December 23, 2010

Reapportionment can have a big effect on the balance of power in Congress, but what about its impact on presidential elections? Not as much as you might think, Nate Silver says at FiveThirtyEight.com. Although the new Census numbers will result in gains in Congress–and thus in the Electoral College–for some Republican-leaning states such as Texas […]

Rep. David McCluskey, D-West Hartford, is joining the exodus of legislators headed to the executive branch. Gov.-elect Dan Malloy today named McCluskey, a supporter who served on his campaign policy team, to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. His departure will force a special election in a district that primarily covers the Elmwood section of […]

Gov.-elect Dan Malloy tapped a longtime assistant attorney general, Anthony Jannotta, to join his legal team on Thursday. Jannotta, who will work under Malloy’s general counsel, Andrew J. McDonald, has spent the past decade-and-a-half working for Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. “Anthony Jannotta is well respected in Connecticut’s legal community, and someone who has significant experience […]

Gov.-elect Dan Malloy has reappointed Patricia Rehmer to serve as commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, a post she has held since last year. Patricia Rehmer Rehmer joined the agency in 1999 and served as deputy commissioner from 2004 to 2009. A nurse by training, Rehmer has also worked at […]

State officials are now expecting Connecticut to receive $44.2 million more than initially projected for low-income energy assistance–enough to break an end-of-year stalemate between Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature over funding for the program, but perhaps not enough to carry it through the winter. The money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance […]

WASHINGTON–As he walked to the Senate floor to cast his final votes this week, retiring Sen. Chris Dodd remarked that bills that he’d been pushing unsuccessfully for years were suddenly flying through to final passage in the waning days of this Congress. A food allergy measure. A child abuse prevention bill. A low-income housing proposal. […]

Two days after one top state education official abruptly resigned in the face of signs that Gov-elect Dan Malloy was considering replacing him, Malloy Thursday issued a public statement of confidence in another: Higher Education Commissioner Michael Meotti. “I’ve admired Mike Meotti’s work from afar, and I’m looking forward to working with him more closely,” […]

The state Department of Transportation has increasing difficulty completing projects on time and under budget, needs to improve communication with environmental protection staff and lacks any systemic way to measure its goals, according to a new report from the General Assembly’s chief investigative panel. But the Program Review and Investigations Committee report also concluded that […]