Court ruling may be sought on Bysiewicz’s qualifications

With a legal cloud hanging over Susan Bysiewicz’s candidacy for attorney general, the Democratic state chairwoman said Tuesday night she might ask a court to clarify Bysiewicz’s status with a declaratory ruling. Nancy DiNardo said that a legal opinion issued earlier by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal did not resolve whether Bysiewicz meets the statutory requirements […]

Is there a 20-year curse on Connecticut governors? Chief executives elected in 1950, 1970 and 1990 served only one term; will the pattern recur in 2010? Whoever is elected this fall can expect to start work in January 2011 with the same problems faced by Thomas J. Meskill in 1971 and Lowell P. Weicker Jr. […]

A group of Democratic lawmakers laid out their recommendations to create jobs and jumpstart the economy the day before the legislature convenes. The plan – compiled from input from business owners, economists and legislators – recommends the state bond $12 million for “high-potential entrepreneurs”, create a tax credit for those investing in start-up companies, use […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is again calling on the legislature to expand her budget-cutting authority as the state’s financial mess continues. “I am reiterating my call to give not just this governor but all who will follow me expanded authority to make budget rescissions,” Rell said. In recent months, Rell cut $67.2 million from the […]

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 […]