Open forum 12/08

I didn't get the "Council pack" tonight, so I'm not yet sure what's on Tuesday's agenda. I'll try to post it asap.

Anyone know who was elected BOE Chair last night? I'm assuming it was Steve Mrowka, but haven't heard word one about it... as for PZC, I haven't spoken with any PZC members... but many non-members are saying it will be Sean Strollo.

Is the Everybody's holiday party tonight? I'm thinking that it's probably tonight at 6:30pm... if you haven't been, I highly recommend it. I know I always have fun.

One of my favorite CT Dems, Speaker of the House Jim Amann, is mulling a bid for Governor in 2010.

And if you miss the grand opening of the CT for Ron Paul Headquarters (this Sunday, 6pm, 2404 Whitney Ave Hamden), then look out the window and up into our Nutmeg skies next weekend... you may get a sense of just how big the Ron Paul r3VOLution is...
Beyond Dr. Paul, did anyone see what Huckabee is doing in the Iowa polling? He seems to have some real traction there. Interesting to me is that I thought Romney had a much better week than Huckabee... but the polls tell a very different story... good for him.

Tim White

Getting past petroleum

My dad clipped an article for me a few days ago.

The topic?

Something of which many of you are probably more aware than others: fuel cells.

In particular, the article was about a car that runs on a fuel cell... Honda's new FCX. I think I'd heard of it before, but never much paid attention. After all, while moving from our petroleum-economy to a hydrogen-economy would be a dream come true for me... absent a distribution network, hygrogen still is impractical and probably won't take hold.

Nonetheless, Honda is pressing forward with their plans in L.A. (Because apparently there are five hygrogen fueling stations, so it may be a viable commuter market.)

I commend them. It's a worthy goal.

Tim White

Ron Paul CT HQ grand opening!

The Ron Paul CT Headquarters Grand Opening and Christmas Party is this Sunday night at 6pm! Everyone, including the press, is invited... bring a friend! Btw, being so close to my house is a coincidence... I wasn't the one to set it up. I'm just along for the ride...

Ron Paul HQ
2404 Whitney Ave
Hamden, CT 06518
(203) 651-7508

And here's the Ob-Gyn himself on yesterday's The View

Reviewing Rennie's column

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking that Tom Gaffey may very well be in some hot water.

At first when I read Kevin Rennie's Courant column, I noticed the salacious details...

In June, Joseph Ferraiolo, married for 18 years, sued his wife for divorce, citing adultery, a pointed claim in an age when the vague "irreconcilable differences" suffices. The couple divorced in October. Their three young children live mostly with their dad under the divorce agreement. A highly unusual paragraph in it precludes the parties and their lawyers from discussing their grievances. It punishes any leaks. Husbands and wives don't usually worry about leaks, but politicians do.

As the summer ended, Gaffey and Ferraiolo were living in a convoluted e-mail world, one that could have been written by Barbara Cartland with some Stephen King creeping in. In August, Ferraiolo oohs and aahs at a Gaffey favor for a mutual friend. He declares, "I move mountains for my friends." In September, brace yourself, she proclaims him a "god." "Alongside every god is a great goddess," reads his modest reply. News from Gaffey that he's had a call from an editor at The New York Times has Ferraiolo repeating in capitals that he is indeed a god. Another exchange finds Zeus offering bon mots in French. Power rarely improves the judgment of those who wield it.

But upon reading it again, I noticed there may be some real concerns because, while...

The state ethics office says that "the Code does not bear on this situation because "the liaison is not a family member" and the senator didn't receive "any benefit" from the bill's passage....

Rennie seems to say that opinion only accounts for money going from government to the Senator. So Rennie continues:

The benefits bestowed by state employees on individual legislators are regulated. Ferraiolo and Gaffey had better start gathering receipts for the state's ethics agency. Shortly after the bill was passed, the Senate Democrats requested an opinion from the Office of State Ethics on Gaffey's role in the legislation, but failed to ask about any benefits he may have derived from his relationship with Ferraiolo.

