Merrick Alpert's "VIP" Florida Resort Lifestyle

Nancy DiNardo + MLN = Love at Second Sight (0.00 / 0)

I heard Nancy DiNardo on WNPR this morning with Lucy Nalpathanchil discussing the merits of the Senate Ethics Committee investigation and Robert Feinberg.

Her apologies for Dodd - the Repulicans keep perpetuating it - are nonsense.  Alan Bisbort in this week's Hartford Advocate criticizes Kerry, McCain and Calhoun for having vacation houses, too. This is a horrible economy, and those with the most share the least.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why progressive Democrats continue to give Chris Dodd the benefit of the doubt. He deserves none.

He has been in the Senate 36 years, almost as long as I have been alive. The lifestyle that membership in the world's most exclusive club has afforded him includes a house in Ireland that he has undervalued, a pad in DC and a house in Connecticut that he got a great .

Perhaps it is time for him to ride off gently into that sunset and become a statesman.

And the best DiNardo can do is criticize GOP chair Healy and his newlywed wife Sue Bibisi (a former reporter who once was my editor) for taking pictures of Dodd's cottage in Ireland? "Dodd isn't out of touch," DiNardo squawks.  

Please. How many of us here have three houses? My bet is that none of us have three houses. Maybe someone here has two homes. But three, including one in Ireland?  

What happened to the rebellion within the Democratic party that promised to move it in a more progressive direction? The progressive Dems are supporting the wrong horse here.

He got our hopes up when he said he would filibuster any telecomm bill that featured retroactive immunity. He didn't.
Dodd recently worked to save worthless military spending (the F-22). A progressive Senator would have voted against any and all military expenditures. Dodd's tiny steps like minor credit card reform are too little, too late.

Merrick Alpert offers more of the same corporate claptrap.  I just don't understand the constant support of Dodd when he clearly is in the wrong. Why is a guy who is supposed to be regulating mortgage giants like Countrywide should even dealing with them on such intimate terms as to an FOA or VIP?

---

by: ken_krayeske @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 14:59:44 PM UTC

Hey Ken (0.00 / 0)

Care to tell everyone what Slum you were born and raised in?

How about a little bio on you?

You know,Where you were born,

What underpriviledged neighborhood you grew up in and all those substandard Public Schools you attended?

Everyone in Ct knows Dodd comes from wealth.The difference between him and Alpert(and perhaps you)is he never tried to sell himself as "just a regular guy".

---

by: ctkeith @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 15:26:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Confused? I am. (0.00 / 0)

I have nothing to hide, Keith. You criticize me for talking about myself, then you demand I tell you about myself. So, since you know I love to talk about me, here goes:

My resume is online, although it needs a little updating.

I was born in Waterbury, CT at St. Mary's Hospital. I of course made sure my parents had health care, and I told them I wanted to be born in a Catholic hospital.

I attended both public and private schools. I graduated from Holy Cross High School in 1990, but late in 2003, I returned my diploma to HCHS because I grew tired of reading fundraising appeals from an ethically-troubled Governor/alum named John Rowland. If it wasn't Rowland that drove me repudiate my alma mater, then it certainly would have been the fact that HCHS in 2004 killed the Cross Chronicle, a great high school newspaper.

I needed eight years to pay off my undergrad loans (for a private university), and unless Jesus comes from the heavens and gives me $50,000, I will have law school loans (for a public university) until I am 57.

I currently live in Asylum Hill in Hartford where I am surrounded by three blighted buildings, various quality of life issues, some unhappy neighbors, a highway, a train line, a community garden, and some of the richest corporations financial and insurance corporations in the world.  Aetna, Mass Mutual, the Hartford and ING share their wealth with the neighborhood. I'll invite you to the next Scrooge McDuck "let's all swim in gold coins" pool party.

---

by: ken_krayeske @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 02:22:34 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

log cabin (0.00 / 0)

Ken - I thought you were born in a log cabin and did your "ciphers" on the back of a shovel with a lump of coal! LOL

Keep up the good fight just don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

---

by: amarko55 @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 08:46:11 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yer Doi'n It Right, Ken (0.00 / 0)

How about this sentence in a comment below:

Let's get real, Ken - you aren't going to get anyone more progressive than Chris Dodd.

I almost spit out my coffee!

