A group of apparently dissident Democrats in both the state Senate and House have written a letter to Senate President Donald Williams and Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan expressing discontent with the legislature progress—or lack of—with the budget process.

An excerpt of the letter:
“Dear Senator Williams and Speaker Donovan:
We, the undersigned, write to you today in the hopes that our voices will help to spur action with regard to the current financial situation of our budget. According to the Comptroller’s office, the Office of Fiscal Analysis and the Office of Policy and Management, the budget for this fiscal year is over $500 million in deficit. The picture for fiscal year 2011 doesn’t look any brighter with even less good news for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. We need solutions NOW that do not exacerbate the problems that loom for the foreseeable future. (their emphasis and bold font.)… We can no longer wait or hope for a miracle on Capitol Avenue. Times are tough. We stand, ready, willing and able to assist and provide the support for closing our deficits in a responsible way. There is no time to waste.”

The unusually public airing of intra-caucus disagreement may be a sign of bigger problems within the two caucuses which both hold veto-proof majorities, at least by the numbers. The leaders responses to the letter were fairly casual with Donovan saying he appreciate the input and a spokesman for Williams saying that the Senate president has been saying the same thing about the budget all along.

But as the former communications director for the Senate Democrats, the author of The Shad knows first-hand that this type of public letter is nearly unheard of and indicates there are problems within each caucus and that the speaker and president don’t have the full support of their members. Caucus members who have a serious disagreement with leadership can always walk down the hall and talk to their leader. Does this indicate that the signers of the letter feel so disconnected from leadership that a letter that ends up in the public square is the only way to be heard?

In any event, having so many recalcitrant members of any caucus does not bode well for the leader. And the leaders’ responses have been “we’re all on the same page”—which obviously they are not.
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After spending more than a year “exploring” a run for governor, former Stamford Dan Malloy makes it official today at the state Capitol. Malloy will file the necessary paperwork to officially enter the race.
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Another gem from The Hartford Courant’s investigative reporter Jon Lender and yet another case of breakfast indigestion for Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz. Today’s front page article is here: http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-bysiewicz-database-0310.artmar10,0,5071820.story Bysiewicz is approaching the point where her bid for attorney general or any other office in this election cycle is snake-bit.

It’s official (as if anyone really doubted it). The UConn women’s basketball team broke the record for consecutive wins previously held by…UConn. There’s no telling how far these women can go. The players and coach Geno Auriemma attributed the streak to hard work and consistency.

SNY-TV reported Monday that “Sources close to Jim Calhoun believe he will retire at season’s end.” The statement was made during the New York sports cable channel’s “Loudmouths” program.

Calhoun’s son, Jeff Calhoun, later told SNY that his father hasn’t made any decisions about retirement. Calhoun missed seven games this season because of an unexplained medical condition.

http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100308&content_id=8723132&oid=2&vkey=21

Back to the women; the next streak to go after? Sports columnists and talk shows suggest it could be the 88 wins put together by the UCLA men’s team in the ‘70s—a streak broken by Notre Dame (think the superstitious were worried because of that last night)? Some of these same columnists have correctly suggested the UConn women’s streak would be more meaningful if the name “Tennessee” had been in the list of defeated schools. The two women’s basketball powers don’t play each other anymore. They should find a way to get past their differences and play each other once every year. It should be about exciting competition not about personalities.
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Republican US Senate candidate Rob Simmons has nailed down a big-name endorsement from a Republican former Congresswoman. Nancy Johnson, who represented the sixth and then the fifth district for a total of 24 years from 1983 to 2007, is backing Simmons for the nomination.

According to the Simmons news release, Johnson served 18 years on the House Ways and Means Committee, including as chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Oversight and Health, and authored major health care and tax legislation. She lost her 2006 re-election bid to state Senator Christopher Murphy who remains in the office.

One area in which Simmons may not want to follow Johnson is campaign advertising. Many credit Johnson’s “scorched earth” commercials with pushing voters toward the already popular Murphy. One Johnson ad purported to show Murphy (from behind, clearly an actor) being welcomed into the home of a group of drug users/dealers. It was based on some state Senate votes on sentencing for drug offenses. There was a serious backlash against Johnson for the ads. Simmons and McMahon are locked in a semi-nasty battle for the Republican nomination for the seat being vacated by Democrat Chris Dodd.
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President Obama’s health care reform plan depends largely on the personal mandate it contains. Not unlike Massachusetts, the new law would require nearly everyone to buy into some sort of health insurance plan. “Not so fast,” says states like Virginia. The Virginia Legislature is ready to become the first state to enact a law that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance. That would set up an epic Constitutional battle between federal and states’ rights.

