If you get a chance, take a trip down to St. Anthony’s Maronite Church on Granville Ave and check out the Lebanese (Mahrajan) Festival.

Unfortunately, I'll be out of town today so I won't be able to report on the celebration so in order to give you an idea of what to expect, here's my video from last year...

This is rich...cue up the nonsense

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy said Thursday he asked House leaders to bring a comprehensive energy package that includes expanded offshore drilling to a vote in the near future.

Murphy, D-5th District, said in a press statement that he sent a letter to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, asking Democratic leaders to find a compromise with Republicans and pass an energy bill. Murphy previously rejected calls for increased offshore drilling.

"It has become clear that without a compromise on some increased, sensible offshore drilling, we will not be able to move forward on ideas that will make us truly energy independent," Murphy said. "We have to work together to negotiate a common-sense solution to help consumers, who can't afford the bickering."

He added expanded offshore drilling won't solve the energy crisis, but the issue shouldn't bar Congress from passing energy legislation.

State Sen. David Cappiello, R-Danbury, who is challenging Murphy for the 5th District congressional seat, issued his own press statement Thursday, calling out the congressman for flip flopping on the issue.

"Murphy's election-year conversion on offshore drilling is a day late, a dollar short, and totally disingenuous," Cappiello said. "His latest flip flop proves he cannot be trusted to address America's energy crisis unless he is dragged kicking and screaming to do so."

This is just more nonsense from a politician taking his cues from Nancy Johnson's dishonest playbook.

Murphy never flip-flopped on offshore drilling...in fact, I blogged about this very topic back in July when Murphy held a press conference in New Britan and in Danbury (right by Cappiello's house).

Let's take a peek back in time and look at my post from July:

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to videotape Congressman Murphy's presser today in New Britain. That being the case, when it comes to the high price of gas, while I strongly agree with one portion of Murphy's stance in his latest press release...

“While energy traders on Wall Street artificially inflate the price of a barrel of oil, Connecticut families are paying the price at the pump. Until we wean ourselves off of our addiction to oil, we’ve got to crack down on the market that is distorting the price of oil and hurting our economy,” said Murphy.

Murphy is supporting legislation that aims to restore the fundamentals of supply and demand to the oil markets, ending rampant speculation in the energy commodities markets which place a distorted premium on the price of oil. Since 2000, investment in oil futures has increased more than 2,600%, from $9 billion to $250 billion. In testimony before House and Senate Committees, Energy Information Administration (EIA) officials and private sector experts have agreed that speculation has driven up the cost of a barrel of oil. Last week, Murphy voted to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) emergency powers to curb speculation. The House is expected to continue debate on this issue in July.

I'm somewhat lukewarm when it comes to calls for an increase in drilling (although I understand the Congressman's point).

With average gas prices in Connecticut at $4.37 a gallon and rising, Murphy is also supporting legislation to call on the oil and gas industry to drill on the 68 million acres of public lands currently under oil company control but unexplored.

Last week, Murphy voted for H.R. 6251, the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act – more commonly known as the “Use It or Lose It” bill – which would deny oil and gas companies any new federal leases until they demonstrate they are active in developing oil exploration on the 68 million acres they’ve already leased. Most offshore and onshore oil and gas is already available to be drilled. According to federal government surveys, 82% of the gas available offshore and 79% of the oil offshore is available for leasing – enough land to produce 86 billion additional barrels of oil. The measure has not yet passed the House because of Republican opposition.

“We can’t drill ourselves out of this problem – but the fact is there is land and offshore resources currently available to the oil and gas industry, and they aren’t using it while they know that Connecticut families are paying skyrocketing prices at the pump,” said Murphy

Although Congressman Murphy's call is better than the ridiculous notion to drill in the ANWAR refuge in Alaska, the bulk of the energy crisis has nothing to do with supply and demand. The origins of this fiasco stems from speculation and greed from energy companies that were allowed to run amok with the help of what's called the "Enron loophole".

Now, I could do a huge write-up on this but recently Keith Olbermann did a excellent report on the history of the Enron loophole that's better than anything I could type.

