Scully Communications

Since nearly the beginning of radio, stations have used public service announcements (PSAs) ostensibly to provide the listening public with helpful, useful information. Now they are generally used for two purposes: To help fulfill the stations’ requirement that they broadcast in the public interest—theoretically, the public owns the airways and stations are simply licensed to use them; and to help fill time between paying advertisers’ spots or down time during talk shows.

But recently there seems to be a trend of politicians getting in on the PSAs in an apparent attempt to keep their names front and center without having to pay for political advertising. For instance, US Rep. Jim Himes can be heard on the tail end on of a PSA for “Going Green.” The spot urges folks to “go for a bike ride, recycle a can, change a light bulb.” It’s not clear what Himes adds to the spot other than to reiterate that people should “Go Green.”

Meanwhile, popular and up-and-coming US Rep. Chris Murphy can be heard in an anti-flu PSA urging people to cough into the bend of their elbow and to wash one’s hands frequently (didn’t we hear this from our president?). And of course, it has to be going on nearly a year now that Gov. Rell has been telling us how to navigate 911.

This is not to say these messages are not important or useful for the radio stations. WTIC-AM, whose public affairs programming is second to none in the region and possibly nationwide, uses all of the above PSAs in addition to a number of excellent shows such as Face Connecticut heard on Sunday mornings. It’s just a bit curious as to why the pols are so involved. [Full disclosure: The author of The Hanging Shad was the regular guest host on the Colin McEnroe show on WTIC-AM when there was one and when he was off].

In 1999, the state legislature passed a law prohibiting the use of public funds to pay for any ads featuring incumbent politicians—three months before an election for print ads or mailings; twelve months for any electronic media (the law was later amended to widened the types of prohibited media). The catalyst for law was the infamous “row boat” ad featuring then-Governor John Rowland and his wife rowing across a beautiful Connecticut lake urging people to come to Connecticut. The ad was paid for with state tourism funds. But the law covers only the use of public funds. Other PSAs such as the Himes spot that was paid for by the National Association of Broadcasters are fair game according to a legislative attorney.
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The Day’s crack reporter Ted Mann has done it again with a blistering blog entry about the Rell administration, Chief of Staff Lisa Moody and the flap over the use of $230,000 in taxpayers’ money to fund a study about streamlining state government but also apparently providing Rell with political advice. The study was done by UConn professor Ken Dautrich.

The affable and easy-going Mann recounts an email exchange between Moody and budget chief Robert L. Genuario. Writes Mann, “’OFA has asked for the Dautrich report,’ Genuario wrote to Moody on Tuesday, Jan. 27. OFA is the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the publicly supported agency that is charged with providing accurate budget numbers for legislators to use as they craft legislation. In theory at least, these two parties are supposed to talk to one another, in order to strike a budget deal. Here’s Moody’s entire response, sent the same day: ‘No rush in giving it.’”

Municipal elections are right around the corner (Nov. 3). For many statewide political watchers, the munies can be a bit of a yawn—unless of course, it’s your town. However, the mayoral race in Middletown is breaking this general rule.

29-year old Democrat Dan Drew is turning in a tireless, hard-fought effort to unseat 2-term incumbent Republican Mayor Sebastian Giuliano. Drew is considered a decided underdog. If he doesn’t pull off the upset, it won’t be for lack of effort.

Drew is a former Connecticut Post reporter who is now a grant writer for Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. He has alot on his plate—his son Jacob was born Sept. 7th, his third child. This hasn’t slowed him down. With the help of his wife Kate, he routinely spends 35 to 40 hours going door to door in letter carrier-like fashion (he trudged through the nasty weather this past weekend in day-long efforts) in addition to his full-time job.

Unfortunately, he has also had to endure a rather childish event by the opposition party. Republican Common Council candidate Bob Stefurak hosted a fundraiser at the end of the summer that featured a “Dan Drew Look-a-Like” contest. Not exactly the stuff of high-minded political discourse. Drew has kept a sense of humor about it. He says at first, he thought about entering himself. He then figured all it would take would be someone fairly young with a Rod Blagojevich haircut. No word on who actually won. [Full disclosure: Impressed with Drew's hard work and interested in good government in general, the author of The Hanging Shad has made a nominal donation to the Drew campaign].
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There’s a Smackdown going on in the race for the Republican nomination for US Senate in 2010 and it doesn’t involve WWE executive Linda McMahon. State Senator Sam Caligiuri is laying it on former US Rep. Rob Simmons for what he says is Simmons’ change of position (to the right) on two key issues: cap and trade and the Employee Free Choice Act also known as “card check.” Says a Caligiuri spokeswoman, “While Rob Simmons can spin this all he wants, he is in a primary battle and is desperate to get the support of real, principled Republicans…Everyone has the right to change their mind on where they stand—but doing so years later, once confronted with a competitive primary, simply stinks of political pandering. Given that Simmons was a part of the Republican Congress that clearly lost their way and spent us into oblivion, one has to wonder why he didn’t try to cover that up first.” Nice.
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Governor Rell says the state is still on track for a sale tax reduction Jan. 1st. Under the new state budget, the sale tax would drop from 6 % to 5.5% the first of the year as long as revenues don’t fall at least 1% below the level projected by the legislature. The governor has hailed this as one of her key accomplishments in the budget that became law without her signature.

