Category: Connecticut
Connecticut not Qualified for Unemployment Extension Under House Bill
UNEMPLOYMENT CONN
Norwalk Hour
Katerina Voutsina
Boston University Washington News Service
09/23/2009
WASHINGTON—Connecticut’s unemployed would not qualify at this time for extended unemployment benefits under a House-passed bill.
The bill, which the House approved, 331-83, on Tuesday, would extend benefits by 13 weeks to workers in states where the unemployment rate is 8.5 percent or higher. But Connecticut’s jobless rate in August was 8.1 percent.
“The simple fact is that many Connecticut families are struggling,” U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, who voted in favor of the bill, said in a statement.
“Before the economy gets better, we expect even more workers to lose their jobs,” he added. “The extension I voted for Tuesday will help to ensure that if the unemployment rate continues to rise, our state has necessary funds to help those workers and their families weather the storm while they get back on their feet.”
The bill still needs to pass the Senate before it can be sent to the president.
State Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, saying in a statement that “now it is the time to act,” added that “I will certainly convey my thoughts to the federal delegation and urge them to act accordingly” to include Connecticut in the legislation.
Jeffrey B. Wenger, associate professor of public administration and policy at the University of Georgia, said “the bill is fine. This is the nature of making policy. Are our unemployment benefits adequate? The answer is no.” He said the situation in Connecticut is bad but the situation is twice as bad in states like Michigan where the unemployment rate is 15.2 percent.
Donald L. Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research at DataCore Partners in New Haven, said that he expects Connecticut’s unemployment rate to top out at 9 percent. “That would be less than the national percent that may top out between 10 and 10.5 percent,” he said.
“The unemployment rate in Connecticut and nationally is going to rise because …activity is going to be weak and the labor force businesses are going to make do with the workforce that they have,” he added.
Jamey Bell, executive director of Connecticut Voices for Children, a research-based policy think tank, said the impact of the recession has been particularly severe in Connecticut.
“Unemployment in Connecticut is higher than at any time since 1977, and the number of jobs has fallen to the lowest point since 1998,” she said. “Connecticut’s job creation engine has stopped working for our families.”
The group’s annual report on The State of Working Connecticut finds that stagnating wages and racial and ethnic wage gaps reveal longer-term economic problems that threaten the ability of many families to weather the recession.
Bell said Connecticut has been losing jobs for which less than a high school diploma is required. “Connecticut workers need some longer unemployment benefits here,” she said. She added that the 13 extra weeks of unemployment benefits “would provide workers with the financial support they need to get employment or gain new skills.”
Duff, in his statement said: “My hope is that our congressional delegation will work to make sure Connecticut is included in the bill. If someone is unemployed they don’t care whether the unemployment rate is 4 percent or 10 percent. It is a stressful time for families, especially in such a high-cost-of-living area such as ours.”
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For Himes, a Trip on Air Force One was Something to Tweet About
AIR FORCE ONE
Norwalk Hour
Katerina Voutsina
Boston University Washington News Service
09/17/2009
WASHINGTON—It is almost 4:15 on Monday afternoon. Air Force One has just landed on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base in nearby Maryland. President Barack Obama exits the plane first and gets onto Marine One, the presidential helicopter, to be taken back to the White House.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes deplanes next and climbs into a staff member’s Jeep Cherokee.
“I was the first time I have ever flown with Air Force One,” Himes said in a telephone interview. “It is a beautiful plane. Any time you are in the presence of an American president it is an awesome feeling. Even if he is still a young guy it is pretty impressive to be around him.”
Reps. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee also flew back on Air Force One. They were in New York City for the president’s economic address on Wall Street, which came on the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Himes, a member of the Financial Services Committee and a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, said he thinks he got the invitation because he has been actively involved in the committee.
“It was a very good afternoon,” Himes said. “I had the chance to chat with the president a little bit about health care reform and a little bit about financial regulatory reform. That was a very useful moment.” He said he encouraged Obama to remember how important it is that significant cost savings be found in the health system.
On their way back, President Obama and the congressmen had gyros – Greek lamb kabobs in pita bread – for lunch, according to Himes’ press secretary.
Himes sent a Tweet later: “President was kind enough to offer me a lift to DC on his plane. POTUS travels well. Wondering if rude to swipe the AF1 M&Ms.”
