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Another reason Rell was likely to veto the death penalty
Besides the arguments she has already made about her belief in capital punishment for the most heinous crimes, I think there’s another pretty obvious reason Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell today had to veto the legislation abolishing executions.
In late May she signed legislation codifying the state Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing gay marriage in Connecticut.
And while the vote to abolish the death penalty was not strictly partisan (far more Republicans voted against it than Democrats) I think it’s too much to expect a Republican Governor - even a moderate like Rell - would within about one month not only legalize gay marriage but sign an equally high-profile bill doing away with capitol punishment.
If that happened she might as well issue an executive order to decriminalize marijuana while she was at it and, what the heck, go all the way and switch parties.
Former House Speaker Amann enjoys final minutes of 2009 session and witnesses Wright Tech blow-up from home with a full belly
I spoke briefly with former House Speaker/current gubernatorial candidate James Amann, D-Milford today about an upcoming story. He told me he watched the final 45 minutes of the 2009 session on television Wednesday night.
Amann, who turned in his Speaker’s gavel last session, had just returned home from meeting with a Democratic Town Committee in Bethlehem Connecticut and dining out on “two inch thick” Prime Rib at a restaurant there.
He headed to bed, turned on the television and, about 11:15 decided to turn to CTN and watch his former colleagues end the 2009 session without a two-year budget deal in place.
“Usually the last night of session is an exciting night, a night of fanfare and celebration and a job well-done,” Amann said. He said instead it looked as if the wind had been taken out of the room.
As the clock ticked away to the midnight deadline Amann watched his successor, House Speaker Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, take several phonecalls from his perch behind the podium at the front of the chamber.
Amann recalled those frantic last minutes cutting deals by phone to get as many bills up for vote and out the door as possible.
“You don’t know if it’s coming from (Republican Gov. M. Jodi) Rell, (Rell Chief of Staff Lisa) Moody or (House Minority Leader) Larry (Cafero, R-Norwalk) or whoever. Maybe it’s your own guys ready, if a bill comes out, to filibuster,” Amann said.
And he also witnessed the tense exchanges Cafero had with members of Stamford’s legislative delegation over an amendment the group attached, against Rell’s wishes, into a larger bill in an effort to stop the state from closing J.M. Wright Technical School.
“I was watching him walk back and forth … He went over to the middle of the room, his hands were flapping left and right. I saw (Rep. William) Tong (D-Stamford) talking to him and I think it was (Rep. Gerald) Fox (D-Stamford),” Amann recalled.
Amann wasn’t aware at the time of all the details, but having been speaker said he knew some last minute issue had arisen over a piece of legislation.
“It’s fun to watch it,” Amann said. “You can watch it and know what’s happening without having the sound on.”
The legislature’s differences over hedge fund regulations summed up in one photo
The Advocate has the story about the death of Sen. Bob Duff’s, D-Norwalk proposed hedge fund regulations in the final day of the session Wednesday. The bill, passed by the Senate, faced major GOP opposition in the House despite the backing of Rep. John Stripp, R-Weston and was never called for a likely time-consuming debate and vote.
But a Hartford Courant photographer captured a fantastic photo (go to #15) of Duff’s unsuccessful attempt to win over House Republican Minority Leader and fellow Norwalk lawmaker Lawrence Cafero.
Wright Tech proposal salvaged at last minute
The bill I referenced in the blog post directly below that involved an effort to save J.M. Wright Technical School in Stamford was resuscitated in the frenzied final minutes of the session tonight and passed by both the House and Senate.
I understand House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, despite pressure from the administration, realized too many other legislators wanted the bill to pass for their own districts and he stepped aside.
Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, did likewise in the Senate.
But Rep. Livvy Floren, R-Greenwich, who also represents parts of Stamford, said it is still possible Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell might veto the bill or at least the Wright Tech section.
“I think it would be difficult to veto the entire bill,” Floren said.
That was the Stamford delegation’s strategy - bury the Wright Tech language in a bill that a majority of their colleagues, including Republicans, would find difficult to kill.
In a brief interview afterward I asked Rep. James Shapiro, D-Stamford, whose district is home to Wright Tech, if he was disappointed in Lt. Governor Michael Fedele’s opposition to tonight’s maneuver.
“I believe the Lt. Governor cares deeply about Wright Tech,” Shapiro said. “We had a difference of opinion tonight about how we can best protect it. Hopefully we can all move forward together. It’s the school and kids that matter.”
Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele at odds with Stamford delegation over best way to save Wright Tech
As reported last week, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposed as part of her updated two-year budget closing J.M. Wright Technical School in Stamford to save about $5 million annually.
She proposed the closure despite the fact that Stamford legislators have been working for months with Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, also from Stamford, to ensure Wright’s future.
Fedele stood quietly by while Rell unveiled her budget during a press conference and afterward said he continues to hope Wright can be saved but was careful not to criticize Rell’s decision.
Wright’s closure is not certain, regardless of Rell’s proposal. The Governor’s budget still needs the approval of the Democrat-majority legislature in the coming weeks and months, and since most of Stamford’s lawmakers and its mayor are Democrats, it’s likely everyone is on the same page in terms of trying to save Wright Tech.
