Upcoming Events
Democratic State Convention - May 10
Marriage equality film screening - Cornwall - May 10
Fourth CD Nominating Convention - May 12
Joe Courtney nominating convention - UCONN - May 12
21st Century Activism & Future of Dem Party - Fairfield - May 13
Litchfield Dems Pasta Dinner - May 16
- Add Event

Welcome To CT

My Left Nutmeg

A community-driven blog featuring news and commentary on local, state, and national politics. Register today to join the conversation!

Donate to CT Dems
Enable ActBlue
for CT Races
$
John Larson
(1st CD)
$
Joe Courtney
(2nd CD)
$
Rosa DeLauro
(3rd CD)
$
Jim Himes
(4th CD)
$
Chris Murphy
(5th CD)
$
Ads on My Left Nutmeg
 


 
Current MLN Bloggers
CaptCT
Jon Kantrowitz
mattw
Met00
mikect
Neal Fink
Scarce
Spazeboy
To contact a site admin email ctblogger at ctblogger@yahoo.com or MattW here.

Recent Comments

Resources
2007 Legislative "Heroes and Zeroes"
2007 "Worst Republicans In The State"
2007 "Worst Democrats In The State"
CT Congressional Delegation and the Progressive Agenda
CT Clean Elections Funding Explained
Federal Legislative Advocacy Toolkit
State Legislative Advocacy Toolkit
 
My Left Nutmeg

Thursday Open Thread / Hot Linky

by: mattw

Thu May 08, 2008 at 11:44:47 AM EDT

  • It's convention season! – the State Convention is Saturday in New Britain, with Congressional Conventions on Monday, and state legislative conventions on the 19th and 20th.

    So far, there appear to be convention votes scheduled in Senate District 30 (Matthew Brennan and Michael Renzullo have filed to compete for Andrew Roraback's seat -- who hasn't filed for re-election himself, yet), Adam Gutcheon filed against Rep Peggy Sayers in the 60th AD, Lydia Martinez has filed against Andres Ayala in the 128th, and Auden Grogins against Bob Keeley in the 129th.

    Two special mentions go to the race in the 94th AD -- Gary Winfield (who is a blogosphere contributor, circulating editorials and videos at the New Haven independent and elsewhere) will be up against Charles Blango -- and the 22nd SD, where Marilyn Moore (who has done local organizing for CT Opposes the War on top of working on Ed Gomes' staff) competing with Trumbull local official Anthony Musto for a shot against Rob Russo.

    Oh, and there are Republican conventions, but I don't have the energy to write about them today.

  • Rep. John Ryan. Republican from Darien, retires. Also, read to the bottom to learn the real reason for GOP recruitment failures.

  • NHI covers a cool municipal program in New Haven.

  • This isn't really my speed, but it's still an impressive list of electeds for a $30 fundraiser.

  • Various hard-right groups will assemble on June 7th to protest Griswold v. Connecticut – in other words, declare their opposition to the availability of birth control. Any takers for a counter-action?

    I actually agree with the take a lot of bloggers writing about this have, namely, that it's at least a step towards honesty for the conservative movement. They've been against the availability of birth-control and divorces for ages, and if they take their messages to the street we can have an honest debate about it.

What else is out on the tubes today?

Discuss :: (6 Comments)

The Charlie Brown Lege

by: mattw

Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:46:34 AM EDT

Every legislative session, the list of worthy bills that dies on the vine is much longer than the list of accomplishments, so I don't relish doing the obligatory "session wrap-up" post. At a certain point, after the basic housekeeping work, it appears that they're merely negotiating over the content of the fall's campaigns. Conservatives don't want to let progressives win bragging rights on paid sick days, Democrats don't want to let Republicans climb up on the cross over their absurd last-minute budget proposal, and Rell holds out a veto threat on the one really significant bill that passed – healthcare pooling – which, thanks to untimely retirements, she'll probably be able to make stick.

Sigh.

In any case, there are two ways that I can think of to correct this unfortunate situation:

  1. Allow bills that have passed out of committee – all of which have been through the process of public hearings, legislative research, and open debate – to survive into the next session, regardless of whether or not it came up for a vote by midnight on May 7th.