According to the staff member who picked Himes up at Andrews Air Force Base, the preparations were many and complicated. “I had to send my Social Security number, date of birth and model of my car to a White House liaison in the Office of Legislative Affairs. The White House liaison relayed that information to Andrews, so they knew I would be coming,” she said.
The staff member said as they were leaving the base, they noticed Air Force Two was on the tarmac near Air Force One.
“We weren’t sure why it was there at the time, but later found out that Vice President Biden was leaving from Andrews for a trip to Iraq shortly after the President arrived from New York,” she said.
“They were readying Air Force Two for his departure,” she said. “Both planes together was quite the sight.”
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Lawmakers to Vote on Student Aid Bill
AID BRIEF
New London Day
Jeanne Amy
Boston University Washington News Service
9/15/09
WASHINGTON – What could be the largest federal investment in student aid in history is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week.
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act outlines a plan to invest $87 billion in education, from kindergarten to college loans.
“This is a comprehensive agenda, this is a cradle-to-career agenda,” Arne Duncan, secretary of education, said at a press conference Tuesday.
A majority of the federal money will come from the elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the government-subsidized loan program that supported private lenders. The legislation will divert funds from that program to the government-funded Federal Direct Loan Program.
This shift will “make college more affordable,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.
“It’s very clear that people all over America, that people in all different age groups, in all different occupations, are deciding that their future in terms of employment is with education,” Miller said.
Last December, the University of Connecticut announced it would guarantee loans only from the Federal Direct Loan Program instead of providing its students with loans from federally approved private lenders.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who serves on the Education and Labor Committee, said he believes the House will pass the legislation.
The bill would provide $40 billion over the next 10 years to increase the annual amounts of Pell Grant scholarships. It will also make changes to the Perkins Loan program and expand the program to more college campuses. Interest rates on subsidized federal loans would remain low, rather than increasing as they are set to in 2012.
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Connecticut Citizens Join Protest in Washington
MARCH INSERT
New London Day
Jeanne Amy
Boston University Washington News Service
9/12/09
A few graphs to be added to Norwich protest story
WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of people traveled from Connecticut to Washington to participate in the march on Saturday. Tanya Bachand (cq), the state tea party coordinator who carried the Connecticut flag in the march, said between 750 and 1,000 people came with her group .
“I’m personally here because I think the government is out of control, the spending is out of control,” Bachand said. “We’re not mobsters, not nut balls and freaks, we’re just ordinary people.”
Bachand, a 35-year-old mother from Wallingford, traveled with her 9-year-old son, Chris.
“I’m here because I think my future will be taken away by Obama,” Chris said. He said it was his first trip to Washington and he would like to see the White House, the Museum of Natural History and the Washington Monument.
Throngs of people marched down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol repeating the chant, “Can you hear us now?”
Stanley Emond (cq) and his wife drove from Cheshire to Washington to celebrate their wedding anniversary by participating in the march.
Emond, 50, said he hopes the march will help “change everybody in government and they will get back to listening to what the people want.”
Bea Keeney (cq), a 72-year-old business owner in East Lyme, said she hoped that marching in Washington will make the government listen. Keeney said she has participated in other protests in Connecticut.
Keeney traveled with two friends who were eager to express how disgruntled they were with "Obamacare," but not eager to give out their names. All three senior citizens said they believed they would be hurt by the proposed health care reform.
Connecticut Delegates Express Support for Health Care Reform
Conn. Reaction
Norwalk Hour
Katerina Voutsina
Boston University Washington News Service
09/10/2009
WASHINGTON –The Connecticut congressional delegation on Thursday praised President Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress and echoed his call for bipartisan cooperation on a health care overhaul.
“President Obama made a tremendous case for action on health care reform,” Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd said in a statement Thursday.
Dodd, who shepherded one version of a health care bill through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during the long illness of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, also underlined Obama’s expression of urgency and his call for a bipartisan consensus on the issue.
“We have come too far to turn back now,” Dodd said. “And I believe that this Congress will leave behind the cheap politics of a hot summer and get back to doing the job we were sent here to do,” he said.
Independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman said in a separate statement Thursday that he was pleased with Obama’s speech.
“The President gave a clear indication that he wanted to work together in a bipartisan way to pass legislation that will reform our health care insurance system while restraining costs,” he said. “I look forward to working with the President and my colleagues to adopt significant reforms this year.”
