Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Malloy plans forums on education — and messaging

  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • February 28, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

A day after a compromise meant to neutralize liquor reforms as an issue, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will try today to further focus the press, public and legislature on education reforms that are his top priority in 2012.

Malloy has overcome his staff’s resistance and intends to announce a series of free-wheeling education forums modeled after last year’s 17 town-hall style budget meetings that took him to every community with a daily newspaper.

“He is his own best sales person,” said Roy Occhiogrosso, his senior adviser. “To not maximize that natural ability he has to engage with people is just insane.”

His announcement is a tacit admission that education reform, including changes in teacher tenure that are setting up a clash between a Democratic governor and unions, has not dominated the news the way the administration had hoped.

But even Occhiogrosso is unwilling to predict that the public will engage the governor in education forums the way it did over his prescription for erasing an inherited deficit: a massive tax increase, spending cuts and labor concessions.

Politics is about performance as well as policy, and Malloy’s staff expressed some of the same reservations about a new tour as would an actor or movie director contemplating a sequel. Is it necessary? Will it be as good?

“We’ve all be concerned about not trying to recreate those town halls,” Occhiogrosso said. “His thing was like, ‘Who cares about expectations? I want to go out there and go talk to people. I want to engage people directly – parents, students, teachers administrators.’ “

On Thursday at 7 p.m., Malloy will kick off the tour at the Village South Center for Community Life at 333 Wethersfield Ave., Hartford. Not all the education forums, which still are being scheduled, will be in the same 17 communities.

“We’re going to go back into the same mode. In the evening, for an hour, the governor is going to stand in front of a room full of people and talk about education reform,” Occhiogrosso said.

It’s not that Malloy has been playing the recluse. In fact, his schedule today is a whirl of six public events, including touring the Jumoke Academy Charter School in Hartford with Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman.

He testified recently at a public hearing of the legislature’s Education Committee, defending his proposals to make teacher tenure harder to achieve, set higher standards for entrance into the profession, increase funding for charter schools and provide supplemental aid for poorer districts.

But Malloy, who never stopped campaigning after winning Connecticut’s closest gubernatorial election in 56 years, often seems at his most comfortable at less formal events, taking question.

Scheduled recently to make introductory remarks at an affordable housing conference, Malloy stayed for 38 minutes, taking questions about the funding he has protected for housing, even in two difficult budgets.

“When he gets into the back and forth, that’s where he really shines,” Occhiogrosso said.

But even as the new tour is promoted as a showcase for a governor who likes to work without a script, it also reflects an opposite tendency: a desire by his administration to shape and control the untidy flow of news.

It is a reason why the administration recoiled from legislative proposals like raising the minimum wage or abolishing the death penalty, which will compete for time and attention in a short session.

“There was one night last week, a Wednesday or Thursday night, I was on line checking a bunch of new sites, and everyone had a different story up or the same story, but a different angle,” Occhiogrosso said.

Occhiogrosso acknowledged that news can erupt like the weather. It cannot always be shaped.

A case in point was the fact that Malloy felt compelled to issue a statement Monday on the arrest of Donald Vaccaro, the chief executive of TicketNetwork, a recipient of state aid under Malloy’s “First Five” economic development program.

Vaccaro was arrested at an Academy Award party in Hartford, accused of drunken and boorish behavior: groping women, then responding with a racial epithet when a black security guard intervened.

Today, public hearings on the minimum wage and alcohol reforms, including allowing Sunday liquor sales, are expected to dominate the news cycle. On Wednesday, opponents of the death penalty plan a press conference to put the issue back in the headlines.

“Yes, there’s always different threads to the news. That’s part of what makes news exciting,” Occhiogrosso said. “But if you are trying to do something big, which is what he’s trying to do, then the best way to help move that along through the process is by helping to focus people’s attention on it.

“And it just didn’t feel like the story line was out there that a Democratic govenror had proposed far-reaching education reforms.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Vaccinations in nursing homes top 64,000; COVID cases are dropping rapidly among residents
by Dave Altimari

There were 238 COVID infections reported in nursing homes last week, down from 483 a few weeks ago.

Advocates call on state to improve response to vulnerable students
by Adria Watson

State child advocate Sarah Eagan and attorney Martha Stone want the state to do more for these students during COVID.

CT budget leaders want to use massive savings to expand COVID-19 relief
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration expects to spend about $630 million less than legislators authorized.

The game is changing. Chris Murphy says he’s ready to play.
by Mark Pazniokas

The question for Sen. Chris Murphy no longer is where might he go next, but what can he do now.

Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Opinion A just stimulus package is a start toward true racial inclusion
by Carlton L Highsmith

For centuries Blacks have been denied full participation in the American Dream. But for the sake of our collective progress, as we recover from the crippling economic effects of COVID-19, our country has a mandate to acknowledge its history of systematic institutionalized exclusionary practices and not repeat them.

Opinion Hamden taxpayers are left in the dark
by Lauren Garrett

“A budget is a moral document.” This phrase is often heard during budget season from both sides of the aisle advocating for their personal values. The municipal operating budget is the cost of running a town which includes paying for employees, schools, and other services. Asking residents to pay property taxes requires a public trust.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO