts for about 11.4 percent of the state’s total employment.

LeBeau said he decided to form a caucus along with state Reps. Vincent Candelora, Zeke Zalaski, Jeffrey Berger, and Sen. Tony Guglielmo, to educate lawmakers on the value of manufacturing in the state.

He said manufacturing is making a comeback and he wants to make sure that when manufacturing jobs return from China, they come back to Connecticut.

He said lawmakers may understand the importance of manufacturing, but never before has there been a caucus around manufacturing.

“Manufacturing is in our DNA,” Guglielmo said, also admitting they’re probably not going to do much in the last seven days of the legislative session. But he said the caucus will benefit the state in the long run.

But it’s bigger than manufacturing. “It really is a window to Connecticut’s economy,” Candelora, a Republican from North Branford, said.

Manufacturing is usually the first industry that shows indications when a recession is going to occur and it’s the first industry that can predict when a recession is over, Candelora said.

“Our recoveries are much more rapid when we have a vibrant manufacturing industry,” Candelora added.

Manufacturing also plays a central role in both the education and energy policy debates.

LeBeau said it’s probably the most “issue oriented” caucus.

Candelora said the caucus will be looking to educate other lawmakers about the consequences that new legislation may have on manufacturing.

“We have a common interest here, common values to mitigate and lessen the potential impact for conflicts of legislation,” LeBeau said.

Tags: manufacturing, East Hartford, Gary LeBeau, Vincent Candelora, Tony Guglielmo, caucus, dh

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OP-ED | 5th District GOP Debate: JFK, Weicker, But No Rowland

by Terry Cowgill | May 2, 2012 12:13am
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Posted to: Opinion

If I’d told you before this week’s 5th-district GOP congressional debate that John Rowland, the crooked ex-governor, would not be mentioned even once and that a dead Democrat, of all things, would receive posthumous accolades for his tax policies, I’m sure you’d have called me crazy.

But that’s exactly what happened at Torrington City Hall on Monday afternoon when 150 people assembled to hear five candidates mostly stick to their talking points even in the face of a controversy surrounding Rowland’s multiple roles in the 5th-district campaign.

Businessman Mark Greenberg read from a speech President John F. Kennedy gave on cutting marginal tax rates and invoked the slain ex-president not once, but twice. Meanwhile, ex-FBI agent Mike Clark, who played a key role in sending Rowland to the pokey, never mentioned the fact that he’d filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission last week over Rowland’s involvement with Lisa Wilson-Foley’s campaign and mysterious payments steered to Rowland by a business owned by Wilson-Foley’s husband.

And in giving a backhanded compliment to an Obamacare feature that prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, former Afghanistan war veteran Justin Bernier conceded that “even a broken clock is right twice a day.” It’s not clear if the former Naval intelligence officer was paying homage to the role of nearby Winsted as Connecticut’s erstwhile clock-manufacturing capital.

Save the topics of abortion and taxes (I’ll get to them later), there were few differences among the candidates. With apologies to the digital generation, all five office seekers sounded more like a broken record than a broken clock: the economy sucks, government is too big, taxes are too high and Obamacare must be repealed.

Even when, in response to a question about solving the federal budget deficit, state Sen. Andrew Roraback said he would be willing to accept $1 or $1.50 in tax increases for every $10 in spending cuts — a heretical position in the national Republican Party — no one attacked him until after the event was over. That’s when Wilson-Foley’s campaign manager fired off an email blast complaining that “Sen. Roraback has sadly defaulted to a Democrat approach to solving our deficit reduction efforts.”

Lately, Roraback hadn’t exactly been a profile in courage, as when he changed his position on the state’s death penalty repeal in order to avoid the kinds of attacks he would surely face from his opponents on that stage. But this time Roraback reverted to form and essentially suggested something that should be obvious to all: there is no way Americans will tolerate the kinds of programmatic sacrifices that would be necessary through a spending-cuts-alone approach to federal deficit reduction.

On abortion, only Bernier and Greenberg professed to be pro-life. Roraback described the procedure as “personally repugnant,” did not see a role for government interference with such a personal decision. Ditto Wilson-Foley and Clark.

To the surprise of no one, all candidates disagreed with a recent op-ed in the Washington Post by a pair of think-tank scholars on opposite sides of the fence that flatly stated the Republican Party has become too extreme to play a useful role in governing. Clark called it “an outrageous statement” and Roraback invoked Lincoln.

While all played up their credentials as general election winners, Wilson-Foley was the only one to take aim at a potential opponent and preview a fall election strategy. She fired some rockets at Democrat Chris Donovan, the current speaker of the state House of Representatives:

“It’s turning out to be a classic match up between myself — a fiscal conservative, job-creating businesswoman — against my most likely opponent, Chris Donovan. He is a big-government, job-killing, union-hugging liberal. The difference could not be much more clear.”

Not to be outdone, Roraback pointed out that the Democratic State Central Committee had hired a tracker to pursue him and video his every move. “His job is to follow me,” said Roraback, adding that the attention he’s receiving from the rival party is de facto evidence of his strength as a general-election candidate.

Greenberg got the only laugh of the afternoon when he responded to a question about whether any of the candidates had ever donated to Democrats for federal office. All said no, except for Wilson-Foley, who has given money to Chris Murphy, the incumbent 5th-district congressman who is now running for the U.S. Senate.

Greenberg conceded that he gave money to the campaign of then-Democrat Joe Lieberman in his 1988 U.S. Senate run against incumbent Republican Lowell Weicker, who as governor three years later rammed through the state’s first-ever income tax. “In hindsight, I’m pretty glad I did,” Greenberg said with a smile.

Terry Cowgill blogs at ctdevilsadvocate.com, is the editor of ctessentialpolitics.com and was an award-winning editor and senior writer for The Lakeville Journal Company.

Tags: 5th, Congress, Mark Greenberg, Andrew Roraback, John Rowland, Lisa Wilson-Foley, Terry Cowgill

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Republican Lawmakers Say Malloy Needs To Be Honest With Wall Street

by Christine Stuart | May 1, 2012 11:27pm
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Posted to: State Budget, Taxes, State Capitol

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Republican legislative leaders claimed Tuesday that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s decision to use $222 million that had been reserved to pay off 2009 borrowing won’t help the state’s credit rating.

Just two months ago, the Malloy administration told the Wall Street credit agencies that it would pay off the 2009 Economic Recovery Notes.

“It is of crucial importance that the governor, at very least, be honest with the bonding agencies,” House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said Tuesday.

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney called the plan to balance the budget “fiscally irresponsible.” He said Republicans are asking the governor if he’s alerted the rating agencies that the information his administration provided in March is no longer correct.

The state makes two presentations a year to the three credit rating agencies.

