A year after thousands of Connecticut marchers took to the streets wearing pink hats and carrying homemade signs of resistance in the first Women’s March in Hartford, residents returned Saturday to again issue calls for action — this time to empower women at the ballot box.
Politics
Stories about CT politicians, elections, state legislation, the state’s congressional delegation and the impact of federal legislation on Connecticut.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Federal government shuts down, CT to feel aftershock
WASHINGTON — Connecticut residents will still get their mail and Social Security checks, but the shutdown of the federal government will reverberate through state agencies – especially those that are most reliant on federal grants and federal workers — and many in the state would eventually feel an impact.
Posted inPolitics
CT GOP, Lumaj campaign deny knowledge of Higbie’s views
Connecticut Republicans, including a gubernatorial candidate who once employed him as a spokesman, quickly distanced themselves Friday from Carl Higbie, the brash former Navy SEAL from Greenwich who resigned from a Trump administration post after CNN uncovered a string of bigoted and insensitive remarks.
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
An independent and Democrats say tolls are necessary
At a transportation forum for Democratic and unaffiliated candidates, an independent offered the broadest prescription for how to stabilize and grow a special transportation fund now projected to hit insolvency by 2022, leaving the state unable to borrow money to address a growing backlog of transportation needs.
Posted inHealth, Money, News, Politics
Shutdown impact on CT would depend on how long it lasts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a short-term spending bill late Thursday, but the legislation that would avert a government shutdown is expected to face a tough time in the Senate. A shutdown’s impact on Connecticut would depend on how long it lasts.
Posted inPolitics
Working Families co-chair Julie Kushner running for state Senate
Julie Kushner of Danbury, a longtime political and union organizer as a UAW leader and co-chair of the Connecticut Working Families Party, said Thursday she is running for state Senate, hoping to tap into the wellspring of political activism by women generated by the election of Donald J. Trump as president. She is seeking a seat last won by a Democrat in 1994.
Posted inPolitics
Arunan Arulampalam opens campaign for state treasurer
Arunan Arulampalam, a Hartford lawyer who advises financial institutions on debt and equity issues, declared his candidacy Thursday for the Democratic nomination to succeed Denise L. Nappier as state treasurer. He is one of two Democrats and two Republicans seeking the open seat.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT lawmakers weigh revival of earmarks
WASHINGTON — Reviled as corrupting and anti-democratic, congressional earmarks may have a revival because of recent comments from President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers’ growing frustration with the budget process. Their return is fine with Connecticut lawmakers who have used the process to steer tens of millions of dollars to special projects in the state.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut Dems have big stake in November elections
WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s all-Democratic delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives has been hampered by being in the minority since 2010, but that may change this year, analysts say.
Posted inPolitics
Ned Lamont, who failed to beat Malloy, joins race to succeed him
Ned Lamont, who burst into politics with an antiwar campaign against Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman a dozen years ago, opened a campaign for governor Wednesday with an early-morning email blast and a two-minute, slickly produced video calling Connecticut a beautiful state “that’s been failed by the political class for 30, 40 years.”
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Malloy vetoes Medicare program fix, calls it ‘wishful’ budgeting
In a largely symbolic act, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed a bipartisan bill Monday to reverse cuts to the Medicare Savings Program, calling it an unbalanced exercise in “wishful thinking” that only would worsen projected budget deficits.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy names Thomas J. Saadi to lead Veterans Affairs
Thomas J. Saadi, an Army Reserve officer who has held senior jobs in the state Department of Veterans Affairs for nearly three years, was named Tuesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as his choice to lead the department as commissioner. Saadi has been acting commissioner since October.
Posted inPolitics
On MLK Day, a reminder of the ‘appalling silence’ of good people
Controversy over President Trump’s comments about immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa weighed heavily Monday over the celebration at the State Capitol of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Tax bill may make 2018 a wild year for CT divorces
WASHINGTON — Meghan Freed, who practices family law in Hartford, said the massive tax overhaul surprised divorce attorneys and their clients by scrapping a 75-year-old tax deduction for alimony payments. Divorce attorneys say that change will complicate the delicate negotiations of couples who have decided to part.
Posted inPolitics
House Democrats back to 79 with arrival of Bobby Gibson
The Democratic advantage in the state House of Representatives has grown with the arrival Friday of Bobby Gibson, a Democrat from Bloomfield who won a special election Tuesday, and the resignation last week of Rep. Laura Hoydick, a Republican who is the new mayor of Stratford.