Sept. 17, 2009

Has Plenty of Time to Win Re-election Bid Amid Hodgepodge of Republican Field

The latest Quinnipiac poll has some encouraging numbers for incumbent US Senator Christopher Dodd. His 43% job approval rating, although still low in and of itself,  is climbing and is his best in the last six months. The Dodd camp must be pleased that with the election more than a year away, he continues to trend up. He is also bringing down his negatives, another positive sign for the 30-year incumbent.

It should not be forgotten that Dodd seems to redeeming himself with the people of Connecticut on the heels of problems and scandals that would have sunk a lesser man, including allegations that he received a VIP mortgage from the notorious Countrywide Financial company and his apparent flip-flopping on whether he signed off on huge bonuses for AIG executives.  That’s not to say these problems couldn’t resurface in a general election. How his leadership on the issue of healthcare reform will play out remains to be seen but his decision not to take over Se. Edward M. Kennedy’s leadership position is generally seen as a good move.

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State Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy is likely wishing the GOP could fast-forward to the general election for US Senate. How does he react to the news that now former-World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon is now in the race for the Republican nomination? It seems the boilerplate, “We clearly have a number of qualified candidates from which to choose” doesn’t cut it here. Mrs. McMahon could be a combination of Hillary Clinton, Linda Chavez, Eva Peron and Margaret Thatcher and she still won’t shake that WWE video making the rounds that has Simmons, Caligiuri, Foley and Schiff crossing their collective legs. No word on whether Massachusetts favorite son Killer Kowalski jumps in the race to succeed Ted Kennedy. Alas, Killer passed on last year (although his wresting academy thrives in Malden, MA).

–Patrick Scully, Wethersfield

Sept. 16, 2009

For the second consecutive time, Governor Rell’s approval ratings have dipped in a Quinnipiac University poll, to a record-low 59%.  Don’t be fooled by the poll-interpreters/Rell cheerleaders who will tell you the 59% is still a monstrous number that any politician would love to have. The fact is, more than a year out from the 2010 gubernatorial election, it’s the trend that matters, not the number. The governor has now trended down in the last two polls.

The governor has been a bit coy about whether she will run again but she can’t help but be moved to choose the grandchildren over dealing with the legislature. The latest poll shows 56% the people in the state think she “copped out” by walking away from the latest budget deal and allowing it to become law.

No amount of spin from the governor’s office will persuade the public that the governor “made some choices she knew would not make everyone happy. That’s leadership,” as we’re told by the governor’s press aide Rich Harris. Huh? In fact, walking away from the final budget is the exact opposite of leadership. Core beliefs and tough decisions are anathema to this governor and may lead her to decide she’s had enough.

The state legislature’s numbers are again pathetically low but less can be concluded from them. Not unlike the US Congress, may people have negative views of the General Assembly but are pleased with their own representative or senator.  We’ll see.

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Sixteen days late and only after questioning from some state lawmakers, advocates and the media, the state’s strategic economic development plan was released by the governor’s office.  The General Assembly passed a law two years requiring the governor’s office produce the document through the state Office of Economic and Community Development (DECD). DECD commissioner Joan McDonald recently wrote, “The quality of the final report is of much greater importance to the state and its taxpayers than the due dates outlined in the law.” Use that one on your boss the next time you have a report due that is two and half weeks late.

State Sen. Gary LeBeau, co-chair of the Commerce Committee, plans to hold hearings on the plan that he calls a “Smörgåsbord” of ideas.

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P.T. Barnum would love this. Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, is running for Republican nomination for the US Senate seat currently held by Sen. Christopher Dodd. It gives new meaning to the idea that money and exposure are keys to winning campaigns. Will people really vote for someone whose major accomplishments should never been seen by    children under 16?  Then again, think Jesse “The Body” Ventura.
–Patrick Scully, Wethersfield

The state is waiting anxiously to see if World Wrestling Federation CEO Linda McMahon will fly off the top rope and into the ring for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate seat currently held by Christopher Dodd. The well-respected Hill newspaper is quoting an unnamed GOP insider as saying there is a 99% chance that she gets in. That would put her up against former US Rep. Rob Simmons, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, former US Ambassador Tom Foley and possibly, broker and crystal-ballist Peter Schiff.

It makes one wonder just what the qualifications for office are now. Al Franken? Curt Schilling? (sorry—Red Sox Nation is smart enough to know the difference between a bloody-socked playoff and World Series hero and a replacement for Ted Kennedy). Did Ambassador Foley’s time in Ireland prepare him for the Irish-Whip-to-the Ropes- Smackdown Mrs. McMahon might lay on him?

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The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities is looking for relief from unfunded state mandates imposed upon members by the state legislature in the latest two-year budget that recently became law when the governor refused to sign or veto it. The Hartford Courant quotes the very capable Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman as saying despite substantial cost cutting, cities and towns can’t keep up wit the latest laws passed by the state. Two mandates mentioned are the “in-school suspension centers” and raising required to be tried as an adult to 18 (currently 16) which require costly new hail facilities to separate the two populations.

