The Money Scare, Plus: Stinky’s Woodpecker And Finch Consolidates Departments

God, it’s ugly out there. Have you checked in with your financial adviser? How’s your retirement account?

I snuck in a round of golf with a buddy on Wednesday and in between shanks and digging worms he tells me he lost a cool $100k in the past couple of days. Most of us don’t have that to drop, but losing a quarter or a third of a retirement account is enough to pull out the whiskey bottles. Is it time to stick your savings under the mattress? And now the federal government, our government, is in the insurance business, extending the nation’s largest insurance company $85 billion.

Meanwhile, Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, the three largest cities in the state, are talking major layoffs, with budget deficits growing by the day. If you’re a union official how do you strike the balance between standing up for your workers while saving jobs from the layoff hatchet? Nearly three months into his first full budget year, Mayor Bill Finch is looking at a deficit in the millions. Layoffs are likely. And if you really want to get sick to your stomach the projected gap between revenues and expenses for next year’s budget is just as ugly.

I spoke with Congressman Christopher Shays this morning and he obviously wasn’t happy with the overnight Wall Street news. He’s been talking to city developers to see where he can assist some projects such as Steelpointe, and particularly those facing some environmental issues. Unprompted, he said that Finch’s dismissal of Nancy Hadley, Johnny Fabs’ director of Economic Development, was a mistake. The city, he said, lost a lot of development momentum. New guy Don Eversley has a lot to learn.

Shays’ opponent Jim Himes, who cut his teeth on Wall Street, released the following statement Thursday about the financial mess:

In the past few weeks, we have seen financial giants crumble: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae needed a government bailout, as did AIG, while Lehman Brothers went out of business. This crisis is the direct result of government policy that has removed the referee from the playing field. When Chris Shays supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley banking reforms, he made no effort to regulate this rapidly changing sector of our economy. In fact, he has said that “the last thing I like seeing is regulation.” We need to return the referee to the field. If financial institutions are going to be bailed out like banks, then they should be regulated like banks.

That is why I support a system of smart regulations that will account for recent changes in our financial markets. In Congress, I will support a regulatory overhaul that ends the current alphabet soup structure and establishes a sensible, system-wide monitor that alerts us when a bank has taken on too much risk. We should also change corporate governance so that CEOs are accountable to shareholders. For too long, CEOs have lived in a world where success is rewarded, but there’s no price to pay for failure. That must change. Finally, America must always be the best place in the world to do business. Any regulatory overhaul should keep international financial norms in mind, so that our financial markets remain competitive.

Chris Shays does not seem to understand the scope of this problem. In fact, he thinks our economy is “fundamentally strong.” The truth is, investors need to have confidence that their money is going to grow, not disappear, when they invest. Smart regulation will restore confidence in our markets and help our economy get back on track. As someone who spent twelve years working for one of the firms that has avoided this mess, I have valuable experience to lend to this important effort.

Hey, life goes on. Let’s try to figure out all the madness next Thursday, Sept. 25 at the OIB party at Captain’s Cove Seaport at 5:30. First cocktail on OIB, plus we’ll have munchies. Bring friends. Start rumors. We’re a family!

Stinky Nails Woody

Speaking of family, I’m a happy man today. Darn woodpeckers have been turning the cedar siding into swiss cheese. I can’t do anything about them because they’re protected. But, they’re not protected from my cat Stinky. “Look,” says my wife Mo, sweeping the evidence on the deck into a dustpan. That’s a nice beak. Pecker must be two inches long. (No, not mine.) Good ol’ stink-ass downed everything but a few feathers and the head. That’s my boy!

News release from Mayor Finch:

Mayor Finch Announces Consolidation of Two City Departments as Part of Continued Cost-Saving Measures

Central Grants Office and Department of Housing and Community Development Will Merge

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (Sept. 17, 2008) – As part of his continuing effort to increase efficiency and help reduce costs, Mayor Bill Finch today announced the consolidation of the city’s Central Grants office with the Department of Housing and Community Development.

This consolidation will bring all of the city’s grant functions under one umbrella, which will help advance the mayor’s mission to increase affordable housing and aid in improving the city’s neighborhoods and schools, while saving the city money.

“Having the city’s entire grant funding resources in one place will create efficiencies in manpower, and in meeting critical funding deadlines,” Mayor Finch said. “We will be able to target resources more effectively while achieving our objectives with the least cost to the city as possible.”

This consolidation is just one of a number of ways the Mayor has worked to help bring the city’s budget under control by: reducing the size of the city’s workforce; cutting overtime; transitioning school-based health clinics to a state-funded model, and improving city efficiencies through implementation of the Citi-Stat model.

