From Paddi's Desk
by Paddi LeShane
With 10 days to go until the New Year is here, we're starting to see the news trickle out about new committee chairs and leadership appointments from Senate Democrats, House Republicans and Senate Republicans. It's been held up longer than normal as the Lamont-Bysiewicz transition team looks to recently elected legislators to join the administration. The daily rumors are fast and as everyone is speculating, no one knows for sure who will take the oath of office and who will head over to an administrative agency.
As the transition team gets rolling, we're seeing details about Opening Day coming together - there's an update in this week's IN THE LOOP, if you are interested in attending the open house gala on Jan 9th at 7PM. Unlike past galas, there are no table assignments tickets (other than a $20,000 sponsorship) and admission is general admission at $200 a ticket. There will be dancing too, "Morning Joe's" Joe Scarborough's band, and one big massive networking cocktail party to boot.
Caucus leaders are looking at their agendas for their teams and we expect to see them roll out during the first week of January Of course there is the Governor's agenda that will formally announced on Feb 6th, which will be introduced by Democratic leaders for discussion, debate and approval in this long session.
All are anticipating a challenging year; leaders say jobs and the economy are task #1, but some of the initiatives the leaders are talking about aren't being embraced as they thought they would be by the private sector. Folks are saying this will be as challenging for special interests as for the Governor, since he's going to have to put his foot down on many of these initiatives if he's serious about embracing the economy and turning the downward spiral upside down. The fiscal nightmare that's awaiting legislators and the Governor, sitting out there in two years, is nothing to sneeze at and will be up for discussion.
Let's see what the committee leaders look like and what initiatives the caucuses announce before the rock and roll time begins. As they say, you only get one first impression, and I think this Governor gets only ONE session to walk the walk.
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First Commissioner Nominated in the New Administration
by Mike Johnson
Today it was announced that Governor-elect Lamont will nominate former Metro-North Railroad president Joseph J. Giulietti to serve as commissioner of the Department of Transportation (DOT).
DOT serves as one of the largest state agencies in size, budget and topics coming into 2019: They oversee the distribution of funds for infrastructure improvement, serve as the lead agency for rights-of-way approvals and will be spearheading efforts in the next legislative session considering the implementation of tolls.
According to the transition team announcement, Giulietti started as a brakeman and assistant conductor at Penn Central Railroad, rising through the ranks until he became president of the MTA Metro-North Railroad, the nation's second largest commuter railroad. Prior to leading the Metro-North Railroad, Giulietti worked for 15 years at the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, where he served first as Deputy Executive Director and then as its Executive Director.
This announcement is sure to create wide speculation as to the timing of who will come next in announcements and which high-profile state agencies will see changes.
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Did You Know?
A Page of CT (Christmas) History
December 1938
Connecticut's Christmas Town of Bethlehem
Each year the Bethlehem Post Office processes hundreds of thousands of letters and Christmas cards during the month of December. People from all over the world forward mail to Bethlehem to receive special Christmas cachets and a Bethlehem post mark.
It all started in 1938. A week before Christmas, Bethlehem postmaster Earl Johnson decided to send out a Christmas card with a drawing of a little tree on the envelope and the words, "Merry Christmas from the little Town of Bethlehem." Hearing about this innocuous gesture of holiday spirit, Johnson's uncle wrote a story about it that ended up published in the Chicago News and, later, in the New York Herald Tribune.
The little post office on Main Street soon became overwhelmed. During the 1950s and '60s the Bethlehem post office handled over 200,000 pieces of mail every December-a volume 1,000% higher than the rest of the year.
Bethlehem, CT still receives mail from all over the world, making CT's small town a true piece of Christmas.
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Municipal
Roundup
by Ryan Bingham
As we look around the municipal world, we see dozens of communities that would bend over backwards for a developer to come to town and redevelop their communities. That's not the case in Stamford, where the town is a lot pickier about who comes around to their neighborhood in terms of housing developments than many other cities in our state.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) did a
study on that very issue, which was released this week. Essentially it's a cultural "Not in my backyard" also known as NIMBY issue, according to the study. The zoning regulations are significantly stricter in Stamford than many other communities as well. An entire group, the Stamford Neighborhood Coalition, was formed around changing how land-use boards see such changes and hopes to eradicate the edits.
Coalition members say that builders should stay within the bounds of city regulation, and that feeling alone might play a huge role in the growing opposition to Stamford development, the study shows. "In opposing new development to protect common goods, renters also promote higher rents, making their behavior at least partly contradictory: renter activism keeps rents high. That seeming contradiction, however, might be explained by a temporal and spatial mismatch between the scale at which new development helps renters and the scale at which renters experience new development," researchers wrote. It's certainly something to watch and a case study of "NIMBYism" in CT.
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2018 Transition Team HQ
by Chelsea Neelon
The Governor-elect's team has been busy with their Transition Team Policy Committee briefings this week along with adding new personnel to the administration.
Governor-elect Lamont, along with his transition team, put together 15 policy committees made up of persons from all backgrounds, areas of expertise, and party affiliations to come together and provide the soon to be governor a plan regarding each various committee's particular issue, with a focus on job creation.
I was able to attend the Policy Committee briefings for Energy and Environment this week, and each committee put together a comprehensive and goal oriented guide for the Lamont Transition Team to review and use as a template for the upcoming legislative session. Committees have proposed broad and bold goals, and it will be interesting to see how the Lamont team utilizes each committee report when formulating his legislative priorities.
The transition team also added three more personnel to their administration this week with Marc Bradley, Maribel La Luz and State Representative Chris Soto. Marc Bradley, Lamont's former campaign manager, will serve as External and Constituent Affairs Director. Maribel La Luz will serve as Communicators Director and State Rep. Soto will serve as the Legislative Affairs Director.
According to the Lamont-Bysiewicz press release from Wednesday, "Bradley will lead outreach to constituents across the state, including community leaders and local elected officials. La Luz will direct media strategy across executive branch agencies, and serve as the Governor's lead spokesperson. Soto will oversee the Governor's legislative affairs in both chambers and advise the governor on pending legislation."
Things are coming together and session is right around the corner, but we hope you enjoy a brief reprieve with your family this holiday season!
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Upcoming Events
Matt Ritter PAC
Pre-Session Fundraiser
Thursday, January 3rd
4PM - 7PM
Butterfly Chinese Restaurant
Senator Cathy Osten Ten Town PAC
Monday, January 7th
12PM-2PM
Red Rock Tavern
House Republicans' Annual Pre-Session Fundraiser
with House Republican Leader Themis Klarides
Tuesday, January 8th
4:30PM-6:00PM
Officers' Club
Sullivan & LeShane Annual Opening Day Party
Wednesday, January 9th
4PM-6PM
Front Street Bistro
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