Scully Communications

At this point, one has to wonder whether we simply broke this planet. TV news in any given month is filled with horrific stories of earthquakes, hurricanes, massive snow storms and, closer to home, the worst floods in decades. The state, particularly the southeastern region, is getting hammered by torrential rain that has left residents evacuating their homes and travelers unable to use even the main highways because of flooding. Don’t even try the side roads or you will come upon missing bridges or trees across the roads (and they don’t magically get up and let you through as if you’ve bought a new car like on the ads).

As a person who will change the channel during local weather reports and despises newscasts headlined by storms that never actually develop, The Shad is paying attention now and wondering whether it’s just our turn for nasty weather or whether we won’t see an end.

*

The latest on the state political scene (because there are so many developments there isn’t room on The Hanging Shad for all of them to have their own story):

• Newington Mayor Jeff Wright has dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for governor (you’re forgiven if you didn’t know he was running) and is getting into the race for state treasurer. If he thinks he couldn’t beat Tom Foley, et al, for governor, does he really think he can beat popular Democratic incumbent Denise Nappier? Please.
• Former and probably future presidential candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed Tom Foley for governor of Connecticut—probably over a nice cigar and cognac at the club. One wonders whether Foley would support a mandate for everyone to buy health insurance in Connecticut like the bill Romney signed as governor of Massachusetts.
• Susan Bysiewicz, still trying to prove she is qualified to run for attorney general, will give videotaped testimony in the case today but wants to have her own videographer tape her being questioned by the Republican-hired attorney. Your guess is as good as mine.

*

It seems to be part American Idol, part America’s Next Top Model and part search for an articulate spokesperson. It’s a contest being run by TV station MyTV9 (owned by New Haven-based WTNH) called MyTV9Star. The station is looking for a Connecticut native to represent the station and “be the face” of MyTV9.

Going after the job is Milford’s Heidi Voight. She is as close as there is to a household name in Connecticut when it comes to being a spokesman-type personality having scored the title of Miss Connecticut back in 2006. Having briefly worked with Heidi on a political campaign, The Shad quickly got past the cynical, stereotypical idea of a “beauty queen” (yes, The Shad is prone to that type of thinking) and thinks the MyTV9 competition is hers to win—or should be.

There are various parts of the competition including having a social networking fan page on Facebook. Heidi Voight Fan Page: The Face of MyTV9!, interviews and a spot on the show Connecticut Style. On the Mytv9star webage, there is a place to see the interviews of the nine finalists as well as a place to vote for your favorite. The duties of the eventual winner are largely undefined but Voight hopes it will lead to an on-air position. “I really hope this can be a stepping stone because I am very interested in on-air work,” Voight told The Shad last week. And she wouldn’t be just another pretty talking head. Her interest and knowledge of issues like veterans’ affairs is widely known. If there is any ceremony or event involving veterans or the armed forces, Voight is there (including events last night marking Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day). She also worked on the staff of the House Democrats in the state legislature and is a marathoner who will take on the streets of Boston next month.

Lt. Governor Michael Fedele has launched his first TV ad in his bid to win the top spot with his boss, Jodi Rell, not seeking reelection. Fedele is obviously trying to show his conservative credentials—his ad will run on shows such as Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. The Fedele campaign says it will spend $100,000 on the ad buy before the state Republican convention. One well-respected Capitol veteran says until Fedele became lt. governor, he couldn’t pick Fedele out of a line-up.

Fedele may think this is his last chance to break into the top tier. He is mired in single digits while former ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley leads. Here is the Fedele ad: http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2010/03/lt-gov-mike-fedele-releases-fi.html.

Maybe Fedele show seize on the fact that he is in charge of the state right now! Governor Rell, apparently forgetting once again that she is still governor for a while, deciding to skip the all-night budget debates, the back and forths in the legislature, to spend some time with the grand kiddies in Colorado (can you blame her?). In all honestly Fedele has a no-win situation. A governor should be all over this wrath-of-God flooding story, going to the scene to assess the damage. If Fedele doesn’t do anything, he wasted a chance (while his ad is running) to show he’d be a strong governor. If he does show up at the worst flooding, he’ll be called an opportunist. The Shad thinks he should go. Remember, he is at 4%.