“The diversion of these funds to finance operational expenses is fiscally irresponsible and will lead to another downgrade by the agencies and ultimately higher interest rates on future bond issuances,” McKinney and Cafero wrote in a letter to Malloy on Tuesday.

The duo claimed that the Malloy administration made a presentation to credit rating agencies touting legislation which required the payment of the Economic Recovery Notes.

Ben Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said in a phone interview Tuesday evening that payment of the notes obviously “didn’t make a difference to them.”

He said the same information was included in a previous presentation to the three rating agencies. One of the three, Moody’s Investor Services, downgraded the state.

“Our efforts to pre-pay the Economic Recovery Notes didn’t carry much weight with the rating agencies,” Barnes said.

Moody’s Investor Services downgraded Connecticut’s rating from Aa2 to Aa3 in January noting “Connecticut’s high combined fixed costs for debt service and post employment benefits relative to the state’s budget; pension funded ratios that are among the lowest in the country and likely to remain well below average; and depleted reserves with slim prospects for near-term replenishment.”

The state is facing a deficit in the current fiscal year and the administration has a responsibility to present the General Assembly with a deficit mitigation plan, Barnes said. Using money reserved to pay off the notes is part of the solution the administration is putting forth. In addition, Barnes said he gave the chairs of the Appropriations Committee a list of spending cuts for the 2013 budget.

The Republicans seem to be suggesting the administration should do something else to erase the deficit, but Barnes pointed out “they don’t offer some other alternative for closing this gap.”

McKinney and Cafero called the use of the funds a “gimmick.”

“It’s a long litany of broken promises by this governor,” Cafero said. “. . . That he would not borrow money to pay operating expenses — he’s broken that promise as well.”

Malloy bristled at the use of the word “gimmick.”

“For Republicans to lecture me on what is or is not an appropriate way to balance the budget — listen I didn’t run up a structural deficit of $3.6 billion,” Malloy said. “I didn’t spend every dollar that was in the cookie jar.”

Malloy made clear that he inherited a $3.6 billion deficit created by the previous administration.

Asked if spending cuts would be harder, Malloy said “spending cuts are hard. Change is hard. Try living my life and telling people they have to change.”

He maintained that the budget shortfall wasn’t as bad as some were making it out to be.

“It’s a one percent miss. I’ll admit that,” Malloy said. But he refused to accept the Republicans’ argument that it makes his first budget a failure.

“I think the failure in Connecticut’s most recent history is the building of a $3.6 billion structural deficit,” Malloy said.

Tags: Economic Recovery Notes, republican, Moody's, Ben Barnes, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, bonding, credit rating, dh

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Lembo Certifies $200M Deficit

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 1, 2012 10:14pm
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Posted to: State Budget

State Comptroller Kevin Lembo certified that Connecticut would end the year with a nearly $200 million budget deficit, requiring Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to issue a deficit mitigation plan to the General Assembly.

“Slower than anticipated April income tax receipts and higher tax refunds combined with growth in net state spending explain the large change in the forecast this month,” Lembo wrote Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in his monthly letter.

Lembo said general fund revenue is expected to fall $243 million short of projections and total state spending is expected to exceed appropriated levels by $37.4 million.

“This deficit number confirms that Connecticut did not experience the short-term growth anticipated — but there are some positive economic indicators pointing forward,” Lembo said.

The Department of Labor continues to report that Connecticut’s unemployment rate continues to decline and federal labor statistics show personal income is slowly growing in the state. However, it wasn’t fast enough to save the state from having to deal with another deficit less than one year after the largest income tax increase in the state’s history.

“Slower than anticipated economic growth results in depressed revenue collections and accelerating demand for state services. Unfortunately, economic growth is not yet at normal recovery levels,” Lembo said.

Tags: Kevin Lembo, state comptroller, deficit, growth, revenue, taxes, economy, dh

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Senate Sends Sunday Sales To Gov’s Desk

by Hugh McQuaid | May 1, 2012 6:35pm
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Posted to: Business, Legal

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Similar proposals have failed for years, but it took the Senate little more than an hour Tuesday to give final passage to a bill legalizing Sunday sales of alcohol in Connecticut.

The bill is a modified version of legislation proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. When he signs it, Connecticut will leave the company of Indiana, the only other state with a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sunday.

The bill cleared the chamber in a bipartisan 28-6 vote. The House passed the measure last week after a much longer debate.

In addition to allowing alcohol to be sold from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, the bill also expands package store permit limits from two to three and gives store owners the option of discounting one item per month. The legislation also creates a task force to study pricing issues, which Malloy’s original proposal modified extensively.

The General Law Committee toned down many of the governor’s proposals and the finished product was praised as a compromise during Tuesday’s quick debate.

“We wanted to really understand and try to appreciate what the real impact is if we were to adopt these radical changes,” General Law Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Paul Doyle said.

Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, said package store owners have largely come to terms with the idea that sooner or later the law would be changed to allow Sunday sales, but they don’t want to have the regulations changed suddenly.

“[The bill] gives those small business owners the chance to adapt to the change. You don’t want to disrupt a business with one fell swoop without having some measure of an ability to succeed,” he said.

Sen. Jason Welch, R-Bristol, agreed, saying it’s unfair to change the rules on businesses in the middle of the game.

“Of course this is not a game we’re talking about. We’re talking about real lives, real dollars, and real businesses,” he said.

The changes to the bill were enough to get the Connecticut Package Store Association, an organization that has opposed Sunday sales for decades, to drop its opposition.

Though several senators rose to oppose the bill, none appeared to be attempting to filibuster or simply slow the debate with a long series of questions or by proposing amendments. Many of the six Republicans who opposed the bill said it was a better piece of legislation than what the governor had originally proposed.

Sen. Scott Frantz, R-Riverside, called the amended bill a “ball-peen hammer” compared to the original bill, which he described as a “sledgehammer.”

However, Sen. Leonard Fasano, R-North Haven, said it was wrong to characterize the bill as a compromise. A compromise is the product of a fair negotiation of stakeholders with equal bargaining power, he said.

“Not where it’s David versus Goliath. In this case the stores had to take what they got, which is Sunday sales, to get rid of the horrible stuff that would kill their business,” he said.

Though he voted for the bill, Senate Minority Leader John McKinney questioned how much good allowing package stores to open on Sunday will do when Connecticut’s alcohol prices are so much higher than Massachusetts’ because of state taxes.

Sen. John Kissel, an Enfield Republican, said the bill will help package store owners in border towns like his to compete with their Massachusetts counterparts. McKinney didn’t think it would work out that way.

“I think Sen. Kissel, who’s been working hard on this issue, is going to sadly find that many of his residents who’ve gone to Massachusetts Monday through Saturday will go to Massachusetts on Sunday because our taxes are so much higher,” he said.

