Today the Connecticut presidential primary is scheduled for March 4, but under a proposal from Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, Connecticut could join California and other states by holding the primary on Feb. 5. A public hearing by the government administration and elections committee is planned for Friday.

From the Courant:

The 2008 primary now scheduled for March 4 would be held Feb. 5, when 22 other states, including California, are scheduled to hold a primary or caucus.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz bemoaned the trend toward early primaries, but she said the presidential nominations will be settled on Feb. 5.

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The New Office of State Ethics has explicitly stated that state legislators, even though part-time, may not solicit lobbyists or their clients according to the Courant.

The opinion by Barbara E. Housen, general counsel to the ethics board, says that Amann must stop soliciting lobbyists or their clients on behalf of the MS Society. Amann recently gave up soliciting lobbyists, but not their clients.

Amann had said he was ending the solicitation of lobbyists only to protect the MS society from recent adverse publicity - not because he sees any impropriety in raising money from lobbyists on behalf of his private employer.

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One of the interesting thing about writing a public blog, is the comments are often more informative than the original posts. In this case, comments were made about an incident that was maybe covered up during the Knopp administration. One wonders if they were true or not. As it so happens, documentation tends to sort of verify the substance of the allegation. Below you’ll find a link to the incident report filed with the Weed and Seed program. The names of the family involved has been redacted.

So where were the local papers on this story? Why didn’t they write about it?

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Today’s Courant covers the Democratic controlled Education committee’s work on Rell’s budget bill. From the Courant:

The Democratic-controlled education committee rewrote part of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s education plan Monday, approving a complicated proposal that provides both additional education money and the option for property tax relief on a sliding scale for all 169 towns.

The bill would provide the biggest increase in educational cost-sharing funds in state history - $198 million - but the measure still requires approval by the House of Representatives and Senate as part of the overall $17.5 billion state budget. The final package, which requires Rell’s approval, is not expected to be completed until early June.

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Sal Corda did not come out of the PTO meeting with his objective met. He needed to rally support of parents to create the appearance of widespread support. It’s perhaps telling that The Hour and The Advocate reveal the basic problem with that strategy.

The Hour wrote an article that appears in today’s sports section, outlining potential cuts to the Athletic departments as a way to meet the budget that would reflect less than everything Corda asked for. Notably, Corda has demonstrated an ability to cut $3 million from the kinds of programs geared to inflict pain on the most vocal groups of activities.

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Last night the PTO and Corda met to drum up the scare tactics that will be used to rally support around the inflexible budget requests. Thus the stage is set for the final show down Wednesday at the Public Hearing scheduled by the BET.

According to both the Hour and Advocate about 50 people turned out for the PTO/BOE meeting Monday. I think that’s a relatively small turnout. Perhaps Corda was reading the tea leaves and that’s why he sent out Opdahl, who single handidly has wasted millions of the tax payers money, to drum up some scare in the atheletic departments. How can this guy say with a striaght face the following (from the Hour):

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I really shouldn’t tune into CT-N during the workday. I might stumble on hearings in Hartford. Hearings that State Rep Bruce Morris is attending. I check the clock, school is still in session. Anyone keeping track of this. So on goes the volume. Bruce is speaking. He is speaking about God. The info graphic scrolls on the screen, Live It’s Saturday Night … no, it says live 3/26/07 and the public hearing is on the HB And Act Concerning Marriage Equality, which translated into English means the Gay Marriage Act.

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Norwalk Board of Education Blog

Michael Geake ’s 2008 Campaign Blog

As I find about more Norwalk area blogs, I’ll post them. I’ll also provide a handy list somewhere in the site too. It’s always good to stay well informed.

Use this as an open thread too.

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Tonight there’s a PTO Council meeting at Wolfpit Elementary School at 7:30 p.m. Monday evening.
I’m posting Superintendent Corda’s opinion piece that appeared in Monday’s Hour.

Creating understanding about the ‘07-08 budget


By SALVATORE J. CORDA
There has been much discussion about the Board of Education’s proposed budget for 2007-08 and the implications of the limitations that the Common Council is recommending be placed on the size of the budget increase. My hope in this document is to create understanding about the status of the budget so individuals can form their opinions based on factual and accurate information and to create support for a position that I think makes sense for the city and the school district.

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My generation’s cold war experiences weren’t the pointless duck under a desk preparation for a nuclear missile attack. Schools had gotten more pragmatic then, and simply assigned reading material like On The Beach By Nevil Shute and Alas Babylon and reminded us that Communism was all about long lines, polluted environment, military focused economies, occupation of countries and a certain lack of freedom of expression. Funny how things turn out.

The New York Times reports on the decision of the Wilton High School Principal’s decision to shut down a student written and produced play. From the article:

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