And that sounds to me as if Rennie is asking if there was money going from Ferriaolo to the Senator? Do you read it that way?

Anyway, if I'm reading this correctly now... while the aforementioned details sound bad, the ethics people said there were no laws broken. But Rennie seems to raise a legitimate question. I wonder where this will go? In the meantime...

Should the Senate investigate Gaffey?
	yes, it goes without saying
	no, there's nothing to see here, move along
	Elizabeth Esty for state Senate!
pollcode.com free polls

Tim White

Progress on cost/benefit analysis?

A few days ago, I posted this:

After the meeting adjourned I had a moment to ask Matt Altieri if he supported my call for a nonpartisan cost/benefit analysis of the rainy day fund. But I wouldn't want to inadvertently mischaracterize anything he said, so I won't discuss our conversation here.

To which a resident called me and said "Tim, you asked Altieri a 'yes-or-no' question: In light of your recent letter, do you support a nonpartisan cost/benefit analysis of the town's rainy day fund? Did he answer yes or no?"

There should be an easy answer to that question, but there's not. Regardless, time will tell who supports this nonpartisan effort.

Personally, I'm still at a loss as to why the Council would prefer to collect $2,000,000 in taxes for the rainy day fund instead of spending $5,500 on bond insurance... when they seem to achieve the same goal... a AAA bond rating for our December '06 bond issuance.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Parties discussing Gaffey

Democrats and Republicans are discussing state
Senator Tom Gaffey and his escapades.

Tim White

NHR on area burglaries

Someone recently mentioned this on the blog, so... here isa New Haven Register article on some recent burglaries in the area.

Gaffey's problems continue

As reported by the MRJs Amanda Falcone:

Citing an opinion by the Office of State Ethics, Democrats say that state Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey's personal relationship with an associate vice chancellor for the Connecticut State University System did not influence a vote in the Senate that benefited the system. Republicans are calling for further investigation and say Gaffey should have disclosed a potential conflict of interest.

In this case, Republicans are right to call for further investigation of Gaffey. The problem is... with the exception of Dave Cappiello (R-Danbury), the Senate GOP was basically silent on the DeLuca scandal. So do they have any credibility?

This is the problem that exists Under the Gold Dome... few people seem to understand... and even fewer people seem express my view that "good government" is more important than ideology or party.

Regardless, if you read the Rennie column, I think you'll agree that this juncture of Sen. Gaffey's love interest and legislation absolutely warrants further investion.

Tim White

Barry Goldwater, Jr. endorses Ron Paul

And while I think fiscal conservatives will appreciate this endorsement, I had some really encouraging news this weekend. As I was canvassing voters in Milford, I realized that most voters have never heard of the Ob-Gyn named Ron Paul. And while that may sound bad, remember... he's raising tens of millions of dollars. So he'll be able to use the power of television to communicate his message by using that money... money that's been collected from passionate small dollar contributors, not well-heeled special interests. And he's going to continue raising money... especially on December 16... the anniversary of theBoston Tea Party.

Organization meeting of the 19th Council

We had the Council organizational meeting tonight. It was fairly straightforward. We start out with the Town Clerk, Carolyn Soltis, asking for a vote for Chairman. Matt Hall and Tim Slocum were both nominated. It was a party line vote with Matt being reelected Chairman. Then Mike Ecke and Jim Sima were nominated for Vice Chair... again a party line vote with Mike being reelected Vice Chair. Congratulations to both Matt and Mike, though... I don't think they were too surprised by their reelection.

Next we voted on "Council rules." We made a few changes and unanimously adopted the rules that were used for the past two years.

Then Matt Hall announced everyone's roles in the Council. And everything turned out as predicted by the MRJ (by Leslie Hutchison)! Finally, we got a quick recap from the Town Attorney on Freedom of Information rules, including when executive session is appropriate.