“The budget that was passed that raised taxes on alcohol probably did more damage to those small businesses Monday through Saturday than this bill will help them on Sunday,” McKinney continued.

Though he didn’t get all the changes he wanted, Malloy issued a statement praising the passage of the bill.

“It’s a measure that’s long past due and a good first step to making our state’s package stores more consumer friendly,” he said.

However, the governor said more should be done to help alcohol consumers. The study the bill creates is a good step toward laying the foundation for future action, he said.

“This much is clear — the more we can lower prices for consumers, the more competitive our businesses will be,” he said.

Tags: liquor, alcohol, sunday sales, consumers, Paul Doyle, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, John Kissel, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Senate Still Opposes Minimum Wage Hike

by CTNewsjunkie Staff | May 1, 2012 5:22pm
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Posted to: Business, Labor

Sen. President Donald Williams said he spoke with the 21 Democratic Senators Tuesday behind closed doors and discovered there isn’t enough support for the proposed two-year, 50 cent minimum wage hike.

“Barring some significant turnaround, we have a number of folks who would not support the minimum wage bill as it,” Williams said at the close of the session Tuesday. The number of Senators in the Democratic caucus who don’t support it is greater than four Williams confirmed, but he declined to give a specific number.

House Speaker Chris Donovan, who is also running for Congress, was the main proponent of the legislation. Williams said he texted Donovan to let him know the Senate caucus did not support the bill and was unlikely to take it up this year. Williams defended the use of texting as a way to convey the message to Donovan because he feared once Senators started to leave the caucus room word would leak out.

But Donovan, undeterred by the text, said he thinks the Senate has some misinformation about how the tip credit for waitresses and bartenders works and will work at getting the “correct information” to the Senate. Donovan said he remains confident the Senate will take up the bill this year.

“People said I didn’t have the votes in the House. We got 88 votes here,” Donovan said.

Last week at least half of the 22 Senators were still undecided about whether they could support the version passed last week by the House.

The opposition was centered around “the timing,” Williams said. “They felt the economic times were not right. They’ve supported minimum wage increases in the past. They strongly supported the Earned Income Tax Credit last year which provides a significant boost to low-income workers.”

The revised bill increases the minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour in the first year, and $8.75 an hour in the following year. Initially, the legislation would have increased the minimum wage to $9 per hour in the first year and $9.75 an hour in the second year, but House Speaker Chris Donovan agreed to alter the proposal in order to garner more support.

The revised version passed the House 88-62 last week and Donovan only lost 10 Democrats in the process.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, who voted against a minimum wage hike, said he’s probably not as angry as Democratic legislators are who were forced to take the vote.

“They only did it with the assurance it was going to pass the House, Senate, and be signed by the governor,” Cafero said. “All that debate, all that vote, all the political expenditure was for naught.”

Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said he’s not convinced the Senate will allow the minimum wage bill die. He said he’s seen his colleagues on the other side of the aisle change their votes on everything from the death penalty to tax increases either “because of political pressure or political convenience.”

“So I’m not going to hold my breath until midnight May 9,” he added.

Tags: minimum wage, House, Chris Donovan, Senate, Adam Joseph, dh

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House Passes Criminal Lineup Modifications

by Hugh McQuaid | May 1, 2012 4:19pm
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Posted to: Courts, Legal

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The House passed a bill Tuesday changing how police conduct criminal lineups in an effort to improve eyewitness reliability. The formerly contentious issue passed the chamber unanimously after a short debate.

Judiciary Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Gerald Fox said the broad support of this year’s bill shows that sometimes creating a taskforce to study a controversial issue actually pays off.

That’s what happened last year when there wasn’t enough support for a similar bill aimed at improving the same criminal lineup process.

Fox served on the taskforce along with other members of the committee and both law enforcement and judicial officials. The group heard from experts and examined scientific studies for almost a year.

“It was truly an eye-opener for myself and many of the members of the taskforce when we looked out how science has advanced in terms of the way we handle eyewitness identification procedures,” he said.

Crime witnesses frequently misidentify suspects in criminal lineups because of the human tendency to pick out the person who looks the most like the offender even if the offender’s not in the lineup, according to studies.

They can also be led, either inadvertently or intentionally, by police to pick out the suspect the officer believes to be guilty.

The bill requires that during a lineup, witnesses see potential offenders, or their pictures, one at a time instead of all at once. That reduces a witness’s ability to pick the face that looks most like the offender, rather than the actual offender.

It also requires that whenever possible the officer conducting the lineup either not know which person is believed to be the perpetrator, or not know which picture the witness is examining. That keeps police from indicating to the witness, either consciously or unconsciously, which person they believe is guilty.

The legislation will now join a growing list of House bills awaiting action on the Senate calendar.

Tags: eye witness testimony, Gerald Fox, criminal justice, lineup, Hugh McQuaid, dh

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Tong Drops U.S. Senate Bid, Throws Support To Murphy

by Christine Stuart | May 1, 2012 10:36am
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012

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(Updated 3:09 p.m.) As he ended his bid for the U.S. Senate, state Rep. William Tong got choked up talking about why he ran for the open seat: Ady and Nancy Tong, his parents.

“Thousands of people across the state now know the story of Ady Tong. How he came to Bloomfield, Connecticut with just 57 cents in his pocket. Came here to cook Chinese food,” Tong said as he trailed off.

“I wasn’t going to do this,” he said as he choked back tears.

The three-term state representative held a press conference in East Hartford to announce he was dropping his U.S. Senate bid, and will seek re-election to his seat in the General Assembly.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, who was standing behind Tong, patted him on the back as he continued to talk about how his parents sacrificed everything so that their son could achieve the American dream.

It’s the same American dream U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy’s mother, who grew up in public housing, had for her son.

In ending his campaign Tuesday, Tong endorsed Murphy because “he has the same fight, the same grit, the same commitment to working people like my parents.”

Tong and Murphy, who were born in the same year and both have young families, are similar. It’s a sentiment Tong shared with former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz earlier today when he let her know he would be supporting Murphy.

“Chris and I see our future from a very similar perspective,” Tong said. “We have the same priorities. We’re looking at this whole deal the same way. What we’re fighting for is the same opportunity, not just that Chris’ mom had or my parents had, but that he and I have had.”

Murphy, who stood in the background for most of the press conference, was gracious in accepting Tong’s endorsement.

“As I have listened to William tell his story, his moving story about his family’s claim on the American dream, I realized our motivations for running for office aren’t that different,” Murphy said. “I tell a similar story. I tell a story about what my mother means to me and what my kids mean to me. I talk about the fact I’m standing here, as my mother always reminds me, one generation removed from poverty.”

Tong, not unlike Murphy, used his personal story to focus his campaign on the working class families of Connecticut, many of whom are struggling to pay their mortgages or to find a job.