*

Gov. Rell may be taking this “family comes first” thing too far. When the Senate passed a deficit reduction bill after an all night session, governor had already let it know that the package didn’t contain enough cuts and that she would veto it. In probably the only truly practical move, Speaker Chris Donovan figured why waste what would be another all-night session on a bill that would be vetoed? So he canceled the session.

Trying to figure out where out specifically the governor wanted to cut, Senate President Don Williams and Donovan called the governor in Colorado. Apparently they were told she couldn’t come to the phone.

The upshot of all this is that after an all-night session by the senate, failed communication with the governor, the House not even taking up the Senate plan, we are exactly where we were prior to all this—a current budget deficit of more than $500 million and no agreement in sight.

To make matter worse, Senate Democrats issued a release basically telling Donovan and the House Democrats to get on the ball and pass the bill they passed. Maybe senators were jealous House members got to sleep when their session was called off. It is important to note that it is highly unusual for the leader of one chamber to criticized the other which is run by someone of the same party. Was Williams thinking that going public with the intra party dispute would persuade Donovan to hold a session? Or was he just trying to be on record as saying, “Hey, we passed something.” Either way, it’s an ill-advised move. Sure, it’s easy to be a Monday Morning Quarterback but such a news release ( http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/ ) only makes things worse; appears to be an attempt to make Donovan look bad and results in bad feels all around. As a former Sunday afternoon quarterback, The Shad would have tried as hard as possible to talk Williams out of issuing the release. More governing, less “campaigning” has long been needed.

Note: There will be no Shad tomorrow. In baseball terms, it’s a travel day.

Right now, all we have are comments to the press and nasty letters back and forth. If and when the two sides sit down to negotiate, we could have the most adversarial relationship since the days of John Rowland.

Governor Rell had sent union leaders a proposal for givebacks and concessions to help balance the state budget which is more than $500 million in deficit now and predicted to be some $3.5 billion out of whack in a couple of years. What the governor asked for, according to the Hartford Courant included an end to the state pension plan for any new employees hired after July 1. Those employees would be placed into a 401 (k) – type plan with the employee contributing 5 % and the state matching it in a plan similar to the private sector. Rell also wanted to increase the health insurance contributions by state employees by 10 % on July 1.
Rell also wanted to increase the prescription drug co-pays to $10 for generic, $25 for brand-name drugs on the preferred list, and $40 for non-formulary drugs in a manner similar to the rates in the private sector.

But it would be a mistake to tack on “this, in addition to concessions already gained by the governor” because the last round of “concessions” was really a joke. All the governor got was an agreement to delay inevitable payments, etc. So the state really only put off today’s problems until tomorrow.

This latest appeal by the governor to the unions for concessions contains real concessions. Hence, the unions’ rather nasty and personal response which, in a letter to the governor, includes, “Today, you are pandering to the partisan politics of the gubernatorial campaign in making proposals that show a cynical disrespect not just for Connecticut’s 45,000 public service workers but for all of Connecticut’s struggling working families while we will not dignify your letter and proposals with a point-by-point reply…

“And in a cynical effort to distract the public from your constant choice of the 5 percent who are super rich over the 95 percent who are suffering, you make proposals to us which you know perfectly well are insulting and completely unacceptable, no doubt just so you can try to scapegoat public service workers for refusing them.” Pretty nasty stuff.
The unions added, “Scapegoating which masquerades for leadership is exactly what the people of Connecticut don’t need in the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.” Wouldn’t you like to be at the table (probably one of those breakaway ones they use in Linda McMahon’s trade) when the two sides meet?