The Obama administration dismisses such moves as talking points of the federal plan’s opponents. Some Virginia advocates say the states should be able to decide such issues. A court, possibly the Supreme Court, will likely end up deciding the issue.
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It was with great fanfare months ago that Gov. Rell announced she would place on the bond agenda money for a new juvenile detention center for girls in Bridgeport. Rell hailed it as a major accomplishment of her administration in that there’s been no such facility since the closing of the Long Lane School years ago.

However, the governor apparently failed to include Bridgeport’s mayor and legislative delegation in the process. Led by state Rep. Chris Caruso, the group objected to the neighborhood the administration chose and in fact, argued successfully that Bridgeport already bears the burden of such facilities. The governor pulled it from the bond commission agenda.

Now the governor has completed her “fold” on the issue, announcing she will restart the process by putting out a new “request for proposal” (RFP) for the project. Caruso and Company say they won’t be completely satisfied until the Bridgeport site is off the table.

The latest scandal about to hit Connecticut and have parents freaking out every school morning involves the safety—or lack of—the state’s school buses. When you send the little ones out to meet the school bus every morning, you expect them to be riding in a safe vehicle. But while the most high-profile debate about school buses has been whether they should all have seat belts, apparently there are bigger problems. The Hartford Courant has a frightening, front-page article about safety inspections of school buses in the state. The inspections and a review by The Courant show that 25% of the school buses in the state are unfit for use. http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-school-buses-0307.art0mar07,0,2648096.story
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It’s fair to say that every city and town in the state is watching every nickel, dime and dollar in these economic times. Unfortunately, some leaders only talk a good game. Check out this eye-opening piece about Middletown: http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/03/06/opinion/doc4b91d327a823b541518317.txt
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If you’re one to go grocery shopping at a store other than your usual one rather than cross a picket line, you can relax. Word is there is a tentative agreement between Stop and Shop and the union representing 36,000 workers including 15,000 here in Connecticut. Count The Shad as a regular customer. The rank and file vote this morning on it.
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The UConn men and The Shad’s alma mater Syracuse both lost yesterday. Lousy basketball day.
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Last week, Fox CT and the Courant managed to get all the candidates for US Senate on stage, over two nights, to debate. The Shad is really hoping they can do the same thing with the candidates for governor. Of course, they’d need a bigger stage and a plan not to shine the lights in Ned Lamont’s eyes. We don’t need a frozen candidate.

A Connecticut Superior Court Judge will hear arguments this afternoon on whether Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz is qualified to run for attorney general. Bysiewicz is seeking a declaratory ruling from the judge as to whether she has spent at least 10 years as a “practicing attorney.” Absent that, she wants the judge to strike down the 10-year requirement as unconstitutional.

Since Bysiewicz announced she would seek the rulings, the Republican party entered the picture, hiring an attorney to argue that Bysiewicz is not qualified to run. The arguments are scheduled for 2pm this afternoon. The ruling could seriously affect the political landscape, particularly in the race for AG. Bysiewicz leads in the latest polls, just as she did in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor before abandoning that race in favor of running for AG.

Also watching closely are two other Democrats seeking the attorney general’s office—State Rep. Cameron Staples and former Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen.

Entering the attorney general’s race soon will be Republican Martha Dean, Richard Blumenthal’s opponent in 2002. Blumenthal easily dispatched her.
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The chairman of the state ethics board resigned yesterday after more than a week of controversy over campaign contributions he made in violation of state law. Ken Bernhard said he didn’t want the board’s work to be overshadowed by the controversy.

From the office of the obvious, it took this long for the chairman of the ethics board to figure out he shouldn’t be making partisan campaign contribution?
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For all you folks who have bragged to your out-of-town friends about the prowess of the UConn women’s basketball team, it’s time to pony-up and put your money where your mouth is. The Big East women’s basketball tournament starts today and runs through Tuesday at the XL Center.

It’s going to be spring-like this weekend—a perfect weekend to dine in downtown Hartford and take in some games of the tournament. UConn, of course, is undefeated and has not won by less than double digits during this latest unbeaten streak. Go Huskies.