“You succeeded in making thousands of Democrats and voters from all across this state understand that the impossible is never impossible,” Murphy told Tong. “You have given this state a shot in the arm, a boost of confidence that it needed.”

Tong was surrounded at the press conference by his family, including his parents, wife, and three children, and the man he called his mentor, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Malloy offered Tong, also of Stamford, some advice as he was considering a run for the U.S. Senate and throughout the campaign.

Tong said Malloy told him it would be difficult getting around the state and talking to all the Democratic Town Committees, and leaving your family for long periods of time.

“It was a lot worse than you described,” Tong told Malloy.

“It was a lot worse than you heard,” Malloy quipped.

Tong, who made the decision to get out of the race last week, said it was important for him to step aside and do what’s best for the Democratic Party. Tong said he believed he had the 277 delegates he needed to force a primary, but wasn’t going to tell his delegates who to support.

“This race is going to be tough enough,” Malloy said, referring to the potential Republican candidates, including Linda McMahon, who spent $50 million of her own fortune during her 2010 campaign. “I think we should get behind a candidate. I think we should support the candidate. Obviously, Congressman Murphy has the skill set, the relationships, the knowledge, and quite frankly one hell of a proven track record of pulling off difficult elections.”

Malloy said that once Tong decided to get out of the race he had a conversation with Wyman and the two decided to endorse Murphy together. As someone who is not a stranger to primaries, Malloy didn’t discourage Bysiewicz from throwing in the towel, but he said at some point has to make a decision.

“Particularly when we’re looking at someone who is capable of spending $50 million or more in smackdown money that perhaps it makes sense for everyone to evaluate the position you’re in,” Malloy said.

When Malloy was reminded that he was outspent in his gubernatorial campaign he said “nobody spent $50 million.”

Malloy added, “Listen, I want a Democratic Senator. Period. Let’s be very clear, this guy can win.”

That the Democratic Party would get behind Murphy comes as no surprise, but the news was disappointing for Bysiewicz’s campaign.

“It is no surprise that the party establishment would support the party insider for the May Democratic Convention,” Jonathan Ducote, Bysiewicz’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “Voters will have an opportunity to speak during the August Primary and Susan will be there to provide voters with a clear choice on how to hold Wall Street accountable and stand up for the middle class.”

Related: Tong Continues to ‘Swing for the Fences’

Tags: U.S. Senate, William Tong, Chris Murphy, Susan Bysiewicz, Democrats, nomination, dh

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House Passes Election Day Registration After More Than Five Hour Debate

by Hugh McQuaid | Apr 30, 2012 11:15pm
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Posted to: Election Policy

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In a 83-59 vote, the House passed a bill Monday night allowing for citizens to register to vote and cast a ballot on Election Day.

Rep. Russ Morin, co-chairman of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said the goal of the bill is to give more people a chance to vote.

“I think it’s a good thing. If you’re a United States citizen and you’re 18 years old, you have the right to vote and this is going to allow more people to have that opportunity,” he said.

Morin said there are currently 10 states that allow same day registration. According to an Office of Legislative Research report, before 2011, eight states had laws allowing people to register to vote on Election Day. One of them, Ohio, removed the law from statute that year.

Under Connecticut’s bill, the secretary of the state would be required to set up an online system for new voter applications that could cross reference the verifying information provided by the applicant with state and federal databases. The goal is to ensure the person applying to vote isn’t already registered somewhere else.

However, opponents like Rep. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, said the safeguards in the bill aren’t adequate to ensure the integrity of the elections system.

“Literally, if someone comes in and wants to cast a vote all they need to do is present a utility bill and cast that vote, that vote counts to the total whether it’s been verified or not,” he said.

Opponents of the bill offered a number of scenarios, in which people found ways to fraudulently vote. But Morin contended that the registration process is the same as the current system. Election Day applicants must swear they are who they say they are and are subject to prosecution if they lie, he said.

“If someone tried to do something fraudulently they would be dealt with and they would be punished,” Morin said.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero said the situation is different because it eliminates the seven-day window between Election Day and the last day to register. That window has a “chilling effect” on potential fraudulent voters because it gives registrars more time to verify that person wasn’t registered elsewhere, he said.

“Whether it’s true or not, at least there’s that specter in someone’s mind that ‘Boy if I’m lying here they can check up on me,’” he said.

Cafero argued the current system gives people plenty of time to register. Everyone knows when Election Day is and if they don’t register in time they can wait until next year, he said. If lawmakers allow a system where there’s a chance of fraud, they could disenfranchise legitimate voters.

“I don’t want the potential of my vote being cancelled out by someone who votes illegally. And quite frankly, I don’t give a damn if they get in a lot of trouble,” he said. “...Remember, disenfranchisement works both ways.”

Hwang questioned how the state would find and prosecute someone who casted a vote that turned out to be fraudulent.

“A name is a name on a piece of paper. How do you capture that?” he asked.

Hwang proposed an amendment that would have required someone looking to register on Election Day provide a photo identification. According to the OLR report, at least 34 states considered bills requiring photo identification to vote in 2011. Seven states enacted the laws last year.

But the concept is reviled by some elections advocates, who view it as an effort to prevent people from voting. Last week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy went as far as to call such laws “racist” in their intent.

Malloy said they were the most onerous example of restrictions states have placed on voters. In most cases, people have to provide a drivers license, something he said many senior citizens don’t possess.

“I think it’s the most onerous and the most purposeful, for the purposes of driving down participation, let’s be honest,” he said.

Morin agreed.

“Not everyone has a photo ID and I find that to be very restrictive. It’s not a condition of voting today so why would I add that?” he asked.

However, Hwang’s amendment contains a mechanism to provide people with photo IDs at no cost. The amendment would pay for the cards by taking money from the Citizens Elections Fund.

“I think we can do with one less bumper sticker and one less mailing to ensure that everyone who wants to vote has the opportunity to be sure that their vote is secure, valid, and verified,” he said.

Opponents also had concerns about the extra work the bill will create for registrars who are already busy on Election Day.

“I cannot imagine how my town registrars are going to handle the influx of people who are going to come out under this bill,” Rep Brenda Kupchick, R-Fairfield, said.

The bill will now move the Senate.

Tags: election day registration, voter fraud, voter turnout, Russ Morin, Tony Hwang, Hugh McQuaid

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Budget Deficit Grows As Revenue Drops

by Christine Stuart | Apr 30, 2012 9:01pm
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Posted to: State Budget

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After the biggest tax increase in the state’s history and a built-in surplus, some lawmakers never expected to be dealing with another budget deficit so soon. But that’s exactly where they found themselves Monday.

State budget analysts from both Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s Office of Policy and Management and the legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated Monday that the state would end the year with a $275 million to $285 million budget deficit. Revenue, according to budget analysts, dipped about $150 million this year. 

