ConnecticutPlus.com Blogs – Connecticut Politics

Here are some of the most important news concerning the Connecticut politics from the previous week.

A new U.S. attorney for the State of Connecticut was appointe by President Barack Obama. David Feine is a former White House lawyer and federal prosecutor and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Senator Chris Dodd (D – CT) announced that he will soon introduce a constitutional amendment in response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling where a conservative 5-4 majority adjudicated that the government cannot limit foreign individuals, foreign corporations or foreign associations from influencing the country’s political process. It was reported that Senator Dodd’s amendment would regulate campaign finance for state and federal political campaigns.

Earlier, U.S. Representative John Larson (D, CT – 1st District) introduced the Fair Elections Now Act, a bill that would give access to public funds for federal election campaigns if a candidate reaches a certain threshold of support. According to Representative Larson, the bill now has the support of the majority of House Democrats.

Meanwhile, Representative Larson and Representative Linda Sanchez (D, CA – 39th District) introduced a resolution in opposition to Republican plans to privatize Social Security.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I – CT), along with Chris Dodd, announced that first responders in nine cities in towns in the state will receive more than $720,000 from the Assistance Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program.

Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp., has to leave its two aircraft repair plants in Cheshire and East Hartford opened, at least at this time. This comes after U.S. District Judge Janet Hall blocked the company’s earlier decision to close them. According to Judge Hall, the unit didn’t do enough to keep 1,000 jobs thus breaching its collective bargaining agreement with the International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 26. Pratt & Whitney announced that it is considering an appeal. Its attorneys are arguing that the company has the right to protect its financial interests. Pratt & Whitney’s decision from September, 2009 was to close its plants in Cheshire and East Hartford and move its operations to Columbus, Ga., Japan and Singapore.

In her State of the State address on Wednesday, Governor M. Jodi Rell criticized the recent months of “political bickering” in Connecticut on both sides of the aisle, and called for working together for the state in an effort to create jobs and balance the budget. She also called for the creation of new Connecticut Credit Consortium which will be a $500 million partnership between the state and its banks to boost credit availability; for the expansion of sales tax exemption to include tools used in renewable energy and green technology; a $2,500 loan forgiveness program for students who stay and work in Connecticut with a green job degree from college such as life and health sciences or renewable energy; creation of a 24-member commission that will examine the entire state government and address inefficiencies; and the solution to other state issues.

The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM) released its recommendations for balancing the state budget. The office recommended that the state borrow $1.3 billion, however, the servicing of this debt would require reallocating already existing surcharges on everyone’s electrical bills to cover the state’s budget deficit instead of spending the money on green job projects. Critics of that recommendation argue that it would deny the creation of green jobs as well as business’ ambition to cut energy costs.

Governor Rell proposed changes to the state’s campaign finance law. Proposed changes include the elimination of additional qualifying criteria for third-party or petitioning candidates, equal grants to all candidates regardless of their party if any, and other. Last summer, the Citizens Election Program (CEP) was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal appealed to Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Governor Rell made proposals to address the budget deficit and published them on her website. Her proposals provide protections for the state’s “Rainy Day Fund” (RDF), new bonding procedures including ones that will address the state’s underfunding its employees’ retirement benefits, and increased rescission power by the Governor.

This month marked the beginning of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPRA) which was signed into law by President Obama a year ago. The program provides children nationwide with health coverage that their parents otherwise cannot afford. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D, CT – 3rd District) informed that the program pays 2/3 of the cost of health care coverage to more than 15,000 children in Connecticut.

In a blue-ribbon Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (MORE) Commission session, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano proposed eliminating the municipal tax on automobiles in Connecticut and creating a state-wide property tax, as reported in the New Haven Independent. The media reminded that the Mayor had a completely different position four years ago when he was running for Governor against Governor M. Jodi Rell who had the same proposal during the gubernatorial campaign as his current one.