“Both of these departments deserve praise for their work. Central Grants, under the interim direction of Dawn Twistol for the past seven months, has done an outstanding job in securing grant funding for the city. I am confident that this newly reorganized department will achieve even greater success going forward,” said Mayor Finch. “In addition, the Department of Housing and Community Development has made great strides during the last two-and-a-half years in demonstrating the city’s capacity to administer its federal programs.”

“The new office will provide all City departments and the Bridgeport community with one centralized location to access a wide variety of grant funds. This will enable all of us to implement Mayor Finch’s mission statement for Bridgeport which will help to move the City forward even in these difficult economic times,” said Deputy CAO for Housing and Community Development Alanna Cavanagh Kabel, who will head up the as yet to be named department.

News release from Congressman Christopher Shays:

Shays Hails $6.9 Million in LIHEAP Funds

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Christopher Shays (CT-4) announced today Connecticut would be receiving $6,962,123 in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding.

“I am grateful for this funding, which will benefit many across our state in the coming weeks,” stated Shays. “As gas and home heating prices continue to rise and consumers are feeling a bigger and bigger pinch, LIHEAP will provide critical short-term assistance.”

“But the key,” Shays continued, “will be a long-term energy policy to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil, protect the environment, build a market for renewable energy and promote energy conservation.”

Last week, Shays joined 22 of his New England colleagues in writing to President George Bush, requesting he release emergency funds from LIHEAP to New England .

Shays is the lead cosponsor of Congressman Peter Welch’s (VT-At Large) legislation to double the funding of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 08) from $2.57 billion to $5.1 billion.

The bipartisan legislation H.R. 6427, the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act, will provide Connecticut with an additional $59.8 million in LIHEAP funding for FY 08.

Shays also has introduced H.R. 1945, the Energy For Our Future Act, a comprehensive bipartisan energy reform bill which has three principal goals for our national energy policy: improving the fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles; incentivizing the purchase of energy-efficient appliances; and repealing extraneous tax breaks for industries that are very profitable and have plenty of incentive to develop additional supply.

Last month, Shays introduced H.R. 6784, the Home Heating Oil Assistance Act, which helps middle and lower income families with their home heating bills this winter.

The Home Heating Oil Assistance Act would allow for a refundable tax credit of up to $500, or 33 percent of the amount of the residential heating costs, whichever is lower. The eligibility threshold would be $200,300 in the case of a joint return, $182,400 in the case of a head of a household and $164,550 in the case of an individual who is not married.

News release from CT secretary of state:

Nader in, Barr out

Bysiewicz Releases Official Candidate List for November 4th Ballot

Hartford: Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today officially announced that Winsted, Connecticut native and Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader (I) has received more than enough valid petition signatures to guarantee a spot on the November 4th ballot. The Libertarian Party, however, did not reach the 7,500 signature threshold for petitioning candidates to qualify. As a result, Libertarian candidate Bob Barr will not appear on Connecticut’s ballot.

“I believe Democracy is best served when voters have more choices; it forces candidates to talk about a wider range of issues,” said Bysiewicz. “This November when Connecticut residents head to the polls every federal race on the ballot will have at least one minor party candidate. These successful petition drives show the healthy state of our democracy. Voters in Connecticut continue to seek out candidates for office who have integrity and will work hard to find answers to the problems they face every day. It is very encouraging to see so many people with a desire to run for federal and state office. I congratulate all the candidates that have made the November ballot.”

In total, 42 petitioning candidates for President, Congress, and General Assembly (excluding cross-endorsed candidates) qualified for November’s ballot. (A full list of candidates for state office is attached)

In the 1st Congressional District, Green Party candidate Stephen Fournier has qualified to run against Congressman John Larson (D) and Republican Candidate Joe Visconti.

Green Party candidate G. Scott DeShefy has collected enough petition signatures to qualify to run against 2nd Congressional District Congressman Joe Courtney (D) and Republican candidate Sean Sullivan.

Ralph Ferrucci is the Green Party’s nominee in the 3rd Congressional District against Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D) and Republican candidate Bo Itshaky.

4th District Congressman Chris Shays is being challenged by Democratic Candidate Jim Himes and two petitioning candidates: Green Party candidate Richard Duffee and Libertarian Candidate Michael Carrano.

In the 5th Congressional District, petitioning candidates Harold Burbank (Green) and Thomas Winn (Independent) as well as Republican State Senator David Cappiello are running against Congressmen Chris Murphy (D).