In a rare instance of not trolling on the bottom of a 50 state list, Connectciut, announces Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz’s office ranked 7th in terms of increasing voting turnout between 2004 and 2008.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today is reporting that a new survey by the US Census Bureau shows that Connecticut experienced one of the largest nationwide   increases in voter turnout percentage between the presidential election years of 2004 and 2008, representing the 7^th highest increase in the nation. The census numbers reveal that the percentage of the adult citizen population in Connecticut who cast ballots in the general election increased by 4% from 2004 to 2008. Connecticut was one of only 19 states in the country and two in the Northeast region to see such an increase during that time period.

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The Republican party appeal of the court ruling of Susan Bysiewicz’s eligibility to run as AG pays off. The State Supreme Court ruled she is ineligible to run, according to the Courant. So this means George Jepsen pops the champagne tonight, and the other secretary of state candidates nervously look in the rear mirror for Bysiewicz’s default “I want to stay in power” gambit. The Republicans meanwhile wonder why they can’t get their guy’s name in the article.

Who else is running for AG? We might never know, because the all Susie B media machine continues with riveting plot twists worthy of the reality tv set. In today’s Courant:

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz acknowledged during a recent deposition that she has virtually no experience as a litigator and has never argued a case before a judge.

But Bysiewicz said she believes she is qualified to run for attorney general based on her six years as a corporate lawyer, combined with her experience as a state lawmaker and as secretary of the state.

The March 31 deposition was part of Bysiewicz’s lawsuit against her own office. It seeks a ruling on whether she has the 10 years of active legal experience required under state law to run for attorney general and whether that requirement is constitutional.

A transcript of the deposition was made public Tuesday by the attorney general’s office under the state’s open records law after Bysiewicz’s attorney dropped his opposition to the request.

Aw, I’m not going to really leave you hanging, here are the other candidates, all footnotes to any Susan Bysiewicz story.

Two other Democrats are seeking the party nomination for attorney general: Rep. Cameron Staples of New Haven and former Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen of Stamford.

Three Republicans are in the race: state Sen. Andrew Roraback of Goshen, Easton attorney John Pavia and Avon attorney Martha Dean.

It was 1998, the dot com boom was in full swing and the �state Democrats were holding their convention and desperately trying to avoid an all white ticket. The position on the Democratic slate for secretary of state was being battled between Ellen Scalettar and Susan Bysiewicz at the nominating convention and in a rollcall vote, convention delegates nominated Ellen Scalettar for Secretary of State. with Ellen Scalettar pulling in 849 votes to �Susan Bysiewicz’s 613. But Bysiewicz really, really wanted to be secretary of state. So she filed to primary, and then launched what Dems like to refer as the meanest attack campaign against a fellow Democrat.

According to the New Haven Register, Bysiewicz claimed Scalettar missed nearly 200 votes in the General Assembly, including one on campaign finance reform in television ads. The ads also suggested that Scalettar voted against the�Connecticut version of �”Megan’s law,” and supported sex offenders. None of which was true, Bysciewicz went on to defeat Scalettar in the primary, and on to win her current position of Secretary of State. After all the dust settled, The Hartford Courant said in a November 6, 1998 editorial entitled Tasteless Tampering with the Truth;

“Susan Bysiewicz, Democratic victor in the secretary of the state race against Ben F. Andrews Jr., was the queen of mean. She earned that reputation with an attack ad against state Rep. Ellen Scalettar in the September primary. Ms. Bysiewicz’s tactics involved taking a germ of truth and distorting it to manipulate voters.”

Now things aren’t looking so good for Bysiewicz as the issues about her active lawyering are still in question after current AG Dick Blumenthal punted. To compound matters, the latest report has Bysiewicz using the excuse of an FOI request to obtain the emails of anyone who has ever contacted the Secretary of State’s office for use for her campaign. Jon Lender, at the Courant, breaks the details:

Her 2010 election committee has been sending unsolicited e-mails to thousands of people in that database, promoting her candidacy and seeking campaign contributions, The Courant has learned.

And now Bysiewicz’s private political use of her public office’s data has come under investigation by the state’s current attorney general,�Richard Blumenthal. Two staff lawyers in his office are investigating a complaint lodged last October by a Republican political activist who received unwanted Bysiewicz campaign e-mails and charged that she has violated the law by misusing “official state data for a political campaign.”

Bysiewicz on Saturday confirmed Blumenthal is investigating her office but denied that anything improper happened. Blumenthal could not be reached for comment.

