Malloy not the "Clean Elections" candidate

In a scathing rebuke to Dan Malloy's ceaseless dirty campaigning, Lamont campaign manager Joe Abbey struck back hard.

Chris Keating reports in the Hartford Courant:

The campaign manager for gubernatorial hopeful Ned Lamont says that former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy cannot claim to be the "clean elections'' candidate because he accepted contributions from city contractors in his run for governor.

The contributions were made by employees of companies that received contracts while Malloy was mayor. The contracts were for a variety of services, from legal counsel to brush hauling.

While there's technically nothing illegal about this, it certainly smells of backroom deals and quid pro quo, especially considering many of those companies received thousands upon thousands of dollars for their services to the city Dan Malloy ran for many years.

The Lamont campaign manager, Joe Abbey, did not charge that the contributions were illegal, but he said that they undercut Malloy's assertion that he is the "clean elections'' candidate.

"You can't claim that mantle if this is what you're doing,'' Abbey said. "For him to claim that mantle is just false. It's another example of Dan playing extremely fast and loose with the facts.''

Read the entire article via the link above.

By the way, if you click on the link for the old "DeStefano in a Dress" commercial that Malloy released in 2006, be sure to listen to the very last bit of audio:

"I'm Dan Malloy, and I approved this message!"

There's absolutely nothing "clean" about that kind of campaign.

What Choice is Left?

Sad to say, but Dan Malloy's gutter tactics have left the Lamont campaign with no choice but to put out its own "contrast piece" ads. The voters of Connecticut lose because its less time spent on discussing how the candidates plan to solve Connecticut's problems.

Here's how one blogger put it in 2006:

"At the convention, I was dismayed to see Malloy sharing a tent with Joe. Also, Malloy & Lieberman share the same consultants, staff, etc. I tend to see Malloy lawn signs clustered together with Lieberman signs. I have seen DeStefano appear with Lamont twice but not yet seen Malloy appear with Lamont. Therefore, I just associate Malloy with Lieberman. From the commentary here regarding the estate tax and other issues, I just do not sense that Malloy is on the side of progressives."

It's deja vu all over again with the LIEberman brain trust running the Malloy show.

It would be irresponsible for the Lamont campaign to let the lies and bulllying go unchallenged. As much as it turns my stomach, it is time to fight.

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.”
Harvey S. Firestone

Dan Malloy Lies Multiply

Where to start? Here is a clip from Malloy's meeting with the Register-Citizen.

Regarding debates, Dan continues to suggest that Ned stood him up in New London last night. No, the Lamont campaign had not determined whether to add New London to the twenty-seven debates between the two candidates -- and the one scheduled for tomorrow morning!

Dan says he accepted the invitation. The tickets were printed.
The truth is that the debate organizers called the campaign to determine what their decision was about attending because they wanted to go to the printer for the tickets.

Dan says, "Very different positions with respect to home health care – which I support – but not to the exclusion of  closing down every nursing home in the state, which would be a disaster. I think that’s a valid point to make."
The truth is that Lamont's plan says "I will work within the new national health law to develop a long-term care system that pays for the care people need, in the setting best for them. The system will be flexible, allow patient choice, and focus on patients' level of need without regard to age or type of disability." 

Remember, I'm an RN with a background in home health care. The University of Connecticut released a comprehensive report [pdf] on long-term care in the state. Researchers wrote "A critical piece of Connecticut's long-term care needs assessment gathered relevant data from people who live in Connecticut." The survey showed that 69% of CT residents said they did not want to live in a nursing home.

Lamont is not going to shut down nursing homes. The people of Connecticut want to make decisions best for them and their families and that's Lamont's plan. Just another in a long list of lies from Dan Malloy. Lies that will not create a job or educate a child. Lies that Connecticut can't afford.

Employee Of The Month

Dan Malloy's financial management ability was questioned by gubernatorial candidate Michael Fedele recently, who pointed out that over $400,000 was embezzled by city employees during Malloy's term.

The pile of missing cash was only discovered after a new mayor took office and looked at the books. Why didn't anyone on Malloy's staff run even the simplest audit of these accounts? Is this the sort of fiscal management we can expect from a Governor Malloy?