Watch and learn.



As Olbermann notes, and as several people testified in Congress, close the loophole and most of your problem goes bye-bye and greedy oil companies' record profits will become a thing of the past. Increase drilling simply makes no sense when a majority of the problem comes from speculation as opposed to supply and demand.

And why would you want in increase in the production of oil? Shouldn't we be talking about this country getting off it's dependency of oil? What makes more sense, cars that get 100 MPG (which is available NOW), or cheaper gas, a return to the arrogant SUV era, and back to business as usual? I'd rather deal with the speculators that brought us such goodies as the power shortage in California and hopefully Congressman Murphy will focus on this problem before even thinking about an increase in drilling.

Offshore drilling is simply a joke....PERIOD. Cappiello's latest garbage is simply that...garbage. According to federal government surveys, 82% of the gas available offshore and 79% of the oil offshore is available for leasing – enough land to produce 86 billion additional barrels of oil YET Cappiello's spinning this latest attack because he really has nothing else to offer.

The Republicans banned offshore drilling under Ronald Regan's watch and you didn't hear a peep from the GOP back then. On the other hand, the State Republicans under John Rowland and David Cappiello's watch sat back and allowed the residents of Connecticut suffer under one of the highest state gas tax in the country.

Lowering the gas tax would have an instant impact in Connecticut...where's Cappiello's so-called "leadership" on this matter in the last 10 years?

Cappiello's fooling no one...

Give me a break...hot-tempered/short-fused/angry McLachlan is at it again. There's no whining in politics.

McLachlan called on Perkins last week to return the public financing he received for the primary.

"Public financing was meant to take out special interest groups, which it essentially did, and level the playing field," McLachlan said. "But by receiving the public financing for the primary Perkins essentially had $35,000 more to spend on his campaign than I will. When I am elected I will submit a bill to correct this flaw."

A few things about the Mike the whiner and his latest hissy-hit.

1. Mike McLachlan opted to do the public financing therefore you can't whine after you approved of the program.

2. McLachlan can AT ANY POINT opt OUT OF THE PROGRAM and raise all the money he wants.

3. Before whining about anyone giving back any money, why don't you tell your boss to do what David Cappiello did and hand back the ILLEGAL BUNDLED CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS he received from James Galante.



You know, I liked McLachlan better when he running around the city videotaping the mayor's press conferences (a.k.a. showing his chief of staff skills).






No, no, I liked him better when he had himself filmed walking around the 9/11 memorial for the city's GOVERNMENT channel.



No, no, no, I liked it better when I heard about McLachlan's incredible bad temper and the fits of rage he has towards people at City Hall.

No, no, no, no I liked it better when the old timers have a laugh about McLachlan's younger years and filled me in to what the term "Sparky" means.

Here, let me fill you in...



...too easy.

Host: John Gogliettino
Guest: Eva Colon: Executive Director, Patsy Rapela: Board member, Camilo Fadul: Board member Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury.

To host "ice cream" parties?



So lets see, people have long complained that the City Clerk is NOT in her office yet our City Clerk (and her BFF the legendary Mary Ann Doran) have the TIME to host a ICE CREAM PARTY.

Tell me again why the position of City Clerk (that pays 48,000 PER YEAR) shouldn't be eliminated and replaced with a civil service staff (which would be at a lower cost to the taxpayers of Danbury)?

Trust me, when it comes to me fully exposing Jean Natale and why she best symbolizes why the City Clerk position should be axed, you haven't seen ANYTHING yet.

Keep your eye on this land-use application that's currently in front of the environmental impact commission (aprox. area in question is shaded in blue).

Pembroke Road Regulated Activity # 770 R

Roger L. Crossland Assessor's Lot # G07044, RA-40 Zone.

Date of Receipt: 4/23/08. Proposed day care center, 2.503 acres.

First 65 Days: 6/27/08. Second 65 Days: 8/31/08. CCA, LLC. Revisions rec’d. 5/14/08. Existing drainage map rec’d. 5/20/08. Alternative rec’d. 6/11/08. Extension ltr. rec’d. 6/30/08. Comments from Traffic Engineer rec’d. 7/9/08. General plans red’d. 7/14/08.