Freshman Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th, in a telephone interview Thursday, said Obama’s speech was “very helpful.” The president “traced successfully the outlines of his plan,” Himes said.
Himes, who held seven town-hall meetings on health care since April, spoke of what he described as the urgency of change in the insurance industry. “I heard all kinds of opinions” at those meetings, he said, saying that the growing anxiety and fears about a health care overhaul was an outcome of “the misinformation that the president addressed forcefully last night.”
He said the “you lie” outburst by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina was evidence that “the debate turns ugly and people say things which are damaging the basic respect and commonality that we share as Americans. Joe Wilson went way over that line yesterday.”
Dodd, in his statement, said the President understands that health care reform isn’t about him, or about anyone in Congress who already has good health care insurance.
“It’s about making health care more affordable for families, businesses and the federal government,” Dodd said. “It’s about creating an America where people don’t go broke because they get sick, where people don’t die because they can’t get the treatment they need.”
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Local Doctor Attends Presidential Address, Wary of Change
KAPUR
New London Day
Jeanne Amy
Boston University Washington News Service
9/9/09
WASHINGTON – All eyes were on President Obama last night as he addressed a joint session of Congress on health care. Dr. Dinesh Kapur was no exception.
Kapur, director of oncology at the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, wants to make sure his patients, especially those who are uninsured, receive care and that their access to care is not compromised.
Kapur, 45, was invited to the president’s address by Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District. The invitation came after Kapur, who lives in South Glastonbury, invited Courtney to his community cancer center in August. Courtney and Kapur were scheduled to host an online forum following the address to discuss health care reform with Courtney’s constituents.
“I hope people can understand that 80 percent of cancer care is delivered in the patient’s community,” Kapur said in a telephone interview. “We don’t want that model to go backwards.”
Within his cancer center, Kapur said, uninsured patients incur “astronomical” expenses even though many of his staff members try to find ways to subsidize their care through grants and foundations.
“It’s no one’s fault, it’s just the way the system is,” Kapur said.
When undiagnosed patients check into the emergency room, a host of tests are run. Many times, patients go to more than one hospital, receiving duplicate testing, Kapur said.
“The cost burden has shifted to bigger hospitals,” he said. “Why should a patient have to drive an hour or an hour and a half to get care?”
Kapur points to insurance regulations for what he sees as a decline in the quality of cancer care. After diagnosing patients, Kapur said, he endures an “administrative nightmare” of making sure the patient is approved for treatment options. In many cases, the insurance approval process delays the patient’s care.
“You’re not sure they will get it, get care, and I’m not sure I’ll get paid for it,” Kapur said.
Kapur said he was eager to hear what the President has to say first hand. “So many things have changed over the past two or three months, you don’t know what to believe anymore,” he said.
“Cancer care delivery system has been set up over the past 40 years,” he said. “I hope we don’t take a step backwards.”
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In Uncertain Times, Colleges Rethink Private Lenders’ Role in Financing Education
LOANS
New London Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
April 23, 2009
WASHINGTON – In the midst of rising tuition, dried-up consumer credit and a grim job market, the University of Connecticut has begun a campaign this spring to let students know that at least one aspect of their finances is secure: their federal student loans.
In December, the university announced it would no longer back students’ federal loans provided by approved lenders, but instead would guarantee only those direct loans from the federal government itself.
Throughout the spring semester, students were bombarded with letters, signs on buses and ads in the Daily Campus student newspaper signaling the change.
Now, as students returning in the fall receive their financial aid packages in the mail, UConn hopes they will find their 2009-10 loan awards—a projected $150 million in total—easier to understand and, ultimately, to pay back.
“We are promoting, promoting, promoting,” Jean Main, director of financial aid at UConn, said of the program. “The response has been positive so far.”
UConn’s switch to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, as it is called, is what President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would eventually mandate for all universities as a way to reroute the savings to grants for needy students.
The plan has faced opposition in Congress and from the private banks and state-run nonprofit groups that currently provide government-subsidized loans through the Federal Family Education Loan program.
In light of the financial turmoil of the past two years, however, many colleges, like UConn, are abandoning that program on their own to ensure that their cash-strapped students get the loans they need.
At UConn, the decision to switch to the new direct-loan program was in large part based on recent trends in the student lending markets, Main said.
In 2007, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which ended many attractive subsidies that provided incentives for private lenders to lend to students.
