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Stunning Newton Comeback Yields Strange Bedfellows

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:21:00 GMT

Bridgeport continues to challenge Waterbury as the home of the most embarrassing and bewildering politics in Connecticut. Former state Sen. Ernie Newton did last week what few in Connecticut politics have achieved: He subdued bumptious Working Families and Democratic Gov.Dannel P. Malloy.

Sexual Revolution? Forget Connecticut

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:12:59 GMT

Still revolutionary?

A Bully's Bravado Masks Legislative Defeat

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:35:58 GMT

A bully fell short last week. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy discovered he was punching above his weight when he took on the state's public school teachers.

Legislative Crunch Time: Grand Plans Yield To Personal Politics

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:08:00 GMT

The General Assembly's practices change in the final three days of its annual session. The pace of the action accelerates as supporters of legislation strain to get their proposals approved in the waning hours. Detractors enjoy a boost in influence because the threat to run out the clock enjoys potent meaning.

Rowland Dalliance Fatal For Wilson-Foley

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:10:00 GMT

John Rowland is at it again. The felonious former governor who resigned his office in disgrace in 2004 and was sentenced to prison the next year has not changed. He is still working his political connections in exchange for other people's valuables.

Ann Romney Shows Steel, Political Cool

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:19:07 GMT

The Republican presidential contest will garner some rare local attention in Connecticut this week. Presumptive nominee Mitt Romney will win a landslide victory over the other three candidates on Tuesday's primary ballot, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

State Lawmaker, Lobbyist Push Ethics Limits

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:13:00 GMT

Drawing a line between the responsibilities of public office and private pursuits can flummox some legislators. It may not surprise you to learn that some seem to mix their public obligations with their private interests.

Power Brokers Wheel As Legislators Deal

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

We enter a murky period as the legislative session heads to its May 9 conclusion. Transparency takes a bludgeoning as decisions are made outside the public view. This is when influence means knowing what levers of power to push.

Red-Light Cameras A Go — Too Much Green At Stake

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Camera creep continues through this session of the General Assembly. A bill authorizing the installation of private vendors' red light cameras at public intersections in the state's larger communities received the approval of the Transportation Committee last month. The legislation and its path showcase everything bad about an especially dangerous junction: where politics, influence and commerce meet money.

Malloy Would Reward Judges, Punish Teachers

Kevin Rennie — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:30:00 GMT

Governor Puts Educators In His Surly Sights

You are right to be confused by the course that elected leaders are taking in the policies they champion during the current legislative session. They often abandon sense and disdain consistency.

Judges' Pay Raise Plan Is A Shameful Political End Run

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Freedoms' friends are in retreat in unusual places. Chase Rogers, the chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, supports an anti-democratic proposal in order to move the setting of judges' salaries away from the bright arena of traditional debate and action.

Good Health, More Alcohol Odd Political Bedfellows

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Our leaders' view of the human condition is not as optimistic as their speeches suggest. They want to take advantage of weakness, ill heath and other suffering.

Malloy High Fliers Caught Flying Pretty Low

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Events reminded Democratic and Working Families Gov.Dannel P. Malloy's administration last week that authority is not the same as control. He endured a string of setbacks and embarrassing revelations.

Menacing Message Points Back To DEEP Official

Kevin Rennie — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:56:00 GMT

UPDATE: Faster than you can say "Democratic Election Monitoring Service," Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Schrag of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was forced to resign his position in the Malloy administration over his involvement in a menacing phone message left at the home of a conservative activist.

Menacing Message Points Back To DEEP Official

Kevin Rennie — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:06:00 GMT

"One way to push back on e-mails is to freak someone out," Jonathan Schrag, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, recalled saying in a social setting. Schrag, in an interview Tuesday, would not describe the setting or the person he claims to have made the comment to. But he said he told that person that this message should be delivered to a political enemy: "We are calling from the Democratic Electronic Monitoring Service. We understand that you are an e-mailer with respect to Democratic candidates. We wish you to know that your e-mails are being observed. Thank you."

Red-Light Cameras Snare Bereaved Mourners

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Gov.Dannel P. Malloyand Democratic legislative leaders want to add grief to your grief. They are supporting the controversial red light camera bill that infringes on traditional rights, places the burden on the accused to prove his innocence, hands law enforcement to private entities and makes loads of money for local governments and the camera company.

Speaker Donovan Juggles Unions, Fundraising

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The General Assembly will strain to look productive during the three months of its regular session this year. By their own design, the Democrats who run the House and Senate will not be required to make difficult spending decisions. Last year they gave Democrat and Working Families Gov. Dannel P. Malloy the authority to make sweeping budget cuts if revenue, spending and employee benefit savings do not reach their targets.

Malloy Wishes Clouds Away

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy used his State of the State address Wednesday to deliver a Valentine to his first year in office. The normal uplift of the annual speech to a joint session of the General Assembly veered into Utopian delusion at regular intervals.

Wheels Of Progress Turn With The Globe

Kevin Rennie — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:14:31 GMT

Most Americans, polls reveal, feel gloomy about the future, convinced the nation is on the wrong track. It's not as bad as they think. Let us survey some good news.

Malloy Trying To Drum Up Revenue — And Campaign Cash

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stays busy while he waits for his tax increases (a last resort, he said during the campaign), labor contract changes and corporate welfare to revive economic growth in Connecticut. His hopes for quick success are fading and our irritable governor is not pleased.

Incumbents Hold The Lines In Redistricting

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Connecticut's just-completed redrawing of state legislative and congressional districts provides a vivid reminder that incumbents want no interference from outsiders when it comes to marking their turf. This once-in-a-decade political finagling needs reform.

Can Romney Explain Fees From Failures?

Kevin Rennie — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:52:00 GMT

Most understand risk of capitalism, but not profit from losses

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney's thumping victory in the New Hampshire primary should see him through the crucible of South Carolina, where they like their politics rough. Romney's fading competitors will bet whatever they have on defeating the former Massachusetts governor in the first Southern primary of the nomination contest.

Santorum Rises Before Fall, Gingrich Sputters Curses

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Rick Santorum should enjoy his triumph in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses Tuesday night. Coming within eight votes of tipping over front-runner Mitt Romney will be the highlight of Santorum's campaign. The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania will confront the demands of a national presidential campaign beyond Iowa's 99 counties and the scores of pizza joints he visited to meet Republican voters.

Candidates Bicker As World Simmers

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The political new year begins with the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night. The presidential campaign will dominate the news this year as presidential candidates, parties and independent committees look to spend as much as $2 billion on the contest to persuade discontented Americans to elect their candidate.

You Don't Have To Talk And Other Good Advice

Kevin Rennie — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Merry Christmas! This annual holiday column prompted me to call some of my favorite fellow lawyers and ask them to provide suggestions on navigating some of the complications that inevitably visit us.