Capitol Watch Blog

CBIA's Dour View Of The Session

May 12, 2008 1:42 PM EDT

The Connecticut Business and Industry Association is not bullish on the General Assembly.

In the group's end-of-session review, it expressed exasperation at a failed attempt to mandate paid sick leaves in a bad economy, as well as a health-care insurance pooling bill that Gov. M. Jodi Rell is expected to veto.

Unfortunately, there is a growing anti-business tone at the Capitol. For example, when addressing business concerns, some lawmakers are turning to state employee unions and other groups that do not represent the best interests of Connecticut businesses. State public-sector unions pushed a bill to open the state health care plan to municipalities and small businesses, paving the way for a state-run, single-payer health care system in Connecticut.

CBIA clearly is spooked by the prospect of House Majority Leader Christopher G. Donovan, who has close ties to organized labor, taking over as speaker next January, when Speaker James A. Amann leaves the legislature.

In a tough economy, lawmakers should strengthen the economy, not weaken it. CBIA applauds the governor, Republican leaders, House Speaker and those legislators who opposed efforts to discourage investment, slow economic growth and reduce job creation in Connecticut.

Republicans are expected to use a supposed -pro-labor tilt in the House as a campaign issue. Meanwhile, Connecticut Working Families, a coalition of labor unions and activists, will continue to paid-sick leave as an issue as they try to elect more sympathetic Democrats.

Dodd Tells Russert: Hillary To Make 'Right Choice'

May 11, 2008 10:16 PM EDT

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., told Tim Russert this morning that everyone should give Hillary Clinton a little space after last week's loss in North Carolina, which seemed to seal the deal for Barack Obama.

Give her a chance to breathe, to settle down, to recognize what's going on here. She'll make the right choice.

I know her pretty well. She loves this party, as I said, and she loves this country. And she's not about to allow another term of George Bush in the name of John McCain, who's embraced basically the Bush policies on economics, on foreign policy. The country wants a very different direction and I have every confidence that she's going to be as strong a supporter of Barack Obama as anyone would be when it comes to this November election.

For those of you whose Mother Day did not include parking yourself in front of the tube, here is the full transcript.

Cafero-Caruso: The Altercation Over Legislation

May 10, 2008 2:36 AM EDT

Veteran politicians like to reminisce about their old battles against the worthy opposition, with a fond and faraway look in their eyes, and it often goes like this: "I remember how we'd beat each other's brains out in the House all day, and then we'd go out and have a beer together that night."

The thing about it is that, really, it's often not true on both counts: First, they didn't really beat each other's brains out. They did some verbal sparring - but nothing too savage, because legislative collegiality outweighed political differences. Second, they probably had more than a beer together - maybe three beers, maybe something stronger - and stayed at the bar for a good long time.

That's because the truth is, they actually liked each other.

But every so often a couple of political antagonists leave aside any niceties, step out, and absolutely pound at one another like two boxers whose professional rivalry spills into personal enmity.

It was that way in the ring with Ali and Frazier during their legendary epoch three decades ago, culminating in their Thrilla In Manila on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 1975. And it is that way now in the Connecticut House with Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, (pictured at left) and Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport, (shown at right), who reached fever pitch in their Altercation Over Legislation on Thursday, May 8, 2008.

It was strictly verbal, but it was a spectacle of force far surpassing the usual rhetorical give-and-take.

Cafero opened the hostilities during an end-of-the-legislative-session press conference Thursday by Republicans at the state Capitol complex in Hartford. They bemoaned the legislature's failure, for still another year, to pass a major ethics bill before adjourning its three-month 2008 session at midnight on Wednesday. The ethics bill's biggest provision would have revoked or reduced the pensions of officials and employees, at the state and municipal levels, who are convicted on corruption charges.

Cafero stood at the microphone in a hearing room of the Legislative Office Building and, when asked by a reporter why the ethics bill had failed, he said, "Very simple: one man, Chris Caruso."

Later, Caruso responded: "It just gets so old, listening to the choir of angels led by Saint Larry."

Environmentalists Happy With Session

May 9, 2008 6:14 PM EDT

Like a teacher pleased at the end of the semester, the Connecticut Fund For the Environment is giving the legislature a "B'' for the just-finished General Assembly session.