After the crisis in the capital markets began to spread early in 2008, Main said, lenders started dropping out of the federal program altogether, leaving loan availability for the 2008-09 academic year in limbo.
“We sat back and assessed and said, ‘This is a little volatile for our taste,’ ” Main said. With the new program, “benefits are comparable if not better, and there’s less potential uncertainty.”
Those benefits include lower late fees and interest rates and the option to choose an income-based repayment plan to keep payments manageable, Main said.
The changes would apply to Federal Stafford, Federal Parent Plus and Graduate Plus loans. UConn students borrowed roughly $102.7 million under these programs in 2008, and the number could very well increase, Main said.
A growing trend
UConn isn’t the only university to make the switch voluntarily. Colleges around the country are banking more heavily on increased support from the federal government to help students weather the financial aid storm.
A new survey by the research firm Student Lending Analytics found that 10.7 percent of colleges in the subsidized program are switching to direct federal lending for the 2009-10 academic year and that 15 percent were still considering a switch as of early March.
As a result, the share of federal loans provided through direct lending could grow to 40-45 percent from the 26 percent in the current academic year, the survey estimated.
The trend is spread evenly among public, private and two-year colleges, the study found. Of the financial aid administrators surveyed at each type of institution, 25.7, 27.9 and 27.5 percent are making or considering a switch, respectively.
Schools are switching for a variety of reasons, said Pat Smith, a policy analyst for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
“Some of them are just nervous because they read in the paper about the credit markets,” Smith said. “For others, the lenders that they’ve dealt with have said they’re not going to make any more loans. Rather than go out and shop for a new [federally backed] lender, they’ve decided to go that way.”
Smith also attributed the sudden shift to direct lending to the Department of Education’s effort to make switching easy for colleges, whose financial aid processes often involve mounds of paperwork and complex algorithms for calculating aid.
“It uses the basic software approach that the institutions use with the Department of Education in disbursing Pell grants,” Smith said. “Nobody’s complained about it, and the Department of Education’s been responsive.”
Struggling with student need
Colleges’ desire to secure loans for their students is especially critical this year, as institutional aid awards have to be balanced with other pressing financial concerns.
The University of Connecticut faces a $34 million budget deficit for the coming year and has already made $12 million in cuts elsewhere.
The university’s board of trustees voted in March to increase tuition at the main campus by 6 percent, with corresponding increases in housing and fees—$1,150 more for in-state students and $2,038 more for out-of-state students.
While it’s still too early to predict whether a tuition increase coupled economic downturn will increase students’ financial need, Main said. Three-quarters of the student body qualified for some form of assistance for the current academic year, totaling $290 million, and UConn has budgeted a $34 million increase for next year.
“We’ve seen an increase in FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid] applications, which is an indicator that more people feel like they need aid,” Main said. But “it doesn’t give you any indication of how needy they truly are.”
Private colleges face similar worries. A December 2008 study by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities found that 87 percent of college presidents surveyed were greatly or moderately concerned about securing enough student loan availability.
All but 2 percent said a $500 increase in Pell grants or any increase in federal student loan limits would be helpful as they struggle during tough economic times.
Connecticut College, a private college in New London, has increased its financial aid budget by $1.5 million this year to accommodate an uptick in need, according to Elaine Solinga, the college’s director of financial aid.
“The economy has had a major impact on how our families can pay for college,” Solinga said. “Their home equity that they had used in the past has declined... and they’ve seen their retirement portfolio decline in value, so they’re very nervous about the whole process.”
Mitchell College in New London has seen an increase in the number of families requesting that their 2009 income rather than 2008 be considered to determine their financial aid awards for next year, according to Renee Fournier, a spokeswoman for the small private college.
“We have prioritized our award decisions for our current students and families who have been adversely affected by the downturn in the economy,” she said.
In addition, Connecticut, like other states, has struggled to find money for financial aid in its strained budget.
In her proposed 2010-11 budget, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has proposed freezing the amount of money for state-financed aid programs, such as the Capitol Scholarship, Connecticut Aid for Public College Students and the Connecticut Independent College Student Grant program.
A federal solution
With states and schools cutting back, President Barack Obama in his budget has proposed sweeping changes in federal student assistance that would greatly increase the federal government’s role in how students borrow and manage their debt.