“Nothing has changed. It’s not the path less taken. It’s exactly where we were two years ago,” House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said.

The deficit is large enough to require Malloy to submit a budget mitigation plan to the General Assembly and it has the administration reminding people that last year the state was facing a $3.6 billion deficit.

“While today’s drop in estimated revenue is disappointing, the fact remains that we’ve solved more than 94 percent of the budget shortfall,” Ben Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management said in a statement. “And let’s be clear about one thing: we will end the current fiscal year in the black.”

Barnes attributed the budget deficit largely to a $147 million decrease in income tax receipts.

“To put these numbers in perspective, our estimated deficit is equal to approximately 1 percent of general fund expenditures,” Barnes said.  “In November of 2010, we faced a deficit that was 17 times greater. Clearly, we have made real progress in tackling the immense problems left on our doorstep long before we moved in.”

Outside his capitol office, Barnes said the administration will be asking the General Assembly to delay paying the $222 million it reserved to pay off the borrowing it did to balance the budget in 2009. In that year, the legislature borrowed close to $1 billion to balance its budget and promised to use any surplus funds in future years to pay off the borrowing. Malloy panned the move on the campaign trail. 

Since the Economic Recovery Notes don’t need to be paid off immediately, Barnes said the state can take its time making the payments without injury to the state’s finances. But Barnes will need the approval of lawmakers to do it.

“This strategy will allow state government to use money saved to pay down debt early to cover the unexpected revenue shortfall, so that we won’t be forced to cut essential services for Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents,” Barnes said. “We will continue to pay down the ERNs in accordance with the required repayment schedule.”

Cafero called the proposal a “gimmick” and he reminded reporters Monday that Malloy “railed against” such gimmicks when he took office in January 2011.

“I hope Connecticut’s experience with the first two years of the Malloy administration puts to rest once and for all the idea that government can simply tax its way out of a fiscal crisis,” Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said in a statement.

“When you try to balance a budget on revenue alone it doesn’t work. They’re too volatile,” Cafero said.

He said the Malloy administration needs to stop talking about the problem it faced when it walked in the door and it needs to take responsibility for a budget it proposed and implemented.

“Admit that you failed and let’s go back to the drawing board,” Cafero added.

The bad budget news creates an even bigger problem for fiscal year 2013. It means that the budget Malloy proposed Feb. 8 — which included an increase in education spending — and the legislature’s Appropriations Committee budget are both out of balance.

The General Assembly and Barnes will be hustling in the last week of the legislative session to figure out how to balance and pass the 2013 budget before adjournment May 9.

Rep. Toni Walker, co-chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said she will be going over the various budget scenarios. She admitted there is policy “we will have to change or not enact at this time because of budgetary issues.”

The biggest of which may be the education reform proposal.

“What do we do with education?” Walker said. “That’s a $128 million new policy.”

The question about whether the General Assembly is prepared to give Malloy the power to delay the payments on the Economic Recovery Notes is an issue for legislative leadership, Walker said.

Asked if it was an easier solution to the state’s budget woes than spending cuts, Walker replied: “Simple solutions don’t always translate to something that easy.”

Tags: budget deficit, revenues, Office of Policy and Management, Office of Fiscal Analysis, Ben Barnes, Lawrence Cafero, John McKinney, Malloy, dh

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OP-ED | In Support of Malloy’s Education Bill

by Elsa M. Núñez | Apr 30, 2012 3:15pm
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Posted to: Opinion

As a Puerto Rican émigré and the first member of my family to go to college, I have always been appreciative of the opportunities that a college education provides in this country.  I would not be a university president today without the support and encouragement I received from many people when I was a student.

That is why I am especially troubled that Connecticut has the largest gap in academic achievement among its K-12 students in the nation. The gap between students of color, urban students, and those from low-income families and their white, suburban, more affluent counterparts is evident in all four areas tested for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — reading, math, writing and science — and at all three testing levels — fourth, ninth and twelfth grades.  Worse yet, the gap in performance grows wider as children progress up the grades. When the latest NAEP test scores came out in 2011, Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor called Connecticut’s lack of progress “shameful.”

Gov. Malloy’s Educational Competitiveness Bill, now under legislative review, attempts to address the achievement gap with a number of innovative strategies aimed at improving the teaching profession in our state and the quality of the schools in which our students are taught.  Unfortunately, the interests of the few have resulted in a dramatic rewriting of the governor’s proposals in legislative committee, changes that would diminish Connecticut’s opportunity to impact students’ performance and their ultimate success in society.

What is at stake here?  Children at the bottom of the achievement curve are more likely to drop out of high school, less likely to graduate from college, and more likely to live below the poverty line. They deserve better.  But let us broaden the argument.  If Latinos and African Americans, for instance, graduated from college in Connecticut at the rates of their white counterparts, it would generate $8 billion more in personal income a year, and hundreds of millions of dollars of state income tax revenue. And in southern New England, where it is predicted that half the workers will be minorities by 2020 and two-thirds of all workers will require some form of college education, closing the achievement gap has become an economic imperative.

The governor’s proposal focuses on the two fundamental factors in a student’s performance — teachers and the school environment. Data from Tennessee, Texas and Boston has shown that quality teaching can improve a student’s performance as much as 600 percent, reinforcing the impact that good teachers can have.  The Governor’s plan raises standards in our university teacher preparation programs, provides incentives for higher performing college graduates to teach in at-risk schools, and links teacher and principal performance — measured by enhanced evaluation tools — to certification, tenure, pay and dismissal.  All of these innovative strategies, aimed at improving teacher performance for the benefit of our children, have been delayed, removed or weakened by changes made in the General Assembly’s Education Committee.

The second major component of the governor’s bill is the formation of a Commissioner’s Network, a program that would allow the state to assume financial and administrative control of 25 of the state’s lowest performing schools. The language in this portion of the bill connects the network to the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver application and provides flexible options at the local level, including the creation of charter schools and incentives for teachers to accept positions in network-designated schools.  Again, this crucial initiative has been watered down in committee. The number of schools in the network would be reduced to 10, language linking the network to the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver application has been removed, the incentives to attract teachers to work in network schools have been removed, and other elements of the proposal have been either restricted or obfuscated by ambiguous language.  If these changes stand, the governor’s goal of impacting the achievement gap in Connecticut will not be realized.

Improving teacher performance and the quality of schools is not about someone else’s children or someone else’s problem.  If we do not take decisive action to turn our schools around and improve performance standards in the teaching profession, a growing portion of our state population will lose out on the promise of a college education, and Connecticut’s economy and quality of life will suffer for everyone who lives here. The governor’s proposals deserve to be tested in the light of day.  I urge our legislators to recast the Educational Competitiveness Bill to align with Malloy’s original intent. Our students deserve nothing less.

