Saturday afternoon with the Pearl Jam

Since it's too hot to blog, I thought I'd share with everyone, one of my favorite songs ever (take note of the improv at the end).

BTW: I was at this show...Jones Beach is the best place to see a concert!

DeLuca set to face the music

Why won't this man just save the state a great deal of time and money and simply resign?

The state Senate voted 33-0 Wednesday on a resolution to create a six-member panel to investigate Republican Senator Louis DeLuca’s association with Danbury trash-hauler James Galante, who he asked to threaten his granddaughter’s husband.

Senate President Donald Williams and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney made brief comments on how the bipartisan committee will be organized, before DeLuca stood up to address his colleagues.

[...]

Following the Senate vote DeLuca held a press conference in which he explained how he never specifically offered the help of his office to Galante. He said he told the FBI agent, who he thought was Galante’s associate, that he would “do what he could to help Galante’s family.”

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, in Sept. 2006 an undercover federal agent, posing as a business associate of Galante, met with DeLuca. At that meeting DeLuca told the agent, “anytime [Businessman A] needs anything, anything, within my power, that I can do, I will do.” DeLuca then told the agent he was shocked when Galante was indicted because he “is not a careless guy.” Then DeLuca advised the agent that if they needed his assistance the best way to contact him is through a specific individual because “nobody knows [about] that relationship.”

Two days later DeLuca met with the undercover agent again. The agent asked DeLuca to influence legislation to help Galante. DeLuca said, “I can’t influence it at this point because it’s out of my hands, but if it gets to the point where I have appointments, I can influence it that way. You know, if somebody, if it’s a commission that needs to be in that, that, is gonna be a watchdog on CRRA and make recommendations then I’ll make an appoint...generally I get an appointment.”

Hartford Mayoral candidate fights ballot exclusion in court

Just when you think the mayoral campaign in Hartford can't get any weirder...

State Rep. Minnie Gonzalez and a challenge slate of city council candidates filed suit in court Monday to fight the exclusion of their names from the Democratic primary ballot Sept. 11.

"I'm looking for justice," Gonzalez said, standing outside Superior Court in Hartford. "I want to see my name on the ballot."

Gonzalez and the slate of six city council candidates - Andrea Comer, Eric Crawford, Maria Diaz, David Morin, Paulo "Paul" Mozzicato, and Beatriz Ramon - were bumped last week from participation in the primary. The city's Democratic registrar of voters, Shirley Surgeon, said they had not gathered enough signatures to qualify. Surgeon said a 30-year-old law invalidated many of the primary petitions because they had been circulated by the same person for more than one mayoral candidate.

But Gonzalez and the slate, in their complaints filed in civil court, said they had not violated any election laws. They said that the disqualified petitions should be honored and that the law in question was so vague it violated their constitutional rights to free speech and association.

A judge scheduled a hearing on the matter for 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Chris Murphy does Connecticut Newsmakers

Congressman Chris Murphy is making the best use of his August recess by reporting on his progress with the public.

Making the rounds of the Sunday political shows, Congressman Murphy made an appearance on Connecticut Newsmaker's to talk about some of the major issues being debated in Congress.

Eddie Perez controversy tops the Sunday local talk shows

Hartford's Mayor Eddie Perez has been taking a well-deserved beating in the press this week over his his boneheaded decision to hire a Hartford contractor, who did millions of dollars of city work, to renovate portions of his house.

Of all the shows, Beyond the Headlines really outlined the stupidity behind the latest of Perez's stumbles with Hartford Courant Kevin Rennie firing the biggest shots.

“Eddie Perez is a nasty guy and he’s made a lot of enemies in Hartford, and I think there’s probably glee at this, and it’s going to follow him for the rest of his political career, which is probably–which is likely to be very short.”

I'll let the video speak for itself.