Most notably, his plan would increase Pell Grant awards, which do not have to be repaid, by ending the federal subsidy program, which has provided more than $600 billion in subsidized education loans since it began in 1965.
This would save more than $4 billion a year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and would allow the government to make Pell grant spending mandatory, rather than set by Congress.
Congress increased the maximum Pell grant award by $619, raising it to $5,350 for the coming academic year as part of the stimulus package it passed earlier this year. If Obama’s plan passes, Pell grant awards will be priced to increase with inflation—something many higher education advocacy groups applaud.
“There’s a marked difference between what Pell grants used to provide to low-income students who don’t have the resources”—77 percent of the cost of attendance in the late 1970s—and now, when they cover only 35 percent, said Jeffrey Czerwiec, the UConn campus organizer for the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group.
“We’re thinking if we can increase Pell grants we can increase access” to higher education, Czerwiec said.
But lenders and the organizations that represent them are gearing up to fight the president’s proposal.
Brett Lief, president of the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs, said the $4 billion in savings the White House projects for the switch is not as ideal as it sounds. The government would benefit from students paying off loans, which carry higher interest rates, especially since Treasury interest rates are currently so low.
“They’re having Peter and Pauline pay for the Pell grant increases,” Lief said. “The savings that come from the program result from the fact that [the student] would be paying it off.”
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who supports Obama’s plan, said Congress must balance priorities in paying for higher education and that, in his view, increases to grants should come first.
“It’s really important to try to diminish the size of debt financing that students have to rely on,” he said.
According to Courtney, the savings from eliminating the subsidized loan program are a practical necessity.
“The president’s proposal… at a basic level is about trying to more efficiently allocate higher-education dollars,” Courtney said. “These needs, whether it’s grants, loans or repayment, [are] going to be expensive.”
Critics also warn that while students may have more stable access to loans under a direct-lending program, the quality of financial services, from financial literacy classes to debt management counseling, would decrease.
“If you switch to the government, you lose that kind of personal touch,” said Krista Cole, a spokeswoman for the Education Finance Council, which represents lenders. “Instead of calling the local provider, you’re going to have to call the government.”
Lief acknowledged that many colleges are leaving the subsidized loan program and said that the volume of loans distributed through the direct federal program may double in the next academic year.
But he warned that relying so heavily on the government will decrease competition in the lending market, stifling affordable loan options down the road when the economy recovers.
“I certainly understand and respect schools like UConn, but they need to just keep both eyes open,” he said. “Nothing works forever.”
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Norwalk Holds Its Own in Lobbying, But Available Money May Skew Numbers
LOBBYING
Norwalk Hour
Tait Militana
Boston University Washington News Service
04/22/09
WASHINGTON – Over the past year, Norwalk has done pretty well compared with bigger Connecticut cities when lobbying for federal dollars, but experts say that good fortune may not last.
Despite being the sixth most populous city in the state with a population of 83,000 and having a smaller lobbying budget than some of its neighbors, Norwalk and Norwalk-based organizations brought in more than $8 million in earmarked federal dollars in fiscal year 2008, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that tracks federal appropriations. And in fiscal year 2009 Norwalk received $1,678,000 in earmarks.
One reason for the big difference between 2008 and 2009 funding is that in 2008 more than $5 million was earmarked for the dredging of the Norwalk Harbor.
Timothy Sheehan, executive director of the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, which handles lobbying for the city, said he has been very pleased with what Norwalk has received for its efforts in Washington.
“Over the short period of time, I certainly feel very comfortable Norwalk has gotten its return on investment,” said Sheehan. “I think we’ve done very well.”
Several experts said the size of a city and the amount of money spent on lobbying do not necessarily determine how many projects receive funding, making it difficult to measure one city against another. Ultimately, Norwalk’s lobbying success may be as much a result of the kind of projects it is proposing, the economic times and the increase in available federal grant money, as it is the city’s lobbying efforts.
As the country moves out of the recession and reduces government spending through stimulus measures, experts said, Norwalk’s federal grants could dry up.
In 2008, Norwalk spent $80,000 on federal lobbying according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks politics and money. Of the
$8,143,050 in earmark funding Norwalk received in fiscal year 2008, more than $5,608,800 million went to the harbor dredging project.
In comparison, Stamford spent $130,000 lobbying and received $7,346,840 in earmarks, of which $4 million was used for a restoration project of the Stamford Mill River.