After the meeting adjourned I had a moment to ask Matt Altieri if he supported my call for a nonpartisan cost/benefit analysis of the rainy day fund. But I wouldn't want to inadvertently mischaracterize anything he said, so I won't discuss our conversation here.

Tim White

Gaffey's gaffe

You may recall a few months ago that state Senator Joan Hartley (D-Waterbury) was getting blasted by her caucus leader, Don Williams. He said that if she held firm on her demands for accountability before supporting a bonding package (particularly $1billion to be given to the CT State University system), she would lose her reserved parking space and office in the Capitol!

At the time, I thought it odd that Williams and other senators weren't working with her and demanding accountability... I mean, forget about whether you have a liberal or conservative worldview... accountability and benchmarks seem fair... particularly on the heels of UConn. But considering this storyline was playing out Under the Gold Dome (where people who associate with the mob are never publicly chastised), I just let it go.

But now Cheshire's senior state Senator, Tom Gaffey, is taking a beating from the Courant's Kevin Rennie:

Lust for power is merely ambition. Lust and power together, however, can make trouble.The question is whether that potent cocktail cost taxpayers $1 billion this year because of a secret relationship between a high-ranking legislator and a state university vice chancellor. While they were pushing the bonding package, they were bonding.

But you really need to read Rennie's entire article here where he tells a story of the Champion of the Public Good (Joan Hartley), the Beneficiary of the Public Funds (CSU Government Relations rep, Joan Ferraiolo) and Ferraiolo's "Big Boy" and "God" (Cheshire's state Senator, Tom Gaffey). If you live in Cheshire, you've really got to read this story. Heck... you may even want to send a letter to the editor:

news@cheshireherald.com
letters@courant.com
letters@nhregister.com
opinion@rep-am.com
letters@record-journal.com

Tim White

Problems with biofuels

Today's WRA editorializes that:

The biofuels boom is falling on hard times. And no wonder: For all the environmental and supply problems associated with fossil fuels, biodiesel and ethanol may be worse. And even Congress and the United Nations are taking note.

Congressional leaders are increasingly concerned about the future of agriculture in America's breadbasket, in part because water-intensive biofuels production is threatening to suck dry the Ogallala Aquifer.

Meanwhile, biofuels skepticism emanated forcefully from an altogether unexpected source: a U.N. official. Jean Ziegler, who represents a U.N. agency studying food issues, said he is "gravely concerned that biofuels will bring sudden hunger in their wake."

Moreover, it has been well documented that rain forests in Latin America and Indonesia have been hacked down, put to the torch and plowed under in favor of fuel-producing crops such as sugar cane and palm oil. The damage already done is incalculable, and worrisome from an environmental standpoint.

They're definitely onto something here. But I offer that the main underlying issue that needs to be addressed is land use policy.

Across America, but particularly in CT, land use policy leaves something to be desired. The sprawl and related traffic that Nutmeggers face on a daily basis is much due to sprawl... largely driven by the property tax. And part of Congressman Ron Paul's pro-environment platform is a repeal of federal subsidies that encourage the logging of national forests.

CT and America need to come up with coherent land use policies that will help address these problems with biofuels.

Nonetheless, there is real competition for land. And as I've said here before, this competition between the land for biofuels in the Great Plains and the land for oil drilling in the middle east needs to be addressed. For me personally, my preference is to deal with environmental concerns on American soil, rather than dealing with problems overseas.

Tim White

The traffic impact

The MRJ is reporting that "traffic on Route 10 would increase by more than 3,000 vehicles on Saturday afternoons if the shopping center is built, according to traffic engineers."

Tim White

Open forum 12/1

The Elim Park Christmas Party is today, Dec. 1 from 9am to 3pm (I think).

The town lights the tree on the green on... Sunday?

Maura Esposito resigned from the WPCA. The WPCA is where the unfounded ugliness of Shenanigate started last summer... I wonder if Tim Pelton will be asked to return to the WPCA... he certainly seemed to receive rave reviews from everyone when he was replaced. Regardless, Council appointments are political in nature.