Vice President Joe Biden who is known for his candor and colorful remarks, outdid himself when introducing the president after the victory in the Health Care Reform vote. What Biden thought was a private comment, was picked up by microphones and cameras. It wasn’t said in a nasty way, in fact, quite the opposite. That’s quite a ways from our last vice president who directed his f-bomb personally and directly to Sen. Leahey of Vermont. But this is a family-oriented blog so if you’re 18 or older and really need to know what Biden said: http://www.courant.com/news/politics/sns-ap-us-health-care-bidens-profanity,0,5955113.story . I had to listen to it twice to understand what he said. What is it with our vice presidents and their language?
*
A state legislative staffer and chairman of the Mansfield Democratic Town Committee is running for the state House seat being vacated by Denise Merrill, former majority leader and now candidate for secretary of state.

Greg Haddad is the assistant chief of staff and director of legislative services for the state Senate Democrats. Affable and certainly knowledgeable of how the legislature works, The Shad thinks Haddad can hit the ground running like few others and certainly dwarfs in experience the other Democrat who has announced for the seat, UConn political science student Brien Buckman. The Shad worked with Haddad for a number of years at the Senate Dems. Haddad is also deputy mayor of Mansfield, the House seat he seeks covers Mansfield and Chaplin.
*
The president and board chairman of the Connecticut Humane Society is out. Richard Johnston has resigned his positions after 24 years with the organization. Johnston has been at the center of controversy recently. A group of former employees and animal activists called the Coalition for Change say Johnston has refused to address complaints about animal care and working conditions.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal opened an investigation in January into alleged misuse of money at the society. Meanwhile, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration later fined the organization $6,800 for workplace violations.

(For the record, Zamboni is in favor of any move that secures the welfare of animals or helps their adoption into a loving family—or one specific buddy.)

The author of The Shad has had the good fortune to come from a wonderful family, attend a top-notch university, work at Yale, work in Manhattan and for the state legislature here in Connecticut. So maybe you’d think I’d have a refined, experienced read on society and people in general. Turns out, there is more than a modicum of naiveté behind these fingers on the computer at times. Two incidents this week shocked and awed me.

First were the actions of protestors outside the Halls of Congress as some members filed in to vote on the Health Care Reform bill. Forget which side of the issue one is on for a moment. Members reported being showered with all sorts of insults but very troubling were the use of n-word at several black congressmen and anti-gay slurs at U.S. Rep. Barney Frank. Some members on the other side of the aisle stood on a balcony applauding the protestors. This is not to say they were applauding the deplorable slurs, but applauding angry protestors doesn’t become a member of Congress.

Second is right here in the state with the 4th largest number of millionaires—Connecticut. The Connecticut White Wolves, a neo-Nazi, white supremacist group got themselves a high profile this week when four members and an associate were indicted on weapons charges.

The group was at first, a loosely organized group of young “skinheads.” But in recent years, members of the White Wolves have stepped up their deplorable activity. According to the Anti-Defamation League’s website, “Over the past two years, what began as a small collection of racist skinheads in Stratford, Connecticut, has grown into the largest and most active extremist group in the state,” the ADL says on its web page. “The group describes itself as a ‘white nationalist skinhead organization’ and promotes an ideology espousing hatred of Jews and racial and ethnic minorities. Members, though typically young, have been involved in a number of criminal acts in Connecticut and have forged ties with nationally recognized hate groups…”

Bigotry is alive in places you might not suspect.
*
The trial of two sisters in a dispute over a winning Powerball tickets starts today in New Britain. Teresa Sokaitis is trying to get what she says is her half of the $500,000 winnings. Her sister, Rose Bakaysa, apparently disagrees. Teresa is 84. Rose is 87. If you’ve ever seen elderly sisters argue, it’s not pretty.

The twist in this case is that there is a written contract signed by the two, promising to share any gambling winnings. Rose’s representative says the contact is no longer valid because the two sisters had a falling out a few years ago. And to add to everything, it was the two ladies’ brother who actually purchased the ticket. The Shad never desired to be on a jury but in this case, an exception can be made.