At first blush, the only thing that stood out in the Republican US Senate debate Tuesday night was that Peter Schiff didn’t pull some sort of nutty. In fact, he made the more understandable arguments (whether you agree or strenuously disagree with him. As an economist, he resisted the urge to bury us in numbers. And as he reminded us more than a few times, he blew the whistle on the economic meltdown before it happened. Nobody listened. For that, combined with expectations going in, he wins the debate.

Actually the debate itself was non-eventful (if not a non-event). The candidates stuck to issues and rarely disagreed. It was only this morning that showed Rob Simmons to be bit of a phony or at least a bit of a wimp. And please note The Shad is referring to the campaign, the debate and the candidate in this particular instance—not the man who spent 4 years in Viet Nam. In that sense, he’s a hero.

The problem is that this morning, reporters and bloggers received in their in-boxes a news release from the Simmons campaign slamming rival Linda McMahon for sending out what the Simmons campaign says are false mailings. McMahon has been hitting mostly Republican households with mailings leveling charges against Simmons that even FactCheck.org says are false. But rather than respond with mailings of his own—which are wildly expensive that matters not to McMahon—Simmons has chosen to fight back through news releases and other means.

Well, there was no better “other means” than last night’s debate. Somewhere along the line in a full-hour debate in which the candidates left time on the table, Simmons could have strongly rebuked McMahon for the false mailings. He chose not to. It would be interesting to know why. McMahon has no reason the stop as of now.
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The state Senate has passed a bill that would, among other things, require mental and physical fitness screenings for older drivers seeking to renew their driver’s license. It’s an idea whose time is long overdue. The problem is it’s the Massachusetts state Senate that passed the bill. It’s time for Connecticut to pass a similar measure. It’s time for the co-chairs of legislature’s transportation committee to come up with a bill that contains strong, mental and physical fitness tests for our senior drivers. The Shad is probably biased on this having been nearly crushed by an elderly driver in the Stop and Shop parking lot a couple of years ago because she mistook the long pedal for the short, blocky one. And that experience brought home the point that it’s for their safety, once she crashed into a tree at the end of the lot, she refused to get out of the smoking car until she found her purse.

It’s actually a tough position for a lawmaker to take. Older folks organize and they vote. But it’s better than killing someone or themselves.

When you’re poll numbers are around 4% and your fellow Democrat is known by almost everyone and is polling at around 80%, you better make the most of your chance to share the stage with him. Mystic business Merrick Alpert did his best to distinguish himself from the state’s attorney general of 20 years Richard Blumenthal.

Alpert showed he could handle the camera, appearing well-spoken and at ease. The issues were a different story. Blumenthal was ready with statistics and a firm grasp of all the issues raised. A veteran of press conferences and TV appearances in general, he defended his record of using lawsuits to “level the playing field.” Alpert claimed lawsuits never created a job.

If you didn’t know, Alpert spent time on the ground as a peacekeeper in Bosnia (he only mentioned it a half dozen times). But Blumenthal noted his time in the marines as a counter.

All in all, Alpert did the best he could, accusing Blumenthal of approaching issues with “incrementalism,” not the bold action he would take. It wasn’t enough. Blumenthal came away appearing prepared and ready to step into Chris Dodd’s shoes as everyone expected.

Conventional wisdom among politicos in the state was, “Why would Blumenthal share a stage with a guy no one knows?” Well he did and came out just fine.
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Tonight the Republican candidates seeking Chris Dodd’s US Senate seat will debate. Their debate will also be held at the University of Hartford and broadcast live on FOX 61-TV at 7pm. Linda McMahon, Peter Schiff and Rob Simmons will be on the stage.

One again, the Hartford Courant, FOX 61 and the University of Hartford should be congratulated for getting the candidates on stage and broadcasting it live.
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Speaking of Linda McMahon, her campaign is out with a new TV ad that highlights her life story. It doesn’t hide from—in fact it features—her role in the development of the wrestling empire WWE. It also highlights the tough times (financial and otherwise) she and husband Vince McMahon went through before engineering the rise of the multimillion wrestling operation. It also includes McMahon’s charitable work. This could mark a new approach for McMahon. Rather than run from the WWE, she is embracing it. It will be interesting to see how Rob Simmons responds.