Democrats from the General Assembly created a report and recommendations for job creation and prosperity named Majority Leaders’ Job Growth Roundtable. The Roundtable includes state Senator Garry LeBeau, who dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for Governor, four state Representatives, and experts. According to their presentation, the initiative will create green jobs, educate and train young workers, provide incentives, and others.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal urged President Obama to stop $100 million bonuses to AIG, ConnPolitics reported. While President Obama’s “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg said that the payment of those bonuses is legal, state Attorney General Blumenthal gave an opinion where he stated that Connecticut contract law cannot be used as a basis for paying them. The state’s Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy deemed it part of Mr. Blumenthal’s bid for the U.S. Senate, adding that the state Attorney General has no jurisdiction over the matter.

Meanwhile, Mr. Blumenthal announced that the courts or the state legislature will have the last word in determining whether Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is qualified to run for state Attorney General. According to Susan Bysiewicz, the state Attorney General’s opinion “supports what I’ve been saying all along,” CTNewsJunkie reported. Two weeks ago, Ms. Bysiewicz asked Richard Blumenthal for an advisory opinion on her qualification to run for the statewide position.

Here are highlights from last week’s political news in Connecticut.

Connecticut Senators Chris Dodd (D) and Joe Lieberman (I) announced that a little more than $1.4 million from the Assistance to Fire Fighters Grant Program will go to 16 fire departments in the state, aimed at improving fire fighters’ services and safety.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D, CT – 3rd District) introduced a bill that would prevent foreign corporations from influencing the electoral process in the country. A week earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that the government cannot limit foreign individuals, foreign corporations or foreign associations from influencing the country’s political process. According to Representative DeLauro, multinational corporations controlled by foreigners will not receive the same protection as the ones controlled by Americans, if the bill passes the two houses and is signed by President Obama.

Another legislation that Rosa DeLauro introduced is a bill that would “establish a bank defined as an independent entity that would leverage private dollars to invest in transportation, environment, telecommunications, and energy products of merit,” as reported on her website.

The House Judiciary Committee passed unanimously Representative Chris Murphy’s (D, CT – 5th District) “Billy’s Law,” aimed at helping people whose loved ones have gone missing by easing their access to information about their missing person and also add information themselves about that person. According to Representative Murphy’s website, the bill would provide case profile for the missing that only their loved ones would know.

In Hartford, Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that the state will help Nestle Waters, Inc. keep its North American headquarters in Fairfield County in an effort to preserve 475 jobs at its corporate offices, and add 25 more over the next three years, or find a different Connecticut location – allegedly near its two branch delivery locations in the towns of North Haven and Bozrah. The state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is offering the company a $4 million low interest loan in helping it move. Other incentives are also included.

State residents can now print their UC-1099G tax form printed directly from the state Department of Labor’s website thus reportedly creating a more efficient environment to report recipients’ benefits to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Governor Rell directed the state Department of Social Services (DSS) and the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) to coordinate a statewide effort with police departments, fire departments and local emergency managers in providing shelters to the ones who need them due to the extremely low temperatures throughout Connecticut these few days.

Meanwhile, CTNewsJunkie reports that the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, Inc. (CAHCF) filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Rell. The organization claims that the state has underpaid nursing homes $100 million annually and that it doesn’t assure that its Medicaid beneficiaries have access to efficient, economical or quality nursing facility services to the same extent as Medicaid beneficiaries elsewhere. M. Jodi Rell’s spokesman, Rich Harris, claimed that Connecticut’s payment rates were among the highest in the nation. It was also reported that the state currently pays nursing home care $1.2 billion a year for treating its Medicaid patients.

A Superior Court jury in Waterbury ruled that Connecticut will have to pay Computer Plus Center Inc. the sum of $18 million for violating its owner’s civil rights and ruining her business with false claims that she had broken her contract with the state. Among these claims were that the company was selling the state computers that lacked the proper parts. In 2003, the state seeked $1.75 million in damages from the company in a lawsuit filed by today’s state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura (D) announced that he is not going to run for Attorney General but added that he might run for Governor. Contenders, confirmed or potential, for the Democratic Party nomination for the highest position in Hartford already include Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, former state House Speaker Jim Amann, state Senator Gary LeBeau, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, Simsbury First Selectwoman Mary Glassman and health care activist Juan Figueroa.