Word from the residents in the Barnum Road area (2nd Ward) is that there is a great deal of concern over the development of this piece of land so it's safe to say that people are watching this application closely.

As promised, here's my video report on primary night from Democratic Headquarters and my interview with the winner of last night's primary, Duane Perkins.

In the end...it wasn't even close.

I was unable to post footage from Duane Perkins primary victory because I ran down to Norwalk to cover the 4th Congressional primary between Jim Himes and his god-awful joke of a challenger who I won't even name on this site.

Here are the unofficial results I received as the numbers came into Democratic Headquarters (numbers are incomplete because I had to leave). Later, I'll grab the official results.

Danbury
Ward 1: Perkins 154 / Tierney 18
Ward 2: Perkins 67 / Tierney 19
Ward 3: Perkins 131 / Tierney 16
Ward 4: Perkins 108 / Tierney 25
Ward 5: Perkins 116 / Tierney 14
Ward 6: Perkins 115 / Tierney 10
Ward 7: Perkins 96 / Tierney 14

New Fairfield
Results: Perkins 65 / Tierney 11

Bethel
Dist 2:
Dist 5:

Sherman
Results:

Absentees:
Perkins 57 / Tierney 16
TOTAL
Perkins: 844
Tierney: 132

After his victory, the Perkins campaign issued the statement:

Duane Perkins, the endorsed Democratic Candidate for State Senate is happy to announce his win in the Democratic primary that took place this past Tuesday, August 12th, 2008. Duane beat his opponent Terry Tierney with 87% of the votes. This is just one of many examples of the success of the Perkins 2008 Campaign.

“I am proud to be the official Democratic nominee for the 24th State Senate district. I believe in universal healthcare, renewable and new clean energy, a better business environment and I care deeply about my constituents. I plan on working hard to get my message across to every town and person in the district. I can not wait to speak with my constituents and get to know them better, especially when talking about what matters most to them. This is going to be an exciting election.”

Duane will continue to get his message out from now until November, his new energy and fresh ideas will help bring the 24th district to a new level of efficiency and overall prosperity in Danbury, Bethel, New Fairfield, and Sherman.

Later, I'll post the video footage from Democratic Headquarters, my exclusive interview with winner Duane Perkins, and my comments on the entire primary, including my analysis on Terry Teirney's campaign.

REMEMBER TO EMAIL ME AFTER YOU VOTE AND TELL ME ABOUT HOW THE ELECTION ACTIVITY IN YOUR AREA!!! Email me at hatcityblog@yahoo.com



Today, this site will be dedicated to covering today's Democratic state senate primary between Duane Perkins and Terry Tierney.

This will be an ongoing LIVE BLOG post with updates throughout the day from Danbury, Sherman, Bethel and New Fairfield.

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7:30 PM: Last reader report from the field: 3rd Ward Danbury (Broadview)

I was something like #113 for the day – two other voters were there besides me. Had a nice chat with my neighbor while I was there.

6:50 PM: In what will probably be my last post before the polls close at 8PM, here's the final television appearances made by both Perkins and Tierney last week.

Perkins' interview on Community Forum:



Tierney's interview on Ideas at Work and Beyond (co-hosted by yours truly):



6:40 PM: Over the last week, the Duane Perkins released a series of highly impressive mailers, targeted towards Democrats, which highlights his stance on education as well as his list of endorsements throughout Connecticut.



You can download the files below

Mailer 1: Click here to download the Perkins campaign education mailer (pdf format):

Mailer 2: Click here to download the Perkins campaign endorsements mailer (pdf format):

4:25 PM: WARD REPORT: 4th District Danbury:



After Bethel, I ran over to the Shelter Rock School to check out the scene there and there wasn't much to check out.



Count at the school (as of 2:15 PM) was at 64.

As I was preparing to leave, Terry Tierney pulled into the school. As he was waiting on a photographer from the News-Times to come and take pictures of him, I did a real quick interview and asked him about his feelings on today's primary.



