Gov. Rell Will Not Seek Re-Election

Former speaker Jim Amann must be pleased that his number one rival decided to opt out of her bid for Governor. With Rell out of the Race there are now eager Republican Contenders. This years shift in favor of the Republican paradigm is good news for Gov. Rell's Lt. Governor Mike Fedele who said he will pursue the states top job, and made his announcement on the heels of Rell's.

Democratic contenders have swelled, and the race is a wide open bid with lots of interesting people including another Amann rival Ned Lamont who has yet to announce. Lamont probably still remembers his endorsement of Lieberman, and he will certainly make the race interesting if he throws his hat into the ring with Malloy, and Bycyewitz.

Gov. Rell indicated that after giving her decision a long hard look decided it would be best for her and her family to retire from office come 2010.

Our next Governor will be one mired with record deficits, serious economic problems and a turbulent society. This is certainly not a Job worthy of any envy and I wish only for the best leader to emerge.

Milford's Jim Amann On TV

Connectiut Newsmakers Jim Amann
by ctblogger

The following clip was found on www.myleftnutmeg.com, a liberal Democratic site that has developed a reputation for Lampooning Amann. Without a doubt Milford's former speaker is making a valiant effort in getting his name out.

Recently, this comment from a patron of the Milford Oyster festival came in regarding Amann. (Comment Re-Posted Un-Edited)

"I ventured out on Saturday to take in the excitement of the Oyster Fest. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and spent money, but not a fortune. Love the firefighters-always loud and obnoxious to get you to throw the ball and knock them into the water! I heard some mild disappointment coming from people who couldn't walk outside the designated area with their beers. I also heard people lamenting the lack of shaded areas to eat down on Fowler. I walked around and ran into all kinds of people I know including the illustrious mayor of Milford, Jim Richetelli. Did not see Jimmy Amann anywhere, but did see his signs everywhere. He's gonna have a tough battle with Mama Rell! Overall, it was a fun day filled with popcorn, bubbles, family and friends. Thanks for the opportunity to have a relaxing day! See you next year! BTW how's that funding going?"

Scully’s Departs From Amann Campaign

Patrick Scully, who joined former Speaker of the House James Amann’s gubernatorial campaign in January, says he is no longer working for the campaign.

“I am no longer employed by the Amann campaign because of lack of funding,” Scully said in a phone interview Friday. “I don’t have time to work for free.” Scully said he is working on building his consulting company and his departure in no way “negates my thoughts of the candidate.”

Scully’s departure does raise questions about the viability of Amann’s campaign, although Amann scoffed at that idea on Friday. Amann said the campaign dismissed Scully for reasons he refused to discuss on the record, not vice-a-versa.
Scully said the campaign owes him “five figures,” which could conceivably be a problem because, based the campaign report filed at the end of April, Amann’s campaign had $4,110 cash on hand.

“We’re doing fine,” Amann said. “We’re moving forward.” He said in the old days he would have raised $250,000 by now, but things are different under the new public finance system, under which Amann said it was difficult to spend money in the exploratory phase. That’s why the campaign switched over to a candidate committee, but in the process forfeited more than $20,000.

Under the new rules if the amount a candidate rolls over from an exploratory committee exceeds the total amount of qualifying small-dollar checks received, then the difference goes back to the state election fund. Amann transferred $35,488 from his exploratory committee into his candidate committee, but he had only raised about $9,545 in qualifying contributions of $100 or less causing him to lose more than $25,000.

Click here to see the campaign finance record of the transfer.
“It was a mistake,” Scully said of the campaign’s decision to switch from an exploratory to candidate committee so quickly.

Amann’s opponents — Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz — are still exploring a run for governor. Malloy’s campaign had about $105,297 cash on hand and Bysiewicz about $83,357 at the end of April.
But Amann, who has already opened up his campaign headquarters in Milford, said “we’re the only ones in the race.”

The last time Quinnipiac University polled residents on the 2010 gubernatorial match-up was back in February. At that time 79 percent didn’t know enough about Amann to have an opinion. Bysiewicz was the early favorite in a Democratic primary with 44 percent of the vote, followed by Malloy with 12 percent and Amann with 4 percent. Another 36 percent are undecided.

The same poll showed Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell beating Amann 61 to 21 percent. On Friday Amann said he had hundreds of volunteers working for him and has plans for at least two fundraisers this summer.