You can be sure that one word is passing the lips of long time Democratic operatives. Scalettar.

One of the things that quickly becomes apparent in politics is that job qualifications and stances on issues take a second seat to private vendettas based on perceived sleights. More so in Democratic politics than Republican politics, but I think that’s just an issue of numbers. What both parties fail to realize is that most voters, and we can point out the numerical numbers as unaffiliated don’t care who did what to whom in 1998 and beyond, because most voters would like candidates who actually have a clue about the issues.

Like being able to check off, yes, I’m an active lawyer, when you have to fill out forms to the state of Connecticut’s Client Security Fund. Bysiewicz not only didn’t, for three years beginning in 2006, but also in in 2007 and 2008 had the Secretary of States’s office submit the full fee of $110 for her. All this would be seemingly irrelevant but for the fact that if you want to run for Attorney General you have to be an active lawyer for at least 10 years.

The very people who still remember the Ellen Scalettar race of 1998, will not try and figure out if they want to bring Bysiewicz’s case to court and have it ruled upon.

Republicans actively watch and write in The Republican Heard:

Even Dick Blumenthal wouldn’t give her a green light on that whopper and issued a long “Dear Madame Secretary” letter saying only a court can defer what “active practice” means. This was a classic Blumenthal punt � which took him almost two weeks to figure out.

Bysiewicz, after hinting that she would abide by Blumenthal’s judgment, said she was vindicated and would press on in her quest to find a job that provides a car and full dental. No one is buying it, including the Democratic state Chairman Nancy DiNardo, who pondered where her party will seek a declaratory ruling from a Superior Court on the matter.

Meanwhile, Republican hopefuls State Rep. Arthur O’Neill, R-Southbury,�State Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen and Easton attorney John Pavia, all have more than enough practice time.

Sometimes payback is a bitch.

Was it really just four weeks ago that Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz was the apparent front-runner for Governor of the state of Connecticut? It seems like much longer than that. According to some wags, the long knives are out and, people are openly speculating her political career might be over. Its astonishing.

Not much to add to the news, so if you haven’t read about it, here is a synopsis:
Susan, just weeks after saying she was committed to campaign finance reform and would participate in public financing, reversed position and declared she was opting out almost in the same breath that she declared she was no longer running for Governor, but instead for Attorney General. Supporters and allies in Hartford with whom she had fought to bring about campaign finance reform went nuts. Susan got into a bit of a scrape with some reporter types while the cameras were rolling.

A blogger questioned whether Susan was technically qualified under state statutes to be Attorney General. Susan called up her friend Dick and asked him to issue a legal opinion saying of course she’s qualified to replace him. Dick’s office said they hadn’t gotten a letter from Susan or from the Secretary of State, and until they did they had nothing to say. Competitors and reporter types started calling Susan out on the specific issue of whether or not she can even be AG and, while they’re in the neighborhood, her resume is pretty thin either way. The SOTS wrote the AG a letter asking several questions, beginning with questioning the constitutionality of the statute in the first place. This is where it goes from bad to worse.

The AG issued an opinion today saying, amongst other things, that yes in fact the statute is constitutional and no, the AG cannot be issuing opinions as to whether or not Susan is qualified under the statute as a practicing attorney. The GOP state chair says that if none of the Democratic contenders, such as Susan, are willing to take the issue to court to get a summary judgement, you bet your ass he will. Meanwhile Susan tells at least one reporter that she thinks the AG agrees with her, in fact that the 15 page opinion confirms what she has been saying all along and, damn the torpedoes, she’s getting on with her candidacy.

Hands smacking foreheads all over the place. Columnist types are penning opinions and commenters on the blogs are issuing early political obits. Susan defenders fuming this is a bunch of crap, and a political ambush.

AG’s opinion here.
Christine Stuart with her story on it here.
GOP Chairman Chris Healy blogs here.
Colin McEnroe here.
And there’s just tons more out there.

Stay tuned.
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The fourth annual Democratic pizza and politics event hosted by Ted Hoffstatter, Martha Aasen and members of various DTCs from Westport, Weston, Wilton, Greenwich, and Fairfield. Despite the room being packed with a few hundred people it was still difficult to not run into someone running for governor, or had run for governor or would like to one day grow up and be governor.

