N.E. Editorial Roundup
The Hartford Courant, Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009:
M. Jodi Rell's decision to vacate the governor's office when her term expires ought to have a seismic impact on the state's political landscape.
The exit of the Brookfield Republican, a six-year incumbent and Connecticut's most popular governor in the modern era, ought to make a race for governor attractive to aspiring politicians of any persuasion but especially Democrats.
They've dominated in most state and federal elections in recent years but haven't had a successful gubernatorial candidate since Gov. William A. O'Neill won in 1986. That's a long drought for a state that's been trending blue.
The fact that the election next year will be the first since 1994 in which an incumbent governor won't be running also evens the playing field.
Indeed, six Democrats former state House Speaker James Amann, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, former U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont, state Sen. Gary LeBeau, Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy and Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi had formally announced they were running or exploring a gubernatorial candidacy before Mrs. Rell made her dramatic announcement.
Tuesday, friends of former state Rep. Juan Figueroa, a health care reformer, said he was considering a run. And the quadrennially mentioned state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who has indicated greater interest in a federal judgeship or a U.S. Senate seat said he's "listening" to people urging him to run for governor.
Even more Democrats can be expected to take the plunge.
It is much quieter on the Republican side, which only a week ago was celebrating what party leaders said was an encouraging showing in municipal elections.
Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele appears to be in the race for his party's nomination to succeed Mrs. Rell. House Republican leader Lawrence Cafero and Senate Republican leader John McKinney said they are considering it. That isn't a very deep bench for a party that considers itself on the rebound.
Several Republicans are angling to knock off Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. But there are others with political heft: former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays and former U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor, to name two.
With a popular incumbent retiring, this ought to be too good an opportunity to pass up.
The New Haven Register, New Haven, Conn., Thursday, November 12, 2009
Recession cuts in half bloated estimate for cost of new maintenance facility.
A delay in the arrival of new rail cars for Metro-North, although frustrating to commuters, has worked to the state's advantage in regard to savings and meeting construction deadlines.
They will replace the more than 30-year-old cars now serving Metro-North's New Haven Line. The first two M-8 rail cars are at sea. The new cars are being shipped by Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. from its Kobe, Japan, factory by way of Baltimore. They will be trucked to New Haven. By March, they will be joined by six more cars, then six months of testing will begin before they are put into service. That is about a year later than the original schedule. When the contract was signed in 2006 to purchase 300 of the cars, with an option to buy 80 more, it was expected the cars would be here this year.
The M-8 cars cost some $3 million each. They are capable of running on different voltages, allowing them to run on Shore Line East as well as between Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station in New York, in addition to the regular route between New Haven and Grand Central.
The costs of the needed improvements and new facilities for the cars at New Haven's rail yard had ballooned to an estimated and unaffordable $1.2 billion. A repair shop for the cars was estimated alone to cost $261 million. Instead, the winning bid for the construction came in last month at only $124.79 million. State Department of Transportation officials could have used sharper pencils for their estimates. They said the lower cost was largely the result of the recession and falling costs for building materials. Construction is expected to start this winter. Still to be built is a shop for truing the wheels of the cars. A barn for accepting and storing the new cars has been completed.
The pieces of this substantial state investment in public transit are coming together to provide a more reliable, up-to-date commute for the New Haven Line's more than 36 million passengers each year.
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