State Will Not Release Decision on
Employee Fraud
June 19, 2012
From Susan Kniep President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
CONNECTICUT IS THIRD ON THE LIST
Connecticut: Had 53 percent
of the $44.8 billion it owes long-term. Made full pension
contribution three times from 2005 to 2010. Cut pension and retiree
health benefits in 2011. The governor has proposed a plan to reach 80 percent
funding by 2025. Read more at http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2012/06/18/snapshots_of_10_states_with_biggest_pension_gaps/
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***SCANDALS APLENTY****
Report: Secret Service partied hard at
the Vineyard
By David Jackson, USA TODAY Report: Secret Service 'Animal House' on Martha's Vineyard
Fox News is reporting that the service
has earned "an
'Animal House' reputation"
during President Obama's vacations on Martha's
Vineyard. "Local residents say wild parties, fights and late-night
carousing involving Secret Service members have become commonplace in recent
years at the Vineyard, a favorite getaway for the First Family and longtime
destination for upper-crust members of the Northeastern political, media and
business establishment," says Fox. Continued at ….. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/report-obama-secret-service-partied-hard-on-marthas-vineyard/1#.T-DOIpGFpkg
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Federal authorities looking into
consulting contracts involving former Conn. Gov. Rowland
Husband of candidate:
Federal authorities looking into his contract with former Conn. governor SUSAN HAIGH Associated
Press
June 18, 2012 - 8:02 pm EDT HARTFORD, Conn. — A federal
grand jury is looking into consulting work former Gov. John G. Rowland
performed for a nursing home company owned by the spouse of Republican 5th
Congressional District candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley, her
husband confirmed Monday.
Brian Foley told The Associated
Press that his firm, Apple Rehab, was asked two months ago to provide documents
about the six-month contract Rowland had with the company. The former
Republican governor, who resigned from office in 2004 and later served time in
federal prison camp on a corruption-related charge, was paid $5,000 a month for
his services while he was also a volunteer for Wilson-Foley's campaign. http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/5891aef639a642cc9862b9ccead3af93/CT--Connecticut-House-Rowland
BREAKING NEWS
ON DONOVAN SCANDAL: Probable cause hearing on 5th District
campaign finance director arrest postponed (document) Posted on Tue. Jun 19, 2012, 1:12pm HARTFORD — Robert
Braddock, Christopher Donovan’s former campaign finance director, has agreed to
put off his probable cause hearing on charges of concealing the identity of
donors to Donovan’s 5th District congressional race. Read
Story
UCONN
…… According to the June 19, 2012 New York
Post article captioned Baruch in a 'fix' with DA over grade
scandal - New York Post “Manhattan
prosecutors are investigating the grade-inflation and forgery scandal that has
rocked the prestigious business school at CUNY’s Baruch College, The Post has
learned.”. That scandal however appears
to be of no concern to UConn as reported by the Hartford Courant in its article today
captioned UConn Supporting New Business Dean Despite Scandal At Baruch.
Obama's Ambassador
Nominee Has Withdrawn Over His Sexy Email Exchange With A WSJ Reporter Business Insider - by Grace Wyler -
June 18, 2012 Brett McGurk, the diplomat President Obama nominated to be his ambassador to Iraq, withdrew his
name from consideration today, just one week after a racy email exchange between McGurk and Wall Street Journal reporter
Gina Chon became public. The New York Times reports that McGurk submitted his letter of withdrawal
on Monday, citing Republican resistance to his confirmation, which has been
fueled by the scandal. Chon resigned
from the WSJ last week amid public
scrutiny over the emails, which were sent
in 2008, when she was a Baghdad
correspondent for the Journal, and McGurk
was a senior advisor for then-President George W. Bush. Continued at ….. http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-iraq-ambassador-nominee-has-withdrawn-over-his-sexy-email-exchange-with-a-wsj-reporter-2012-6
Chris Donovan's Bet On Union
Backing Will Fall Short June 18, 2012|By
PATRICK SCULLY | OTHER OPINION, The Hartford Courant State Speaker of the House
Chris Donovan's instinctive reaction to FBI allegations of fraud in his
congressional campaign fundraising operation was to circle the wagons with his
troops — labor union members. He also chose as his new campaign manager an
experienced leader of those troops. What does this mean for the speaker's
chance to win the 5th District
Congressional race? It means his people are on board to possibly push him over
the primary finish line in August. Unless they change strategy, however, it's a
recipe for losing November's general election.
Continued at ….. http://articles.courant.com/2012-06-18/news/hc-op-scully-chris-donovan-bet-on-labor-will-fall--20120618_1_new-campaign-manager-unaffiliated-voters-senate-district
ALEC, Senior Arizona
State Legislators Linked To FBI Probe Nick R.
