Once convicted to a death sentence, a convict has the right to appeal. But the ability to introduce DNA evidence has been somewhat of an obstacle. Larry Cafero-R, House Minority Leader, proposed a bill that would skip the multiple part hearing to establish whether DNA evidence could be introduced on appeals. State Senator Andrew McDonald-D and State Rep Mike Lawler-D are concerned that this would unfairly speed up executions.

The current law requires appellate court hearings in which convicts must prove the evidence would alter a previous verdict, was not previously tested, is still available for testing and isn’t simply a ruse to delay execution.

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John T. McCarthy, a retired diplomat who has made Woodbury his permanent home since 1996, is running for the Connecticut State Senate seat vacated today by the resignation of Lou DeLuca.

McCarthy worked for the State Department for over thirty years - primarily in Lebanon and Tunisia - and still does consulting work for the State Department; he has also served as Chairman of the International Save the Children Alliance.

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It’s been shaken and stirred, more like a snow glob than a martini, but it looks as if a revided bonding package is on its way to Rell, Jodi Rell to sign. From the Courant:

The bill authorizes borrowing $2.9 billion in general obligation bonds for fiscal years 2008 and 2009, plus an additional $950 million in bond authorizations for major renovations and improvements to the Connecticut State University campuses. The $2.9 billion covers everything from local school construction projects to farmland preservation.

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Brian Lockhart at the Advocate is reporting that a new bonding package might be in the making.

State Sen. President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said he hopes to have a new, two-year borrowing package for the legislature to consider by early next month.

“We hope to settle on something within the next two weeks,” said Williams, who spent the afternoon in Norwalk meeting with state Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, and members of the city’s AfterSchool Alliance. He also visited the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.

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Jim Amann is getting sucked into the vortex of the Bruce Morris bamboozle. Favors must be paid while the clock ticks on the bonding issues. Or something. And somehow, the ever cautious State Attorney General, Dick Blumenthal who one day wants to be something else is in on the game too. Ears have been whispered in, stories have been told, and in the politics of budgets games are being played. Too bad no one is paying attention to the all important phrase, in the beginning. So I’ll start.

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It was all talk before, now its been officially vetoed. The bond package that the Democratic majority sent to Rell has been vetoed by the Governor. The war of words can be summed up; Rell says state credit card is maxed out, the reality is that the bonding package is only a spending wish list, that ultimately Rell controls.

Rell has complained that local officials do not understand that the bond package is a “wish list” of projects, some of which never will be funded. She wants the package to reflect real spending priorities, which would shift pressure for local projects from her to legislators.

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A short history lesson is in order. Way back in April, when legislative flunkies of all flavors were trumpeting how much of a budget surplus they could all spend, the bonding package that was on the table totalled $3.4 billion. An example:

State Senator John A. Kissel (R-Enfield) was pleased that the State Senate approved a bonding package tonight that included $2.8 million for the town of Enfield. The language was included in section 14 of State Senate Bill 2001 and passed the Senate just after nine o’clock this evening. Senator Kissel had worked closely over the last several months with a variety of state officials to ensure that the funding was part of the bill. The funding will compensate the town for costs incurred upgrading its wastewater treatment plant to handle excessive sewage flow produced by the state’s Department of Corrections.

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Actually, Chris Perone-D NOrwalk, probably wonders about more than the math skills of the CT DOT, but in this case he is concerned about how the CT DOT managed to miss the mark, by more than 100%, on how much it would cost to maintain and repair rail cars. Now let’s think about the timeline for a minute. The rail cars were something that the Governor authorized in 2004. It’s now 2007. The CT DOT is saying it will take $628 million, not $300 million to:

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Early this morning The Connecticut Post ran a story that started:

House speaker to back Caruso
Connecticut Post, CT - 3 hours ago
BRIDGEPORT Speaker of the House James Amann, D-Milford, will announce his support of Bridgeport mayoral candidate Christopher Caruso this afternoon. …

But now the page comes up empty. I have yet to recover the story from my cache. So will Amann support Caruso or why did the Post yank the story?

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Okay the legislature is out of session, so these what might have been stories are a dime a dozen, but, I find it irking to the max that instead of talking about the big problems, we get legislators talking about the little problems. Problems like a tweak to the open container law. From Brian Lockhart’s report in the Advocate:

Amann said over the weekend that when the General Assembly reconvenes later this summer to vote on a bonding package, he wants his colleagues to budget additional money for bridge and road maintenance to avoid a deadly collapse like the one in Minneapolis Aug. 1.

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