On the Republican side, MetroHartford Alliance regional chamber of commerce CEO R. Nelson “Oz” Griebel entered the race. He joins Lieutenant-Governor Michael Fedele, businessman and former U.S. Ambassador in Ireland Tom Foley, former U.S. Representative and current professor on national security policy at the University of New Haven Larry DeNardis, and Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh. Among possible contenderst for the governor’s office that are widely mentioned are Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and former U.S. Representative Chris Shays but they have not officially begun exploring or entered the race yet.

Here are the highlights from Connecticut’s political life from last week.

Senator Chris Dodd (D – CT) announced that the Connecticut Employment and Training Administration will receive $3.36 million in stimulus money through the U.S. Department of Labor for green jobs training.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) who is running for Senator Dodd’s seat, announced that he thinks that the Senate should block Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke from another term, while Senator Dodd supported Mr. Bernanke.

Representative John Larson (D, CT – 1st District) introduced the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA), a bill that would give access to public funds for federal election campaigns if a candidate reaches a certain threshold of support. This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v FEC that labor unions, corporations and other profit and nonprofit organizations can directly spend on political campaign commercials on behalf of a candidate and produce political ads. The decision, which was issued by a 5-4 conservative margin, is banning the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 sponsored by Senator John McCain (R – Arizona) and Russell Feingold (D – Wisconsin). Representative Larson pointed out that FENA would abide by the ruling.

Representative Joe Courtney (D, CT – 2nd District) announced that Connecticut will receive almost $8.8 million to help struggling families and seniors afford their heating and cooling bills. The money comes from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Emergency Contingency Funds, a program that was reportedly initiated in Congress in 1981.

Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that consumers could receive rebates of $50 to $100 for buying Energy Star appliances and $500 for Energy Star central air systems. The money for the rebates, valued at $3.4 million, comes from the federal stimulus package. The Governor’s website also informs that each Connecticut residence is permitted one rebate per replaced qualified appliance and up to three room air conditioners. For more information, go to www.ct.gov/opm/ApplianceRebates.

According to recent Quinnipiac University Poll results, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont leads former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy in the Democratic primary for Governor by 27%-11%, with 44% undecided, leaving the other Democratic runners far behind. On the Republican side, Tom Foley leads Lieutenant Governor Mike Fedele 17%-8%, with 59% undecided and the other Republican runners far behind. Both Republicans slightly trail both Democrats in a possible general election with at least 20% of the voters still undecided. Regarding the Democratic primary for Attorney General, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz leads former state Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen by 62%-10%, while Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura got 3%. Meanwhile, state Representative Cam Staples (D – New Haven), co-chair of the legislature’s Finance Committee, entered the race for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton entered the race for the GOP nomination for Governor. He joins Lieutenant Governor Mike Fedele, businessman Tom Foley, MetroHartford Alliance regional chamber of commerce CEO R. Nelson “Oz” Griebel, former Representative, former state Senator and current professor on national security policy at the University of New Haven Larry DeNardis and Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh.

Mark Greenberg who is running for the GOP nomination for the Fifth Congressional Seat in Connecticut said that he is running for Congress because he thinks that “we need to bring basic business principles” to a Washington establishment, which according to him is filled with career politicians whose primary agenda is to be reelected only. He vowed to “get the job done” on behalf of the people and then not seek further career in politics. Mr. Greenberg’s opponents for the Republican ticket include state Senator Sam Caligiuri, Dan Carter, Kie Westby and Justin Bernier.

The budget deficit is estimated to be about $500 million not only by State Comptroller Nancy Wyman, but also by the non-partisan General Assembly’s budget office and the Governor’s Office of Policy and Management (OPM), as written in a letter to Nancy Wyman by Office of Policy and Manager Secretary Robert Genuario. Mr. Genuario pointed out that the largest decline is in the personal income tax – “$187.7 million due to disappointing estimated payments that were due on January 15.”

