Mark Pazniokas

At a televised U.S. Senate debate Monday night, Merrick Alpert took the stage as an underdog trying to hook Democratic primary voters with calls for universal health care, diplomatic relations with Cuba and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, already ordained by pollsters and party regulars as the Democratic candidate-in-waiting, responded with […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s latest deficit-mitigation plan would take $12 million from the Citizens’ Election Program, possibly leaving the system of publicly financing campaigns with insufficient funds for the 2010 elections, advocates said Tuesday. Surprised legislators said Rell’s proposal to take money from the fund undermines efforts by an administration-led working group to formulate changes […]

Economists say Connecticut will continue to lose jobs for another two years. His own analysts are predicting that the next governor and legislature will face a $3.8 billion deficit, an astonishing 20 percent hole in the state budget. But House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan is bullish on Connecticut’s economy. In speeches to skeptical business groups […]

Frustration with how big banks handle foreclosures has united Democrats and Republicans behind a bill intended to force financial institutions to work with mortgage holders. Banks frequently fail to designate a contact person on foreclosures, leaving homeowners to repeatedly begin the process of working out their troubled loans, legislators said. “This is a much-needed measure,” […]

A year after Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill to abolish the death penalty, Republican legislators are proposing legislation intended to speed up executions in Connecticut. One of the bill’s sponsors concedes that passage is unlikely, but the proposal ensures that capital punishment will get a public hearing in the run-up to the 2010 […]

STAMFORD — Ten were invited. Nine showed up. Five Republican and four Democratic contenders for governor came here in the snow this morning to answer one question: “Who will lead Connecticut’s recovery?” The Business Council of Fairfield County heard a broad consensus on the state of government in Hartford: Common adjectives were “broke” and “out […]

A renewed effort to make Connecticut the first state to mandate that private employers offer paid sick days is an election-year fault line dividing business and labor, Republicans and Democrats. The Working Families Party chose “business day” at the Capitol Wednesday to resume lobbying to require businesses with at least 50 employees to offer up […]

A milestone in the life every lame-duck governor will come today as legislators confirm the appointment of Anna M. Ficeto as a commissioner of the Public Utilities Control Authority. Ficeto, the legal counsel to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, appears to be the first high-ranking administration official to leave for a more secure job since Rell […]

To understand the political challenges involved in trying to save the Citizens’ Election Program, imagine the state’s embattled system of publicly financing campaigns as a house on fire. Gov. M. Jodi Rell is desperately trying to dial 911. The Senate’s Democratic majority isn’t sure the fire is that bad. And some leading Republicans hope it […]

With the economy down, business interests have decided that the political environment is ripe for restricting the regulatory reach of the Department of Environmental Protection. “There is a sense this is a time, an opportunity to reset the ground rules,” said Eric J. Brown, who lobbies on environmental issues for the Connecticut Business and Industry […]

They are a hardy bunch, these political explorers. Dan Malloy has been out there the longest, opening an exploratory campaign for governor on Feb. 3, 2009.  After 54 weeks crisscrossing the state, is he really uncertain about his plans? If you ask, he might give a knowing smile, but he is legally obligated to say […]

Can a coalition of bikers, Chris Dodd haters, gun owners, Ron Paul lovers, tax protesters, Libertarians and a preacher or two find happiness under the umbrella of constitutional fundamentalism? Connecticut is about to find out. Elements of the Tea Party, the ultimate outsiders group, are moving toward the mainstream, trying to channel an edgy energy […]

Democratic chair Nancy DiNardo, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and attorney Wesley Horton at Thurday’s news conference By going to court to resolve whether she meets the minimum statutory qualifications for attorney general, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz conceded Thursday that the question has endangered her candidacy. “It is a significant question in […]

Can a coalition of bikers, Chris Dodd haters, gun owners, Ron Paul lovers, tax protesters, Libertarians and a preacher or two find happiness under the umbrella of constitutional fundamentalism? Connecticut is about to find out. Elements of the Tea Party, the ultimate outsiders group, are moving toward the mainstream, trying to channel an edgy energy […]

The battle for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination was joined Tuesday, with Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy casting themselves as the outsider and the insider. As Malloy rolled out endorsements, the fruits of retail politics that has taken him to more than 100 Democratic town committees over the past year, Lamont reprised a theme from his […]