From the Hartford Courant:

Employees in three different departments have been arrested this year in alleged embezzlement cases that were uncovered by the new mayor's administration that took office in December. Two of the three workers had been named employee of the month during the Malloy years, and one of them was photographed with Malloy as they smiled during the award ceremony in June 2005. The employee, Fred Manfredonia, was fired this year. (emphasis mine)

I guess when you can subtract 13,000 from 5,000 and still get 5,000, it's easy to overlook nearly a half-million taxpayer dollars.

I wouldn't have bothered bringing this up, but recently Dan Malloy's campaign strategist, Roy Occhiogrosso, has crafted a negative TV ad that not only uses disproved allegations from a NY Times article from 2006, but it's basically the VERY SAME COMMERCIAL that Roy O. made when he was working for Joe Lieberman.

Yes, apparently it's the same guy and the same firm that worked overtime to spew lies about Lamont from four years ago.

I only hope Roy didn't charge Dan Malloy full price for his work. It has all the originality of a mail-order term paper. And of course, it was factually wrong four years ago, and it's still wrong today. Malloy HAS to know this. The fact that Dan approved its use clearly shows that he's willing to get just as dirty as he did four years ago, when he put Mayor John DeStefano in a Goddamned dress for one of his ridiculous negative ads.

This is the guy who wants to run our state?

You're disappointing a lot of people, Dan.

Lembo wins major court decision

State Healthcare Advocate Kevin Lembo scored a huge win today, when a judge ruled that Lembo satisfied the requirements to qualify for Citizens Election Program funds. CT News Junkie has the breaking story.

Which means, as Kevin stated, that the man who brought the suit, his challenger Waterbury mayor Michael Jarjura, "will have to campaign."

Video below from CTNJ (and for god's sake Christine, please look into a windscreen for your little camera!)

Basil Marceaux rules

I tend to be a bit left-leaning in my political choices (in case you haven't noticed), but I feel this candidate deserves coverage despite being a Republican.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next governor from the great state of Tennessee, Basil Marceaux! Dot com.

Because "if you kill someone, you get murdered!"



(h/t to Phil Kearney and the thousand or so parody videos on Youtube)

Lamont talks to voters in Torrington

Ned Lamont stopped by Cristy's Restaurant in Torrington on his way to visit Fuel Cell Energy, a manufacturer of clean fuel cell energy systems, and he ran into two voters who had some opinions they wanted to share with him.

This is the sort of guy Ned Lamont is...he'll take his time and listen to the voter's concerns, and then offer some viable suggestions.



Nicholas Pavlidis was our host, and he made the candidate and his entourage feel entirely welcome. Stop by Cristy's sometime, at 545 Winsted Rd in Torrington. It's a family-run restaurant, typical of the kind of small business we need more of here in Connecticut.

Two weeks left

Tomorrow marks the final two weeks until the August 10th primary. Tomorrow there's only fourteen days left to help ensure our next governor has the business experience we'll need to launch Connecticut's economic recovery! Tomorrow we're in the home stretch to victory!

YOU can make a difference tomorrow! Click on NedLamont.com to sign up or call to volunteer to help. Talk to a friendly campaign worker to learn how. Whatever time you can contribute will be welcome.

Lamont discusses small business

Last Thursday, Ned Lamont visited a small manufacturer here in Milford. Data Signal Corporation is a typical small business in Connecticut, struggling to pay soaring insurance costs while making sure their workers remain employed.

Lynda Kilgore, along with husband Gerald Kilgore, runs the operation like an extended family. Their employees tend to work there long term; in fact, their vested employees will get a stake in owning the business eventually (watch the video to see how). Lynda obviously cares deeply about her business and her employees.

Lamont listened carefully to the Kilgores and also spoke with their employees, before offering his observations and suggestions for our state to make Connecticut a better business climate for small business.

Data Signal Corp. manufactures wiring harness assemblies, and is located at 49 Research Drive, Milford CT 06460; 203-882-5393. You can contact Lynda at datasignal@earthlink.net



The New Haven Register also has a story on the visit.

Malloy Desperation: Will Do ANYthing to Win

You know, Dannel, I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt in this primary campaign. When I posted on the phony Stamford job numbers, I asked readers to decide -- what was more important: your claim of 5000 jobs created or the net loss of more than 10,000 jobs while you were mayor?

I ignored your class warfare evidenced by your tag line "experience money can't buy."

And I didn't call you out on your whining about debates until the Connecticut stenographers that pass for "mainstream media" repeated your complaints almost verbatim from your press releases.

