09 August 2011

Around the Connecticut Blogs

Political Capitol by Brian Lockhart:

There’s been speculation among fellow politics watchers about whether ex-Stamford Mayor-turned-Governor Dannel Malloy will endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary in Connecticut’s largest city, Bridgeport.


Today Malloy, after touring a Milford business, said he will not be involving himself in the increasingly-heated campaign between state Senator-turned-Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Mary-Jane Foster.


Asked if he will back a primary candidate, Malloy said, “No. I’ll wait until the primary is done in Bridgeport.”



CTNewsJunkie by Christine Stuart:

The top four companies with the most workers receiving state subsidized healthcare for their employees are not a big surprise. According to the office of Office of Legislative Research report, Wal-Mart, Dunkin Donuts, Stop & Shop Supermarkets, and McDonald's top the list of companies whose employees are receiving HUSKY benefits. Mohegan Sun Casino ranks 6th and Foxwoods Casino is 13th.


Only In Bridgeport
by Lennie Grimaldi:

John Gomes withdrew as a mayoral candidate Monday morning and threw his support behind Mary-Jane Foster, setting the stage for a one-on-one Democratic primary showdown against Mayor Bill Finch September 13, assuming Foster’s petition signatures are certified to make the ballot. Wednesday is the deadline to submit signatures from at least five percent of Democratic primary voters...

With five weeks left before the primary this race promises to be a volcanic mudslinger between Finch and Foster. Stay tuned.


Wait, What by Jon Pelto:



In this weekend’s Hartford Courant, Patrick Scully, a media consultant, political blogger and former communications director for the Connecticut Senate Democrats wrote that I and other Governor Malloy critics are “hopelessly disconnected from the average Connecticut citizen and continue to wallow in the failed, far-left, now-fringe policies of 1970s.”

Scully’s premise is that “Good Democrats” support Dan Malloy that “Good Democrats” recognize that the Governor’s decision to shred the safety net and implement massive layoffs of state employees are actually the employees fault and that Malloy should not be held responsible for the damage these cuts and layoffs will be doing to Connecticut.

To back up his observation, Scully goes on to proclaim that supporting Connecticut’s public employees at this time is similar to supporting George McGovern and that “George McGovern is no longer relevant, nor are his policies” and that “today’s Democrats [himself included] are in the camp of John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton Barak Obama and, yes, Dan Malloy....”

I appreciate Mr. Scully’s right to criticize me and others for our criticism of Dan Malloy and I certainly understand his concern that now is not the time to “wallow in the failed, far-left, now-fringe policies of 1970s.”

But that said, I’m pretty sure that fighting against a senseless war, preserving programs like food stamps, revamping the tax structure to support not punish working families and working to end hunger here and abroad don’t count as “failed, far-left, now fringe policies”.

I don’t doubt that there are “Good Democrats” who support both President Obama and Governor Malloy. I too consider myself a “Good Democrat” and in that capacity I believe we have an obligation to speak out when it appears that either of them have stumbled from the path that got them elected – or even more importantly – are failing to implement the most fundamental principles and values that we Democrats stand for.




Jonathan Kantrowitz



Shays put his Connecticut home on the market moved to the Maryland suburbs just a few months after losing his reelection to Congress in 2008.

Now, after spending three years working in Washington D.C., Shays is trying to get voters to forget that he doesn’t live in Connecticut and wants to join his Republican friends in Congress as they try to gut Medicare and prolong the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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