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Sept. 15, 2009

Most eyes are on Waterbury as it is primary day in Connecticut. Democrats will go to the polls to choose their candidate for mayor. Four-term incumbent Mayor Michael Jarrad is being challenged by four-term incumbent president of the city board of alderman J. Paul Vance. No pencils involved.

Sept. 14, 2009

It’s been a while since I chimed in to our state’s Paper of Record. This just-completed summer is the perfect opportunity.

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Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s unconstitutional attempt to use the line-item veto to cut spending in a budget bill she refused to sign is a fitting end to an embarrassing budget process that needlessly dragged out until early this month.

It’s nearly comedic that she still contends her move was in keeping with the state Constitution, even though the attorney general pointed out two specific places where it’s forbidden.

The process started with the governor low-balling the amount of the deficit in her budget address in February, seemingly so she could say “no new taxes.” It ended with her walking away from the final version that will leave us billions short in the coming years.

Using one-time revenue sources to fund ongoing programs is a practice that has been used for many years, but not to this extent. The piper will come calling in 2012 (and most probably before) and we’ll be in bigger trouble than we just experienced.

It seems the governor has no standing to criticize the budget if she lacks the courage of her convictions to veto it. Her cynical line-item veto attempt was simply a diversionary tactic to deflect attention from her inaction. And that $8 million in “pork” she targeted included money for a food pantry and a program for the children of the incarcerated. Fortunately, the funding was restored.

We should all learn a lesson from this summer of budget discontent and employ it next fall.

Patrick Scully, Wethersfield

•The writer is a communications and media consultant and a former communications director for the state Senate Democrats.

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

The dawn on September 11, 2001 brought what was sure to be yet another magnificent day. Life was idyllic. I had a great job in Manhattan, my wife and I had just returned from a magical vacation on Martha’s Vineyard and I was looking forward to being back in the city, continuing to make my mark in nation’s media.  What could be better? Great wife, great job, my favorite time of year and professional success. I waited almost gleefully on the MetroNorth platform in Brewster, NY for the train.

Two hours later it was clear to me the world was ending. With a picture window in my office that looked south, directly at the towers and my desk facing the other way, my assistant came in and told me to look behind me. I saw a gaping, burning whole in the north tower, black smoke and flames billowing out of it.  I had no intellectual explanation for it. An air traffic control situation what went woefully wrong? A quickly descending jet that the pilot had lost control of? Some sort of internal explosion in the tower? The one thing that did not occur to me was a terrorist attack.

Always a reporter at heart, I quickly called WTIC-AM radio to talk to morning show hosts Ray Dunaway and Diane Smith about what was happening in front of me. As I waited on hold, I watched as the second airliner made it’s way across the horizon and slammed into the south tower. “The world is ending,” I thought at that point. I don’t remember what I said on the radio except that in all my years in the media, it was clear this was beyond anything I’d experienced.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur—no cell phone service, no regular phone service, only e-mail which I used to notify my family I was safe (at least right then). The two towers later collapsed in front of us, further numbing my mind and questioning the prognosis for the world. More than 3,000 innocent souls lost. How could this happen?

I later encountered a sobbing woman on the sidewalk on 42nd Street as I walked to Grand Central in the chaos. In business attire, she had clearly could not make sense of what was happening and was emotionally lost in the big city  I picked her up and we walked together to Grand Central and got her on a New Haven line train. I never got her name. I eventually got on the lone train back to Brewster still wondering if what I just witnessed was real or whether I would awake from a horrific dream.

The coming months meant looking at Ground Zero every work day as it continued to smolder (it was a good three month before it stopped). The subway hubs were transformed into gigantic missing persons centers as hundreds of pictures of the missing were posted by still-hopeful relatives and friends. Prior to that near-apocalyptic day, if you were too slow to get up the stairs or didn’t stay to the right, you risked being overrun by the crowd. Afterward, people stopped and helped you the stairs. Strangers speaking to each other and offering comfort.

The world then became a vampire to me. Fast forward: a divorce, personal struggles, the occasional nightmare and ugly thoughts rushing back every time I see a jet overhead. Things will never be the same.

I don’t claim to know the suffering and grief endured by those that lost a loved one on that day. I do know that the images ingrained in my mind will never go away. The only choice we have is to persevere, try to be a better person everyday, put things in God’s hands (as we choose to see him) and make the world a better place in our own small way.

God bless those we lost eight years ago and those who have perished since as a result of that day. And God bless the rest of us who were spared.

“I wish my life was like the water, ’cause water always finds its way. I wish my life was like a sunny, sunny sky, comes up shining everyday.” – Mike Benjamin

Scully Communications web site goes live! The Scully Communications web site at www.scullycommunications.com went live on 9/7/2009 and highlights the professional, full-service communications offerings of Patrick Scully, a seasoned communicator who gets the job done.