But now you have pissed me off with your TV ad attacking Ned Lamont. It shows that you are no better than Mike Fedele who is attacking Foley, and nicely softening him up for a Democrat in the fall election, should Foley win. Is that what you want, Dannel? To take down another Democrat so "Nynahhh, nynahh" if you don't win the primary, the Democrats can't win in the fall? Are you that desperate a career politician that you'll do anything to win, including taking the party down with you?

Just this evening, the Courant posted an article about Mike Fedele criticizing your financial management as mayor because 3 Stamford city workers have been charged with embezzlement -- $400,000 of city dollars under your watch -- two of whom had been your employees of the month and one who worked for the city for 13 years! Here's a chance for an opponent to pile on. But here is the money quote:

Fedele is running in the Republican primary on Aug. 10, while Malloy is running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary on the same day against Greenwich cable TV entrepreneur Ned Lamont. Lamont declined to comment on the controversy.

Read that again, Dannel. Yes, "Lamont declined to comment."

Be a man, Dannel. Stand on your record. Quit the lying and the attacks. If your record is so unconvincing that even you have stopped talking about it, then you don't deserve to be governor.

UPDATE: See Spazeboy's primary analysis here

Get Classy, Dannel!

I tuned in to WNPR this morning to hear Ned Lamont talk about the issues facing Connecticut. Yet, John Danosky spent the first 10 minutes of the program asking Ned about whether he would or would not debate Dan Malloy. Once the phones were open to actual citizens, not one asked about debates. The questions came from small business owners and state workers and retirees. People wanted to hear Ned's thoughts on the state workforce, mandatory sick time, the cost of running a small business, LBGT issues, leadership and management, and green energy programs. I am sure there would be similar questions for Malloy, Foley, Griebel and Fedele. Not one person asked why he wasn't scheduling certain debates. Not one person asked how much he was worth or how he was spending his own money, apart from a thoughtful discussion on the CT Citizens Election Program.

As one who has live blogged the "debates" on TV, I can tell you these shows are not debates. They are parallel sound bites memorized for TV. The candidates don't engage one another, there are no follow-up questions, and it is impossible to address the challenges facing Connecticut in a 60-second answer (well rehearsed and sound-bited ahead of time). I, for one, have enjoyed listening in on Ned's telephone town halls, during which people ask questions Ned can answer in more than 60 or 90 seconds, with follow-ups! Every now and then, an actual dialog occurs! I would like to listen to a similar forum from Dan Malloy. Voters can learn much more here than from these so-called media "debates."

Dan -- if you want to spend your breath and your campaign funds whining about whether Ned will debate you or whether he is putting some of his own money into his campaign, well, that's up to you. (And, yes, it sounds like whining now!) I, for one, would rather see you get classy and talk about how you will attempt to solve Connecticut's greatest problems and how you will meet our state's greatest challenges. All the time spent on the process of the election puts the focus on Dan Malloy's future as a politician and takes away from what voters really care about -- Connecticut's future.

Himes marks 100 days to victory

Rep. Jim Himes (CT-04) announced he'll celebrate the 100-day countdown to election day (Nov. 2nd this year) by organizing volunteer events on Saturday in all 17 towns in the 4th District. Saturday, July 24 marks 100 days until the November election.

Jim will visit events in these locations: Bridgeport, Fairfield, Norwalk, Greenwich, Shelton, and Westport at various times during the day. Visit Jim's campaign website to find out more info, at HimesForCongress.com.

UPDATE: The events were a success, but since they were done yesterday, I deleted them to save space.

Lamont hosts women's round table

(Catherine Avalone | The Middletown Press 7.21.10)
Ned Lamont sat down with about a dozen women from all over the state to listen and discuss concerns at the fabulous Middletown eatery and coffee shop Brew Bakers (169 Main Street, Middletown, CT).

Hillary Federico from the Middletown Press has this story:

Lamont spoke with 12 women, all mothers and active careerists, about what it means to be a female in the 21st century. Topics ranged from healthcare and the environment to preschool and small businesses, with the casual atmosphere lending itself to an eclectic assortment of personal stories and individual concerns.

“In this day and age, in many cases you’ve got a single parent or, you know, both parents working and I’m very conscious of that,” Lamont said. “(Operating a small business) we know everybody that works in our shop; we know their situations, we know if their mom is ill, we know if their kid is having a hard time with daycare. If you work together in a communal way it will alleviate that problem. And I’m working hard to bring that family-oriented mindset to government.”

