Whiskey, Please, Plus: Marshal Law

A guy like me has nothing better to do than ponder the political future of elected officials as they schmooze a parade line.

Mayor Bill Finch clearly wasn’t mailing it in as he greeted the peeps on both sides of Madison Avenue during the Columbus Parade. He could have sat through the open convertible jaunt down Madison with family. Instead it was a cardio meet and greet as he approaches the halfway point of his mayoralty with no shortage of potential challenges, so far.

Could one of them be Probate Judge Paul Ganim? All this talk about older brother Joe’s comeback is nice banter for political junkies like me. Joe’s a competitor. But family is going to dictate his priorities when he’s expected to be cut loose from the joint in early 2010 for a halfway house before officially completing his sentence in the summer. After that it’s three years of supervised release which means he must be a good boy, and follow conditions set by the court and the U.S. Probation officer assigned to his case such as filing a monthly financial statement and receive permission to leave the state. Theoretically, barring a judicial order at sentencing, Joe could run for public office once he reestablishes himself as an elector. In the state of Connecticut an offender can vote provided he is not incarcerated and has satisfied any fines and restitution ordered by the court at sentencing. Guess who signed that declaration into law in 1998? Yup, John Rowland.

Paul Ganim toyed with a mayoral run in 2007. Elected in 1998, Paul has had more than a decade to establish his own following with the electorate. Some pols say his pinch last year involving a domestic fracas with his wife has deeply wounded his mayoral electability. I’m not convinced of that. If he wins reelection to his judgeship, a city-wide seat, that erases a lot of the stigma that could dog a mayoral run.

And the larger question: who out there can defeat Paul Ganim in an August primary in 2010? Paul will be hard to beat. He’s a tough campaigner and will be well financed. It’s not like an opponent can show up next spring and say here I am!

City Council President Tom McCarthy who followed Finch and Ganim down Madison Avenue the other day may take a look at probate judge. Big Mac is also a seasoned campaigner, but he’s never run city wide. It’s a lot of work to campaign across the city while you have a full-time city job and serve as city council president which can be one giant toothache. Ever try dealing with 20 council members? Pass the whiskey bottle and revolver. This assumes, of course, that Big Mac wants to remain council president come the new council session following the November municipal election.

McCarthy is crucial to shepherding through Finch’s initiatives. And Big Mac is also looking forward to fashioning a city budget with a new-look Board of Education. The new Dems joining the BOE, including City Council member Leticia Colon, are mayoral supporters. And what about the future of Superintendent of Schools John Ramos with a new board?

Fun, fun, fun.

Marshal Law

From Matt Kaufman of The Hartford Courant. How much could Bridgeport save?

Connecticut plaintiffs are free to negotiate with state marshals over fees charged for serving legal papers, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ruled Monday in a decision that could have broad impact on the roughly $2 million collected by marshals every month.

Blumenthal said state statutes set maximum fees that marshals may charge for services, but said the law does not guarantee those fees or bar litigants from seeking a better deal.

He said he was reviewing his own office’s practices with an eye toward saving money on marshal fees, and offered to help other state agencies that would like marshals to compete for work. The state paid at least $1.6 million to marshals last year, according to filings with the Office of State Ethics.

In the legal opinion, Blumenthal sided with the New Haven Board of Aldermen, which voted in April to solicit bids for the roughly 2,700 foreclosure suits, tax warrants and other papers the city pays to have served each year. Seven marshals submitted bids, offering various discounts off the maximum statutory fees. The city accepted the lowest bid, and offered work to the others if they agreed to match that discount.

But some marshals objected to the lower fees, and the State Marshal Commission asked Blumenthal to determine whether the city’s actions were legal. Blumenthal said they were, and that freedom to negotiate extended beyond New Haven.

“This ruling should enable towns and cities to save taxpayer dollars on legal actions–using competitive bidding to lower litigation costs,” Blumenthal said.