At first, I looked at this story and skipped through quickly because the tantalizing DPW budget and sewer pipe cleaning beckoned. But then, I realized this was a story, because The Hour, was covering it, like, well, like a newspaper should. Political flunkies hold a press conference and then vanish into the still of the night is all too common. Someone, ahem, the media, is supposed to be keeping an eye on them. Naturally, we’ve forgotten how that once worked, unless we revisit His Gal Friday for details.

But here’s Jared Newman on follow-up:

Of the five state legislators who championed a reduction in carbon emissions during a conference at City Hall last month, only one has co-sponsored the resulting bill.
State Rep. Toni Boucher, R-143, does not serve on the environment committee, which raised the bill, but she said it was important to show her support early in political process.

“You want to attach your name onto things that you believe in, in order to give it more legs to run on — in other words, to get it passed,” Boucher said.

Well, all-righty then, let’s make this an ongoing thing Jared.

The legislators who spoke at the conference who haven’t signed on are state Reps. Larry Cafero, R-142, house minority leader and Christopher Perone, D-137 and state Sens. Bob Duff, D-25, majority whip and Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, senate minority leader.
“I will be a co-sponsor. I just haven’t got around to doing that yet,” McKinney said. As ranking member of the environment committee, he plans to be involved with the bill as it moves forward. He said he will sign on as co-sponsor within the next week.

Perone, another member of the environment committee, said he’s been busy with bills related to earned income tax credits and health care pooling. He also wants to co-sponsor the bill, but said he hasn’t had a chance to do so.

“I support the bill, and I plan to vote for it when it comes to the house (floor), and I plan to be a co-sponsor,” Perone said.

Cafero said he’s also been tied up, but he’s not as steadfast in his support as other legislators. Though he favors a cap on carbon emissions, he doesn’t want to take any drastic steps that could hurt industry.

“I just want to look at the details of the bill, because we are facing really bad economic times right now,” he said.

Duff is also approaching the bill with caution, waiting to see how the language changes over time before deciding whether to sign on.

“It’s a pretty complex piece of legislation,” Duff said, “and it’s probably going to continue to change up until the day it gets voted on.”

source: The Hour, Some local officials no-shows for sponsorship on carbon emissions, By Jared Newman, March 20, 2008