The Courant is reporting that State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal is asking state regulators to approve the Connecticut Light & Power’s proposal to make multimillion-dollar upgrades in eight communities with underground electrical systems. Towns that were identified include; New Britain, Bristol, Greenwich, Norwalk, New Canaan, Westport, Naugatuck and Willimantic.

“This threat to electric service and public safety is unconscionable and unacceptable,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “CL&P’s unreliable underground electric system is a ticking time bomb that has endangered lives, and repeatedly compromised vital electric service to thousands of customers.”

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While the Courant headlines the story as Colebrook Fire Chief Arrested In Sex Sting, the interior states:

According to spokesman Sgt. Daniel Devine, Boutin was arrested around 11:40 a.m. when he showed up at the restaurant to meet the fictitious boy. Police said Boutin works as a permit inspector for the state Department of Transportation and was driving an agency vehicle when he arrived at the meeting site.

Ah, that would maybe explain the I-84 fiasco, where somehow the DOT failed to inspect the shoddy work performed. And what was this guy doing at 11:40 am instead of inspecting DOT stuff?

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Unlike Congress, where C-SPAN tightly focuses its television eye on the congresscritters that speak to mostly empty seats, the seats in the Common Council chambers were filled last night. While the public could speak to the Common Council on any topic, the crowd distinctly fell into one of two camps, camp flood and camp-education administration- self-preservationists. So that’s what a $246,367,103 operating budget comes down to. But actually, the allocation of the budget is really up to the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

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Following through on concerns about the priority of budget spending, the Common Council Finance & Claims Committee trimmed $2 million from the proposed budget. From the Norwalk Advocate:

The Board of Estimate and Taxation has line-item control over the budget, but the finance committee proposed that the BET split the recommended $2 million cut about evenly between the Board of Education and the city.

In an interview after the meeting, school Superintendent Salvatore Corda said cutting the Board of Education’s requested spending increase by the amount proposed would result in “devastating” program reductions.

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The producers of ABC’s popular show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, are looking for a Connecticut home owner to feature as part of their 50 state strategey. The show is visiting each of the 50 states during the course of the next two seasons. The gist of the show is that over the course of a 7 day period, a lucky homeowner gets picked for the extreme home makeover challenge. From the Middletown Press:

Veronica Penn-Turner, the show’s family casting producer, said the show is gearing up for its voyage to Connecticut as part of the show’s mission and reach out to Connecticut by seeking heroic candidates.

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Quinnipiac releases it;s latest poll on the GOP candidates. Rudy Giuliani leads to poll with 40%. John McCain clocks in with a meager 18%. At one point McCain led strongly, even going as far as winning the Connecticut Republican presidential primary in 2000. These days, McCain seemingly has lost his straight talk express. Had he mentioned his maverick opposition to the Bush administration he’d probably be in better shape. Mavericks who change to conformists don’t fare all that well.

		%	Â	Â	Â	Â
	Rudy Giuliani	40	Â	Â	Â	Â

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Nathan Gonzales reports from the Rothenberg Political Report

Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell (D), who drew an impressive 48% against Rep. Christopher Shays in 2004, finished with 48% again last year, demonstrating the depth of Shays’s appeal and his improved campaign. Democrats apparently will need an even stronger challenger next year, and while there are plenty of Democratic officeholders in the area, defeating Shays won’t be easy.

Farrell apparently won’t try again, and unsuccessful Senate nominee Ned Lamont also isn’t interested. But a number of Democratic names are mentioned, including state Sen. Andrew McDonald, state Rep. Jim Shapiro and state Sen. Bob Duff.

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Once again the usual suspects are at longing for the prodigal return of Ned Lamont to carry the blog-brand of a progressive politics torch and lead the way. This time the focus is on the 4th CD congressional seat, currently held by Christopher Shays-R. This time the focus is at least on the right race, that is, one that would occur between a Republican and a Democrat, instead of internecine warfare. But addictions are so hard to break. So instead of bolstering support for a Lamont candidacy, the blogging bouillabaisse is concoting round 747 of attack the Connecticut Democratic party, because, well, they seem to only understand attack. So what do I mean, well here’s the headlines and links to the relevant blog posts:

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Parsing through the news this morning reminded me of the old adage that the three sides of any story are often my side, your side and the truth. Figuring out what facts fall into is often difficult because people lie. Sometimes unintentionally, but often time because being accurate is less expedient than digging for the truth.

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The debate on Connecticut’s flawed deregualted electricty market wavers between forces that want to reregulate and forces that want to fix the parts of the deregualted market that aren’t working. The Courant reports on State Senator John Fonfara’s position:

State Sen. John Fonfara would seem to be in an enviable position. In 1998, he was one of a handful of legislators who opposed deregulating the state’s electricity generation market.

Almost a decade later, many legislators, including leaders in the House and Senate, view the decision as a mistake. Electricity rates have gone up drastically, and the public is upset.

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