Meanwhile, State Comptroller Wyman announced that she is seeking reelection in 2010. State Representative Tom Reynolds (D – Preston) who ran an exploratory committee for her position endorsed her after her announcement. If elected, she will serve her fifth term in office.

A bipartisan group of 17 lawmakers met on Friday to discuss the financial impact on Governor Rell’s decision to unilaterally eliminate the $1.7 million licensed practical nursing program to help close the budget gap, as reported on CTNewsJunkie. According to state Senate President Pro-Tempore Donald Williams (D – Brooklyn) and state Senator Jonathan Harris (D – West Hartford), the Governor’s decision is short-sighted judging by expectations that it is an area where jobs are expected to increase by 16.8%

Here are the policial news highlights from the previous week that concern Connecticut.

In a press release, Senator Chris Dodd (D – CT) expressed support for President Barack Obama’s Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, which would require the biggest Wall Street firms that took advantage of the TARP program to pay back the American taxpayers so that the program does not add to the federal budget deficit.

$1.8 million from the stimulus package will be given to the state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to support broadband planning efforts and expand broadband access statewide over a two-year period. The efforts will allow greater Internet availability and speed to residents in the state.

Representative Joe Courtney (D, CT – 2nd District) announced that $1.8 million from the stimulus package will be given to the Quinebaug Valley Emergency Dispatch Center to renovate a vacant East Killingly Church to serve as their new communications center. The Quinebaug Valley Emergency Dispatch Center contains 519 square miles, 100,000 residents, 34 fire departments, 14 ambulance agencies and 1 paramedic agency. The funds come through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development’s Community Facilities Program.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D, CT – 3rd District) announced that a little more than $230,000 from the stimulus package will be awarded to the Center for Community Self Help in New Haven in an effort to address the effect of abandoned homes and increased unemployment. The funds come through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Meanwhile, Representative DeLauro announced that $57,000 is awarded to the Housing Authority in New Haven. The funding will be used for hiring a program coordinator whose responsibility will be to find jobs for local residents. The money comes through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Family Safe Sufficiency Program.

Representative Jim Himes (D, CT – 4th District) and Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch announced that $4 million from the stimulus package will go to WorkPlace, Inc. and other partner organizations in an effort to create green jobs in the area.

A bill that will require seat belts to be used in school buses is being drafter by State Representative Antonio Guerrera (D – Rocky Hill), co-chairman of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, according to his announcement. On Saturday, January 9, there was a bus crash on I-84 near the Hartford-West Hartford line involving a school bus heading to a robotics competition in Farmington and another vehicle. Vikas Parikh, a Rocky Hill 16-year old resident, died in the crash, while other passengers were severely injured. The legislature’s 2010 session is scheduled to begin on February 3.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) announced five priorities and initiatives for 2010. They generally include requiring the state to maintain funding and providing municipalities with more tools to address fiscal challenges, provide mandates relief, promote voluntary regional projects, and provide regions or municipalities with more flexibility in levying local taxes and unilaterally determining taxes limited by state statutes.

State House of Representatives Speaker Chris Donovan (D – Meriden) formed the Green Jobs Coordination and Policy Committee which is aimed at addressing federal funding for green jobs and creating more green projects in the state. State Representative Vickie Nardello (D – Bethany) will be chairwoman of the committee which consists of experts in the field.

A blue-ribbon commission, Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (M.O.R.E.), was created on Thursday. According to state House Speaker Donovan, the M.O.R.E. commission will seek to cut down bureaucracies at state and local level in an effort to save money and be more efficient. House of Representatives Minority Leader Larry Cafero (R – Norwalk) deemed the commission insulting.

In addressing the state budget gap, juvenile courthouses in Norwalk and Willimantic would be closed this year while the one in Bristol could close after the end of the year depending on the state of the budget.

In electoral politics, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz (D) switched races announcing on Wednesday that she will run for Attorney General instead of running for Governor. About a week ago, current state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that he is running for U.S. Senate after Senator Dodd’s announcement that he will not seek reelection. Susan Bysiewicz did not commit to serve a full four-year term as Attorney General prompting speculations that she is considering running for the U.S. Senate’s seat occupied by Senator Joe Lieberman (I – CT) which will be up in 2012.