I forgot to mention sooner... I was on the Dan Lovallo radio show this afternoon with Dowd Muska of the Yankee Institute, a generally conservative, CT-based think tank. The topic was... you guessed it... Ron Paul. And on a different Paul note... I got an email from a CT resident yesterday. He told me that he called the state Republican Party and asked who was running the CT for Ron Paul campaign and... they gave him my name. Ha!... actually, what's of most interest to me is the anecdotal nature of this... it's just another example of the influence of The Blogosphere!... cuz I've never spoken with anyone in GOP headquarters about Ron Paul... so I'm sure they associated me through either TWL or CTLP.

Matt Altieri responded to my email from yesterday. He asked me to call him to discuss my call for a nonpartisan cost/benefit analysis of the rainy day fund. So I need to followup on that.

Joe and Marilyn Bartoli are hosting a fundraiser for Dave Cappiello, the first GOPer to announce a run for the CT-5 against Chris Murphy. I say "first" because according to Cool Justice, a former state Rep., Tony Nania, may also be running. I wish them all the best of luck, but as I mentioned recently... incumbents tend to win.

The Council organizational meeting will be on Monday, Dec. 3. And the first regular meeting of the new Council will probably be Tuesday Dec. 11.

And since I haven't mentioned them in a long time... if you're interested in learning more about global energy issues, check out the reports produced by the Washington-based, non-profit Energy Security Leadership Council.

My favorite state Senator, Lou DeLuca, resigned today... finally!

Anyone know who the new PZC Chair will be? If it's EJ, Sean, Woody or Tim Slocum's replacement, the organizational aspect should be straightforward. But if the Chair and Vice Chair were Tali and Mickey... I would think things might get messy... who would be the acting Chair in the absence of a Chair and Vice Chair? Would there be a special vote, in which case the PZC may keep a Dem Chair for the current ND vote?

What else is happening?

Tim White

GOP gloves are off!

WOW.

Fred fired the first shot. He went after Mitt, Huck and also Rudy in this extended version of last night's debate ad. (This version is 2mins, while CNN allowed only 30 seconds of airtime during last night's debate.)He's down in the polls, so I'm not too surprised by this ad. Though I am curious about one thing... my favorite, Ron Paul, and John McCain are both excluded... yet they're both ahead of Fred in various polls in different states... maybe there's more to come?

You'd better hold on to your seats though! With the millions being raised by Rudy and the hundreds of millions in Mitt's bank account... I think this campaign is just beginning.

And I can't help but wonder if people start taking shots at Ron Paul. It could be interesting. What would they say? "He's against the war!" Heck, that's not exactly a skeleton in his closet. And I think he's fairly representative of GOP primary voters on every other issue... so it'd be interesting to see if any of the other candidates try to "let people know more about him."

Tim White

Cost/benefit analysis gaining support?

I'm not sure yet if my call for a cost/benefit analysis gained some support today, but it may have. (And if you missed my earlier posts on calling for a cost/benefit analysis, you can read more here, here and here.)

I feel it may have gained support because of what I read in Matt Altieri's letter in today's Herald. The letter was quite pleasing to see... so much so that I just sent him the following email:
Matt...

I read your letter in today's Herald.

One line in particular jumped out at me...

"Cheshire wins when we leave all that posturing at the door and look at the issues with practical and non-partisan points of view."

I agree. And since my call for a cost-benefit analysis of the rainy day fund is a non-partisan, non-ideological request... will you join me in my call for this cost-benefit analysis?

thanks,
Tim

Anyway... for the benefit of the taxpayers, I'm hoping that we can finally move forward. I mean, it seems to me that spending $5,500 for bond insurance is better than increasing taxes by $2,000,000.

