WASHINGTON — A defiant Rep. Rosa DeLauro vowed Tuesday to continue her battle against President Obama’s trade agenda, even as the president, usually a political ally, scrambled to find a way to rally support for legislation that would facilitate negotiations of a new trade pact with 11 Pacific Rim partners.
campaign finance
Posted inPolitics
Campaign finance reform left for high-level negotiations
The Senate Democratic majority’s leadership yielded Monday to a toothless compromise on the question of capping the unlimited expenditures the state parties now can make on General Assembly races in Connecticut. The compromise: a $250,000 cap that wouldn’t have meant a difference in any campaign last year.
Posted inPolitics
Sharkey and GOP vs. Senate Democrats on campaign reform
The Senate Democratic majority is blocking House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, and minority Republicans from closing what critics say is major loophole in Connecticut’s system of publicly financing campaigns — the parties ability to direct special-interest money to taxpayer-funded candidates.
Posted inPolitics
Can Connecticut’s campaign finance reforms be saved?
Reform it. Leave it alone. Blow it up. Prescriptions for fixing Connecticut’s system of publicly financing campaigns vary wildly. Its tight limits on contributions and spending turned porous in 2014, tarnishing what had been a shiny instrument of campaign finance reform.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Fiscal issues in forefront as Malloy, legislators start new terms
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is to focus on how to modernize the state’s aging web of highways, bridges and railroads in a State of the State Address as he begins his second term today, but he and the General Assembly will be facing significant fiscal challenges in 2015. An overview of the key issues confronting the 2015 legislative session.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal, Murphy split on budget bill that averts shutdown
Washington – Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy split over a massive omnibus spending bill the Senate approved late Saturday little more than an hour before the government would have shut down due to a lack of funding. Murphy voted for the$1.1 trillion bill, Blumenthal did not.
Posted inPolitics
Outside spending on CT’s governor race tops $10M
Outside spending on Connecticut’s deadlocked race for governor blew past $10 million Friday night as the Republican and Democratic governors associations reported another $1.4 million in expenditures, mostly for attack ads.
Posted inPolitics
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
Elections Commission slams Democrats over campaign finance plan
In unusually blunt language, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is asking the Federal Election Commission to prevent the state Democratic Party from using funds from a federal campaign finance account to pay for a mailing supporting the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The commission says the party is trying to “circumvent” state laws.
Posted inPolitics
Super PAC spending on CT governor’s race exceeds $7 million
Another $1.2 million flowed into Connecticut’s deadlocked race for governor over the past 48 hours as two super PACs allied with the Democratic and Republican governors’ associations fought for superiority in a war of negative advertising. Outside politicians are joining the flow of dollars into the state, with visits next week from President Obama, Bill Clinton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Posted inPolitics
GOP accuses Kennedy of campaign finance violation
A Republican campaign official has filed a complaint accusing Democrat Ted Kennedy Jr. of skirting campaign finance laws by raising $40,000 for the state Democratic Party that seems to have flowed back to his publicly financed campaign for state Senate.
Posted inPolitics
Follow the campaign cash with the Money Map
Want to follow the flow of cash to Connecticut’s Democratic and Republican parties? Start in Greenwich, then drive next door to Stamford. In those two communities, you’ll find the sources of one in every five dollars contributed in itemized individual contributions since Jan. 1, 2013. Or, you can sit at your computer and roll your cursor across The Mirror’s new Money Map, an easy tool to see where the two parties have been getting their money.
Posted inPolitics
The Money Map: Who is giving to the state political parties?
Who gives the most money to the state party committees? Who do these people work for, and where do they live? Explore our interactive map.
Posted inPolitics
CT GOP claims illegal coordination between Malloy, DGA
The Connecticut Republican Party has filed an elections complaint claiming illegal coordination between Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s re-election campaign and Connecticut Forward, an independent expenditure group recently created by the Democratic Governors Association. It makes a novel argument, but offers no direct evidence.
Posted inPolitics
Interactive: Donations to Congressional candidates
Explore our interactive graphic that shows who is donating to Connecticut’s congressional campaigns, what those people do and where those people live.