Penguins, cannabis and massage therapists: A day at the state Capitol
HARTFORD — The top attraction at the state Capitol on Tuesday wasn’t a debate or any of the legislative committee meetings.
It was the penguins.
In a small room on the Capitol’s first floor, representatives from Mystic Aquarium showed off a pair of African penguins, as a line to get a peek at them snaked out the door and around a corner. The penguins belong to an endangered species, and their handlers brought them to the Capitol on Tuesday to raise awareness of the aquarium’s conservation efforts.
“We love the African penguin because not only are they endangered, but they’re like that travel-sized conservation ambassador,” said
Allison Tuttle, the facility’s senior vice president of zoological operations.
Tuttle said the penguins were happy to be there.
“Some of our birds, such as the ones that are here today, they love to travel,” she said. “So this is as exciting for them to meet new people as it is for these people to come in and see a close encounter with a penguin.”
Across the building from the penguins, therapists representing the American Message Therapy Association offered free 10- or 15minute massages to all comers. The group doesn’t have any particular legislation to push this year, an official said, they just like to spread the word that massage therapists are worth taking seriously.
“It’s just to bring awareness to the fact that we are
not sex workers, we are not human trafficked, we are not human trafficking,” said Nicole Arel, government relations chair for the AMTA’s Connecticut chapter. “We are licensed massage professionals.”
Tuesday was also CT Cannabis Chamber Lobby Day, though if you’re imagining hippies in tie-dye shirts handing out free samples, you’ve got the wrong idea.
Ultimately, cannabis lobbying isn’t so different from other types of lobbying: guys in suits pointing to a bar graph with projections for future years.
The gathered representatives from the cannabis industry discussed their optimism about the state of the market and their opposition to hemp-derived products being sold at liquor stores. Only occasionally would someone acknowledge this wasn’t any old business.
“I remember very clearly the first press conference I did, seven years ago, talking about the recreational use of cannabis,” said Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden. “And I admitted on camera that I partook, and a row of jaws just dropped, and I was like, ‘Like half of you in this room don’t smoke weed.’ ”
With only two weeks left in the legislative session, the Capitol saw plenty of other action as well Tuesday. Both chambers debated a fresh contract for tens of thousands of unionized state employees, one of their top priorities for the session. Lawmakers held a panel to discuss diversity among educators. Advocates wearing “people not prisons” shirts lobbied for criminal justice reform.
But in the end, none of that could quite compete with the penguins. Midmorning, the line to see them included people of all age — some people seemed to have brought their children — and at least one legislator posed for a photo.
Tuttle said the scene had been like that all day.
“The penguins are quite a draw,” she said. “Which we knew they would be.”