Tim White
Town Council, Budget Committee

Council roles announced

I just got an email from Matt Hall announcing the roles of Council members. I think it becomes official at the Council's organizational meeting next week. And remember, if you're interested... there'll be a ceremony this Sunday in Town Hall in which elected officials take their oaths of office. At least for the Council, that includes swearing to uphold the US Constitution.

Council Subcommittee Assignments:

Budget: Michael Ecke, Elizabeth Esty, Tom Ruocco
Ordinance Review: Elizabeth Esty, Michael Ecke, Tim Slocum
Personnel: Matt Altieri, Laura DeCaprio, Tom Ruocco
Planning: Laura DeCaprio, Matt Altieri, Jim Sima
Solid Waste: Matt Altieri, Laura DeCaprio, Tim White
Audit: Tim White, Michael Ecke, Matt Altieri

Liaison Assignments:

BOE: Jim Sima
PZC: Tim Slocum
IWWC: Tom Ruocco
WPCA: Elizabeth Esty
Historic District Commission: Tim Slocum
Parks & Rec: Matt Altieri
Economic Development: Michael Ecke
Public Building Commission: Matt Altieri
Public Safety: Elizabeth Esty
Housing Authority: Jim Sima
Prison Advisory: Elizabeth Esty
Retirement Board: Tim White
Cable TV Advisory: Laura DeCaprio
Energy: Tim White
Environment: Laura DeCaprio
Performing and Fine Arts: Michael Ecke
Human Services: Tim White
Youth Services: Tom Ruocco

I'm glad to see Tom Ruocco on the Budget Committee. He wanted it. I'm sure he'll do a good job. Thanks Matt!

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Political update

Some of you have asked me what the new political landscape will look like next week. I can't say with certainty, but I have idea.

My understanding is that most incumbent Councilmen will be retaining the same positions/roles as each held during the current term (Dec 1, 05 to Nov 30, 07). That is, Matt Hall will remain Council Chair, Ecke Vice Chair... and committee chairmanships/membership will remain largely intact. I'm guessing that Laura DeCaprio will fill the roles held by Diane Visconti (Planning & Solid Waste) and Jimmy Sima and Tim Slocum will presumably take seats on Ord Review (previously Orsini) and Planning (previously Schrumm).

As for me, I spoke with Tom Ruocco and he'd like to be on the Budget Committee, so I hope he's seated on that committee. I figure that I'll be going to all of the meetings on the operating and capital budgets anyway... and if something is of particular interest to me, or if I feel I can really add value... I'll still attend and can always vote via the full Council. Perhaps Tom and I will switch roles with me going on Solid Waste with... Chairman DeCaprio?

And for those of you who are wondering about the rules governing all this... I believe it starts with a vote for Council Chairman... and I'm pretty sure that Matt Hall has five votes for that. Then the Council Chair decides all committee memberships, including Chairmanships... though that's all done with input from Council members, particularly the caucus of the majority.

I imagine Steve Mrowka will remain the BOE Chair, but don't know for sure.

And I'm assuming that PZC will soon have a Republican Chairman. Though due to some odd circumstances, the ND meetings will likely continue with Dem majorities (Flynn Harris, Kardaris, Maye, Coburn, Todisco) and a Republican Chair (chosen from Dawson, Kurtz, Marinaro, Strollo). And be on the lookout for a replacement for Tim Slocum's PZC seat.

Only other political note... look for Elizabeth Esty to vie for the Dem nomination to challenge Al Adinolfi for the 103rd (assuming Al runs). Why do I say "vie?" My guess is that she'll run and that due to public funding, you'll see candidates coming out of the woodwork this year... particularly Dems in the 103rd... which is one of the (if not the) most heavily registered-Dem districts in the state that is held by a Republican.... my money though? I like Elizabeth, but incumbency matters and no one works harder than Al. Look for Al to be reelected, regardless of his opponent.

Signing off for tonight.

Tim White
Town Council, ??? Committee

Public hearing closing

It was quite a meeting last night... when I left my house at 9pm, I was actually wondering if I'd get there in time to speak. ha! anyway... some thoughts...