As usual the Norwalk Democratic party provided the usual ample fodder for me write stories for the entire month of February. But what happens at Fat Cat stays in Fat Cat, so we’ll just have to wait how things all shake out. But in the interim, because I know you were all hoping for all those tantalizing morsels of� Norwalk DTC drama, let’s just say that the likelihood of someone challenging the Democratic party rules again, as in this will be the third time in 4 years, is pretty high. Not because of any one egregious action, but three separate events are rallying cries for change.� My response; just fix the rules and stop with this nonsense.

The battle for who will be the next chair of the Norwalk Dems is shaping up to be delightful. Of course that’s what precipitating all the drama between people who won’t let go, and people who want to be part of a real Democratic party. There’s a healthy amount of jockeying between the people who are rallying around the campaigns of the gubernatorial candidates, which as represented last night are Dan Malloy, Ned Lamont, Rudy Marconi and Mary Glassman. The prize, as it is in all these primaries, is who gets to pick the delegates that go to the state conventions and otherwise enjoy the potential of administration jobs in Hartford. A word of advice, an old bear is not nimble and rather clumsy in its movements, but an old bear lies in wait in the bushes and can ambush the more nimble with a swipe of� its paw. Just saying.

Meanwhile, the under representation by the “official” Norwalk Democratic party in their home turf, was noticeable.

Dick Blumenthal, as Senate candidate got the most attention. Jim Himes spoke passionately about getting things done in Washington. Nancy Wyman, Denise Nappier and Susan Bysiewicz spoke as well as Ned Lamont, Dan Malloy, Rudi Marconi, Denise Merril, Andy Garfunkel, Gerry Garcia, Mary Glassman and not in that order at all and I think I missed a few people.

Duffy, the little white dog, was rescued by his owner, for those of you who were concerned after the brief announcement made by Tony Ancona at the outset of the speaking program.

Things are all set for the Friends of Susan announced press conference in Middletown Wednesday at 11 am, where presumably Susan Bysiewicz will jump from the Gubernatorial race to the Attorney General race. As the chess moves get made over on the Democratic side, we look forward to the potential leading contenders for the State’s highest elected office to quickly become a Stamford on Stamford affair.

Dan Malloy with his 450k plus war chest dominates the money field in the Dem contest for Governor. His surrogates have done well to position him ahead of the rest of the field heading into the convention. If the Dems could escape without a primary they would have a whole summer in which to make the case to the public rather than the hyper partisan primary voting Democrats.

But why would Bysiewicz make the jump to the AG spot? Looking ahead to 2012, it is another presidential year, and assuming the Obama does enough to keep the hounds of tea partiers at bay, Obama sweeps in another round of Democratic congress critters. And who isn’t a Democratic congresscritter these days. Senator Joe Lieberman. Lieberman too will be looking to see where the wind is blowing come 2012, and should the turbid waters of Connecticut politics seem unfriendly, he’ll position himself to exit off the political stage with a cabinet spot, freeing up the Senate seat in a safely Democratic leaning state to the next round of challengers. Brownie points for the master politician. He’ll need it. So what aspiring Connecticut Democrat wouldn’t want a senate gig these days, Six year terms, and not a lot of hard work to do. Something that would befit an aspiring AG, rather than a sitting Governor, or former Secretary of State and candidate for Governor.

And so that brings us to Wednesday’s announcement. And the potential line up of Malloy and Bysciwicz teamed together instead of fighting it out in a primary. Solves quite a few problems doesn’t it?

It also makes thing interesting for the Republicans. Mike Fedele is busy raising cash. ALmost $70k in 30 days is pretty nifty for a just announced candidate. But now that Malloy is looking like the potential match up, do the Republicans really want to run a race of Stamford vs. Stamford. Malloy comes into the race as a popular 14 year Mayor who did a bunch of things. Fedele comes into the race with slim credentials and as M. Jodi Rell’s sidekick. A Stamford doer versus a Stamford What Could Have Been.

Tom Foley isn’t the answer either. It should make Republicans long for Larry Cafero to have waited just a month or two more before announcing he was out. Then you would have had the leader of the fighting 44 against the former Mayor of Stamford. Wouldn’t that have been more interesting.

The next Democratic scramble will be who becomes front runner for Secretary of State. Watch Jonathan Harris pick up steam there.

With recent headlines bemoaning polls, and pundits�referring to Senator Chris Dodd as the embattled�Senator, it’s no surprise that the drum beats from Washington are beating the tune that very off the record–Connecticut Democratic officials have been privately saying for weeks, Dodd is practically unelectable and so ….

Sharira Toeplitz of CQ-Roll call makes the analysis: