It’s good to see State Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, hasn’t lost her duplicitous perspective on any transgression by her fellow Democrats.

 Prague is defending her colleague, State Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, for his unethical misconduct concerning the passage of a $1 billion in state spending on the Connecticut State University System.

In an interview with Chris Keating and Mark Pazniokas in the Hartford Courant,Prague rushed to defend Gaffey’s judgment on failing to disclose a personal relationship with a CSUS staffer, who plotted to commit the money.

“What’s to investigate? He didn’t steal anything,” Prague said. “A man’s private life is a man’s private life. That money was put in there because of [CSU chancellor] David Carter. It would not have happened without David Carter.”

It all depends on what your version of the word “steal” means.

Did Gaffey “steal” by not reimbursing his political expense account for personal expenses?

Did Gaffey “steal” receiving “Final Four” tickets far below the market price? (This was a problem for former Gov. Rowland which got him fined by the State Ethics Commission).

Did Gaffey “steal” by receiving gifts and benefits from others totaling over $100? (Gaffey won’t say..)

Your standard definition of “steal” includes

steal    (stl) KEY  

VERB:
stole   (stl) KEY  , sto·len   (stln) KEY  , steal·ing , steals
VERB:
tr.
To take (the property of another) without right or permission.

1. To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully: steal a kiss; stole the ball from an opponent.
2. To move, carry, or place surreptitiously.
3. To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer: The magician’s assistant stole the show with her comic antics.
4. Baseball To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a base hit, walk, passed ball, or wild pitch.

Gaffey has made a career of slight of hand and Prague has made an art form of looking the other way when her own side crosses the line.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic is reporting that Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman will travel to New Hampshire tomorrow to announce his endorsement of Arizona Senator John McCain for President.  Senator Lieberman has been much maligned by his Party for his hawkish views on the War in Iraq, but praised by many Republicans for his principled stand.

The move is, despite the initial shock value of it as a political event, rather predictable when viewed through the prism of recent history - Sen. McCain and Sen. Lieberman have been the nucleus of a very small team of Senators whose approach to the War in Iraq hasn’t been mangled by the shifting political winds.  While those vying for the opportunity to bear the Democratic standard in 2008 have steadily moved toward a more strident anti-war position, Lieberman has stood solidly for his principles.  Even the sting of losing the 2006 Democrat nomination for the U.S. Senate did not bow the Senator’s resolve.

At the same time, Senator John McCain has paid a heavy price for his stalwart commitment to the Iraq War, and his continued advocacy for additional troops and resources brought upon him the ire of the liberal media establishment early in the GOP nominating process.  Crucial early fundraising dollars stopped flowing toward McCain’s Presidential bid, forcing the campaign into a now infamous July purge from which his campaign never seemed to recover.

In the last few weeks though, almost imperceptibly on account of the much-hyped ‘Huckaboom’, Senator McCain’s mojo seems to be coming back.  The New Hampshire Union Leader, a key conservative endorsement in New Hampshire endorsed the Arizonan’s bid two weeks ago.  The Des Moines Register, Iowa’s most influential daily, also saw fit to endorse Sen. McCain today despite McCain’s principled stand against ethanol subsidies and lackluster effort in the Hawkeye State.

Together, Senators Lieberman and McCain - whose destinies both seemed to peak in the 2000 Presidential election cycle, seem to have bound themselves together in the most unlikely of alliances in hopes that these men of principle, though perhaps past their prime, may yet rally the nation together in pursuit of the type of leadership that America deserves.

It is hard to figure out which gives us solace more these days - watching Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign fly apart like a newspaper being thrown from a car window, or the State Senate Democrats scrambling to get ethics religion.

Each seeks to whack the mole in a fruitless attempt to hide their own duplicity.

This week  State Senate President Don Williams, D-Brooklyn, and his compatriots in virtue, held a press conference outlining some proposals to tighten ethics standards and establish a permanent committee on professional conduct.

It did nothing to quell the continued questions about State Sen. Tom Gaffey, D-Meriden, or Sen. Williams and the issues surrounding the passage of a $1 billion in state spending for the Connecticut State University System (CSUS). Williams has never explained why he didn’t asked Gaffey to step aside from the final vote on the bonding proposal after the Gaff told him of his secret affair with Jill Ferraiolo, Associate Chancellor of CSUS, who lobbied for the proposal. Ferraiolo’s main job is to work the the Legislature.

At their press conference, the Senators couldn’t get their signals straight on whether their road to Damascus was paved by Gaffey’s conduct. Williams said it was, sort of, then it wasn’t. Ed Meyer said it was, and on it went.

Gaffey then tried to quietly get out of the mess by leaking a letter Friday afternoon to the Meriden Record Journal, asking Williams to take him off the Higher Education and Employment Opportunities Committee, where he serves as vice chairman. Gaffey claimed his “plate was full,” and he wanted to remove all doubt about his veracity. A little late for that now, Tom. But it will come as a relief to State Sen. Joan Hartley, D-Waterbury, who chairs the committee and was double-crossed by Gaffey by having this CSUS bill pushed behind her back. The bonding bill passed in September along partisan lines, 24-12, and Gov. Rell vetoed it.

It was Hartley who rightly pointed out that the original CSUS had no budgetary safeguards and could have led to the same problems which plagued the implementation of UConn 2000. Instead of working with Hartley on changes, the initial reaction of Williams and Gaffey was to threaten her with sanctions for not following them to overturn Gov. Rell’s rightful veto. Gaffey apparantly apologized to Hartley during a Democratic caucus.

Today, Gaffey’s hometown paper, the Meriden Record Journal goes into details about Gaffey’s role in the CSUS matter and his proclivity for using campaign funds for personal use. There is also a rehash of the 2004 Final Four tickets he received from CSUS President David Carter, who was President of Eastern Connecticut State University at the time. Gaffey paid only face value for the package, which to the normal unwashed would be thousands of dollars. No nose bleeds for Sen. Gaffey. His work is too important for that.

The next steps seem obvious:

• Will the state Elections Commission thoroughly review Gaffey’s PAC filings and fine him?
• Will the state Ethics Commission also look into the Final Four tickets and whether Ferraiolo showered gifts upon Gaffey that exceeded $100. She was making $140,000 a year after all.
• Will Jill Ferraiolo be reassigned to another post at CSUS and will the normally indignant groups rally to her cause like the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women?
• When with President David Carter explain why one of his charges was openly ridiculing his boss, Gov. Rell, and offering to help Sen. Gaffey on matters not related to her job or the goals of the CSUS?

Plenty to keep us busy between now and the opening of the February session.

Oh, and Hillary? Well, you can’t make it up.

Meriden Senator Tom Gaffey continued to beat a very brave retreat on Friday, as he resigned his post on the Higher Education Committee.  The Courant and Mr. Gaffey’s hometown paper, the Meriden Record Journal, had the story today.  Chairman Healy will add further comments here on the issue a bit later. 

The highlights from the articles:

“State Republican Chairman Christopher Healy said the timing of the resignation was unusual, coming only several days after the Senate Democrats unveiled a five-point plan on ethics reform. “It gets curiouser and curiouser — all this ethical gymnastics by the Senate Democrats and then Gaffey leaves the area of policy he loves,” Healy said Friday. “The Senate Democrats have been engaged in a circuslike presentation of an ethics package to cover their tracks. All I know is actions speak louder than words. The actions indicate that someone is feeling guilty about what they did.” - Courant

Derek Slap, the new mouthpiece for the Senate Democrats, got his first chance to trade barbs with Chairman Healy. 

“I think Mr. Healy’s remarks are unethical,” Slap said Friday night. “He throws these verbal bombshells. He and DeLuca — what an ally — have been doing this from the start. If [Healy] actually cared about ethics, he would have said something about the DeLuca mess. If the best the Republicans can do now is muster up DeLuca and Healy on ethics, it’s pathetic.” - Courant

Realizing he fell short in the Courant, Mr. Slap tried again in the Meriden Record Journal.  It’s not clearly noted either way, but one would assume that Mr. Slap gave this quote with a straight face: “Tom’s request effectively raises the bar for the General Assembly,” Slap said.  Reminds me of that famous old line - set the bar so low you can’t help but get over it.

The best line came from the Senator himself: “My plate is very full as is,” Gaffey said.

The problem in politics is that you make as many enemies as you do friends.  Such is the sad case of Mr. Ken Curran, of Bethlehem, who was nominated by Democrats in the 32nd Senatorial District to run for the seat vacated by Sen. Lou DeLuca. 

Mr. Curran has been active in Democratic political circles for several years now, so when he decided to take a shot at the 32nd Senatorial District he had a lot of chits to call in as he faced fellow Democrat John T. McCarthy, a man whose resume included a tour as the U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, amongst a host of qualifications.  Between long-owed favors and the quality of a decent man, local Democrats chose to repay their debts and nominate Ken Curran.

