Does Norman Ornstein have his facts straight on Filibusters?

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Saturday August 28, 2010 · 8:42 AM PDT

2010/08/28 · 08:42

American Enterprise Institute "scholar" Norman Ornstein, writing in today's New York Times, states that:

"in the current Congress there have been 117 (cloture votes) — more than two a week."

The current congress has been going on since January 2009. And unless my brain is deteriorating very rapidly, there have been roughly 86 weeks since this two-year congress began last year. Now I haven't adjusted for vacations and time off. But there must have been more than 52 weeks for this session of congress since January 2009, and if there have been more than two a week, as Ornstein suggests, then there should have been close to 200 cloture votes, not 117.

goldrick

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Saturday May 08, 2010 · 3:52 PM PDT

2010/05/08 · 15:52

The slimy hit-job from WNPR on Jim Himes is beginning to go viral, being picked up by our local right-wing newspaper conglomerate Hearst on its CT Elections '10 blog. Much more on this at the Connecticut website My Left Nutmeg.

Posted by Hearst reporter Tom Baden, it reads:

"WNPR piece on Rep. Jim Himes and his campaign support from Goldman Sachs, his employer for 12 years before he joined a nonprofit that helped build affordable housing."

Of course, no effort made to debunk that piece of garbage, or to point out that Himes has been leading the effort to implement tough financial sector reforms. Nope, all we get from Hearst is mention of "campaign support from Goldman Sachs".

You didn't want to know the truth anyway, did you?

CT Sen: LIEberman hosting fundraiser for Harry Reid in Greenwich, CT

goldrick

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Wednesday April 28, 2010 · 6:36 PM PDT

2010/04/28 · 18:36

Greenwich Time reports that LIEberman is hosting Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid for a fundraiser in Greenwich. And sadly, Connecticut State Central Committee Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo might actually attend:

DiNardo stated that she hasn't committed yet to attending the reception for Reid, saying that there is a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the same afternoon in New Haven.

goldrick

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Monday April 19, 2010 · 7:35 PM PDT

2010/04/19 · 19:35

Really making the grade, Republican first selectman of Easton was named by the
NRCCas one of forty "third tier- on the radar" "young gun" congressional candidates (he's in his fifties, which is sort of weird for a "young gun"). Way to wow 'em, Tom! He's challenging Democratic congressman Jim Himes in Fairfield County.

Hermann is the guy who during a meeting at Greenwich Library on Sunday April 18 that I attended latched on to the Republican Party's current love affair with states' rights and nostalgia for the Confederacy. Says Hermann,

"I will adamantly support state sovereignty...States need to nurture and assert home rule."

goldrick

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Wednesday March 17, 2010 · 12:14 PM PDT

2010/03/17 · 12:14

The Washington Post has an article and interactive poll showing all members of congress, how they voted on the health care reform bill November 7, 2008, how much money they've accepted from the health care industry, the percentage of uninsured in their districts, and how they intend to vote on the final health care reform bill now coming before congress.

Problem is that WAPO has Jim Himes as undecided on the final vote. But Jim Himes has responded to me that WAPO has it completely wrong, that he'll be voting for the bill, and that, as he put it in his email, he's

"been clear and public about this for weeks."

Excellent. 'Nuff said. Just wonder how many of those other seventy-plus Democrats WAPO lists as "undecided" are similarly wrongly listed.

CT: Eulogy for Greenwich DTC Chairman Dave Roberson

goldrick

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Saturday March 13, 2010 · 4:41 PM PST

2010/03/13 · 16:41

On his Greenwich Time blog Frank Farricker wrote the following eulogy to his late friend and Greenwich Democratic Town Committee Chairman Dave Roberson, who died tragically in a car accident this week. I thought it was a beautiful tribute to Dave. Given that we Democrats communicate largely through the internet and in this site, I thought it would be fitting for a dedicated Democrat like Dave Roberson to be eulogized here. With Frank's permission and blessing, here is his eulogy to Dave.

goldrick

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Saturday February 20, 2010 · 7:18 AM PST

2010/02/20 · 07:18

In his editorial last week, while declaring that he didn't support former Connecticut Republican congressman Shays' (CT-04) candidacy, Fairfield County Weekly's Managing Editor Nick Keppler wrote,

I love Chris Shays; I really do. He's a truly beautiful man who has dedicated most of his life to public service...

