Blumenthal, The Fox Watching The Hen House

When Dick Blumenthal opened his race for the U.S. Senate in 2010, he boasted “I've never taken PAC money and I have rejected all special interest money because I have stood strong and have taken legal action against many of those special interests.”

That was then.

It did not take Connecticut’s once battling Attorney General to acclimate to the ways of Congress. Roll Call reports that Mr. Blumenthal, who joined the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee at the beginning of 2013, “appears to be comfortable taking PAC contributions from communications companies that his Senate committee regulates.” Mr. Blumenthal also sits on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.

Nutmeg PAC, Mr. Blumenthal’s campaign committee and leadership PAC, has received PAC contributions from a long list of companies Mr. Blumenthal regulates as the people’s senator from the nutmeg state.

According to a story in the Congressional Quarterly’s Roll Call, the companies under Mr. Blumenthal’s scrutiny from which he has accepted campaign contributions include: “AT&T Inc. Federal PAC $2,000; Comcast Corporation PAC $2,500; Cox Enterprises PAC $1,000; Echostar Corporation & Dish Network PAC $1,500; National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. PAC $5,000; National Telecommunications Cooperative Assn. Telecommunications Education Committee $1,000; News America Holdings Inc.-Fox PAC $2,000; T-Mobile USA Inc. PAC $1,000; Time Warner Inc. PAC $1,000; Universal Music Group PAC $1,000; United States Telecom Assn. PAC $1,000; Walt Disney Productions Employees PAC $1,500; among others.”

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Obamagod!

My guess is that Barack Obama is a bit too modest to consider himself a Christ figure , but artist will be artists. And over at “ To Wit ,” a blog run by professional blogger, journalist, radio commentator and ex-Hartford Courant religious writer Colin McEnroe, chocolateers will be chocolateers. Nice to have all this attention paid to Christ so near to Easter.

Did Chris Murphy Engage in Private Diplomacy?

Murphy after Zarif blowup -- Getty Images Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, up for reelection this year, had “a secret meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference” in February 2020, according to a posting written by Mollie Hemingway , the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. Was Murphy commissioned by proper authorities to participate in the meeting, or was he freelancing? If the former, there is no problem. If the latter, Murphy was courting political disaster. “Such a meeting,” Hemingway wrote at the time, “would mean Murphy had done the type of secret coordination with foreign leaders to potentially undermine the U.S. government that he accused Trump officials of doing as they prepared for Trump’s administration. In February 2017, Murphy demanded investigations of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn because he had a phone call with his counterpart-to-be in Russia. “’Any effort to undermine our nation’s foreign policy – e

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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