The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/author/mpazniokas/)
Keith, with Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, won first prize in investigative reporting from the Education Writers Association in 2012 for a series of stories on the Board of Regents for Higher Education. The former State Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Keith has spent most of 24 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut's transportation and social services networks. A former contributing writer to The New York Times, Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut. E-mail him at kphaneuf@ctmirror.org.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, keenly aware of the unwelcome role his record is playing in the campaign to succeed him, spent one of his final State Bond Commission meetings Thursday defending state borrowing made during his tenure to promote economic development statewide and help Connecticut’s struggling capital city. Continue Reading →
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ned Lamont unveiled a jobs plan Wednesday centered on three business tax cuts — and a previously disclosed middle-class income tax break — none of which he could provide without solving a much-larger state budget deficit. Continue Reading →
The leader of Connecticut’s cybersecurity efforts said Tuesday that Washington, with a deeply polarized Congress and faction-riven White House, has abrogated its role in defending the nation’s electrical grid, natural gas system and public water supplies against hackers that are growing bolder, more numerous and more sophisticated. Continue Reading →
NEW HAVEN — The Republican and Democratic candidates for governor pummeled each other in their second televised debate Monday, offering practiced one-liners that energized a Shubert Theater audience dominated by Realtors, while giving voters little new information on how either would close a projected deficit of $2.1 billion awaiting the next governor. Continue Reading →
Republicans are outspending Democrats on television advertising in the race for governor of Connecticut this month, even as questions persist about the financial resources directly available to the campaign of the GOP nominee, Bob Stefanowski. Continue Reading →
Independent gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel, who has struggled to attract financial and political support, told reporters Thursday that he would empty the Rainy Day Fund and suspend contributions to the state’s underfunded pension system to help close a huge, post-election state budget deficit. Continue Reading →
The first head-to-head debate by Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski ended Wednesday night without Connecticut voters learning how either man would close a $2.1 billion deficit or how Stefanowski would begin to deliver on his audacious promise to eliminate the state income tax. Continue Reading →
You probably think of the DMV as just a place to get your license or registration — usually after an interminable wait. Comics have long used it as a punchline. Ned Lamont on Monday became the latest politician to use it as a metaphor for what is wrong with government bureaucracy. Continue Reading →
The first opportunity for side-by-side comparisons of Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski, each a businessman trying to become Connecticut’s next governor without significant government experience, will come Wednesday night on the stage of a 1920s movie palace enjoying a second life as a performing arts center. Continue Reading →
Mark Stewart Greenstein of the Amigo Constitution Party will be among the choices on the ballot for governor of Connecticut. Continue Reading →
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski toured a house plagued by the crumbling-foundations phenomenon that present a multi-billion-dollar loss to homeowners in eastern Connecticut. He offered sympathy to the homeowner Wednesday, but skepticism to reporters about government’s role in addressing the slowly unfolding disaster. Continue Reading →
The secretary of the state’s office said Tuesday that the Libertarian candidate for governor, Rod Hanscomb, has qualified for the ballot, joining Democrat Ned Lamont, Republican Bob Stefanowski and Oz Griebel, a petitioning candidate. Continue Reading →
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski shook hands with office workers at the pre-Labor Day picnic that real-estate developer Robert D. Scinto throws for tenants and their employees at his office park in Shelton. Then Stefanowski retired to a borrowed office in Scinto’s headquarters to make calls for money, an activity that consumes about half his working day. “It’s part of the game.” Continue Reading →
Oz Griebel is on the ballot. It’s time now to see if potential donors pay attention, if the invitations to debates and forums come and if lightning strikes — something happens that gives Griebel a moment that connects with disaffected voters. If there exists a third-party Zeitgeist in Connecticut in 2018, he has yet to find it. Continue Reading →
Ned Lamont has spent months trying to distance himself from the unpopular Democratic governor he hopes to succeed, but when it comes to the public-sector unions that bedeviled his predecessor, Lamont faces the same dilemma: How to keep labor’s support in difficult fiscal times? Continue Reading →