Another Democrat entered the race – former state Senate Majority Leader and former state Democratic chairman George Jepsen. He announced that he plans on participating in the state’s campaign public finance program, while Susan Bysiewicz has not. Her decision not to participate in the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP) surprised both insiders and observers as she has been a vocal advocate of the program and has also pledged to use it while exploring a run for Governor. The CEP was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill, and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is appealing it to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, CTNewsJunkie reported that potential opponents and bloggers argued that Susan Bysiewicz was not qualified for the position of state Attorney General because under state statute a candidate for Attorney General has to have a 10 year active practice in law, suggesting that the state statute refers to private practice only. Bysiewicz countered the critics by deeming such an interpretation poor. She also justified her answer by giving Richard Blumenthal as an example – a U.S. attorney from 1977 till 1982 and in private practice from 1982 till 1990, and verbally asked him for an opinion. Among the potential runners for Attorney General is state Representative Cameron Staples (D – New Haven) who also questioned Susan Bysiewicz’s 11 years as Secretary of the State as ones that qualify someone to run for Richard Blumenthal’s current position.

The Hartford Courant reports that former corporate officer and U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon criticized Rob Simmons for flipping on Employee Free Choice Act which would permit workers to form a union if a majority signs pro-union cards, instead of voting by secret ballot. The former U.S. Representative was a co-sponsor of such legislation while in Congress but has now been seen to be against it. Rob Simmons countered Linda McMahon by criticizing her support of a $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill, her contributions to liberal Democrats, and her allegedly “controversial business practices”.

Meanwhile, Rob Simmons was endorsed by five Republican Town Committees –  Brookfield, Bozrah, Colchester Plymouth and Waterford.

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R – Fairfield) announced that he will not be running for Governor. Current GOP runners for the highest statewide position in Hartford are businessman Tom Foley, Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele, former Representative, former state Senator and current professor on national security policy at the University of New Haven Larry DeNardis, and Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh who just recently entered the race. Mr. DeNardis also served in the Reagan Administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1985 until 1987.

So far, Lieutenant Governor Fedele has received 75 endorsements. Among them are Mayors, First Selectmen, First Selectwomen and nine state Representatives.

Connecticut for Lieberman Party, a party founded by Senator Lieberman and abandoned by him after he was reelected, nominated John Mertens as their candidate for Chris Dodd’s seat. John Mertens is a professor of engineering at Trinity College.

In a recent Quinnipiac Poll, Richard Blumenthal has a landslide lead to his GOP opponents for Senator Dodd’s seat with a margin of at least 35%. He has a substantial lead to his party opponent Merrick Alpert as well – 82%-4%.

Here are the highlights from last week’s political life in Connecticut.

Senator Chris Dodd (D – CT) announced on Wednesday outside his home in East Haddam that he is not going to seek reelection in 2010. The longest term Connecticut Senator denied family matters and present political standing as reasons not to seek reelection while he regretted causing some people to question him. 

Shortly after Senator Dodd’s announcement, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that he is running for the party nomination for the 2010 race for Senate. Mr. Blumenthal said that he didn’t talk Chris Dodd into retiring from the Senate. He also said that he will remain the Attorney General of Connecticut during the 2010 election campaign. Richard Blumenthal already has his campaign website up: richardblumenthal.com.

Rasmussen Poll results from the night of January 6, the day when Senator Dodd announced that he is not going to seek reelection, show that Richard Blumenthal is leading Republican challengers by at least 20 percent.

Meanwhile, the only other candidate for the nomination of the Democratic Party, Merrick Alpert sent a letter to Richard Blumenthal congratulating the Attorney General on entering the race and calling for debates on the campaign trail.

In other news, Senator Chris Dodd announced that $120.9 million in Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits from the stimulus package will go to several Connecticut-based technology companies. The companies are based in Middletown, Oxford, Somers, South Windsor and Wallingford, as reported on ConnecticutPlus.com.

Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that $4.5 million from the stimulus package Geothermal Heat Pump Incentive program will benefit Connecticut homeowners, businesses and non-profits in lowering their energy costs and promoting the use of alternative energy. The program is expected to create ‘green’ jobs in the state. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) will be administering the program.

Governor Rell wrote to U.S. Navy Secretary Raymond E. Mabus, Jr. asking him to give preference to Connecticut firms in two state-funded projects at the submarine base in Groton. She called the Groton base an absolutely essential component in our state’s economy, and emphasized on the importance of the projects in the current economic conditions.

Governor Rell announced that she is delaying for one month a decision by the state Bond Commission on funding a juvenile detention center for girls determined by the juvenile courts to be delinquent on state-owned property on Virginia Avenue in Bridgeport. Local neighborhood, state Representative Chris Caruso (D – Bridgeport), state Senator Anthony Musto (D – Bridgeport) and Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch oppose the project. Opponents had already offered two alternative sites for its implementation but both were rejected.

Governor Rell said that she directed the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Commissioner Peter Boynton to review the declassified summary of intelligence failures that might have lead to the failure to stop the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day on board of a Detroit, Michigan bound international flight last year.

State Representative Michael Lawlor (D – East Haven), who co-chairs the state Judiciary Committee, said that it was time to build a treatment facility for sex offenders that would help sex convicts integrate back into society upon their release from prison. According to him, the treatment facility was supposed to be built and operating by July 1, 2008.

The Hartford Courant reported that state Representative Ryan Barry (D – Manchester) charged his political action committee (“12th District Democrats” PAC) for $1,263 in hotel and welfare expenses which is in violation of state laws. State Representative Barry is co-chairman of the legislature’s banks committee, and is considering running for state Senate’s seat vacated by Mary Ann Handley (D – Manchester). Mr. Barry notified the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) that he is reimbursing his PAC.

Former U.S. Representative Rob Simmons, who is running for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate against former WWE corporate officer Linda McMahon and businessman Peter Schiff, was endorsed by three former chairmen of the state’s Republican Party in Connecticut: Chris DePino (chairman from 1997 until 2003), Bob Poliner (1987-1989) and George Gallo (2005-2007). They join former state party chairman and current Deputy House Republican Leader Bill Hamzy.

The Hartford Courant reported that enrollment in state safety-net programs increased by 18 percent over the last year, while the number of state residents receiving food stamps increased by one-third. Families of four with an annual income of up to $40,000 are eligible for food assistance while their monthly benefits are down to $433 from $668 per month. Governor M. Jodi Rell said that increased Medicaid enrollment led the state to increasing the Medicaid costs by $91 million.

Former Stamford Mayor and potential candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for Governor, Dan Malloy, urged one of his potential opponents, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, to participate in the state’s public finance system. Ned Lamont’s response was that he will think it over, and added that he is not the only gubernatorial hopeful to pledge to stick with the program but Mr. Malloy pointed out that Mr. Lamont is the only Democratic gubernatorial candidate who hasn’t done it yet. If deciding not to accept the state’s finance system (CEP), the businessman from Greenwich will join other Greenwich businessman who is a gubernatorial candidate for the GOP nomination – Tom Foley. The state public finance system limits individuals’ money contributions.

An internal poll conducted by the Foley for Governor campaign shows that Tom Foley currently leads Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele 31 percent to 14 percent, with the rest being undecided.

Meanwhile, Simsbury First Selectwoman Mary Glassman (D) launched an exploratory committee for Governor making the number of Democratic contenders now to seven. Other confirmed and potential candidates include: Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, former state House Speaker Jim Amann, state Senator Gary LeBeau and Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi.

Justin Bernier, who is running for the Republican Party nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Fifth District in Connecticut, currently occupied by Chris Murphy, raised $100,000 over the Fourth Quarter.  Mr. Bernier’s opponents for the party nomination include state Senator Sam Caligiuri, Dan Carter, Kie Westby, and Mark Greenberg.