Elsa M. Núñez is the President of Eastern Connecticut State University; Vice President of the Connecticut State Universities, Board of Regents for Higher Education; and a member of a state task force studying educational funding in Connecticut.

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Education Bill Discussions Continue, Collective Bargaining A Sticking Point For Lawmakers

by Christine Stuart | Apr 30, 2012 2:53pm
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Posted to: Education

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The governor’s chief of staff is optimistic that a vote on the omnibus education reform bill could happen later this week.

Mark Ojakian, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s chief of staff, said Monday that discussions this weekend went well and he is hopeful the bill may be ready later this week for debate by the Senate.

Ojakian is involved in the discussions between lawmakers and the administration and also was in charge of negotiations between the administration and the state employee unions last year.

One of the sticking points for legislative leaders in the education debate has been how union contracts are treated in the legislation.

Senate President Donald Williams said Friday that there is a threshold question they need to have answered as to “whether you can force the reopening of a contract.”

He said when the governor sought concessions last year from the state employee unions, the unions had to agree to reopen those contracts. So the question lawmakers need to have answered is: “Can you force a union to reopen a contract, if the contract has not expired?”

Lawmakers have asked the Malloy administration for legal support for that idea, Williams said. But he declined to offer any more specifics on points of negotiations between the two sides.

Malloy, who has been meeting with stakeholders in the 30 lowest performing school districts to gain support for his proposal, said Friday that the current arbitration process is too lengthy.

“Getting to the point of adopting a turnaround model may require some changes and that needs to be addressed. Arbitration as you know is a very timely process,” Malloy told reporters Friday. “Do I think arbitration is a way to settle that issue? No. But let me be specific. If this bill passes and we’re going to step in and start turning around these schools in September, there’s not enough time to do it the way it’s proposed.”

But Malloy said he doesn’t object to the unions having a role in the process.

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, pointed out that teacher contracts were changed in that city to accommodate the new teacher evaluation process and turnaround school model.

“In some ways New Haven is a model for what we’re going to do at the state level,” Looney said last week.

Malloy, who has been negotiating the legislation with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, said, “In private sessions Democrats and Republicans alike know we need to make change.”

But “Making change is difficult and I’m well cognizant of that fact,” Malloy said. “On the other hand making change is required of us all when it comes to this.”

Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, co-chairman of the Education Committee, said Monday that “discussions are still ongoing,” but he declined further comment.

Last week, CTNewsjunkie obtained a copy of the eight-page summary of a new draft of the legislation being circulated by lawmakers around the Capitol.

Williams said the summary included “many of the changes that were made to the Education Committee bill, but not all the changes.”

Lawmakers are trying to find a solution that makes a difference, Williams said. “Not just something that is, you know, part of the latest education policy fashion or trend, we’ve been down this road before.”

Williams cited the federal No Child Left Behind law, which was supposed to fundamentally change the education system.

“In point of fact, it just created an atmosphere of teaching to the test, branding many schools [as] ‘failing’ when they weren’t failing. Other schools that were failing didn’t get the financial resources that were originally promised,” he said.

Most people agree that No Child Left Behind has been a failure, Williams said. Connecticut lawmakers don’t want to repeat those mistakes and “embrace reform for reform’s sake,” he said.

Williams declined to comment on what sticking points may remain between the governor’s office and lawmakers.

“Obviously, we had some policy disagreements or else we would have passed the governor’s bill right out of the box. These disagreements are fair, reasonable. It’s my expectation that we will have resolved all of those in the not-too-distant future,” he said.

Looney said lawmakers have been able to work with Malloy on a number of issues, so there’s no reason to think the same can’t be accomplished with education.

“We’ve worked in close partnership with a Democratic governor, so we expect to continue to do that on issues that are easy and issues that are hard,” he said.

But the process is frustrating for those on the outside.

“Closed-door negotiations have dominated the process, and no new policy language has publicly emerged for legislators to vet,” Patrick Riccards, CEO of Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, wrote in an email Monday.

“The reality of the ‘Year for Education Reform’ is that we appear no closer to enacting laws to help our school children today than we were at the start of the legislative session,” Riccards said.

The state’s two teacher unions and the teachers that belong to them held a two-day rally outside the Capitol last week to make sure their voices weren’t lost in the debate. Teachers are still concerned about several aspects of the legislation, including how it will impact tenure and certification.

Hugh McQuaid contributed to this report.

Tags: education, teachers, reform, Mark Ojakian, Donald Williams, Martin Looney, Andrew Fleischmann, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, dh

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Horses Being Dumped On Rescue Groups As Economy Pressures Owners To Give Them Up

by Kathleen Kiley | Apr 30, 2012 12:23pm
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Posted to: Agriculture, Town News, Mansfield-Storrs

Mary Tyler Moore recently remarked she’d like to come back as a horse in her next life. Not a good choice, even in Connecticut, which has a reputation for being one of the wealthiest states in the nation. Many horse owners are eliminating the feedbag and basic care so they can feed their families in an economic recovery that fails to bring many along, including the rescue operations that now have way too many mouths to feed and too few funds.

As tens of thousands of Connecticut families still struggle to make ends meet, horse rescue operations in the state have been hit hard by the economic crisis and are fighting an uphill battle trying to save more unwanted and abused horses with a shrinking pool of funds.

Click here to continue reading Kathleen’s report.

Tags: ctwatchdog, kathleen kiley

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OP-ED | News Flash: Teacher Evaluation Proposals Not Extreme At All

by Jennifer Alexander | Apr 30, 2012 11:20am
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Posted to: Opinion

With less than two weeks left in Connecticut’s legislative session, we have yet to see any genuine effort (beyond the governor’s original proposal) to link evaluations to employment decisions. Instead, we hear time and again that this needs to be delayed for further study and that students can wait for reform.  Today’s revelations about bill negotiations and the proposals supported by legislative leaders prove again that they are unwilling to prioritize student learning by making such changes now. The next version of the bill may even gut the hard work conducted so far at the state level to approve a framework for teacher and principal evaluations.

The fact is that many states and large school systems — recognizing that great teachers literally transform kids’ lives — already have built teacher evaluation systems that use student performance data to provide meaningful feedback and to inform important personnel decisions.

The real story status quo defenders don’t want you to hear: 23 states have implemented an evaluation framework similar to the one developed by Connecticut’s Performance Evaluation Advisory Council; 19 states use teacher evaluation results to inform dismissal decisions, and; 11 states link tenure to evaluation results.

Indeed, the proposals in the original Senate Bill 24 to link teacher evaluation results with staffing decisions are not untested, scary science experiments — not at all.