Some of the women commented on the difficulties of working while raising a family. Especially for single mothers, there's not a lot of alternatives when dealing with the current options available today.

(The) struggle to choose between a career and a family is an aspect of the working world that really bothered Lamont. A champion of the small business owner, Lamont said he is looking to improve local government in a way that will allow for it to accommodate the demanding lifestyles of Connecticut’s modern family structure.

“You want family-friendly jobs and family-friendly policies that make it easier and allow the people around this table to get a job and get back to work,” Lamont said. “And that includes preschool, after school activities, that includes adult daycare. You make it accessible to people so that it works.

“I really want to see Connecticut at the forefront. I want this to be a state where moms know: ‘This is where I want to be; Connecticut’s a place I want to be.”

The talk lasted well over an hour, with Lamont doing as much or more listening as talking. Read the entire story at the Middletown Press website.

Brew Baker's owner Eloise Tencher is a very gracious hostess; she even turned off the music so the video sound wouldn't be mucked up. And I don't know if she had anything to do with this, but during the entire meeting there wasn't a single smoothie that needed to be made (with the extremely noisy blender!)

I personally ordered the blueberry-pomegranate smoothie before the meeting began, and it was out-of-this-world delicious! I totally recommend it; but you should have a glass of room temperature water available to defrost the inevitable brain-freeze you'll experience by sipping it too quickly.

Trust me on that!

Have you hit it? Hit it! Hit Send!

Ned Lamont's campaign has a great way for you to stay in touch, by texting "NED" to 83224. They'll send you updates and breaking news, and remind you to vote on August 10th. Just watch this video to see how it's done:



...and, just because I derive way too much pleasure out of embarrassing my friends, here's my buddy Gabe's stellar contribution to the video:

"Have you hit the Send button yet? Have ya hit it? Hit it! Hit Send!"

My cell phone contract is going to expire soon, and my unreasonably stubborn reluctance against joining the world of texting is starting to show signs of weakening. I have the feeling my next phone might have some kind of texting capability.

Do they still sell them fancy-schmancy Blackberries?

I only mention this as a warning, so you and every other driver on the open road can keep an eye out for me as I swerve between the rumble strips on the parkway while frantically attempting to text something totally irrelevant that could easily have waited until I pulled over!

Hmmm...maybe this isn't such a good idea after all...

(...and why does my stupid spell-checker think "texting" ISN'T a word?)

Film Tax Credit program examined

(Al Pacino between scenes while filming "Righteous Kill" in Milford, about a half-mile from my home - NH Register photo)
As some of you know, Connecticut's film, television and digital media production tax credit program is an area of interest for me, as I recently completed the CT Film Industry Training Program and I'm currently looking for employment in film production. In today's Stamford Advocate, Investigative Reporter Brian Lockhart examines the little known "middle men" involved in the tax credit program.

According to Lockhart, the program, while helping bring lucrative productions to Connecticut,

...is also lining the pockets of brokers who help visiting productions trade the credits to Connecticut companies. And the details of the transactions are not public, even to frustrated legislators, a Hearst investigation has found.

"The tax credit sellers have made millions. And I don't think they provide much value when you can have a program that does not need them," said state Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford.

LeBeau, the Commerce Committee co-chair, is looking to streamline the credit into a direct cash payment rather than a transportable tax credit that can be resold at a discount.

There are obvious pros and cons to this tactic. On the upside, you'll eliminate the commissions that the brokers take out of the credit and the money will likely go directly to production costs in-state. Conversely, a tax credit might not even get used until well into the following tax year, effectively deferring the cost of the credit for many months; while a cash payment comes right out of the state's general fund immediately.

There are a total of 31 types of business tax credits in Connecticut that are transferable, with the film, television and digital media tax credits among them.

LeBeau said that if Connecticut were to instead offer a rebate, it could lower the incentives by the amount of profits the tax brokers are currently earning.

"You can actually give the maker of the film a lower percentage ... and they can get the same amount of money. You can eliminate the middleman, (and) you've cut the cost to the state," LeBeau said.

The story also discusses the fact that about 44 states offer some type of incentive to filmmakers. More than a dozen provide credits, and several others offer rebates.

The entire article is an in-depth study of the program, so visit the Stamford Advocate to read it in it's entirety.