October 8, 2021
In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
From Inside The Golden Dome
This Day in CT History
Quiet as a church mouse…

Not a lot is happening in Hartford this week. It was very quiet in the LOB and Capitol, but there has been a lot of activity on the campaign trail. Legislative caucuses were busy drumming up support and providing an opportunity for lobbyists, party regulars and elected officials to mix and mingle across the state.
 
As you may recall, lobbyists are restricted to a single $100 contribution for each statewide or legislative race, going back to the days of former Governor M. Jodi Rell. Since then we have also been restricted in who we can engage when raising campaign funds and the number of contributions we can actually provide to a campaign at one time— all in the name of reducing the influence of special interest funds within Connecticut’s campaign process. Most candidates for statewide office or legislative seats now participate in the state's Citizen's Election Program administered and regulated by the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC). 
 
Some of the events, depending on the venue and location, attracted a lot of Capitol folks who supported the leadership PACs and caught up with a variety of legislative staffers, senators and state representatives. It was nice to see folks face-to-face, since access to the buildings is still restricted to the first floors and much of what is happening within committees, taskforces, etc. is still being accomplished through Zoom, which isn’t attracting much attention to be honest. 
 
While the legislature is regrouping after a long and difficult session, many local officials are in the last weeks of their campaigns to get reelected or elected, depending on the town and office being sought.
 
All’s quiet in Hartford with the mayor enjoying a four-year term, same with Bridgeport and Waterbury. Stamford and New Haven are a hot bed of activity, while the ever popular Mayor of New Britain, Erin Stewart, continues to run a competitive race and appears to be looking at another term.
 
After November 3rd Connecticut will begin to seriously focus on the upcoming gubernatorial race, as well as other statewide elections in November 2022. Recently, Governor Lamont mentioned to the media that he will make his “decision” by the end of 2021, but almost everyone believes he’s feeling comfortable in the role and will definitely seek a second term.
 
On the Republican side it’s all about former State Representative and Republican Leader Themis Klarides and former gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski, who narrowly lost to Lamont by 40,000+ votes in 2018. While there may be other candidates lining up for the Republican nomination, we haven’t heard much from them in recent months. On the Democratic side, most potential candidates for Governor will be cooling their jets and waiting for a formal announcement from Governor Lamont. However, we do hear things here and there, namely that there are rumblings on the progressive/union side of the Democratic party that folks aren’t happy with some of the policy decisions the Governor has made related to state employees, contract negotiations slated for after the 2022 elections and his stances on taxation and budget priorities. We will have to wait and see if these “beefs” are just political posturing or an actual threat to the sitting Governor. I’m thinking political posturing. But then again, what do I know? 
 
The list for other state officer candidates grows longer and longer. You may recall that Secretary of the State Denise Merrill has opted to not seek reelection and there’s a whole boatload of interested parties from across the state. Then, there is the unknown about Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who at one time was touted as a potential gubernatorial candidate. What will he do in 2022? Run or retire? Even without a formal announcement, several up-and-coming Democratic leaders are making quiet inquiries about their potential to earn the nomination. The only statewide seats that seem quiet and mostly likely to be unchallenged belong to State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, State Attorney General William Tong and Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz.
 
So we sit and wait for the local election results, and then the public announcement of our top leaders and then the race can officially begin! 
Sports Betting Snafu

As sports fans across the state know, the target date for the rollout of online and retail sports betting was supposed to be October 7th,. However, due to some agency mishaps at the federal level, that date has been pushed back indefinitely. Before off-reservation sports betting can be legally conducted in the State of Connecticut, the new changes to the gaming compact between the state of Connecticut and the Mohegan Tribe must be approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. Last month, the department announced their approval of the amended gaming agreement between the two entities. All that was left to do on the federal side was to publish the changes in the federal register. The Mohegans' memorandum of understanding was published in the federal register on September 15th. Despite this, for some unknown reason, the feds waited twelve days before publishing the Mashantucket-Pequot's in the federal register, delaying the process by which sports betting can be rolled out in Connecticut. Some say that it could take up to two weeks before online/retail sports betting goes fully live, but the Connecticut Department of Consumer protection assured constituents that it would not be a lengthy delay.

Now that the changes have been published in the federal register, there is still another step that must take place before the market goes live. DCP must issue supplier and vendor licenses, and operators must send the department a request to go live.