But just in case, the Stamford delegation came up with another idea today. They inserted into a big bill conveying state land to various cities and towns a piece requiring the state lease Wright Tech to Stamford for $1 annually for 20 years if the school is shuttered.
They are concerned that the school will wind up an abandoned eyesore and figured the move might cause the administration to reconsider.
But guess who doesn’t like the idea?
“The Lt. Governor feels he wasn’t consulted,” Rep. Livvy Floren, R-Greenwich, who also represents a portion of Stamford, told me.
I’ve so far been unable to discuss the issue with Fedele, who has been, understandably, quite busy presiding over the Senate debates. In the meantime his staff has been engaged in some increasingly intense talks with some of the Stamford legislators.
“I don’t think we can get the Lt. Governor to change his mind,” Floren said.
In fact the land conveyance bill, which was just called for a vote in the House, was “passed temporarily” by House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Mansfield, over threats by most of the other Republican minority, lead by Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, to eat up the last 40 minutes of the session debating the proposal.
Unless raised by midnight and passed in both the House and Senate, it dies.
“It makes our delegation pariahs,” Floren said, noting many other lawmakers were counting on the bill’s passage because other parts of it benefit their districts.
A few minutes earlier Rell’s budget director, Robert Genuario of Norwalk, explained to me the administration’s opposition.
“The decision of whether we close Wright or not ought to be based on the viability of the school, the history of the school, its future … It ought not to be driven by this type of financial rigmarole,” Genuario said.
Perhaps. But there is no doubt Fedele, who one would expect might have the Governor’s ear on this matter being her lieutenant, has so far been unable to convince the administration to save Wright Tech.
Admittedly he’s in a tough position. Fedele technically was not elected to represent Stamford in Hartford but the entire state and Rell is his boss.
But Fedele has also portrayed himself as fighting to save Wright Tech. And trying to intervene in tonight’s bi-partisan attempt by his city’s legislative delegation to compel a reversal by Rell might not be the best way to reassure hometown constituents he wants to keep the school open.
Reindeer Games
In a surprising move, the House of Representatives tonight revived and passed a watered down version of the controversial wild animal ban aimed squarely at prohibiting primates and putting off the question of what other wild and exotic creatures should be outlawed as pets for another day.
With the session wrapping up at midnight, however, proponents needed a way to encourage the state Senate to act on the bill. In particular they wanted to win over the Republican minority, which has been doing plenty of talking to run-out the clock and kill bills they don’t like and generally frustrate the Democrat-majority.
The solution? Offer as an incentive Sen. Andrew Roraback’s, R-Goshen own animal-related legislation allowing a Christmas Village in his district to import reindeer over the holidays.
Roraback’s bill passed the Senate a few weeks ago. Rather than voting on it, the House amended it to the wild animal bill, so now it lives or dies tonight with that legislation.
I asked Roraback about the prospects of the package coming up for a vote in the few hours remaining.
“If any ship sails I would hope the ship would be Noah’s Ark and there would be room on the ship for reindeer and chimps,” Roraback said.
Judiciary Chairmen preparing death penalty letter to Governor
Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford and Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairs of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, are drafting a letter to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell about her announced plans to veto the capital punishment bill the two spearheaded.
Lawlor said the letter, which may be released later today, urges Rell to offer a proposal to make the death penalty more workable. Even supporters of executions have argued the lengthy, sometimes decades-long appeals process cited as one reason for doing away with capital punishment in Connecticut should be somehow shortened for the sake of the victims’ families.
The message to Rell, Lawlor said, is simple - “Look, we came up with our solution. What’s yours?”
“If the only question is ‘can we make it workable’ we need to know the answer to that?” Lawlor said.
He pledged he and McDonald would convene public hearings on any ideas Rell puts on the table.
Only a few hours left to get your bill passed. Seriously, no pressure.
It’s just after 2 a.m. In a few hours you lawmakers will return to the capitol for the final day of the 2009 session and the scramble to get as many bills as possible passed before the midnight deadline will begin.
For some of you, the day is going to end well.
For others, well, you’ll feel crushed at first, particularly the freshmen. But remember, there’s always next year. The open container bill has been proposed, debated, nearly passed, and ultimately killed for around a decade or so. No reason the same can’t happen with your legislation. Okay, that came out wrong. But you know what I mean. You’ll be back! Unless, of course, you ran on passing a certain bill and it didn’t survive the session. Then you’ve got some explaining to do back in your district. But, if you’re a Democrat, blame it on the Republicans. If you’re a Republican, blame it on the Democrats.
And when all else fails, blame Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford and Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, the co-chairmen of the Judiciary Committee.
Anyway, good luck today. And save some energy for eventually balancing that budget.
If anyone was holding out hope the wild animal ban would come up for a vote before the session ends Wednesday night…
… Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a sponsor of the proposal, issued a press release today criticizing lawmakers’ failure to pass the legislation, which was inspired by February’s chimpanzee attack in Stamford.
“The tragic chimp attack, leaving the victim with severe, lifelong injuries, underscored the urgent need to carefully regulate and restrict private possession of wild animals,” Blumenthal said. “Unregulated ownership of exotic pets is a tragedy waiting to happen and the state should act before another person is badly injured - even killed.”