Cristine Stewart www.ctnewsjunkie.com

Rell Will Attempt To Reconcile Budget Deficit

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Tuesday that while she believes the budget she presented to the General Assembly earlier this month was balanced she will have her budget office get together with the legislature’s budget office and the state Comptroller’s office to see if they can agree on the budget deficit.

Rell’s budget office had projected a $6 billion budget deficit for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, while the legislature’s budget office projected an $8.7 billion budget deficit for those same two years.

“I put together a budget based on the facts I had at the time,” she said. “I think we all agree the budget deficit continues to grow.”

In an emailed statement, Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said he is encouraged by Rell’s announcement.

“It is apparent that the budget that Gov. Rell proposed two weeks ago will not put our fiscal house in order,” Looney said. “I appreciate Gov. Rell’s willingness to revise her projections and trust that when new deficit numbers are agreed upon, that she will work with the legislature to find solutions.”

At the moment Rell said she still won’t entertain any talk of tax increases until the legislature can put some spending cuts on the table. “I’m not talking revenue until we talk cuts,” she said.

“I’ve said from the very beginning we need to make budget cuts,” Rell said. “I’m the only person that has put budget cuts on the table.”

In addition Rell said she was still working on her fiscal year 2009 budget mitigation plan to help reduce the more than $1 billion deficit this fiscal year. She has asked the legislature to take a vote on the package, which she has yet to unveil, on Feb. 25.

Along with her budget mitigation plan, Rell’s staff will be meeting with legislative leaders Wednesday morning to talk about a retirement incentive package for state employees over the age of 55.

In a press release sent out on Friday, Rell urged the Democrat-controlled legislature to come up with a retirement incentive package, also known as a RIP, to offer qualifying employees before April 1. “It is my hope that we can trim the payroll through a plan like this,” Rell said in the press release.

Jeff Beckham, spokesman with the Office of Policy and Management, said Tuesday that the governor could negotiate a RIP directly with the unions or the legislature can pass a law providing for it.

Speaker of the House Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, said in a phone interview Tuesday evening that he was under the impression that a early retirement package was being negotiated by the state employee unions and Rell.

“That’s where this proposal belongs,” Donovan said. He said it’s not the legislature’s job to negotiate with the unions. “She needs to put a proposal together and present it to us,” he said.

Rell has asked representatives from all four caucuses to meet with her and the Office of Policy and Management to come up with an early retirement package.

Donovan said he will not be sending anyone from the House Democratic caucus to the meeting Wednesday morning.

Derek Slap, spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said Tuesday that the governor’s office has yet to lay out specifics of the RIP.

How would it work? And who would qualify? These are all details that have yet to be spelled out by the governor, Slap said. He said while the Democrats are open to the idea they would like to see who would be leaving and on what terms.

“Clearly this needs to be done strategically,” he said.

C. Stewart

Milford Oyster Fest Posts Huge Turnout Despite A Little Rain

The Milford Oyster festival was a huge success marked with much community involvement from a plethora of small business owners, arts and crafts vendors, rides, and political celebrities.

The most notable guest of this years festival, besides Foghat, was Jim Amann's 2010 opponent for governor Jody Rell. Some have clamored the irony of her guest appearance here in Milford but she was not short of company as local politicians, including our mayor and other candidates here in town, were "glued" to her as she travelled from booth to booth.

To our disappointment her entourage came within our vicinity and stared at the Independent Party booth. One of our volunteers Terri, said they looked rather perplexed, unsure what to do and ultimately walked passed us as if it was the right thing to do. Others disagreed and thank Gayle Slossberg who greeted us with her entire entourage with hugs for some of us who are her fans. I also would like to thank Richard Roy our state Representative from the 119Th who also was polite, introduced himself and engaged in positive friendly chat and Mike Brown who openly introduced himself and invited me to meet my Democratic opponent.

When I first embarked on this venture for state Rep. I called Jim Amann who said it was rather "odd" that I made a request to meet with him since I was in the running against him. His refusal to meet with me was even more strange in that he decided not to run shortly after the request was made. The reason that I add this point here is because at no time is my door closed to meeting with my opponents or anyone with ambitions of taking office. I have not met both my opponents but while I was out canvassing I did have the opportunity to present myself to my Republican contender.

My door is always open to any and all leaders I hold no allegiance to any party, I pay no favors to anyone. My beliefs and faith are in the values and integrity of good people, especially those who keep our best interests at heart.