  2. Failing that, Speaker Donovan can indicate his willingness to change the traditional working day: as it stands, for the first half of the session, the House and Senate generally only convene one day a week. Then, in the final week, there are all-night rump sessions where Republicans laughingly kill bill after bill, knowing they have the Speaker by the balls with the clock ticking. This entirely predictable situation happens every goddamn time, and it's pathetic.

    Instead, Speaker Donovan and Senator Williams can say – in February or March – "on Tuesday, we will have a vote on 'Paid Sick Days,' and we will stay as long as necessary." Let the Republicans go until 9pm, to midnight, to 3am. Don't adjourn until there's a vote. Even if every single Republican stayed (which doesn't seem likely from the poor GOP attendance at committee meetings that I've seen), 60% of the House Democratic caucus could be at home under the sheets at any given time, and we could still spank them when the eventual vote comes down.

    Plus, this would have the additional benefit of dramatically curbing the number of times the GOP "goes to the mat" to try to demolish Democratic bills – if you're going to stay on the floor for 36 hours just to lose in the end anyway, you're not going to do it for every little thing like the Republicans do now.

Either way, this end-of-session slaughter has to stop. After all, we don't send Democratic supermajorities to Hartford to let Republicans steer the ship – it's time for our Charlie Brown legislature to stop getting the football pulled out from under them at the last second.  

Discuss :: (1 Comments)

Tell Your Rep You Want Voter Integrity, Not Just Privacy!

by: BlastFromGlast

Tue May 06, 2008 at 17:29:04 PM EDT

(Last day of the session -- call your State Reps! - promoted by mattw)

(cross post http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?...

Bysiewicz Urges Passage of S.B. 444 - We Urge  Amendment #6141

Many of the changes necessary to start Connecticut on the road to stronger, effective audits that were in H.B. 5888 have now been offered as an amendment #6141 by Reps Caruso and Urban to S.B.444:

  • An Independent Audit Board
  • A Stronger Chain-of-Custody for Memory Cards, Optical Scanners and Ballots
  • 100% Independent Pre-Election Testing of Memory Cards

We urge the passage of the amendment with S.B. 444.

While the Secretary of the State has supported the Independent Audit Board and her Office has supported the other provisions of H.B. 5888, she wrote a letter to Rep Caruso yesterday asking for passage of S.B. 444, which primarily concerns "Voter Privacy".  While we support "Voter Privacy" we also see it as superficial without "Vote Integrity".  See the Stamford Advocate, Secretary of the State says voter privacy at stake   <read>

In a letter to Rep. Caruso Sec. Bysiewicz wrote, "We are preparing for a record turnout in November and it is critical that we provide local election officials with concrete guidance about how best to safeguard voter privacy. Voters in our state have a right to expect that we will protect their most fundamental civil right and this bill provides a good framework to do just that."

NOW ITS UP TO YOU - WE CANNOT WAIT FOR VOTING INTEGRITY !!!

How Contact Your State Representative


All representatives at:  http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/hlist.asp


If not you can use this page to find your House and Senates Districts on a map and then click the map to get contract information: http://www.cga.ct.gov/maps/Townlist.asp
Discuss :: (7 Comments)

Great News For Democrats

by: Jon Kantrowitz

Wed May 07, 2008 at 11:10:56 AM EDT

And I don't mean Obama's decisive win in North Carolina and Hillary's hanging on by her fingernails in Indiana - although that should translate into great news as well.

It's how well the Democrats are positioned for 2008 and the future.

Newt Gingrich says it best (below the fold):

There's More... :: (5 Comments, 532 words in story)

Vote for Change Kickoff in Hartford

by: Scarce

Tue May 06, 2008 at 13:09:51 PM EDT

( - promoted by Scarce)

Vote for Change Kickoff: Hartford
Voter Registration Drive (Official Event))

With this election, we have the chance to ensure that more voters than ever take an active stake in our country's future. On May 10, Obama for America will launch Vote for Change, a national voter registration and mobilization drive with kickoffs in all 50 states. This event is the kickoff for our area. After a brief training, we'll hit the streets to register voters. Please join us!