The Waterbury Republican-American pointed out a particular irony this morning in their paper, commenting thus:

“Sen. DeLuca’s successor will be picked in a special election Jan. 15. The Democrats standard-bearer will not be John McCarthy of Woodbury, a former undersecretary of State whose ambassadorial postings included Lebanon and Tunisia. Rather, it will be Kenneth Curran of Bethlehem, a party hack who managed Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez’ 2007 re-election campaign, which diverted city funds to pay for campaign literature. Mayor Perez now is the subject of a grand jury investigation into municipal corruption.”

For what it is worth, we at CTGOP filed the complaint with the State Elections Enforcement Commission on this issue of the diverted city funds for campaign purposes, which we’ve previously examined in our post, “Whitewash in Hartford“.  Mayor Perez’s office sent the “Hartford Educator” newspaper to every home in Hartford with his face plastered all over it, which was a violation of election law.  We filed the complaint in May 2007.  After having spent an estimated $20,000 of city taxpayer dollars for the mailpiece, the State Elections Enforcement Commission fined Mayor Perez a whopping $839.00 one week after his re-election victory in November.  Mr. Curran was the Mayor’s adamant defender in this case.  Interestingly, we learned today that Mayor Perez may be squabbling over the details of the paltry fine - apparently an $839 investment for $20,000 worth of return is still too high a price for “Fast” Eddie Perez.

The Rep-Am finishes with this story from 2001:

“But Mr. Curran’s claim to fame is his harassment of a Bethlehem Democrat in 2001. The victim, Dan Parlato, only wanted Mr. Curran to apologize for calling him at home in the middle of the night to berate him: “I hope you’re happy we lost the election. It’s your fault. I want to meet with you. We’ll settle this face-to-face. I’ll take care of you.” Mr. Parlato told police that was his fourth disturbing call from Mr. Curran during that election cycle.

Police charged Mr. Curran with second-degree harassment. He served 20 hours of community service to make the charge go away, but has never admitted wrongdoing, dismissing his actions as merely poor judgment. Poor judgment and hypocrisy describe the Democrats for nominating a harasser to run for a seat vacated by a man whom they deemed a stain on the Senate for committing a similar offense. At least Sen. DeLuca had the decency to admit his mistake and take his punishment like a man.” -Waterbury Republican-American, “Harassment Hypocrisy”

Mr. Curran does not have the experience appropriate for the job of State Senator, nor apparently, does he have the proper temperament.  All things considered, we’d rather he be blogging, too.

The End of Chris Dodd

Connecticut’s favorite Iowan, Senator Chris Dodd, failed to get his name on the ballot in New York.  Some are asking if this means that Senator Dodd’s campaign is effectively over, after Iowa and New Hampshire.  The good Senator’s campaign has struggled to catch on, as it continues to trail in the wake of the Clinton-Obama clash.  Sen. Dodd continues to play for a January 4th “Senator Chris Dodd finished a surprising third yesterday in the Iowa caucuses” headline.  Indeed, unless you are Hillary Clinton - Howard Dean redux anyone? - the battle for third in Iowa is the target for no less than three Democratic Presidential candidates - Richardson, Biden, and Dodd.

Democratic Presidential Debate

Don’t look now, but the Democratic Presidential candidates are debating in Iowa right now.  Carolyn Washburn, the colorless Nurse Ratched from yesterday’s Republican debate, is back today to preside over the Democrats.  And surprisingly - shockingly - Chris Dodd looks like he had an additional cup of coffee this morning because he’s got some pep in his rhetoric - thundering away on farming subsidies, China, and his proposed Corporate Carbon Tax.  He even offered a Walter Mondale-style promise to raise taxes on carbon.  Look for a Walter Mondale-style surge of support to soon follow.

cttaxed.com

The excellent cttaxed.com had a great post up earlier this week, “Tax Babies, Reduce Carbon“. The author/s have done an excellent job at the site, and post from a particularly interesting angle.  Check it out.

The Hartford Courant editorial page chided House Speaker Jim Amann today for his $55,000 session last week:

“House Republican leader Lawrence Cafero of Norwalk rightly describes the work as a “huge piece of change — totally unnecessarily spent.” The legislature could have held a technical session among a few lawmakers and accomplished the same goal without removing the scaffolding, he says.

The response from Mr. Amann, a Milford Democrat, dodged the issue. “We’re the majority party. I make the call for the session,” he said.

We put a high value on democracy. At $917 per minute, though, we’d like it to work a little more cheaply.”

- Hartford Courant editorial, Thursday, December 13, 2007.

Chairman Healy has already enumerated some of the many things that misspent dollars could have been spent on - and rightly so.  The Speaker fancies himself Governor - but he’ll need to show the good people of Connecticut that he can manage their money first.