Martin & Ryan J. Reilly June 15,
2012, 5:43 PM 28775 At first blush, the FBI’s
recent investigations into Arizona politicians appeared to be limited to just a
handful of low-level state lawmakers who have been charged with federal crimes.
But records uncovered this week by TPM show at least one of the probes has been
linked to some of the most powerful politicians in the state government as well
as a shadowy conservative group known as ALEC, which has drawn national
scrutiny for its outsized influence in state capitols across the country. The
investigation centers on an Arizona
super lobbyist who was hired in 2009 by undercover federal agents. The agents posed as high rollers
from what they said was a New York
City company called Longford
Solutions LLC. They came to town looking to make hefty deals to buy land from
local governments and allegedly offered gifts like sports tickets to help
grease the wheels. The probe has already led to the indictment of state Rep. Ben Arredondo (D) on charges of bribery and attempted extortion. He has
pleaded not guilty. Federal authorities say the inquiry is still ongoing.
Continued at …… http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/fbi_longford_arizona_legislators_alec.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TPMmuckraker+%28TPMmuckraker%29
Looks like the State Employee Fired In Food Stamp Scandal - Hartford Courant could be REHIRED as
noted by Chris Powell of the Journal Inquirer Newspaper within the article Powell: That's what Malloy gets for
trying to be governor | Darien Times By
Chris Powell Journal Inquirer Sunday, June 17, 2012 Governor Malloy always said he supported
collective bargaining for public employees, and last week he got a big, fat
dose of it. A state labor arbiter began ruling that many if not most of the 103
state employees fired for improperly claiming emergency food stamp money should
get their jobs back. It's not that the Malloy administration judged the cases
wrong. The arbiter just decided that the improper claims constituted
"mistakes" rather than fraud and that the employees should suffer
only brief suspensions and repay the money rather than lose their jobs -- that the discipline first imposed was too severe. Continued
at …… http://www.darientimes.com/4583/powell-thats-what-malloy-gets-for-trying-to-be-governor/
Fifteen Days Are Up
For Donovan. May We Have A Decision, Please? 06-18-2012 10:00:32
AM With Democratic Party 5th District
CT-congressional candidate Christopher Donovan’s campaign spinning out of control, after his
campaign finance manager was arrested in an FBI sting operation, the candidate
went into damage control. First, Donovan insisted he did no wrong and was
unaware of his staff’s campaign fund raising activities. Second, he said
he would step aside as CT Speaker of the House for last week’s one day special
session. Third, he would not drop out of the campaign. And fourth,
he would hire Stanley Twardy,
a former U.S.
attorney appointed by two Republican party presidents,
Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, to conduct an internal investigation.
The goal was for Twardy to have his probe
completed within 15 days. Well, the 15 days are up. Now what?
Continued at …… http://cttalking.com/politics/fifteen-days-are-up-for-donovan-may-we-have-a-decision-please/
***********************
Check to see where
your State Tax Dollars are Going
State Employee Salaries, Benefits, Pensions, Vendors
and more at
The State of Connecticut Transparency Website
transparency.CT.gov.
****************
US Sets Another Record
on Defence Sales, Already WASHINGTON, Jun 15 2012 (IPS) - The
United States is set to far surpass previous records for defence
sales this year, according to U.S. officials. “Despite the global economic
strain, demand for U.S. defence products and services is stronger than ever,”
Andrew J. Shapiro, an assistant secretary in the U.S. State Department, said on
Thursday. He confirmed that the U.S.,
long the world’s largest weapons exporter, has already seen more than 50
billion dollars in government-to-government military sales this fiscal year.
Continued at …. http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/u-s-sets-another-record-on-defence-sales-already/
CT State Troopers In
Open Revolt Posted by Dan Lovallo on Jun 18, 2012 | Leave a
Comment Any doubts about the rift between the CT
State Police union, representing troopers, and the leadership of the CT State
Police can be put to rest. There is an all out war. The union is
about to stage a first-of-its-kind no-confidence vote on the leadership of
Public Safety Commissoner Reuben Bradford and Col.
Danny Stebbins. There are numerous reasons why
this vote is about to take place. Continued at ….. http://cttalking.com/government/colonel-stebbins-take-our-uniform-off-why-we-have-no-confidence/
Families fight for
financial freedom Eric Nalder and Lise Olsen June 16, 2012 Across the
country, disabled veterans' families are waging bitter battles with the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs, trying
to remove VA-appointed fiduciaries from their lives and their
bank accounts. Two activist attorneys, Doug Rosinski, of Columbia, S.C., and and Katrina Eagle, of San Diego, have taken on
the VA in cases involving allegations of bureaucratic mistreatment. Both said
regional program managers sometimes overlook the misdeeds of paid fiduciaries
while coming down hard on veterans' relatives who do the work for nothing.