Time:   Saturday, May 10 at 2:00 PM
Duration: 1 hour
Host: Jeff Coleman

Location:
Pope Park Recreation Center (Hartford, CT)
Park Terrace at Pope Park Dr.
Hartford, CT 06106

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/voterregistrationdriveofficialevent/4mrm

Discuss :: (4 Comments)

Congressional Burn Rates: Spring Update

by: mikect

Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:51:48 AM EDT

Since last fall's review of the spending habits of Congressional campaigns, the state's candidates have continued to find thrifty, questionable and downright foolish ways to spend their money between October and March, several months before voters start paying attention to them.
  • Democrats in ostensibly competitive districts (Courtney, Himes, and Murphy) have spent much less of a percentage of their income on average than their Republican counterparts.
  • Chris Murphy's campaign, a disciplined machine, has raised and saved the most and, not coincidentally, has the lowest and most consistent burn rate.
  • John Larson is the only candidate spending more than he is raising.  He was actually left with  less cash on hand at the end of March than when he started this electoral cycle. 
  • Sean Sullivan is the worst GOP candidate of the year.  (Tony Nania would compete for the title if he were for real.)
  • Jim Himes nearly matched Chris Shays in cash on hand, in large part because of Shays' pattern of big spending and Himes' past thriftiness.  But Himes raised less and spent more than Shays early this year, diminishing his progress.
CD Candidate Cash on hand
Jan 1 07
Raised
Jan 07 -
Mar 08
Spent
Jan 07 -
Mar 08
Cash on hand
Mar 31, 08
Burn rate
Jan 07-
Sep 07
Burn rate
Oct 07-
Mar 08
Total burn rate
1 Larson 236,969 652,432 682,850 179,552 87% 155% 109%
2 Courtney 47,599 1,465,808 318,722 1,194,685 20% 25% 22%
2 Sullivan
- 230,450 101,462 128,988 23% 72% 44%
3 DeLauro 16,124 624,773 473,024 167,873 83% 66% 76%
4 Shays   61,544 1,608,255 532,072 1,137,726 37% 29% 33%
4 Himes - 1,379,992 274,781 1,105,212 11% 27% 20%
5 Murphy 50,703 1,791,612 297,675 1,544,639 16% 18% 17%
5 Cappiello - 654,655 232,039 420,316 24% 43% 35%
5 Nania - 31,989 21,943 10,046 - 77% 77%
Burn rate = (total spent + debt)/ total raised. 

More on the spending habits of each candidate, and an update on April spending below.
There's More... :: (2 Comments, 2234 words in story)

Commander Sullivan Turns the Ship Around

by: mattw

Mon May 05, 2008 at 15:23:07 PM EDT

OUCH:

  • Total Contributions: $3070.00
  • Total Operating Expenditures: $19065.49

For this they needed an extra week? Perhaps one of their contributors made their donation via recyclable cans and bottles, requiring staff time to redeem and collect the nickels from the nearest grocery store?

If you'll recall, the Sullivan campaign lectured us uncivil bloggers thusly:

Our campaign has just moved into a new phase with a new team. As a result, the fundraising reflects numbers that do not truly show the whole picture. With a new team in place our support will continue to grow and we look forward to May 10th when Sean Sullivan is our nominee for Congress.

Let me say that I, for one, am rather enjoying the "whole picture" of the Sullivan campaign.

As a bonus, let's linger for a moment on the work of the campaign's new finance director, Diane Generous:

Diane has done political and non-profit fundraising, most recently coordinating the Capital Campaign for a new Jewish Community Center at UConn.  She served as Finance Director for former Rep. Rob Simmons in his last congressional race, raising record amounts for a race in the 2nd District of Connecticut.   Before joining the campaign Diane was the Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Eastern Connecticut Realtors Association, and previously was Executive Director of the Connecticut Recreation and Parks Association. Diane served as Finance Director for the Connecticut Republicans in 94-95.

Diane was paid $10,000 to raise the $3,000 in this report.

Wow. I'm going to become a Republican – because I think every professional fundraiser should get paid 3 times what they raise. God bless America, and God bless the ole G-O-P.

Discuss :: (1 Comments)

Diane Farrell Endorses Jim Himes in Stamford

by: tparty

Mon May 05, 2008 at 09:18:50 AM EDT

( - promoted by CaptCT)

(Cross-posted from himesforcongress.com/blog.)

Diane Farrell endorses Jim Himes

Sunday afternoon in Stamford, Fourth District Democrats presented a united front against Chris Shays in advance of the 4th CD nominating convention next Monday May 12th, as two-time Democratic candidate Diane Farrell officially endorsed Jim Himes in front of a crowd of supporters. Here's the Stamford Advocate's report:

Himes, a Greenwich resident who runs a New York City nonprofit housing agency, is attempting what Farrell failed to do in two bids - unseat longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, in the 4th Congressional District, the only one in the state held by Republicans.

"It's a huge honor for me to get Diane's endorsement for this race," said Himes, who was joined by his wife, Mary, and two daughters, Emma, 8, and Linley, 5.

"By all rights, Diane should be our congresswoman," he said to applause....

Farrell said Himes will succeed because Shays' continued support for the war in Iraq and Bush's fiscal policies "will give voters pause."

"I think the story of this campaign is Jim's qualifications," she said, "and the closeness of the last two races indicate that voters have looked closely at Shays' record."

More photos from yesterday on the HimesForCongress Flickr page.

(Disclosure: I am the Online Communications Director for Jim Himes.)

UPDATE (from CaptCT): I added some thoughts on the significance of this endorsement below the fold...
There's More... :: (2 Comments, 315 words in story)

SUPERDELEGATE WATCH: Time for Chairwoman DiNardo to decide? (UPDATED)

by: TrueBlueCT

Fri May 02, 2008 at 20:50:34 PM EDT

(D-E-C-I-D-E. - promoted by ctblogger)

UPDATE: A friend from Wilton called and told me that Ms. DiNardo announced at the Wilton DTC breakfast that she will not endorse either candidate until after the voting is finished. (which hopefully means she'll choose in early June.)

Our State Chair then went on to express concern that ties to Obama are hurting Dems in the South in this year's special elections, and that SuperD's are watching to see if the media's attacks on Obama will affect downticket races.

Does this sound like Clinton talking points? Geez, more or less. I just hope that if down-ticket races are Ms. DiNardo's concern, she'll read this New York Times Article"A Backlash?", which shows that Obama's favorability ratings with whites has remained solid, whereas Clinton's support among blacks is undergoing a precipitous decline. I pray that she won't join Senator Clinton in taking this Party to the brink via a convention battle.

(original post below)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suggesting that we can't drag this out to the late-August Convention, two weeks ago Howard Dean insisted that it's time for super-delegates to declare their preferences. Video.

"We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time," the Democratic National Committee Chairman told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We've got to know who our nominee is."

Here in Connecticut we have but two undecided super-delegates. One is Joe Courtney, who has suggested he's waiting to see who the delegate leader is after the voting is completed. (i.e. he's on board as part of the "Pelosi plan") The other undeclared super-delegate is respected State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo.

My understanding is that Ms. DiNardo has suggested it is inappropriate for a State chair to take sides in this contest. Yet CT Democrats should note that in fact, in the Northeast, six out of eight State chairs have endorsed a candidate, --with the vast majority of those endorsements going for the winner of the State primary.

Here is a quick breakdown:
ME- Chair John Knutson for Obama
VT- Chair Ian Carleton for Obama
NH- Chair Raymond Buckley- Undecided
RI- Chair Bill Lynch for Clinton
NY- Chair June O'Neill for Clinton
NJ- Chair Joseph Cryan for Clinton
PA- Chair T.J. Rooney for Clinton

Is it time for Ms. DiNardo to weigh in? Yes, I think so.