For all of lower Fairfield County, the federal government budgeted more than $22 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2008, according to data compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste. For fiscal year 2010, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, area cities are seeking nearly $100 million, according to requests filed on the Web site of Rep. Jim Himes, D-4.
David Grenham, a lobbyist for the Ferguson Group, which represents Stamford and Southington in Washington, said though it may look as though relatively small cities like Norwalk are getting great returns on their lobbying investment, it is difficult to actually measure success because so much depends on what money is available and how important the projects are.
“Size does not matter,” said Grenham. “What is really important is what the city is trying to get.”
According to Grenham, part of the reason that smaller cities are receiving significant government money is that there is simply more money out there and many have been very aggressive pursuing it.
In February, Congress passed the American Reinvestment Act, a dramatic expansion of domestic spending designed to stimulate the floundering economy.
Since then, Grenham said he has seen more towns seeking money for local projects.
“The stimulus has created incentives for local governments to think about federal funding,” he said.
Norwalk has nearly doubled its lobbying budget since 2006. Sheehan said the city’s 2009 lobbying budget is $90,000.
Mayor Richard Moccia said with more money available, the city has been more actively requesting funding.
“It puts you in a more competitive position,” said Moccia of the city’s increased lobbying efforts.
According to Sheehan, each year Norwalk city officials meet to develop a federal agenda or what funding they want to push for in Washington. Then the city presents its priorities to its lobbyist, Brown, Rudnick, who petitions government officials for appropriation requests. Based in Washington, the lobbyist’s job is to speak to lawmakers and request funding for town projects when appropriate legislation is being drafted.
These kinds of requests from lawmakers for funding for projects in their districts are known as earmarks.
Congressman Himes said he typically does a “sanity check” before signing off on appropriation requests to make sure the project is worthy and far enough along to warrant federal money. One recent request he said he decided not to pursue at this point is a waste-to-energy plant proposed for Stamford because he said upon review, “it became clear that more work needed to be done.”
Some days Himes said he meets with dozens of groups seeking federal funding and it is clear that people are aware there is more money available now as a result of the stimulus package.
“There is a real intensity that is probably different from what it has been in the past,” Himes said.
Norwalk leads Fairfield County in the number of appropriation requests for fiscal year 2010, seeking almost $40 million in infrastructure improvements, according to reports filed on Himes’ Web site, an amount almost equal to that being sought by Bridgeport and Stamford combined.
Nonetheless, not all towns have seen the results Norwalk has. Southington, a city of 42,000, spent $80,000 on lobbying last year and received only about $750,000 in federal appropriations.
The town decided not to continue its lobbying program in 2009.
Council Chairman John Barry said he did not feel it was appropriate to use taxpayer money to lobby in the current economic climate.
“The lobbying effort was something that was not successful,” Barry said.
David Giordano, a lobbyist with Panuzio & Giordano which represents Bridgeport, Waterbury, Norwich and Middletown, said the quality of the projects and how badly they are needed are larger factors in how much funding a city receives than how much money it puts toward lobbying.
“It’s not necessarily just dollars and cents,” Giordano said. “It’s about making a compelling argument about why this is important.”
According to Moccia the old industrial nature of Norwalk may explain why it has seen an influx of federal money in recent years. With infrastructure being a priority for the administration and many local towns, the interests at all levels of government are the same. He said that has created a great opportunity for Norwalk
“Now we have to work harder because there is more opportunity,” Moccia said. “It’s a responsibility.”
Girodano said this is an exceptional time when it comes to the amount of federal money available and that won’t always be the case.
“Considering where we are I think we have done well. But like any other city we would like to see more” federal money for projects, said Moccia.
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Shays Stamped Slogans on Willing Voters
TATTOO
Norwalk Hour
Tait Militana
Boston University Washington News Service
04/07/09
WASHINGTON – In a fierce campaign for Congress last fall, Republican Rep. Christopher Shays employed a bizarre but increasingly popular tactic to get his message under the skin of voters. He tattooed them.
Granted, the tattoos were only temporary.
Shays, who ultimately lost his reelection bid in the 4th District to Democrat Jim Himes, handed out nearly 5,000 fake tattoos of his name to willing voters. The tats mirrored Shays’ lawn signs with the words “Congressman Christopher Shays” inked in red, white and blue.
