With a little more than two weeks remaining until the session’s June 7 adjournment deadline, dozens of bills unrelated to the state’s budget are certain to be voted upon. Legislative leaders say campaign finance reform and a minimum wage increase are among the contentious issues that could come up in the session’s final days.
campaign finance reform
Posted inPolitics
Democrats back ban on ‘dark money’ in state campaigns
With a bill that could test the limits of the states to regulate campaign finances, the House Democratic leadership is asking the General Assembly to effectively ban dark money from Connecticut elections and restrict the role of independent expenditures in the 2018 races for governor and legislature.
Posted inPolitics
CT Senate leaders blame Democratic losses on PACs, not policies
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, blames the rare loss of Democratic legislative seats in a presidential year on the targeted spending by business groups, not voter dissatisfaction with Hartford after two decades of Democratic control of the Connecticut General Assembly. His GOP counterpart’s view: “Hogwash.”
Posted inPolitics
House votes for doomed election reforms
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Thursday night for sweeping campaign finance reforms offered by the GOP minority, a bipartisan gesture of protest directed at Senate Democrats reluctant to stem the flow of big money into publicly financed campaigns.
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A struggle for high ground on campaign reform in CT
The General Assembly’s Republican minority moved Thursday to shape the debate on Connecticut’s system of publicly financing campaigns, demanding that Democrats close loopholes undermining the state’s clean-elections law. The GOP offers itself as the savior of a system whose creation was opposed by most Republicans.
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GOP sues, claims Democrats illegally supported Malloy
The Connecticut Republican Party filed a lawsuit and elections complaint Friday accusing the state Democratic Party of illegally using federal campaign contributions to support the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inPolitics
Miles Rapoport brings political skills honed in CT to DC
Washington – Miles Rapoport has been at the center of many brutal political fights, but is he hard-nosed enough for Washington?
Posted inMoney, Politics
Out-of-state money plays big role in CT lawmakers’ campaigns
WASHINGTON – Donations from out-of-state individuals and political action committees to members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation are dwarfing contributions from the state’s voters, a Connecticut Mirror analysis of Federal Elections Commission data shows.