Environmentalist were happy with the passage of the global warming bill, which was clearly a high point of the year, and the blockage of the Broadwater proposal that many considered a looming environmental disaster for Long Island Sound.

But a low point was the failure of the legislature to allocate about $5 million for stricter enforcement of polluters that the budget-writing appropriations committee had recommended for the next fiscal year. Instead, Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Democrats who control both chambers of the legislature decided to scrap the work of the appropriations committee and instead maintain the second year of the two-year budget that had been passed last year.

"This was a great disappointment,'' said Roger Reynolds, a staff attorney for the CFE. "Situations such as the Atlantic Wire acid dumping and the subsequent die-off of hundreds of crabs in Branford Harbor in 2007 are preventable. The DEP needs the resources to investigate allegations of industrial pollution and enforce the laws meant to keep Connecticut safe from these disasters.''

Rep. Donovan, Sen. Kissel on CPTV This Week; Gov. Rell As Steve Kotchko's Guest Next Week

May 9, 2008 1:40 PM EDT

House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan of Meriden and Sen. John Kissel of Enfield are the two main guests this weekend on Connecticut Public Television's "On The Record.''

The program, taped Friday morning at the CPTV studios in Hartford, includes a wrap-up of the just-completed General Assembly session. The two lawmakers discuss the failure of the ethics bill, along with the failure to take action on the extension of the real estate conveyance tax.

"I don't support it,'' Kissel said, referring to the conveyance levy as "a regressive tax.''

Top legislative leaders say they will call a special session to vote on the extension of the increase in the conveyance tax, which was installed as a temporary tax in 2003 under then-Gov. John G. Rowland and has been extended three times. The tax has prompted a months-long, pitched battle between the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the state's Realtors.

The show, hosted by veteran Capitol reporter Steve Kotchko, airs at 9 p.m. tonight, as well as 10:30 a.m. Sunday and 11 p.m. Monday, as well as the weekly Sunday night re-play at 10:20 p.m. on the CT-N network.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is scheduled as the guest next week - to be aired on Friday, May 16 - in the show's season finale.

"Beyond The Headlines'' is still on hiatus because host Shelly Sindland had surgery related to her recent pregnancy and is not expected to return until late June. The replays on CT-N start at 8:53 p.m. Sunday this week, after the weekly Capitol Report that runs for 53 minutes, according to the latest CT-N schedule.

Ethics Bill Could Come Up in Special Session

May 8, 2008 7:17 PM EDT

From the state Capitol, Jon Lender issued the following dispatch after the annual end-of-session news conferences on Thursday:

The much-debated ethics bill is not dead yet.

Both House Speaker James Amann and Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams said Thursday that they believe the ethics bill can be revived during an upcoming special session -- but only if a so-far-elusive settlement can be reached in advance by House and Senate leaders on language under which the pension of a public official or employee can be revoked if he or she is convicted on a corruption charge.

The two chambers passed conflicting versions of the bill in recent weeks, and midnight arrived on Wednesday without the House acting on the most recent Senate-approved version of the bill -- so it died.

The House could have sent the measure to a conference committee where the differences may have been resolved. But, for that to happen, House members would have needed first to re-attach an amendment to the bill that Senators had stripped from it last week -- and Amann conceded Thursday that Democratic leaders were unsure that they had enough votes to do that. That, he acknowledged, was part of the reason it was never brought up on the floor on the final day.

The House Democrats' version of the bill said elected and appointed officials' pensions could be revoked outright by a judge. But their amendment incorporated state and municipal employee unions' argument that the pensions of unionized employees could only be reduced, not revoked. They said that under collective bargaining agreements, the unionized employees own their pensions -- so, while it would be illegal to take an employee's pension away, it would be all right to reduce that pension in the amount of any fines, restitution or incarceration costs associated with a corruption conviction.

Senate Democrats disregarded that distinction between officials and employees in their version of the bill. They said that if a unionized employee didn't like seeing his pension revoked, he could challenge it in court -- and they noted that in other states, such challenges to pension-revocation laws have failed.

The Senate's co-chairwoman of the legislative committee that handles ethics, Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said she thought the House's committee co-chairman, Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport, had been blocking the bill as it sat on the calendar all Wednesday. Caruso said the decision on whether to bring the bill up was House leaders', not his.