"If those in charge of our society...can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." ~~Howard Zinn

---

by: lakezoarian @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 12:08:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No Ken (0.00 / 0)

I criticized you for argueing that if someone owns 3 homes that should disqualify them from being considered for office or from being considered a progressive.You come from Priviledge too Ken and although you may have only started out on 2nd base and Dodd started out on third your argument is still kind of rediculous.

I could care less where you choose to live Ken and it doesn't make you a better person,more progressive or give you the right to assume you speak for the poor oppressed masses.

In the world of reality,which you obviously choose to ignore, Sen.Chris Dodd would be on anyones list of the top 5 or 6 progressive US Senators but don't take my word for it.Perhaps you'd can put on your Journalist cap and ask Sen. Bernie Sanders(whom I hope you agree is #1 progressive Sen. even though I think even he would agree he's not as effective as Dodd)agrees.

---

by: ctkeith @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 12:55:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Defending Chris Dodd (0.00 / 0)

Let's get real, Ken - you aren't going to get anyone more progressive than Chris Dodd.  And the "rebellion" has worked - we have moved Chris Dodd in a more progressive direction.

And no Connecticut politician, no matter how progressive, is not going to make at least a token effort to save F-22 jobs.

---

by: Jon Kantrowitz @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 15:57:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No-No Jon (0.00 / 0)

Cliff would,right after he got his 4% in any election he ran in.

The thing that rubs me raw here is that Ken knows the entire Countrywide story is Bullshit that was manufactured by the right wing and the diseminated and promoted by Cts "professional reporters"(who dispise Ken and would NEVER conder Ken a colleague like he likes to believe he is) because it required NO WORK because thats exactly all they're good at.

Ken is becoming exactly what he professes to dispise,Someone who can't win an honest argument so he makes the dishonest one.

---

by: ctkeith @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 16:05:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Who cares if Dodd's pet projects are designed to kill people? (4.00 / 1)

Not me for sure. I say we should kill more people. In fact, let's start the state-sanctioned mass murder slowly, first by having the state police and military make lists of American citizens who use their names online to post really progressive opinions. Make sure the lists include those rabble rousing PETA people. Certain Democrats aren't off limits either. And get their social circles, too.

After we've got a good grip on who they are, let's find an excuse to round them up.  Identifying political opposition and then working to eliminate it will really put this country on the right track. It will sure spur our economy. We need guns and uniforms and jails and extermination chambers to create law and order.  

---

by: ken_krayeske @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 02:30:46 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

What are you talking about Ken? (0.00 / 0)

No one said that  the F-22 is a "pet project." And all weapons are "designed to kill people." Are you advocating giving up all Defense Department expense?

And how do you get from there to rounding up people with progressive opinions? Can't anybody hold a rational discussion with you?

---

by: Jon Kantrowitz @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 12:49:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why not consider giving up the Department of Defense? (0.00 / 0)

While we aren't Costa Rica, which lacks a standing army,  the Department of Defense is not Defense, it is a Department of War and Imperialism. I preferred its old name as Dept of War, because at least we knew what it really was doing.

So the answer is yes, why can't we consider shutting down DOD? Why do we have to be the world's policeman? We don't have to be. I don't think we would choose to be - corporate power within the military industrial complex drives the policy to spend for death.  

Perhaps I went overboard on the comment, indicating that the military industrial complex is too powerful, and has its sights set on progressives who stand in its way. Amy Goodman's column this week discusses how the military is spying on progressive activists. Wilileaks yesterday released a memo on the revolving door between DOD and private contractors when it comes to torture and spying.

How can we make change through the system if when we advocate for non-violent, political positions, we are being watched and recorded and investigated? Consider the website Green is the new Red, also. Perhaps I am jaded because of my arrest, subsequent lawsuit and what I have learned in the interim that I am seeking to make public. But how would we feel if the Connecticut State Police kept tabs on the Democrats during elections, not just Greens? Would that change your point of view at all?

Harper's a few months back ran a story about the Guatemalan secret police archives. I don't have the exact quote, but essentially, they discussed about the arrogance of police in keeping exacting records, because power makes them think they can get away with it. It, in the instance of Guatemala, was rounding up progressives and shooting them, and keeping track of the killings. It's not secret anymore.

So I made a leap of logic, and perhaps I should've been more clear in my argument. But Dodd's advocacy for the F-22's is a pet project of his - I listened to the press phone call he did on that - he sounded whiny, pathetic and whimpering in protecting United Technologies. UTC's interest and jobs its provides is not our interest. There are better jobs that we could create with government money.