Shays was not the only politician to employ such skin-tingling promotion tactics last election. A New Hampshire congressional candidate, a Mississippi congressman and even presidential candidate Barack Obama also stamped voters with images of hope and prosperity.
Paul Cary, president of Tattoofun.com, a Web site that creates custom tattoos and the provider of the Shays and Obama body art, said he has seen demand for political tattoos explode in the last three years.
“Tattoos are the new buttons,” he said.
Cary did not have an official count for how many political tattoos he made during the campaign season last year but said it was several million. The tattoos range from $110 for 1,000 to $1,240 for 10,000, depending on size.
The Obama campaign alone ordered 400,000 tattoos, Cary said.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based organization that tracks money and politics, the Shays campaign spent more than $600 on tattoos last year.
The campaign declined repeated requests for an interview, citing the ongoing investigation of a former campaign manager on embezzlement charges.
However, Jay Malcynsky, a political consultant with the New Britain-based Gaffney, Bennett and Associates, said he has seen dozens of strange political promotion items over the years and has come to the conclusion that politicians will put their name on pretty much anything that promises to promote their brand.
“There’s really no strategy to promotional items other than to buy what people will keep around,” he said in an e-mail message. Tattoos are “just another way to improve name ID and possibly image.”
Malcynsky said what is curious about the tattoos is their temporary nature. Ultimately, they wash off, which may limit their effectiveness.
“To the extent that people feel they are clever or humorous, they make a good, but short-term, impression,” he said. “Obviously, since they come off right away, they have no value as a continued reminder of the encounter with the candidate.”
According to Cary, the tattoos last up to seven days and eventual dissolve with water.
Bob Clegg, who ran for Congress last year from New Hampshire’s 2nd District but lost in the primary, also used tattoos. He said he geared them toward children and often handed them out at parades.
“We found kids absolutely loved it,” he said. “If we were entertaining the children, we had the parents' attention.”
Clegg, who purchased 2,500 tattoos, said they eventually became so popular that staffers began carrying them around in their pockets at all times.
The kids “have no idea what I do, but they know I have tattoos,” Clegg said.
Clegg also handed out bobblehead dolls of himself. He said part of the idea of the tattoos was to show that he did not take himself too seriously.
“Maybe it’s why I lost, but we had a ton of fun,” Clegg said.
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Feminist Turned Cherry Blossom Princess Represents Connecticut in D.C. Festival
PRINCESS
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
April 4, 2009
WASHINGTON—Liz Malerba, a self-proclaimed feminist with a women’s studies degree, came to Washington two years ago to work in government and make a difference for women.
But on Friday night, as she filed in to the ballroom of a downtown Washington hotel dressed in a long white gown and elbow-length gloves, she was filling a more unexpected role: princess.
“Yes, the feminist does enjoy dressing up,” she joked.
As Connecticut’s Cherry Blossom Princess, Malerba was the Nutmeg State’s representative in the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, a 74-year-old celebration of the blossoming of the pink-budded trees and of American and Japanese friendship.
The two-week festival commemorates Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki’s gift of 3,000 cherry trees to Washington in 1912. The festival was started in April of 1935 to correspond with the short peak blooming period of the trees, which surround the Tidal Basin south of the White House near the Jefferson Memorial.
The princesses’ tight schedule ensured that the congressional staffer, who until two weeks ago was the scheduler for Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, got to experience the micromanaged life for herself.
Malerba spent last week hustling back and forth between her job on Capitol Hill and a whirlwind series of events, from an afternoon at a food bank in industrial northeast Washington to glamorous receptions in some of the city’s swankiest neighborhoods.
Even more than the busy schedule, the princess program’s strict rules kept Malerba on her toes. Before the week’s events began, she said, the princesses received etiquette lessons and clear wardrobe instructions: no dark colors, all pastels.
“I shouldn’t even be sitting like this right now,” she joked on Thursday afternoon, gracefully repositioning herself as she enjoyed a moment of relaxation on the subway commuting between events.
“This is my first taste of pageantry, if you will,” Malerba said. “But this isn’t really a beauty pageant. It’s an opportunity…to represent your state, to experience what it means to be an ambassador of your state culture and your state values in D.C.”
The princesses are chosen by their respective state societies—social and networking clubs that allow home-state persons the keep in touch—to attend a week of educational and networking events. This year the group visited the Japanese and Lithuanian ambassadors’ homes, watched a Russian fashion show, met with women in the military and heard from a panel of women in government.