1) I got there and the first thing I was told was the outgoing PZC Chair Patti Flynn Harris kicked off the meeting with a Freudian slip, commenting "when we approve this..." er, uh... "if we approve this...." ha! Again though, I showed up late so don't know if it's true. Nonetheless, I just had to mention it cuz it was too funny to pass by... seriously though, can anyone confirm if she said that?

2) There's been a lot of discussion about whether this proposal will be the tipping point in moving from a volunteer FD to a paid FD. And that seemed to be refuted, but we should all keep in mind that a paid FD (more precisely, two paid firemen) was on the Council's agenda just over two years ago. It disappeared without much fanfare, but it did get on the agenda once already.

3) I think of most concern to me was the fiscal impact analysis' revenue assumption for building inspection fees:

This concerned me because while the Town Manager presented this revenue of $1.16 million (with offsetting costs of approximately $100k), he didn't mention that in CT, it is basically illegal for towns to "turn a profit" in a municipal building department. In other words, building department revenues cannot exceed building department expenses... or at least that's what the Council has been told for each of the past four years whenever we've discussed the building department fees. And when I asked for clarification... perhaps I missed it, but I didn't hear anything about the law changing. So I'm still wondering... is this "million dollar windfall" for real? Or will the town approve this project, get paid these fees, then get sued by the developer and refund this $1,000,000? I don't know, but I know the Town Manager has testified with some very contradictory information.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised though... from the continued claims that defined contribution plans don't really work for volunteers to the pool with its 40,000 annual users and $1,400 profit... I think I may need to start directing all my financial questions to our Finance Director, Patti Lynn Ryan.

4) As the clock ticked away and 2am arrived, I finally got a chance to talk. (Btw, while I was annoyed at the late hour... I don't fault PFH. It was a judgement call with good intentions... people were there and she wanted to let us speak. Unfortunately, she couldn't foresee just how long comments would take.) My early morning comments...

a) I drew attention to the flooding problems related to the 129' vs 137' floodplain elevation... including asking the PZC to ensure that no government agencies ask the town to return the $280,000 that passed thru the town on the way to remediating the collapsing aqueduct.

b) I asked if the proposal was energy independent... and keeping in mind that I was pretty groggy at this point... I think the answer was no, though the developer is looking for state and federal funding for some alternative energy projects that may alleviate their drain on the grid. And if I got this right, then this answer was unacceptable... I mean, at what point will we start taking our energy issues seriously?

c) I pointed out that this proposal was sprawl and should be rejected as presented. While there's no need for the residential, if it is included it should be above the retail and the impervious surfaces should be reduced while conservation easements should be placed on much of the land.

Again, it's a late night... so signing off with a thank you to Chiefs Cruess and Casner. I thought Mike and Jack did a really good job in compiling the information and explaining their thoughts.

Tim White

GOP debate tomorrow

The GOP will be having its CNN/YouTube debate tomorrow.

If you're a believer is less government and less war, you may want to listen to Ron Paul.

On a dem note... did anyone see Joe Biden's print ad talking up how it seems that "all the Dem candidates agree with Joe"? Well, Dennis Kucinich hit back hard today:

The Congressman has the utmost respect for Senator Biden and his years of service to the nation. He just happens to be wrong on some very major issues; and, if the other candidates agree with him, then they’re wrong, too... If voters are dissatisfied with the Biden tweedle-dums and tweedle-dees, they should vote for someone who represents their beliefs and their values. Not someone who says, ‘I agree with Joe.’ Dennis doesn’t agree with Joe. Or Hillary. Or Barack. Or John. Or Chris. Or Bill.

And back on the R side... I think things are going to heat up over the next month or two... especially on the free-for-all GOP side where it seems each of the candidates (polling outside the margin of error) is out of step with the likely primary voters on at least one of the party's main issues (abortion, guns, immigration, spending, war, etc.).

Tim White