To read Molly Ivins was to experience barbed wire wit effortlessly spun in a mix of simple thoughts with a cherry on top. Her voice and reason will be missed. Washington Post Story.

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Tossing a hat into the ring of the upcoming mayoral race has been an ongoing shadow box. The current mayor, Richard Moccia, weary of what he terms “personal attacks” is forming an exploratory committee. The current Common Council President Michael Coffey suggests that he will form a exploratory committee too. Despite the rumors, Democratic Town Chair Galen Wells says nobody has told her that they are running. All this from today’s Norwalk Advocate article on someone who is running, Wilson Point resident, Scott Merrell.

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Connecticut has had its share of corruption scandals that pop up only under the rumored threat of federal investigations. Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, is bringing back a bill proposing to create a state office of inspector general. From the Republican American:

For the second time since 2003, McKinney has introduced a bill to establish an office that would be responsible for rooting out corruption and inefficiency in state and municipal government

“The reason for my interest in 2003 was sparked by the municipal scandal in Bridgeport,” McKinney said. “It’s my belief that we as a legislature do too much legislating and not enough oversight. We need to engage in much more oversight of where our money is going in state agencies and municipal governments.”

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School districts spend tax payer money on technology, yet the officials who make this budget requests know nothing about that they are purchasing. The Julie Amero case is an example of a school district that failed to install its software correctly, and then blamed a substitute teacher for the results of an easily prevented incident. More coverage from Rick Green at The Courant;

To believe that Julie Amero deserves to go to jail for exposing her students to pornography takes some work.

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Legislators held a public hearing on the proposed legislation that would increase the fines levied against drivers who are caught using a hand held cell phone while driving. The problem, it turns out, is enforcement. Which, had the legislators been using common sense when they first considered the ban, they would have realized that enforcement was nearly impossible. For example, at what point does a driver break the law? Picking up the phone? Looking at the caller id? Pressing the answer (talk) button? Talking on the speaker phone while holding the phone? Fumbling for the headset to talk while complying with the spirit of the ban? Reaching over over to turn down the radio volume in order to hear the conversation? Scrolling through contacts lists to dial a number?

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Sunday afternoon the Wilton DTC hosted a party for volunteers which included many of the 4th Congressional District faithful who worked on Democratic candidate campaigns. Fat Cat Pie Company is always an excellent gathering spot for large crowds and did not disappoint with free flowing wine and a nice assortment of cheeses and charcuterie.

There were a few speakers, including Chairwoman of the State Democratic party, Nancy DiNardo, who set the agenda with encouragement to stay involved and start working on municipal races. State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal trumpeted his ranking by Competitive Enterprise Institute as the nation’s worst attorney general and reminded the crowd that he was fighting against the Broadwater Long Island Sound gas terminal. Secretary of State Susan Bysciewicz spoke briefly about the new voting machines that will be deployed for 2007 elections.

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With all the attention coming out of this weekend’s news cycle on Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giulianiin Iowa, it should be noted that there’s another stealth candidate running, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. He’s the first major Latino candidate for president and like Dodd is considered a longshot for the Democratic presidential nomination. His resume is heavy on the foreign policy experience:

• He won re-election as Governor of New Mexico for a second term with a record 69% of the vote
• Former US Ambassador to the UN in the Clinton administration
• Former US secretary of energy in the Clinton administration

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It’s no easy job to be a politician. What starts out as being a dedication towards public policy can veer into the mucky swamps of satisfying constituents, or rather the vocal activists that fuel local campaigns. Sometimes there’s no easy path to take, and sometimes there’s no downside. In election years pet issues can skew one’s perspective on whether a public official is doing his/her job, so it’s with this in mind that I take an analytical look at some of the work of some the Greater Norwalk area legislators appearing in the news this week.

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Running for political office in Connecticut as a challenger can be a daunting experience. A good campaigner will walk the district, knocking on doors and introducing themselves in hopes of catching a resident open to meeting someone willing to serve for public office. Invariably though, the tales of the door knocking campaigners include the mythic being chased by a dog, after all dogs view the lone campaigner armed with campaign literature as being from the same species as the US Postal worker, and we all know what that means.

Running In The 61^st

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A recent comment posted to our earlier post prompted me to look at what one blog covering the Board of Ed in the school district posted. It’s appalling that this teacher was convicted when at the time of the incident, many school computers were infected with spam-ware causing a rash of porn to be displayed. But here’s the recap from the blog

Region 19 BOE Gazette, by Frank Krasicki:

Sunday, January 21, 2007

More Troubling Evidence of a Mistrial in the Amero Case
The Alex Eckelberry Op-ed piece in the Norwich Bulletin has triggered a very interesting set of responses (view all the comments).

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