The one thing Dems can't afford is the long, hot summer and subsequent "Fall-out" that will ensue were this election to drag out to the August 25-28th convention.

Word has it that as an ex-teacher Ms. DiNardo is conflicted, as the teachers' union has endorsed Clinton. Personally, I hope she'll put her loyalty to CT Dems first and follow the lead of our Congressional delegation, but in any case isn't it time for her to weigh in? (such that one candidate or the other can attain the 2,025 delegates necessary to end this thing.)

I know how ardent us grassroots Dems can be, so I'm not going to put Chairwoman DiNardo's contact info in this diary, but I do hope that wherever us activists go, we remind our Party leaders why it's necessary for Ms. DiNardo to speak up!

Discuss :: (24 Comments)

Hartford Courant agrees: 500,000 voters should be disenfranchised.

by: Kim Hynes

Fri May 02, 2008 at 11:31:43 AM EDT

(Too important of a topic to have on the sidelines. - promoted by ctblogger)

In the Hartford Courant editorial this morning, Not an Undue Burden, agreement is expressed with the state senators who want to require photo ID to vote in Connecticut.  The Secretary of hte State estimates that 500,000 voters do not have the means to acquire a photo ID.  Further, there has not been an incidence of fraud in CT having to do with identification within at least ten years, and perhaps ever.

Do we in Connecticut really need to disenfranchise half a million voters because of fears of fraud that doesn't exist?  

While the voter ID amendment was not called in the Senate yesterday, Senator Minority Leader McKinney has vowed to call a debate on voter photo ID before the legislative session ends.

Please take action on this and continue to call your legislators to say that disenfranchising half a million voters in Connecticut is unacceptable.  Please write letters to the editor at the Hartford Courant decrying this.

Thanks for all you do!

Discuss :: (28 Comments)
Next >>
 
4 user(s) logged on.
Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?


Recommended Diaries
All about love
by: ctblogger
3 Comments

Recent Diaries
All about love
by: ctblogger - May 06
3 Comments
Why I Support Hillary Clinton
by: shel - May 05
28 Comments
On the Sub-Prime Crisis
by: Connecticut Man1 - May 04
5 Comments

Search


   Advanced
My Left Nutmeg Feeds

Links
Connecticut's War Dead

MLN Facebook Group

Blogroll
Powered By
- SoapBlox

Connecticut Blogs
- Capitol Watch
- Colin McEnroe
- Connecticut2.com
- Connecticut Bob
- ConnecticutBlog
- CT Blue Blog
- CT Energy Blog
- CT Local Politics
- CT News Junkie
- CT Smart Growth
- CT Voices for Civil Justice
- CT Voters Count
- CT Weblogs
- CT Working Families Party
- CT Young Dems
- Cool Justice Report
- DanMalloy.com
- Democracy for CT
- Drinking Liberally (New Milford)
- East Haven Politics
- Emboldened
- Hat City Blog (Danbury)
- LieberWatch
- NB Politicus (New Britain)
- New Haven Independent
- Nutmeg Grater
- Only In Bridgeport
- Rep. David McCluskey
- Rep. Tim O'Brien
- Saramerica
- Stamford Talk
- Spazeboy
- The 40 Year Plan
- Undercurrents (Hartford IMC)
- Wesleying
- Yale Democrats

CT Sites
- Clean Up CT
- CT Citizen Action Group
- CT Democratic Party
- CT For Lieberman Party
- CT General Assembly
- CT Secretary of State
- CT-N (Connecticut Network)
- Healthcare4every1.org
- Judith Blei Government Relations
- Love Makes A Family CT

CT Candidates
- Joe Courtney (CD2)
- Jim Himes (CD4)
- Chris Murphy (CD5)
- Jonathan Harris (SD5)
- John Hartwell (SD26)
- Kim Fawcett (HD133)
- Deb Heinrich (HD101)
- Tim O'Brien (HD24)

Other State Blogs
- Alabama
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin

More blogs about connecticut+politics.
Technorati Blog Finder


 
Powered By
MLN is powered by SoapBlox
 
Return to front page

Powered by: SoapBlox