Connecticut doesn’t need to re-invent the wheel. ConnCAN, in partnership with 50CAN and Public Impact, is finalizing a study of 10 leading evaluation systems that guide the performance of more than 120,000 educators in 3,135 schools serving more than 1.7 million students. These 10 sites — five districts, three states, one charter management organization, and one graduate school of education — have implemented these changes without any of the hyperbolic consequences predicted by those in Connecticut who seek to water down reform. Teachers aren’t leaving these systems in droves, either by choice or because of arbitrary administrator decisions. In fact, many teachers are improving their craft through the meaningful feedback and training they have received as a result of these evaluations.

How do the reforms proposed in the original version of Senate Bill 24 compare to these systems? Every one of these systems weights student achievement at 40 to 55 percent of a teacher’s final evaluation rating, with some systems devoting the entire weight to student growth on statewide standardized tests. By contrast, only half of the 45 percent weight for student performance in Connecticut’s evaluation system would be based on results from the CMT or CAPT test for teachers in tested grades and subjects.

In all of these systems, evaluation results actually count for something, ranging from informing a teacher’s professional development to dismissal, pay, and tenure status. Seven sites connect evaluation results to pay or increased responsibility. Three connect results to certification. Eight sites connect results to dismissal or tenure status.

Those fighting to protect the status quo want you to believe that the original S.B. 24 proposed something truly radical, but the fact is that we are just now getting with the program. To be sure, this work involves complex decisions about design and implementation. It is difficult, but essential, work. It can be done, as demonstrated by the 10 systems in our forthcoming study and by other states and large school systems nationwide.

We owe it to our students to act as quickly as possible to bring those lessons to Connecticut. The time for study has passed. The clock is ticking and the time for action is now. We must not let fear or uncertainty stand in the way of doing what we know is right for students.

Jennifer Alexander is the vice president of research and partnerships at ConnCAN, a statewide education reform advocacy organization. The ConnCAN/50CAN/Public Impact study of 10 leading teacher evaluation systems will be released in June.

Tags: teacher evaluation, tenure, SB 24, ConnCAN, reform, Jennifer Alexander, dh

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‘Average Working Class Citizen’ Makes His Pitch For The U.S. Senate

by Scott Benjamin | Apr 30, 2012 5:30am
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012, Town News, East Hartford

U.S. Senate candidate Matthew Oakes, a Democrat from East Hartford, said he represents “the average working class citizen.”

“I don’t think that any of the top three candidates for the Democratic nomination represent the average person,” he said. “I think the voters are disillusioned with them.”

Oakes, 38, who is disabled and living on Social Security, said former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy of Cheshire, and state Rep. William Tong of Stamford are attorneys who are attached to the special interest groups who have made contributions to their campaigns.

Murphy, who has been in Congress for six years, leads the fundraising with $4,247,648 through Mar. 31.

In contrast, Oakes said last week that he has only $207 in contributions and his campaign relies on himself and volunteers canvassing door-to-door.

“I think if you had public funding of campaigns, you would see very different legislation,” Oakes said. “The politicians would act differently if they were beholden to the public instead of the people they get their money from.”

Lois Petrolito of Hartford says she has known Oakes since he was a youngster.

“He’s one of us,” Petrolito said. “He tells it like it is.”

Oakes says he has worked hard throughout his life.

“Things haven’t come easily to me,” Oakes said.

At the urging of some of his teachers at Hartford Public High School, from which he graduated in 1992, Oakes said he began working in soup kitchens while in his teens.

“It got me energized to help people who are in the worst case,” Oakes said.

After attending Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island for two years, he worked in production for Kodak and then Fuji film in the Hartford area.

Later, while working in sales at Family Dollar in Manchester, Oakes stopped at a going-away party in Hartford one night before delivering a bank deposit. After leaving the party, he was mugged by four assailants, who broke one of his legs in three places and caused other injuries, leaving him permanently disabled.

“I’m in constant pain,” Oakes, who walks with a cane, said. “It’s a constant struggle.”

He lives with his mother, Debra, in East Hartford, and has devoted much of his time to raising money for the Gay/Lesbian Center in Hartford and for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease research.

Oakes said that since he’s made many friends through his volunteer work and has an avid interest in government, he decided late last year to run for the U.S. Senate.

He said some Democratic Town Committees have refused to allow him to speak and it wasn’t until last week that he was able to obtain a list of all of the delegates to next month’s state convention.

Oakes said that two months ago, after the Brookfield Democrats became the first town committee to schedule him, he postponed an appearance to be interviewed on WFSB’s Face The State so he could make that engagement.

“We want to be hospitable,” Robert Marconi, a former congressional candidate and a member of the Brookfield Democratic Town Committee, said.

“I think most of our delegates will go to Chris Murphy and maybe one or two to Susan Bysiewicz, but it is important to hear all the candidates,” he said. “In Matthew’s case, we agree with him on many of the issues, but he doesn’t have the experience that the other candidates have.”

The reality of the situation isn’t lost on Oakes, a newcomer to politics.

“It’s as if some of the town committees already have determined that Chris Murphy is the frontrunner,” Oakes said.

In addition to Murphy’s fundraising advantage, last month’s Quinnipiac Poll indicated that he would defeat the other contenders in the primary and is ahead of the top Republican candidates in the general election.

Oakes said his campaign volunteer list has grown since he appeared in three televised debates in the last month.

He and his volunteers have been canvassing Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury, Danbury, and Manchester over recent months.

“It’s not just my friends, but even the reporters said that I was more confident as we went through the debates,” Oakes said. “In particular, I got a boost of confidence in the Fox CT debate since it was live and there was an audience.”

He had not been included in earlier debates in Norwich and Mansfield.

Oakes said if he doesn’t capture at least the 15 percent of the delegates at the Democratic state convention to qualify for the Aug. 14 primary, he will try to collect enough signatures to get on that ballot.

He said depending on how party treats him over the coming weeks, he also might consider running as an independent candidate in the fall if he fails to win the primary.

Oakes said that although he supports some of President Barack Obama’s programs, former President Bill Clinton is his role model.

“I’m down the middle about Obama,” he said. “He’s been less successful than Clinton.”

“Clinton was the J.F.K. of our era,” Oakes said. “He is more charismatic than Obama and for a while he was able to work with a Republican Congress to reach important bipartisan compromises. There was less interparty warfare in the mid-1990’s.”

Oakes said that, like Clinton, he is a fiscal moderate.

“We’re going to have to make spending cuts and make sacrifices over the coming years to reduce the budget deficit,” he said. “That may mean cutting back on the defense budget, which has increased 70 percent since 2001.”

Oakes said he supports re-establishing the Pay-Go budget controls, which require that tax cuts be offset by spending reductions. That legislation lapsed about 10 years ago.

He said Congress also should bring back the Glass-Steagall Act, which required banks to separate their commercial and investment portfolios.

