The Republican caucus in the 32nd Senatorial District reconvened last night to nominate its choice to replace Woodbury’s Lou DeLuca in January’s special election. Watertown Councilman Rob Kane defeated Southbury State Rep Arthur O’Neill, the official State Republican blog reports, by a vote of 34 to 30.

This leaves the Democrats to nominate their choice when they caucus on Monday. Two candidates have declared their intentions, retired State Department diplomat John T. McCarthy of Woodbury, and Democratic State Central Committeeman Ken Curran of Bethlehem.

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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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Derek Slap, communications director for the Senate Democrats in Hartford summed up the reaction to Monday’s letter issued by the former State Senator Lou DeLuca, “The Senate taking guidance from Mr. DeLuca on ethics would be like Dick Cheney teaching classes on hunting safety.” What prompted this rebuke is another one of those incidents about the political log rolling that goes on in Hartford.

Democratic State Senator Thomas Gaffey, he of the all important ECS money allocation decision committee, is dating the associate vice chancellor for government relations and communications of the Connecticut State University System, Jill Ferraiolo. You know, the same state university system where the Democrats couldn’t override the overall bonding package because another state senator, Joan Hartley, cited the unusually high funding allocation.

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Former State Senator Lou DeLuca wasted no time in demonstrating that - although his colleagues in Hartford may be through with him - he is not through with politics.

Today was officially his last day as a State Senator. But, rumor has it that he has thrown his support behind three-term incumbent Watertown Councilman Bob Kane, in opposition to State Representative Arthur O’Neill’s declared intention to fill his seat.

In a post in this space November 16, I said that Kane would not have the support of party and elected officials he would need to mount a campaign in the two months between DeLuca’s announcement and the special election in January 15.

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State Representative Arthur O’Neill (Southbury, Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington) will be the Republican nominee to fill Lou DeLuca’s seat in the Connecticut State Senate, and the odds-on favorite to win in January’s special election.

Three other candidates have reportedly indicated their interest in DeLuca’s seat.

Hailing from Seymour, Republican Town Committee Chair Brian Koskelowski, who drives the local senior citizens bus and whose father is the 7-term Republican incumbent First Selectman, and has served on the Library Board, is said to be interested.

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State Senator Lou DeLuca’s departure will require a special election in January. Those of us who like to keep tabs on these things expected the Special to pit DeLuca’s anointed successor - Watertown State Rep Sean Williams - against a to-be-named opponent (Bethlehem Democratic State Central Committeeman Ken Curran is rumored to be seriously considering a run). But this week things got kinda weird.

Williams stood with DeLuca at the podium as DeLuca made his announcement, an understandable (even admirable) display of personal loyalty one might say. But then, Williams publicly stated that he will not run for the seat in January, which is strange enough, but is rumored to have also said that if DeLuca chose to run again, he would fully support him.

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Finally. Of course he could have saved the taxpayers money by doing this earlier. Those subpoenas must have been pretty scary.

Sen. Louis C. DeLuca announced his resignation shortly after 1 p.m. today, ending a 17-year career in the Senate and a five-month controversy over his dealings with James Galante, a trash hauler accused of having ties to organized crime.

DeLuca struggled to remain composed as he read aloud a two-page statement. His wife, Alice, stood by his side, her right hand on his left shoulder.

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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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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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