Sorry if you thought I went overboard there, but I was aiming to be outrageous to incite thoughts, because I am deeply concerned. Every time I am at a parade or a sports event and the F-18s do the flyovers, I thank god that the display of power is not being utilized on us. And I fear that one day it could be. So if that fear makes me irrational, so be it.

---

by: ken_krayeske @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 14:03:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Merrick Alpert's residence (0.00 / 0)

I don't know how much time Merrick Alpert spent in Florida, but I do know that he has lived in Mystic since 2004.  I attended a fundraiser for Jim Sullivan at his house in 04. I'm not defending him as a candidate, I think that's a joke, but he has been in CT longer than three months. He's a member of the Groton Democratic Town Committee.  

---

by: MVD @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 17:55:45 PM UTC

Florida (0.00 / 0)

Alpert did list a Florida address when contributing to Texas House candidate Gene Green in 2006, and his business was located in Cape Coral as of 2006, at which time he was President.

---

by: tparty @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 18:07:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think his Property Tax reciepts (0.00 / 0)

 on that country club propertyin Florida would clear this up since Florida residents are exemmpt from paying any.

---

by: ctkeith @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 19:53:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

used to live in greenwich (0.00 / 0)

...or "Cos Cob" as they call it within the four corners of the town. Attended fundraisers and donated to a few local DTCs back in 2003, people figured he was trying to introduce himself for a possible Congressional run or some such.  

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

---

by: mattw @ Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 18:58:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

This tiki hut (0.00 / 0)

is a true Floridian tiki hut. All others are nouveau riche wanna-be nature grand kahunas:

---

by: Sue @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 00:28:55 AM UTC

Doesn't much matter (0.00 / 0)

where his houses are.  I don't even care how many he has. I DO want to see the mortgage agreements on all of them, though.

But he chose to run his business out of Florida, not out of Connecticut. That matters to me.  As a Florida businessman, maybe he should just run for office in Florida.  

And let's have a look at his corporate financing, while we're at it.

---

by: chele @ Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 14:18:06 PM UTC

Time for a Reality Check (0.00 / 0)

I've been reading some of your posts, tparty, and I can't help but be amazed by your anti-Alpert rhetoric.  Do you really think that it's "pots, kettles" when comparing Alpert's former condo in Florida to Dodd's favorable mortgage deals?  Alpert earned his condo through hard work.  He didn't come from a privileged background, like Dodd.  Dodd got his mortgage deals (and being able to list two homes as "primary" residences sure sounds like a sweetheart deal to me) through his position as Senator.

As MVD mentioned, Alpert did nove back to CT in 2004.  It just took a while to sell the condo (you have heard of the problems with Florida real estate?).

The facts are that Alpert was born in CT, went to school in CT.  The fact that his jobs took him to various parts of this country should not be a strike against him.  Under that reasoning, only people who have lived their entire lives in the same state should run for office.

You also seem to take Alpert to task for not having "his company" in CT.  The facts are that Alpert was the president of Turbine Generator Maintenance (TGM), but he was not the owner.  When Alpert became president of TGM, the company was already established in Florida.  Under your reasoning, I guess his first order of business should have been to relocate the company to CT.

---

by: Mr. Clean @ Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 15:56:47 PM UTC

simple (0.00 / 0)

Alpert is attacking Democrats from the right. The other stuff is just static -- if you go after Dems using right wing talking points, you're going to get shit on MLN.

There are all kinds of critiques of Dodd that Alpert could issue that would get him taken seriously here. Getting your hackles up about whether or not it's reasonable for the guy to live here and run his business out of Florida is, I guarantee you, the most fruitless exercise you could possibly engage in.  

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

---

by: mattw @ Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 16:54:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Right is right (0.00 / 0)

Just because something is a so-called "right wing talking point" doesn't necessarily make it untrue.  Are you really telling me that the AIG bonuses, mortgage deals, Irish cottage deal, moving to Iowa, etc. don't bother you at all????  They sure bother me.

Just because a Democrat wants to clean up the Democratic party doesn't make him a front for the right wing.  If we Democrats don't clean up our own party, then the other party will do it for us.  It's as simple as that.

I've supported Dodd in the past and I think Dodd has done some good work.  But it's all years ago.  He's become complacent because he's had an easy ride in every election.  Now that he's being held accountable for his actions (and inactions as a 26-year member of the Banking committee), he is off limits to legitimate gripes?

---

by: Mr. Clean @ Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 17:43:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]