I wrote a letter to the editor that was published this week explaining why I don't love Chris Shays, pointing out numerous positions with which I disagreed, and taking issue with Shays' voting to go to war in Iraq, while having declared himself a CO. I also questioned how Shays had managed to avoid the draft in 1969, three years before declaring himself a conscientious objector. Keppler attached an Editor's Note, to my letter that read:

Chris Shays was on a Peace Corps assignment during the draft lottery in 1969. The author of this letter is a member of Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.

goldrick

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Thursday December 31, 2009 · 3:12 PM PST

2009/12/31 · 15:12

Below is the letter to the editor I submitted to Connecticut Post, a ~~truncated~~ sanitized version of which was printed today:

Earlier this month Hearst Newspapers' chief political correspondent for Connecticut Ken Dixon wrote on his blog: "Got A Bright Idea, like Hang the Lawmakers?" Really. He was referring to an upcoming meeting of the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes (CEAO) chaired by Democratic State Senator Gayle Slossberg, which is looking for ideas to streamline government and cut spending. That was Mr. Dixon's notion of a bright idea: "Hang the Lawmakers". Later, attributing criticism to "a couple of the more sensitive, or possibly guilty, lawmakers", Dixon retracted his remarks. But referring to hanging lawmakers, then stating that those who complain are "guilty", actually makes his words more threatening.

goldrick

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Tuesday November 03, 2009 · 8:12 PM PST

2009/11/03 · 20:12

Greenwich Democrats suffered bitter defeats on Tuesday as Lin Lavery lost to Republican incumbent first selectman Peter Tesei by a very wide margin- 65% to 35% with one district still to report. Indeed, she was so far behind that she was knocked off the board of selectman as her running mate, EMT specialist Drew Marzullo, polled more votes to take the third seat on the board reserved for a member of the minority party. In the race for tax collector Bill Grad, a graduate of Princeton with a Stanford MBA, lost to the Republican nominee Laudonia who hadn't graduated from college. Drew Marzullo lost his race against selectman Peter Theis.

goldrick

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Sunday November 01, 2009 · 2:05 PM PST

2009/11/01 · 14:05

Greenwich's incumbent Republican first selectman Peter Tesei has been trying to make hay with accusations in a mailer by Democratic challenger Lin Lavery. Lavery listed among three charges that Tesei was engaging in cronysim in actions regarding the town's harbor master. Tesei's campaign went ballistic, accusing Lavery of lying, and getting the facts all wrong. Tesei then went out and demonstrated that he is most certainly engaging in rampant cronyism by having a committee whose members are almost all Republicans hand-picked by him call a press conference to attack Lin Lavery.

goldrick

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Thursday October 22, 2009 · 1:36 PM PDT

2009/10/22 · 13:36

The economy is suffering, budgets are under pressure, and Greenwich enjoys no immunity to the downturn. Hard times mean that Greenwich cannot afford to pass up any source of funds. Yet Greenwich first selectman Peter Tesei did just that, dropping the ball repeatedly on the town's requests for federal assistance, and ultimately costing Greenwich tens of millions of dollars in federal aid it should have received. Not only was Mr. Tesei the last first selectman and mayor in the fourth congressional district to apply for federal stimulus funds, he was also the last municipal executive in the entire state to submit a funding request. Hard against the deadline to apply for stimulus funding, Mr. Tesei's foot-dragging precipitated a last-minute meeting with congressman-elect Jim Himes on Christmas Eve to submit the town's request. Mr. Tesei interpreted the criteria for stimulus projects so narrowly that he brought to the meeting a proposal totaling only $17 million. In contrast, the city of Bridgeport, with twice the population of Greenwich, had already applied for $868 million in stimulus funding. Stamford, with close to double Greenwich's population, had formally requested $414 million. Westport, with half our town's population, asked for approximately $100 million.

goldrick

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Thursday October 15, 2009 · 10:26 AM PDT

2009/10/15 · 10:26

I listened to the first edition of WNPR's "Politics, Burgers and Beer" program recently, which featured University of Connecticut professor Ken Dautrich getting grilled by everyone, including The Day reporter Ted Mann who broke the story regarding Dautrich's shady contract with Rell, and I was appalled. It is as clear as daylight that Rell's contract with Dautrich was meant as a means of paying him for political advice with taxpayer funds. Now that Dautrich has been exposed as a Rell shill, continuing to bring him on a weekly political talk show as a "political expert", as Faith Middleton continued to call him, would be a blatant conflict of interest and an insult to public broadcasting listeners.

Poll

26 votes Show Results

Should Ken Dautrich be dropped from WNPR?

26 votes Vote Now!

Should Ken Dautrich be dropped from WNPR?

Yes, of course. He's a paid shill.

10 votes

Yes, and Faith Middleton should go with him.

9 votes

No, he's still a knowledgable person on CT politics

5 votes

No, provided that he cancels this contract.

2 votes

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Does Norman Ornstein have his facts straight on Filibusters?

CT-04: Hearst Picks Up WNPR Hit-Job on Jim Himes

CT Sen: LIEberman hosting fundraiser for Harry Reid in Greenwich, CT

CT-04: (R) Tom Hermann Steps Up for States Rights in Confederate History Month!

CT-04: WAPO Gets it Wrong on Jim Himes & HCR

CT: Eulogy for Greenwich DTC Chairman Dave Roberson

CT-04: FCW's Nick Keppler Blocks for Chris Shays on Draft Record

CT: CT Post's Dixon says "Hang the Lawmakers"

CT: Bitter Defeats for Democrats in Greenwich, CT

CT: Greenwich Republican Tesei Smacked Down by Hearst's Millstein

CT: How Greenwich First Selectman Tesei (R) Missed out on millions in stimulus funds

CT Gov: Time for WNPR to Dump Rell Shill Ken Dautrich