On-reservation betting has already begun at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. However the third operator, CT Lottery, must wait to begin their retail operations. The lottery is expected to operate online sports betting through Rush Street Interactive's "Sugar House" brand. It will also offer retail betting at up to fifteen retail locations. To find updates on sports betting, follow this link.
As schools continue to grapple with the importance of keeping school open and away from virtual learning, there are new programs being developed to test school age children for COVID-19. A new free program in school districts across Connecticut is designed to help identify Covid-19 cases early and reduce the number of quarantines. As the school year rolls on, the state Department of Public Health along with the Department of Education are rolling out the new Covid Detect program, which is in-school testing for the virus for unvaccinated children. As DPH epidemiologist Kristin Gerard explains it, "Project Covid Detect is a free weekly testing that we are offering through funding by the CDC to offer weekly Covid screening testing to all the eligible students in the state.” The new program is being offered to all public K-6 schools in the state and select grades 7-12th in the eight largest cities. Currently, 43 public schools districts have expressed interest and 150,000 students are eligible.

If you’re asking, "what’s next for school age children in this continued pandemic high alert?", California became the first state this week to require Covid vaccines for all school children. Governor Newsom said that the vaccine will be added to the required vaccination list along with measles and mumps to attend public schools. Information about California’s new move: click here


 
Go Get the Guns

The state of Connecticut has seen substantial increases in gun violence and gun-related homicides in its major cities. Homicides are at a decade high in New Haven, and instances of armed car-jackings are increasing throughout the state. This past week, Governor Lamont joined the governors of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to announce a regional effort to stem gun violence through better sharing of the federal firearms-registration database.

At a press conference that the coalition held jointly, Governor Lamont stressed that by sharing information between individual states, it will be much easier to track and trace criminal activity. The four state leaders signed an MOU to share information that they receive from the F.B.I on the flow of firearms to the Northeast, usually coming from the south. This info is only given to each state individually pertaining to their state's individual data. The leaders hope that this sharing of information will help to track illegal guns and get them out of the hands of criminals. According to the Washington Post, over fifty percent of the guns seized in Connecticut come from out of state. The Governor also has plans to encourage information sharing within the state, namely between the state police and local police departments.

Much has been done in recent years at the state level to combat illegal gun ownership. In 2019, the legislature passed Public Act 19-6, effectively banning the practice of using a 3D printer to fabricate firearm components, and making a firearm without a serial number. The legislature has also banned "assault weapons" such as the AR-15, and instituted red flag laws which allow concerned individuals to notify police departments if they believe a gun-owning individual can reasonably be suspected to not be fit to possess firearms. Opponents of these types of legislation argue that since the majority of illegal weapons come to Connecticut from out-of-state sources, these laws will do more to punish lawful gun owners than prevent substantial amounts of crime. The state police are also conducting gun buyback events later this month in Guilford, Hartford, Newtown, Norwalk, and Waterbury. Gun control advocacy groups hope to use buybacks such as these to remove firearms from homes. For more information about these buyback events, follow this link.
October 8th: The Bridge that Wouldn't Burn

For most of the 19th century, travelers passing between Hartford and East Hartford crossed the Connecticut River over a wooden covered bridge, constructed in 1818 and expanded several times to include additional lanes and, eventually, room for trolleys. In 1895, the entire structure burned down in a spectacular fire that, according to newspapers, some 20,000 people gathered on the banks of the Connecticut River to watch.

For several years, temporary bridges and increased ferry service strained to handle the daily traffic across the Connecticut River while plans were drafted to build a new permanent bridge. In 1904, construction began on what was then known as “the Hartford Bridge,” a sturdy and attractive bridge consisting of nine stone arches spanning the river at the center of Hartford. At nearly 1,200 feet in length, city leaders hoped the massive bridge — which, at its completion, was the largest stone arch bridge in the world — would serve as “an ornament to the city which should endure forever.” Over 100,000 cubic tons of pink and gray granite was used in the bridge’s construction, and its pylons were embedded up to 60 feet below the waterline.
To commemorate the long-awaited completion of the Hartford Bridge, the city threw a three-day celebration, concluding with a massive parade of over 10,000 stone masons and other workmen on October 8th, 1908. In addition to the parade, the day’s festivities included boat parades, music, and fireworks and drew an estimated crowd of 75,000 people into the city.
In 1922, the Hartford Bridge was renamed the Bulkeley Bridge in honor of Morgan Bulkeley, former U.S. Senator and governor of Connecticut who was one of the biggest supporters of the Hartford Bridge project. Today, the Bulkeley Bridge remains a vital artery for traffic passing between Hartford and East Hartford, carrying Interstate 84 and U.S. Route 6 and 44 over the Connecticut River. What was thought to be the bridge of the future in 1908 has adapted to handle the traffic of nearly 150,000 vehicles daily — and it all began with plenty of pomp and circumstance over a hundred years ago, today in Connecticut history.


The full article from the CT Humanities Council can be found here.
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