Fight over fall football comes to state Capitol

The fight over football raged on at the state Capitol this week, with a massive crowd attending a protest outside the building and top high school sports officials meeting with key members of Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to make their case as to why a fall high school football season is safe amid the ongoing pandemic. Meanwhile, FBI agents sniffing around Bridgeport City Hall have once again uncovered a corruption scheme, perhaps not surprising to longtime observers of Park City politics.

The big story

DPH unlikely to budge on fall football: After a three-hour meeting at the state Capitol, the state Department of Public Health seemed unlikely to change its position that football is a high-risk sport and should not be played this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. Top officials from DPH met with the executive director of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to hear its final plea for a fall high school football season and the steps they would take to keep players safe. But afterward, Paul Mounds, Lamont’s chief of staff, said “It will be hard for the Department of Public Health, looking out for the health of individuals all over Connecticut, to provide a broad recommendation that a high-risk sport [such as] football would be able to become a moderate-risk sport.” The meeting came two days after a rally at the state Capitol that drew an estimated 1,200 players, coaches and parents pleading for the season to go forward given Connecticut’s low COVID-19 infection rate. CIAC officials have proposed that players would be required to wear face coverings and the number of people on the sidelines of games would be limited. Lamont and DPH have encouraged the CIAC to consider a spring football season, something the association so far has said it would not consider.

Five things you may have missed

Lamont’s powers to combat coronavirus extended: The extraordinary powers Lamont has been granted to combat the coronavirus pandemic will be extended through February, over the objection of Republican lawmakers who say the General Assembly should have a greater hand in governing during the public health crisis. Lamont, after declaring a state of emergency, has issued nearly 70 executive orders since that deal with everything from ordering bars to remain closed and limiting the size of gatherings to requiring travelers from hot spot states to self-quarantine for two weeks and requiring mask-wearing in public. Critics have accused Lamont of governing by fiat, but Democratic lawmakers who supported the extension of his powers say it would be unmanageable to have lawmakers review and vote on every action the governor must take to battle the pandemic with circumstances changing rapidly. “Although there’s a role for the legislature to play, we are not able to react quickly enough,” House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said recently.

Republican leader calls on Democrats to reopen Capitol:

Senate Republican leader Len Fasano of North Haven is pushing his Democratic colleagues to reopen the Capitol for regular legislative business. The building was shut down in mid-March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and lawmakers have returned just once, for a special session in July to vote to expand absentee ballot access and pass sweeping police reforms. Other business has been conducted remotely, with lawmakers meeting via Zoom and the meetings broadcast on CT-N. In a letter to Democratic legislative leaders Friday, Fasano said he “question[ed] why you continue to refuse to open the legislative process to the public by holding legislative meetings, hearings and other events to give all lawmakers and the people we represent a voice in the Capitol.” Fasano noted that schools have reopened and that Democratic lawmakers have supported calls for a high school football season. “The State Capitol is the people’s building, not a virtual building,” he wrote.

Judicial Branch wants to resume jury trials in November:

The state Judicial Branch hopes to resume jury trials this fall with safety measures in place to protect the health of jurors, defendants, court staff and others. Trials were put on hold in March and courthouses across the state were closed for all but the most essential proceedings. Since then, court operations have slowly begun to resume and officials are aiming to restart trials in November. Judge James W. Abrams, chief administrative judge for civil matters, said jury summonses may have already started to go out or will begin to go out shortly. He said the Judicial Branch was continuing to weigh how to address potential jurors who have preexisting medical conditions that increase the danger of contracting COVID-19. “Someone with morbidity factors is not going to be forced to come into the courthouse,” Abrams said. One option under consideration would be to spread a trial out among multiple courtrooms and bringing the parties together via videoconferencing.

Eversouce CEO says utility reforms would bring ‘massive cost’: Jim Judge, the chief executive officer of Eversource Energy, told lawmakers during a public hearing on utility reform legislation Tuesday that the proposed reforms would result in a “massive cost” to the company that would ultimately be passed along to ratepayers. “This cost will hit customers hard, very hard, particularly customers in need who you are thinking will benefit from these payments and penalties,” Judge warned. Lawmakers, seizing on public discord over Eversource’s response to Tropical Storm Isaias last month and the fact that some homes and businesses remained without power for nine days, have proposed a series of reforms including minimum staffing requirements and credits and reimbursements to customers in the event of prolonged outages. They are also seeking performance-based regulation of electric utilities that would provide a financial incentive to restore power quickly. Lawmakers plan to vote on the utility legislation in a special session this month.

Bridgeport police chief, personnel directed charged with fraud:

Corruption inside Bridgeport City Hall has been alleged once again, this time involving a purported scheme to rig the hiring process so Armando J. Perez, a longtime confident of Mayor Joe Ganim, would be guaranteed the city’s police chief job. A federal indictment accuses Perez of conspiring with acting personnel director David Dunn to fix the city’s 2018 police chief examination by obtaining the questions ahead of time and having Perez’s subordinates submit answers on his behalf. Perez is a longtime Bridgeport police officer and served as Ganim’s driver during his first stint as mayor, before Ganim went away to prison for seven years after his own corruption arrest. Ganim won back his old job in 2015, and three years later Perez was named chief.

In a video posted to Facebook Thursday, Ganim said “many of us in the administration learned about [Perez’s alleged actions] in real time this morning.”

Odds and ends

Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman has endorsed Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is locked in a fierce battle for reelection to a fifth term. “I’m a lifelong Democrat, but I put my country first always,” Lieberman says in a television ad supporting Collins’ campaign. “That’s why I’m supporting Susan Collins for Senate.” While Lieberman has remained a registered Democrat, he ran for reelection as an independent in 2006 after losing a primary to Lamont. Collins is the last Republican to represent New England in Congress. … Former East Haven Mayor April Capone was bit by a dog recently while going door-to-door in Wallingford for her campaign in the 34th Senate District. Capone, a Democrat, is running for the seat being left open by Fasano, who is retiring. “[The dog’s owner] was so apologetic,” Capone said. “She said, ‘Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. What can I do for you?’ “Capone, who was scheduled to undergo surgery on her hand Friday at

Yale New Haven Hospital, said she told the woman she could vote for her. … Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton has accepted “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver’s proposal to rename the city’s sewage plant after him in exchange for a donation of $55,000 to local charities, on one condition: Oliver must attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the city. The unusual proposal came after Oliver, seemingly at random, denigrated Danbury during an unrelated program about juries. Boughton responded to Oliver by declaring he’d name the sewer plant after him because “it’s full of [expletive]” like Oliver. A week later, Oliver replied that he’d happily accept and offered donations in exchange. … Margaret Streicker, a Milford Republican and real estate developer, has spent more than $200,000 on television ads to bolster her campaign against longtime Democratic

Rep. Rosa DeLauro in Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional District.

“If you’re like me, you’re sick and tired of what’s going on in America,” Streicker says in the ad, which began airing this past week. As DeLauro’s picture flashes across the screen, Streicker suggests residents are weary of “politicians lining their own pockets.” … A new national poll has found almost two-thirds of Connecticut residents support Gov. Ned Lamont’s handling of the pandemic. The 65% of respondents who said they either approve or strongly approve of how Lamont has approached the public health crisis ranks top among Democratic governors and fourth-best among the 50 states, trailing only Republican Govs.

Phil Scott in Vermont (76%), Larry Hogan in Maryland (71%) and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts (68%).