Mark Pazniokas

Today the General Assembly begins a three-day countdown to its midnight Wednesday adjournment with a calendar crowded with bills deemed largely irrelevant to broad constituencies. Exceptions include an ambitious energy bill, education reforms, efforts to streamline environmental permitting and a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, a chore that brought key legislators and budget […]

NEW BRITAIN — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont introduced Mary Glassman today as his running mate and partner in their campaign to elect a Democratic governor for the first time in 24 years. “Mary’s not going to be just a great lieutenant governor, she’s going to be my full partner as we go forward to […]

Jabbing at his independently wealthy opponent and thanking his base of 4,000 donors, Democrat Dan Malloy stood on the State Capitol steps Sunday and announced he is the first candidate for governor to qualify for public financing. On Monday, that opponent, Ned Lamont, will name a running mate, Mary Glassman, who strongly supported public financing […]

The chief rivals for the Democratic nomination for governor are about to hit different milestones as Dannel P. Malloy qualifies for public financing and Ned Lamont names a running mate. Malloy will announce Sunday that he has become the first gubernatorial candidate to qualify for public financing under the voluntary Citizens’ Election Program. Lamont intends […]

A thaw in one of the General Assembly’s chilliest relationships has produced a sweeping, 11th-hour proposal to overhaul Connecticut’s electric regulatory structure and subsidize solar energy. Setting aside three years of conflict, Sen. John W. Fonfara, D-Hartford, and Rep. Vickie O. Nardello, D-Prospect, are collaborating on what could be the biggest energy bill since deregulation […]

The path to becoming a Superior Court judge eventually involves a public examination and vote by the legislature, but it begins in private at the New Haven Lawn Club. Once every month, the Judicial Selection Commission meets at the club to interview would-be judges, then votes up or down on their prospects. Without exception, as […]

BRIDGEPORT – At a crowded gubernatorial forum today, Republican Tom Foley exempted the GOP from any responsibility for the state’s fiscal crisis, despite controlling the governor’s office for 16 years. Foley, the Republican front-runner, was immediately ridiculed by Democrats, who asked why he was running for an office he saw as powerless compared to a […]

The legislature’s Judiciary Committee today recommended the confirmation of nine white judicial appointees whose nominations had been held up by the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. The nominations now will be considered by the House and Senate, where their fate could be linked to ongoing budget negotiations. A promise Gov. M. Jodi Rell made Monday […]

The legislature’s Judiciary Committee today postponed a confirmation vote on an all-white class of nine judicial nominees after an ad hoc filibuster by black and Puerto Rican legislators. Members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus are pressuring Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration to add a minority lawyer to what may be her last group […]

With the legislature’s adjournment deadline of May 5 fast approaching, the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus suddenly found itself with new political muscle Monday. Its members staged an ad hoc filibuster over Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s nomination of 10 white lawyers to the Superior Court and pressed for Rell to nominate a minority lawyer. Their […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell came to work today on the 8:38 a.m. Amtrak out of New Haven, commuting with Connecticut’s other high-profile lame duck, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd. They shared a car with the U.S. transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, and other VIPs from Massachusetts and Connecticut to talk about federal dollars for high-speed rail from […]

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave Connecticut a face-saving pat on the back Monday, saying the state is well-positioned to obtain federal transportation stimulus dollars to develop a high-speed rail corridor from New Haven to Springfield. “Connecticut has its act together,” LaHood said. “And Connecticut will be connected with intercity, high-speed passenger rail because of […]

The Connecticut General Assembly’s annual battle over health-care mandates resumed Wednesday with a debate over prescription eye drops for children. On a 23-12 party-line vote, the Senate approved legislation requiring health insurers to cover the cost of an extra bottle of prescription eye drops for children, so they can keep one at school. Every Democrat […]

“All deliberate speed.” That was the promise Superior Court Judge Michael R. Sheldon made this afternoon about how quickly he will resolve a question over Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz’s qualifications to run for attorney general. Sheldon is aware that delegates to the Democratic nominating convention will endorse a candidate for attorney general on […]