Williams noted that the Senate's approval of its version was unanimous, and that the governor has said she would sign it.

Amann said that on Wednesday, House leaders had tried "on three or four occasions to try to get compromise with the Senate" with no luck, but he hopes differences can be resolved before the special session. He said both versions "were very good bills. There is a difference of opinion ... on the union [part of it] and hopefully we can come back in special session and work on it."

Nania Concedes GOP Nomination to Cappiello

May 8, 2008 6:16 PM EDT

The state Republican Party announced today that Anthony Nania, who had never quite committed to running in the 5th Congressional District, is definitely out and backing the presumptive nominee, state Sen. David Cappiello.

Cappiello has had problems with some conservative Republicans in the district, especially those who are friendly with Louis C. DeLuca, the former Senate minority leader. Cappiello was deemed insufficiently loyal when DeLuca was forced to resign.

Nania had been exploring whether he could translate the disconcent into a successful primary challenge. But the party establishment had lined up behind Cappiello, leaving Nania's exploratory effort short on cash. President Bush was here recently for Cappiello.

Cappiello is challenging the freshman Democrat, Chris Murphy. Cappiello's nominating convention is Saturday.

A Quick, Concise Summary Of The 2008 Session

May 8, 2008 5:19 PM EDT

Here is the day-after spin from the Democrats and Republicans at the General Assembly.

The Senate Democrats summarized the session as "Protecting Connecticut In Difficult Times.

The House Democrats pitched what went down as "A Balanced, Responsible Approach." (Sorry, their 42-page report is not on line yet.)

The House and Senate Republicans combined on a two-page press release: "Republicans: Democrats 'Ran Out The Clock' On Taxpayers." (No hyperlink.)

There you have it.

Enjoy the summer.

The Annual Collapse of the Ethics Bill

May 8, 2008 3:03 AM EDT

The demolitions of buildings that you see on TV, where dynamited structures implode into plumes of their own dust, are as graceful as the Bolshoi ballet compared with the collapse of the ethics reform bill of 2008.

After still another year of high-minded talk about responding to a decade of political scandals, the House and Senate again could not agree when it came to going beyond press conferences and actually doing something. This time, the unsolvable problem was how to settle differences on a bill to revoke or reduce the pensions of officials and employees, at both the state and municipal levels, who are convicted of corruption charges.

The two chambers passed conflicting versions of the bill in recent weeks -- and Tuesday and Wednesday ticked away in the House without action that could have sent the measure to a conference committee where the differences may have been resolved.

In the hours approaching the General Assembly's midnight adjournment Wednesday, legislative committee leaders launched bitter, recriminatory pronouncements at one another from the House and Senate chambers.

"I don't think the Senate ever wanted pension revocation," said Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport, the House co-chairman of the legislative committee dealing with ethics. "That's why they never negotiated with me or the Speaker on it before passing their bill. They just said, 'Here it is -- swallow it,' and they knew we couldn't do that."

The Democrats who control the House said elected and appointed officials' pensions could be revoked outright by a judge. But they agreed to state and municipal employee unions' demand that the pensions of unionized employees could only be reduced, not revoked. They said that under collective bargaining agreements, the unionized employees own their pensions -- so, while it would be illegal to take an employee's pension away, it would be all right to reduce that pension in the amount of any fines, restitution or incarceration costs associated with a corruption conviction.

Senate Democrats disregarded that distinction between officials and employees. They said if a unionized employee didn't like seeing his pension revoked, let him challenge it in court -- and they noted that in other states, such challenges to pension-revocation laws have failed.

Caruso's Senate counterpart on the legislative committee, co-chairwoman Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said late Wednesday night that she thought Caruso had been "blocking it" as the Senate-approved bill sat on the House calendar Tuesday and Wednesday without action. Caruso said the decision on whether to bring the bill up was House leaders', not his.

"Well, let's just say he's been less than helpful," Slossberg said of Caruso, adding: "Everyone else in this building is waiting for this bill to pass the House chamber, and the governor is poised and ready to sign it."

At the end, the legislative contenders appeared weary and glum. They said they were looking toward the prospect of an upcoming special legislative session -- which would last a day, or perhaps days -- as the occasion at which they might reach a resolution that they were unable to find in three months.

More sprightly than the grim lawmakers was a smiling little knot of state employee union representatives, who had been standing not far from the House chamber most of Wednesday night.

Lost in the wreckage of the bill's headline-grabbing provisions on pension revocation were a number of less-publicized ethics reforms.

One of them has been proposed repeatedly in recent years, each time falling flat in the collapse of an ethics bill resulting from a dispute over some other issue. It would ban legislative and gubernatorial chiefs of staff from soliciting campaign contributions -- a ban that politicians in both the legislative and excutive branches have never been eager to enact, but have been pushed toward by the pressure of public scandal.

The impetus for the ban was a 2005 scandal resulting from the disclosure that Rell's chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, had summoned top Rell appointees, including state commissioners, to the Capitol -- handing them invitations to distribute at their agencies for a Rell campaign fund-raising event at the Marco Polo restaurant in East Hartford.

The Marco Polo affair spawned legislative investigative hearings in 2006 that raised questions not only about Moody and other top Rell administration figures, but also about officials who are supposed to act as watchdogs of those in power. Lawmakers emerged from those hearings with resolute words about rectifying policies and passing laws to prevent a recurrence.

But the so-called "Moody provision" has died again -- and on Wednesday, a couple of years after it was brought up, no one was talking about it anymore.

Amann's Highlights Of The Year

May 7, 2008 11:12 PM EDT

While there are many opinions over whether the 2008 legislative session was a success, House Speaker James Amann says it was.

"If we did one thing, we didn't raise taxes, and we're able to tailgate,'' Amann said. "No new taxes and tailgating. The highlights of the year.''

Amann was referring to the defeat of the "open container'' bill Tuesday, which was pulled after nearly 5 hours of debate on the House floor. Some lawmakers had feared that a new law could potentially cause problems at University of Connecticut football games because fans often have open containers in their cars. When questions were also raised about the impact on games at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, the bill was withdrawn and killed for the year.

Best Dressed Legislators, Lobbyists At The Capitol

May 7, 2008 10:11 PM EDT

On the final day of the legislative session, compliments are passed out from the floor of the House of Representatives for the best-dressed legislators and staff members at the Capitol.

The following are among this year's winners:

Best Dressed Male Legislator----House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk

Best Dressed Female Legislators--House GOP deputy leader Themis Klarides and Sen. Edith Prague

Best Dressed Female Staffer---Sarah Kolb of the judiciary committee

Best Dressed Male Lobbyist----Eric J. George, associate counsel of CBIA

Best Dressed Female Lobbyist----Nicole Griffin, former staffer for Governors John G. Rowland and M. Jodi Rell

Senate President Pro Tem Don Williams noted Prague's sartorial accolade on the Senate floor, saying, "She made the blog as best-dressed legislator. ... I'm sure her clothing was not made in sweatshops by non-unionized labor!''

Some have argued that West Hartford's very own Patrick McCabe would be on anybody's best-dressed list among lobbyists, but it wasn't meant to be this year.

No awards were given for Best Dressed Member of the Capitol Press Corps, but then again, there wasn't much competition.

Bill to Reform Magistrate Appointments Dies; Oliveira Safe from Lawmakers

May 7, 2008 8:12 PM EDT

A legislative controversy - which ignited after Gov. M. Jodi Rell's appointment early this year of a Republican activist from Old Lyme as a $121,615-a-year family support magistrate - died quietly Wednesday when the House failed to take up a Senate-approved reform bill.

The bill, which died on the legislative session's chaotic final day, would have required Christopher Oliveira and the state's eight other magistrates to retroactively undergo the same legislative confirmation process as judges. Up to now, the magistrates have been appointed directly by the governor, with no confirmation process.

The magistrates hear cases in state courthouses involving paternity, as well as child and spousal support for thousands of single mothers.

That gubernatorial appointment of magistrates, without legislative confirmation, is now widely viewed as "an anachronism" - a view prompted, in part, by recent news stories about the heavy emphasis on political experience in Oliveira's resume and his relative lack of experience as a practicing lawyer serving clients.

A combination of factors bogged down the measure in the House after the Senate approved it April 23 over Republican protests. A big factor was that lawmakers in both parties were worried about protecting existing magistrates, other than Oliveira. Under the judicial confirmation process, retroactive scrutiny would have involved intensive background checks, legislative judiciary committee hearings and approval by both the House and Senate.