On Saturday, the princesses walked in the Cherry Blossom Parade, escorted by Naval Academy cadets carrying their home state’s flag.
The program maintains a somewhat old-fashioned feel, which culminated in Friday evening’s Grand Ball, a cultural celebration-meets-debutante ball complete with sushi buffet, a Color Guard salute and a princess procession. The princesses even have a handler, Princess Chair Trippi Penland, whose objective “is to take care of all my chickadees,” as Penland put it.
While the festival does crown a Cherry Blossom Queen, there’s no cutthroat competition involved: At the ball on Friday night, Miss New Mexico was chosen the winner by the spinning of a wheel with the princesses’ names on it.
The princesses are typically between 18 and 24 years old, and many are college students or congressional staffers. At 25—her birthday was a week before the festival started—Malerba is the oldest princess this year.
“They had to fill out an age waiver for me,” she said, laughing.
Malerba’s stint as a princess was something of a fluke. Her softball teammate Brian Mahar, the president of the Connecticut State Society, approached her and convinced her to fill out the “Princess Papers,” as the application is known.
“Liz was the first person to come to mind for several people on the board,” Mahar said of the society’s decision to sponsor Malerba, the first Connecticut princess since 2003. “She has a great personality, she’s always smiling. She definitely represents herself very well, and she has a great background with the state.”
Malerba’s sister, Angela Malerba, said she was a bit surprised when she found out about the princess program: “I would never picture Liz as the pageant girl.” But after she learned about the program’s professional nature, “I felt like she fit the bill perfectly.
“She was probably a natural-born leader,” Angela Malerba, 22, said. “She’s so passionate about everything she does. She loves where she works. She belongs in D.C, on Capitol Hill.”
Her main passions—tribal rights and women’s equality—are largely a byproduct of her upbringing, Malerba said.
An Uncasville, Conn., native, Malerba grew up enmeshed in both the small town community and tribal life. She attended Montville High School for two years and finished high school at the Pomfret School, a private day school in nearby Pomfret.
Her most formative experiences, though, were with the Mohegan Tribe. Her great-great-grandfather, Chief Matahga, led the tribe from 1937 to 1952, and the family’s tradition of leadership in the tribe remains strong. Her grandmother served on the tribal council for more than 30 years, and her mother, Lynn Malerba, is currently vice chair of the tribe. Her father, although not a member of the tribe, works as a plumber at Mohegan Sun.
Growing up one-sixteenth Mohegan at a time when tribes around the country were fighting for recognition was a formative experience, Malerba said.
“I remember the phone call, I remember everybody in tears,” she said of the day in 1994 when the tribe learned it would be recognized by the federal government. “It’s something that was a very long time coming. My great-great-grandfather tried to get us recognized, and we tried in the ’70s. This was a triumph and also a tribute to all those who had attempted to do this before us.”
After graduating from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., in 2007, Malerba moved to Washington to intern with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District. She worked on finding cosponsors and supporters for a bill to mitigate wage discrimination against women, a cause DeLauro has long championed.
“She’s a feminist, I’m a feminist—it just worked out really well,” Malerba said.
In the fall of 2007, Malerba took a job as a staff assistant for Larson. After nine months, she became Larson’s scheduler, a position, she said, that gave her the people skills the Cherry Blossom Festival coordinators prize in a princess.
“You take care of your member of Congress first, but you’re also there for your constituents,” she said. “You learn to find a way to tell people no but also to make them feel that they’re being taken care of.”
Last month, after Larson was elected chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Malerba switched positions again. She now works in his leadership office performing outreach to members of the women’s, progressive and New England caucuses within the party.
While she enjoys Washington, the pull of the family business and tribal culture is strong.
“I owe a lot of my personality and a lot of my successes to the tribe,” Malerba said. “My end goal is to give back in any way I can.”
Malerba’s sentiments aren’t surprising, according to her mother.
“She’s been involved ever since she was born,” Lynn Malerba said. “We would hope that she would follow in our footsteps.”
Someday, Malerba said, she might want to fill her mother’s shoes as the Mohegan government’s envoy to Washington and Hartford. But for now, armed with no more diplomatic power than a pastel wardrobe and a can-do attitude, she’ll have to settle for being the ambassador from Connecticut.
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