Companies, organizations and others hoping to influence government decisions spent $38.6 million lobbying, said a report released on the eve on the 2010 legislative session – $1 million less than was spent the previous year, but $11.2 million more than the year before passage of a state law barring campaign contributions by lobbyists. In 2009, […]

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a legal opinion today that does nothing to diminish the questions surrounding Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz’s qualifications for attorney general. Blumenthal said that a state law requiring that the state attorney general have “at least 10 years’ active practice of law” is constitutional, but he declined to clarify […]

BETHEL — Mark Boughton struck a populist tone as he entered the race for governor Monday night, touting his record as Danbury’s mayor and needling his leading rival for the Republican nomination as offering little but a fat checkbook. “Ladies and gentlemen, elections should not be about the size of your checkbook, or who has […]

Months after the state’s public campaign finance system was struck down by the U.S. district court, the legislature’s election committee shed some light on what their fix will include. Rep. James F. Spallone, co-chairman of the Government Administration and Elections committee, said Monday the bill to be introduced when the legislature convenes Wednesday will likely […]

Tom Foley is OK with the minimum wage. Just don’t ask him to endorse paid sick days, health mandates, tax increases or other policies that he says hobble the Connecticut economy. In a far-ranging interview, Foley discussed gay marriage, abortion, gun control and the death penalty, but the early front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination […]

As Connecticut spends millions of dollars a year to meet a court desegregation order by building and running racially-integrated magnet schools, parents like Iraida Sanchez of Hartford would be happy with a far less expensive alternative. Year after year, Sanchez has put her son Nathaniel’s name in a lottery. She is not aiming for one […]

Senate Democrats Monday proposed a package of measures to help small businesses, funded by a tax on employee bonuses over $1 million paid by companies that received federal bailout money last year. Among the proposals for small businesses: Eliminate the $250 business entity tax for small businesses, create a small business loan fund and hold […]

State Comptroller Nancy S. Wyman said today that the estimated budget deficit for 2010 rose by $1.7 mllion last month to $515 million. “While revenues are showing some signs of stabilizing, virtually every tax category is still down from where it was last year at this time,” Wyman said. Sales tax revenue was off 7.3 […]

Sen. Gary D. LeBeau, D-East Hartford, ended his gubernatorial explorations today. “With deep regret and strong sense of achievement, I am ending my bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor,” he said in an email. “I thank you and my many supporters who have given me encouragement, advice, time and donations over the past 12 […]

NEW HAVEN — In public education circles in Connecticut, Alex Johnston has not always been a welcome guest. As head of the New Haven-based school reform group Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), Johnston often rankled the public school establishment with his blunt criticism of schools he believes are failing to educate the state’s poorest […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell will deliver her budget proposal on Wednesday, re-igniting a debate over what the state can afford as it looks ahead to several more years of difficult times. But the debate begins with Connecticut tightly constrained by the commitments of previous governors and legislatures. If the state fired every employee, closed every […]

The retirement incentive program offered state employees last year may have cut payroll costs, but it put even more pressure on the strained pension system. One hundred and ten state employees retired with pensions of at least $100,000 last year, boosting by one-third the number retirees with six-figure state pensions. They were led by 66-year-old […]

Text messaging while driving may soon be illegal if Gov. M. Jodi Rell has her way. Rell said Saturday she plans to submit legislation that will expand current law that forbids drivers from talking on their cell phones without a hands-free device to include prohibiting sending text messages as well. “Over and over again we […]

Lobbyists and legislators debate if a ban on campaign contributions has lessened the influence of lobbyists at the Capitol. One thing is undisputed: It hasn’t hurt their bottom line. The top-ten lobbying firms grossed $17.5 million in 2008, up $3.7 million since the ban passed in 2005. Gaffney Bennett & Associates, the perennial top earner, […]

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, said Thursday night he would vote for the Senate health reform bill, even though it lacks key provisions sought by him and other members of the House Democratic majority. “I am willing to vote for the Senate bill, even though I’ve got real problems with it, if the alternative […]