Continued at …… http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Families-fight-for-financial-freedom-3639395.php
State intervention:
Coming to a school near you? By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas CTMirror.org on June
15, 2012 Connecticut's
education commissioner will announce as early as next week which low-performing
schools the state will likely intervene in during the 2012-2013 school year. As
many as nine superintendents have offered up their schools for state intervention."We are considering how severe the
problem is at the given school when making these decisions," Stefan Pryor
said Friday during an interview…… The districts include Bridgeport,
Danbury, Hartford,
New Haven, New London,
New Britain, Norwich,
Norwalk and Waterbury. Collectively, these districts
house 23 of the 26 worst schools in the
state. Read more http://www.ctmirror.org/story/16662/state-intervention-coming-school-near-you
Obama’s ‘Dream’ policy hailed by Hispanics, but
with caution
By Ana Radelat with Neena Satija
and Aroosa Masroor Washington -- President Obama's
move to halt the deportation of immigrant youths is being praised as
"life-changing" by advocates in Connecticut and across the nation,
but its impact is unclear among disaffected Hispanic voters upset at the
administration's record-setting deportation rate. A poll by Latino Decisions taken earlier this
year in swing states with large Hispanic voter populations found 53 percent of
Latinos said they were less enthusiastic about Obama
in 2012 than they had been in 2009.
Continued at ….. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/16668/obama%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98dream%E2%80%99-policy-hailed-hispanics-some-say-it%E2%80%99s-not-enough
Thanks to Dodd,
Connecticut lawmakers disclose mortgages
By Ana Radelat June 18, 2012 Washington
-- For
the first time ever, Connecticut's
congressional delegation and other members of the U.S. House and Senate must now
disclose information about their personal mortgages. They can thank
former Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, whose controversial receipt of a
questionable home mortgage deal four years ago inspired the new requirement.
Read more http://www.ctmirror.org/story/16660/thanks-dodd-connecticut-lawmakers-disclose-mortgages
The Greek Vote,
Germany Bashing And The Forgotten Reforms Forbes June 18, 2012 Greek, French and
Egyptian voters went to the polls Sunday. In what was supposed to be a turning
point for Egyptian democracy, voters turned out in small numbers to cast their
ballots for the Muslim or establishment candidate. They well understood the
military had assumed control and the election was meaningless. In Europe, Greek voters remained evenly divided between the
center-right and the Left, which promised to jettison the austerity of the Euro
bailout agreement. Continued at ....... http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2012/06/17/the-greek-vote-blame-germany-and-the-forgotten-reforms/
SEC taps Thomas J.
Butler, Wall Street veteran, to oversee ratings ... Agencies
June 15, 2012 Kevin
G Hall, McClatchy Newspapers: "Consumer advocacy groups voiced concern
over the appointment Friday of a Wall Street veteran to be the chief overseer
of credit-rating agencies, which were found by two government inquiries to have
been major causes of the 2008 financial crisis. The Securities and Exchange
Commission announced that Thomas J. Butler has been appointed the new head of
the Office of Credit Ratings. He starts Monday." Continued at ....... http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/15/152547/sec-taps-thomas-j-butler-wall.html
Oops! Aetna discloses
political donations - Jun. 14, 2012
CNN A regulatory filing shows Aetna
made more than $7 million in donations to conservative political groups. NEW
YORK (CNNMoney) -- Insurance giant Aetna
inadvertently disclosed more than $7 million in donations to conservative
political groups in a regulatory filing made earlier this year, according to a
Washington-based advocacy group.Documents obtained
and distributed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington show
that Aetna made a $3 million donation to the American Action Network and a
$4.05 million donation to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2011. Continued at ……
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/14/news/economy/aetna-political-contributions/index.htm
Greek pro-bailout
parties secure ruling majority | Reuters By Renee Maltezou and Harry Papachristou ATHENS | Sun Jun 17, 2012 (Reuters) - Parties
supporting a bailout saving Greece from bankruptcy
won a slim parliamentary majority on Sunday, beating radical leftists who
rejected austerity and bringing relief to the euro zone which was braced for
fresh financial turmoil. The election result looked likely to yield a coalition
government led by conservative New Democracy but leaves an emboldened SYRIZA
bloc to rally angry opposition in the streets to the punishing terms of the
bailout. Official results released by the interior ministry, with 97 percent of
ballots counted, showed New Democracy taking 29.7 percent of the vote, with
SYRIZA on 26.9. The PASOK Socialists were set to take 12.3 percent of the vote.
Because of a 50-seat bonus given to the party which comes first, that would
give New Democracy and PASOK 162 seats in the 300-seat parliament, in an
alliance broadly committed to the 130 billion euros ($164 billion) bailout. Germany signaled there may be some leeway on the timeframe for cuts
demanded in return for the aid. The result buys time for the euro zone, which was braced for a SYRIZA victory and the prospect of
having to cut debt-ridden Greece
loose, potentially unleashing shocks that could break up the single currency.
Continued at ….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/17/us-greece-election-idUSBRE85F05320120617