The Hartford Courant quotes Rell as saying, “I firmly believe consumers and retailers in Connecticut need—and more importantly, deserve—a break on the sales tax…With other taxes and the costs of maintaining a home and family steadily increasing, this is a promise of relief that we cannot afford to break.” That may very well be true. But don’t hold your breath waiting for that break. So far, revenue has fallen 0.97% below the projection. All it will take is a bit of a slower holiday season and, by law, your sales tax break goes away.

Heart-felt condolences to the family and friends of UConn student-athlete Jasper Howard. An entire state mourns.

This Friday, the state Office of Health Care Access (OHCA) will hold a hearing on the Rell administration’s plans, already well underway, to close High Meadows—the state-run residential treatment facility in Hamden. High Meadows is a facility for troubled boys; so troubled that their various psychological and medical problems keep them out of other, private facilities. The hearing will likely be contentious at best, hostile at worst.

Some parents and advocates claim that not only is High Meadows the only effective alternative for some boys, but that the Rell administration is being less than honest in its efforts to quickly shutter the facility. The issue has gotten little attention thus far but is likely to hit the headlines as it did in an eye-popping report in the current issue of the alternative newspaper The Hartford Advocate. A report by the Advocate’s Betsy Yagla details the cases of two boys who seem destined to be lost in the shuffle if High Meadows is closed.

Gov. Rell targeted High Meadows for closure in her budget proposal last February. But after a summer of budget haggling, Democrats restored funding for the facility in the budget that finally past (but became law without the governor’s signature). Yet it seems the administration is moving ahead to close it anyway, rushing boys out before Friday’s hearing. There is question as to whether that’s even legal and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is reviewing the matter.

OHCA is suppose to make decisions on the closure of such facilities based on need. Yet Department of Children and Families (DCF) Commissioner Susan Hamilton seems to be basing her arguments for closure mostly on financial concerns.

Hamilton also claims that private providers—to whose facilities the troubled boys would presumably be moved—cannot refuse a High Meadows transfer under their contracts with the state. But according the Advocate report, there are boys who have already been rejected by these facilities. Friday’s hearing has the potential to be divisive.
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US Sen. Chris Dodd turned in a gem of a performance on Sunday’s Meet the Press, handling host David Gregory’s questions with ease. Being questioned on major issues such as health care reform, Dodd, with stats at the ready and convincing arguments flowing, reminded us why he will be hard to beat at the end of the day. In answering Gregory’s final question about his low job approval rating (less than 50%) in Connecticut, Dodd humbly acknowledged his struggles over the last year-plus but vowed to continue to work hard and turn things around.

With a showing like that, it’s hard to imagine former US Rep. Rob Simmons and even harder to see wrestling executive Linda McMahon, being capable of such an effective presence for the state.

Speculation is a favorite game of political junkies especially during election season. The latest rumor making the rounds in some political circles is that depending how the dominoes fall, the state GOP may very well end up turning to state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney of Fairfield to run for governor.

It all depends, of course, on whether still wildly popular Governor Rell decides to run again. But that seems very much in question. Doubt about her re-election plans has even gotten some national attention. Yesterday, Political Wire ran a piece headlined, “Rell’s Dismal Fundraising Suggests She’s Not Running.” The brief said the governor’s $14,760 in contributions for the last reporting period. Combine that with a nasty recent budget process in which many Republicans believed she got rolled and the most recent Dautrich “study-gate” and you may end up with a governor, universally liked, who’s rather call it a day.

That would leave the GOP with Lt. Governor Michael Fedele—also personally liked by most and always seen just over the governor’s shoulder. However the party leadership may not be satisfied with Fedele as the standard bearer. That’s where McKinney comes in.

McKinney decided to forgo a race against freshman US Rep. Jim Himes; a race many observers thought McKinney could win. Family considerations kept him home. But that wouldn’t be a problem in a run for the top spot. Name recognition, fundraising ability, smart and tough all add up to a formidable candidate particularly for voters seeking to balance the Democratic majorities in both the state House and Senate.

For his part, McKinney said yesterday he is unaware of any such speculation, is strongly encouraging Rell to run and fully expects her to do so. We’ll see.
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Wrestling executive and Republican US Senate candidate Linda McMahon seems to building credibility if for no other reason, by the people she is hiring. Former state senator and congressional candidate David Cappiello has been hired as campaign manager. Add him to the team of talented PR pro Suzan Bibisi (also the wife of party chair Chris Healy) and former Channel 8 reporter Jodi Latina and you’ve got an impressive group.