Connecticut Politics At The Zero

But never met this Fellow

Attended or alone

Without a tighter Breathing

And zero at the bone.

—Emily Dickinson

Connecticut’s far left – Governor Dannel Malloy and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy – have offered public endorsements to New Haven mayoralty candidate Toni Harp, not the brightest thing to do during a Democratic primary campaign. The endorsements have disappointed Hartford Courant commentator Colin McEnroe. The irritant in his shell has produced the following pearl of wisdom:

“Meanwhile, Murphy endorsed Harp. I have no idea why anybody thought this was wise or necessary. It could be an act of solidarity among people who have had difficulty paying their taxes on time, although in this arena Murphy is kind of a penny ante player, with a history of chronic sloppiness about paying his property taxes, but we're talking just a few months late on a few thousand dollars. Meh.”

Columnists live for these moments.

In the meantime, former State Senator Edith Prague has thrown a pitchfork at Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie. Mr. Rennie earlier harpooned Ms. Harp, and Ms. Prague rushed to her defense, berating Mr.Rennie as a “character assassin” and calling upon him to retire. Ms. Prague, the senator from AFSCME , retired from her labors at the General Assembly after about three decades and was rewarded with a $100,000 a year position as the Commissioner of The Department of Aging.

Mr. Rennie’s response to Ms. Prague’s scurrilous attack on journalism may be found here: Never one to hold back i8n a barroom brawl, Mr. Rennie retorted:

“The holder of a make-work commissionership and former legislator, Prague has dipped into her barrel of bile before when I've pointed out Harp’s shortcomings as a guardian of the public trust…”

The 2014 campaign is now officially opened.

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."

Taking The Fifth, After Esty

Whether or not U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty will serve the remainder of her term or resign immediately is very much an open question. But, in any case, the battle for Connecticut’s 5 th U.S. Congressional District has begun with a show of unexpected fireworks. For many years, the 5 th District was a toss-up proposition; both Republicans and Democrats have held and surrendered the seat. Geographically the 5 th District touches the border of New York from Connecticut’s northern-most point to Danbury in the southern quadrant and includes much of Litchfield county and parts of Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven counties. Party affiliation is competitive, in round figures, 30 percent Democrat, 25 percent Republican and 45 percent unaffiliated. Over the years, the Democrat Party in Connecticut has moved from the center to the left, but the 5 th District has been a moderate preserve. During the Obama presidential election, Republican moderates within Connecticut's U.S. ...

PCBs, GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

By Gerald and Natalie Sirkin c2007 A front-page story on PCBs in the March 9 News-Times is just wrong. The first thing to know about PCBs is that they never killed a single person nor did they ever cause cancer. The second is that although they are invariably called “cancer-causing,” that designation comes chiefly from a single rat study. The third thing is that the subject rats were exposed daily for 21 months to 100 parts per million (ppm) of PCBs containing 60% chlorine. (The 100 ppm was about 5,000 times the tolerable daily intake of PCBs set by FDA in 1973.) When rats were exposed to PCBs containing less chlorine, they developed no cancers. The fourth, that when the exposed rats were allowed to live out their lives, they had fewer cancers and lived longer than the unexposed rats. PCBs is a family of chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls. PCBs contain chlorine ranging from 12% to 70%. They were used in two General Electric plants that manufactured electrical equipmen...

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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