Even though Democrats spearheaded the bill in the Senate, there was resistance in the House Democratic caucus from Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who was concerned about one of her constituents, the chief magistrate among the nine, Sandra Sosnoff Baird of New Haven, who had served previously as a Democratic legislative staff lawyer.

Dillon spoke to House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, of her concerns about bringing up the Senate bill in the House. It failed to pick up any steam in there, and Wednesday's conclusion had long seemed inevitable.

To retroactively confirm the magistrates, the bill would have terminated all of their now-staggered three-year terms on June 30. Then, according to the bill, they all would have had to be reappointed by the governor and go through legislative confirmation hearings and votes.

Dillon said she was worried that all of them "will now be dragged through the mud" - when she said "it's about one of the nine, not the other eight caught up in this."

The Long Good-Byes. Really Long.

May 7, 2008 3:44 PM EDT

With the clocking running toward a midnight adjournment, the Senate might actually begin debating its first bill today by 3 p.m.

The House spent the morning making its good-byes to departing legislators. The Senate did the same this afternoon, giving over the chamber for more than 90 minutes to send off Sen. Judith Freedman, R-Westport.

Then they moved on to praising their interns.

Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said such farewells are traditional. He had no comment on how devoting so much time to good-byes might appear to the public.

After working until 2 a.m. the previous night, the Senate did not come in until after noon.

Get Ready For A Special Session

May 7, 2008 1:53 PM EDT

The clock on the regular 2008 session doesn't run out until midnight, but the Senate already is making plans to return for a special session.

Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Willliams Jr., D-Brooklyn, told reporters today that legislators will return in special session to reauthorize the real-estate conveyance tax before the new fiscal year begins July 1.

Without legislative action, municipalities will lose $40 million in revenue from the expiration of the conveyance tax.

Williams said he would like to act on the measure before the regular session ends at midnight tonight, but he said Republicans have threatened to filibuster if the bill is debated. Realtors have been trying to kill the tax, which they call an unfair burden on residents who sell their homes.

The Senate's priority today will be final legislative action on a mortgage-relief bill for homeowners burdened by sub-prime mortages, he said.

A Day For Farewells

May 7, 2008 12:52 PM EDT

A week after falling short in the race for House majority leader, Rep. Michael A. Christ, D-East Hartford, told his colleagues this morning he would not be returning next year.

Christ, 46, who was elected to the House in 1994, was a key deputy to House Majority Leader Christoher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, over the past four years.

He recently conceded the race to become the next majority majority leader to Rep. Denise Merrill of Mansfield. She was the first to embrace him after he briefly addressed the House, thanking both sides of the aisle for their friendship.

Donovan is set to succeed House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, who is not seeking re-election.

Rep. Chris Stone, D-East Hartford, who also is leaving the House at the conclusion of this term, offered his goodbyes, an election-year ritual on the last day of the legislative session.

Christ laughingly told colleagues that the other East Hartford legislator, Rep. Henry Genga, a Democrat elected in 2006, better not retire.

"In two short speeches he's become the dean of the East Hartford delegation," Christ said.

Stone had told friends he was leaving, but Christ's announcement was a surprise to many.

"It's an emotional day. And it's got more emotional," said Rep. Leonard Greene, R-Beacon Falls, who also not running.

Rep. Chris Caruso, D-Bridgeport, lightened the mood. Caruso, a sometimes controversial figure who often clashes with colleagues, rose to announce that he was staying.

"People watching at home are getting nervous. They are all leaving the chamber one by one," Amann said.

"Mr. Speaker, you say that like it's a bad thing," said Rep. Michael A. Caron, R-Danielson.

Caron, a legislator since 1991, also is stepping down.

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, mentioned the string of sad announcements.

"We have the sad news from Rep. Christ. We have the sad news from Rep. Stone," Cafero said. "We have the sad news from Rep. Caruso..."

Rep. Julia B. Wasserman, R-Newtown, declined to make a formal farewell after Cafero lauded her years of service. Wasserman, who turned 84 last month, is retiring.

Instead of a tribute, she asked her colleagues to pass a bill suggested by the Program Review and Investigations Committee. It's not controversial, she said.

"No money. Nothing. Take three minutes."

She was roundly applauded.