Tuesday, May 21, 2013
 

Politics

Jury convicts Donovan campaign aide in bribery case

By Mark Pazniokas
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Robert Braddock Jr. and his lawyer, Frank RIccio II, at right, talk to reporters after the verdict.

Donovan asserts innocence as corruption case goes to jury

By Mark Pazniokas
Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Former House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, asserted his innocence Tuesday in a surprise appearance outside federal court as jurors began deliberating whether a top campaign aide was guilty in the corruption case that derailed his 2012 congressional campaign.

Former House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan makes a surprise appearance outside U.S. District Court.

Scott Walker offers CT GOP a conservative prescription

By Mark Pazniokas
Monday, May 20, 2013

The union demonstrators outside a Connecticut Republicans’ fundraiser Monday showed that Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin remains a lightning rod for curtailing the collective-bargaining rights of public employees.

But does Walker’s battles with labor in the Midwest make him a role model for GOP candidates here? Walker thinks so. So does Jerry Labriola, the state GOP chairman who invited him to deliver a pep talk to a struggling party and headline its major annual fundraiser, the Prescott Bush Dinner.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker addressing the Prescott Bush Dinner.

Testimony: Donovan's biggest money men had stake in legislation

By Mark Pazniokas
Friday, May 17, 2013

The two biggest fundraisers for then-House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan’s 2012 congressional campaign were Harry Raymond Soucy and Mark Masselli, men with significant financial interests before the General Assembly, a campaign official testified Friday.

Soucy delivered $27,500 from donors trying to ensure that their roll-your-own cigarette business remained free of Connecticut’s steep tax. Masselli, who raised at least $15,000, obtained a $15 million bonding authorization for his community health centers

Christopher G. Donovan, who was then speaker of the Connecticut House, responding last year to the arrest of his congressional campaign finance director. (file photo)
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Defense rests without offering evidence in political corruption case
By Mark Pazniokas Monday, May 20, 2013

New Haven -- The defense rested Monday without offering testimony in the conspiracy trial of Robert Braddock Jr., the campaign aide whose arrest a year ago opened a scandal that mortally wounded the congressional candidacy of Christopher G. Donovan.

The jury in U.S. District Court will get the case Tuesday after closing arguments in a trial that focused on what the government says was an attempt by the owners of roll-your-own cigarette stores to bribe Donovan, a Democrat who was then the speaker of the state House of Representatives.
Town leaders treated to partisan spat at Capitol
By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas Friday, May 17, 2013

Leaders of small towns may have headed to the state Capitol this week to lobby legislators not to cut their state funding, but what they got instead was a front-row view of legislative leaders bickering over the state's budget crisis.

At issue is the fact that Democratic leadership and the governor are not allowing Republican minority leaders in the room as they finalize the state's two-year budget that is expected to be voted on in the coming weeks.
Feds secretly videotaped House leaders Donovan and Cafero
By Mark Pazniokas Thursday, May 16, 2013

New Haven – In a secretly videotaped encounter in 2012, then-House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, seemed to cheerfully take credit for killing a tobacco tax bill, then recoiled from the idea seconds later.

“I took care of ya, didn’t I?” a smiling Donovan told Harry Raymond Soucy, a union friend acting on behalf of smoke-shop owners trying to keep their roll-your-own cigarette business free of state tobacco taxes.
Democrats hope to move McCarthy nomination
By Ana Radelat Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Washington – With the help of New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg, Gina McCarthy’s stalled nomination  to head the Environmental Protection Agency  is set  to clear a key Senate panel Thursday.

The nomination of McCarthy, who once headed Connecticut’s environmental protection agency, will be considered by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, composed of 10 Democrats and eight Republicans.
A fixer's tale of attempted bribes
By Mark Pazniokas Wednesday, May 15, 2013

New Haven – His name was Harry Raymond Soucy, a brash and egotistical union leader and correction officer who portrayed himself in the backroom of a Waterbury smoke shop as a political fixer able to get things done at the Connecticut State Capitol.

His solution: Bribes disguised as contributions to the top Democrat and Republican in the state House of Representatives in 2011 and 2012, including $5,000 cash he says he left in one legislator’s refrigerator at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Blumenthal hoping to make his mark in immigration debate
By Ana Radelat Monday, May 13, 2013

Washington  -- U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is leveraging his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to plunge headlong into the fractious debate in Congress on immigration.

Blumenthal, a Democrat, said he’s motivated to become a player in Congress’ attempt to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws because “the current system is, in fact, badly broken.”
A reputation on trial, not the politician
By Mark Pazniokas Monday, May 13, 2013

New Haven – He is not charged. He wasn’t in court. But former House Speaker Christopher Donovan was a major presence Monday as testimony opened in the political corruption case that derailed his 2012 congressional campaign.

A publicist greeted reporters with a statement from Donovan. His lawyer sat in the second row, monitoring testimony. Donovan’s voice was heard on a secretly recorded conversation, and his campaign finance report flashed on a video screen.
State paid for Malloy's trip to New Orleans for UConn championship
By Mark Pazniokas Monday, May 13, 2013

The state paid $1,193.07 for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to make a last-minute, overnight trip to New Orleans last month to see the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team win its eighth national championship.

Four nights later, Malloy, a hockey fan, paid his own way for an overnight trip to Pittsburgh to see the Yale University men’s hockey team crowned national champions after beating an intrastate rival, Quinnipiac University.

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