Critics have said the repeal of that legislation, which Clinton signed in 1999, turned the banks into casinos and was one of the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

The economy is one of the issues Oakes hears about the most.

“As I go door-to-door, most people are concerned about what the future holds for their children and about the economy,” Oakes said.

“I see a lot of people on the streets of Hartford just hanging around,” he said. “I think a lot of it has to do with the economy.”

He said Obama should have aggressively addressed the housing crisis immediately after he signed the $787 billion stimulus package in early 2009.

Oakes said that most homeowners facing foreclosure or who have negative equity in their homes aren’t spending money on cars or appliances, which has slowed the economic recovery.

He said his family’s house has declined in value from $124,000 to $81,500 during the recession.

“We would have to miss three payments before we qualify for the federal program,” Oakes said.

“Why can’t you qualify if it has been identified that you are under water?” he said. “It doesn’t help the average voter. You shouldn’t have to go into bad credit to get help.”

Tags: Matthew Oakes, U.S. Senate, Democrats, East Hartford, economy, fundraising, Scott Benjamin, dh

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OP-ED | HB 5419 – Protecting Financial Lifelines with Sensible Regulations

by Eric Schuller | Apr 29, 2012 11:22pm
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Posted to: Opinion

Let’s set the record straight —HB 5419 — has NOTHING and I do mean NOTHING to do with funding of lawsuits. HB 5419 sets in place a set of guidelines that Consumer Legal Funding companies have to follow in Connecticut. It puts into place a clear structure, so that consumers know exactly what kind of funding agreement they are entering. The bill also creates a registration process with the state so that consumers know that they are dealing with reputable companies in the first place.

As Mr. Tony Sheridan notes in his op-ed, the traditional mission for a chamber of commerce is to promote the business community. And in Connecticut that often means the interests of the largest and most profitable insurance companies in the United States. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with that mission, but when chamber leaders like Mr. Sheridan start picking “winners and losers” in enterprise, you have to wonder about their real motivations.

This is why I find it interesting that Mr. Sheridan has openly attacked the Consumer Legal Funding industry. Consumer Legal Funding provides a valuable service to working-class Americans trying to survive a financial storm that is threatening to drown them in debt. They are often family members and your neighbor who are waiting, sometimes for years, to settle on an insurance claim while they are hurt or unable to work.

So why is the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce worried about a consumer getting a few hundred dollars to help pay for their mortgage, rent, or just put food on the table while they wait for the insurance company to determine what they deserve. It is called the “bottom line.”

The fact of the matter is Consumer Legal Funding is a financial lifeline for consumers and the insurance companies and their deep-pocketed lobbyists, want nothing more than to cut that lifeline as quickly as possible.

The real reason that chamber leaders do not want this bill to pass is so that the big insurance companies can continue to take advantage of the consumer, who by no fault of their own, gets thrust into a situation where they need to file a claim process. The insurance companies would like to string the consumer along and drag out the claim so that the consumers are so desperate that they have no choice but to settle prematurely.

Consumer Legal Funding gives the consumer the opportunity to stay afloat, to say to the big insurance company, “I do not have to take pennies on the dollar.” Like in the case of Tim Hilliker, who was injured in an explosion at the Middletown Clean Energy Plant and was hospitalized and unable to work. As Mr. Hiliker’s enormous medical bills began to pile up, his family was forced to burn through their savings and then sold many of the belongings in a painful attempt to make ends meet.

In testimony recently provided by Mr. Hiliker in Hartford, Tim recounted how he eventually turned to consumer legal funding to help keep his home and family together while he received medical care and waited for his settlement case to be properly resolved. Without the financial assistance he received from Consumer Legal Funding, Mr. Hiliker believes he and his family would have been homeless and broken apart.

HB 5419 is a sensible piece of legislation that will allow consumers, like Mr. Hiliker, to continue to have a lifeline when their lives are being thrown into chaos by the big insurance companies. Chamber leaders like Mr. Sheridan should recognize that and better evaluate how business can genuinely protect Connecticut’s consumers rather than take advantage of them.

State legislators need to vote “YES” on HB 5419 and help protect financially vulnerable consumers rather than the profit margins of big insurance companies.

Eric Schuller is the executive director of Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding.

Tags: lawsuit lending, Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, Eric Schuller, dh

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OP-ED | Fix The Remedial Education System

by Liz Dupont-Diehl | Apr 29, 2012 11:14pm
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Posted to: Opinion

In 100 years of fighting poverty, the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) has seen again and again that a good education throughout one’s life is critical to family economic success.

CAHS produces research to drive advocacy and draws attention to the “developmental achievement gap,” in which thousands of students now graduate from high school without the skills to succeed in college or compete in the job market.

Some 60 percent of high-school graduates entering community colleges need remedial education, and most of those fail to graduate or gain a degree. Inside Higher Ed reports that “Students typically pay tuition for remedial courses that do not come with credit. Even worse, only one in four students in remedial classes will eventually earn a degree from a community college or transfer to a four-year college.

A bill before the legislature, SB 40, would end remedial education at state colleges and let all students who are admitted enroll in credit-bearing classes, with embedded support, after taking an initial intensive remedial and skills course.

Many are objecting to the plan, saying that students with very low skills, and others with family or work obligations, won’t succeed under the plan.

But they are not succeeding now. Consider the current state of affairs. Seventy-five percent of students taking part in remedial education classes that cost them money but offer no credit wind up dropping out of the system. They have incurred debt and remain stuck in the same low-wage jobs. So do their families.

While some students with devoted teachers no doubt do well under the current system, far too many do not.

Research shows, and pilots in Connecticut are proving, that several methods are known to yield better results: combining remedial instruction in the context of a student’s interest area such as auto mechanics, “chunking” material into blocks of time shorter than a typical semester, providing needed support services and judicious use of proven online learning are all options. These have all proven their effectiveness and should be the building blocks of our system. These are educational strategies which the community colleges are already using in pilot efforts; reform constructed under SB40 should include remedial course delivery methods that have proven effective across the country.

Of course any new system should be carefully crafted, and the bill’s timeline of 2014 implementation allows time for this planning and design to occur. It can also allow for the important inclusion of the workforce development and adult education systems – which are serving many of the same students, with the same needs and goals.

This bill also requires an important step to reach back and reduce the need for remediation by requiring high school students be assessed for college readiness, and helped in time if they do not measure up. This is a key component of successful pilot programs and will help public schools be more successful in the future.

We can’t consign thousands of adult learners to a system that is not working for them just because change is uncomfortable. We know what kind of programs work – and we know the current system does not work. Let’s design a system that will let thousands of adults get the education they need to contribute to our economy and their families.

Liz Dupont-Diehl, is the policy director of the CT Association for Human Services

Tags: Connecticut Association for Human Services, remedial education, Liz Dupont-Diehl, graduates, dh

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