4:13 PM: WARD REPORT: 2nd District Bethel:



Quick report:

I arrived at the Stony Hill Firehouse around 1:30 and stayed there for about a half an hour. In that timespan NO ONE showed up to vote...no one.



By the time I left, only 22 people voted at that location while only 9 people voted in the other district in Bethel that's voting today.

2:50 PM: Two words to describe today's primary election: LOW TURNOUT.

Made a trip to both voting places in Bethel as well as the 4th ward where I ran into Terry Tierney and did a quick video interview. I'll update things here once all the files are uploaded.

12:30 PM: The Terry Tierney campaign did a robo-call to Democrats in the district yesterday....



12:00 PM: WARD REPORT: Danbury 3rd Ward, Broadview School



Here's my really brief report on voting in the third ward.

I arrived at the Broadview Middle School at 11:40 PM to cast my vote.



Turnout was non-existent for the most part with no poll standers for either candidate to be found.



Walked right into the middle school cafeteria, showed my ID, cast my vote, and ran my ballot through the machine. The counter on the voting machine was at 43.

I'll bring more reports from the other wards in the 24th Dist. later today
11:40 AM: The Tierney campaign did an ad deal with the News-Times which should remind people to vote.



11:20 AM: This post is being simulcasted on My Left Nutmeg. Welcome MLN readers!

11:00 AM: The Perkins campaign released a new ad that being played on cable during the Olympics entitled "education." The ad highlights Perkin's educational background as a college professor and focuses of his vision on improving the education system in Connecticut.



10:30 AM (REPORT): Here's a report from a reader in the second ward of Danbury:

Real light turnout. I was the 9th person to vote (and according to the poll workers, they were the first five voters) and I voted around 9:15 to 9:30.

10:20 AM (REPORT): Here's the first report from a reader in the first ward of Danbury:

Low turnout at DHS.

I voted around 9:30am -- only number 35!

8:30 AM: Here is a listing of the polling places.

BETHEL
Registrar of voters: (203) 794-8516, Town clerk: (203) 794-8505

DISTRICT 2: Stony Hill Firehouse, 59 Stony Hill Road (Google Map)

DISTRICT 5: Frank A. Berry School, David W. Deakin Educational Park (Google Map)

Click here for Bethel's STREET/DISTRICT locater.

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DANBURY
Registrar: (203) 797-4550, Town Clerk: (203) 797-4531

Ward 1: Danbury High School - School Gym, 43 Clapboard Ridge Rd (Google Map)

Ward 2: Pembroke School Gym, 34 Pembroke Road (Google Map)

Ward 3: Broadview Middle School - Cafeteria, 72 Hospital Avenue (Google Map)

Ward 4: Shelter Rock School Gym, 2 Crows Nest Lane (Google Map)

Ward 5: Danbury War Memorial Gym, Memorial Drive (Google Map)

Ward 6: Park Avenue School Gym, 82 Park Avenue (Google Map)

Ward 7: Mill Ridge Intermediate School Gym, 1 School Ridge Road (Google Map)

Click here for Danbury's STREET/DISTRICT locater.

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NEW FAIRFIELD
Town Clerk: (203) 312-5616, Registrar: 312-5613 or 312-5614

Company A Firehouse, 302 Bell Pond Road

Meeting House Hill School (gymnasium), 24 Gillotti Road (Google Map)

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SHERMAN
Registrar: (860) 350-4694

Sherman School, 2 Route 37 East (Google Map)

From the political party that did everything they could to eliminate the position of City Clerk for the last 20 years (when they were in the minority), after hearing the laundry load of lies at the charter revision commission about the position of City Clerk last night, you guys have some explaining to do about the latest OUTRAGEOUS and BLATANT violation of the charter.

For the life of me, I can't understand how THE PRESIDENT of the Common Council can LIE right on front of the charter revision commission but trust me, I'm going to everything in my power to hold people accountable for every misleading statement that was made...

Enough is enough.

...from Elise Marciano's band of misfits.

From the News-Times article on a gunman who shot and wounded a 21-year-old man outside a Beaver Brook Road home early Sunday.