Several sources have confirmed for me that an offer of a position in the Malloy Administration may be on the verge for Hartford's 1st District Senator John Fonfara.
Apparently Fonfara is potentially being offered a position on the Connecticut DPUC, Department of Public Utility Control, most likely as Chairman or a Commissioner. Fonfara has been co-chair of the Legislatures Energy and Technology Committee.
This could prove interesting, if it occurs, as the posturing begins to fill Fonfara's Senate seat. MDC Chairman William DiBella, who held Fonfara's Senate seat previously, has told others that he would push for his son Marc DiBella to fill the seat when it was time for Fonfara to "move on". Ed Vargas, who campaigned hard to unseat Fonfara this past election would most likely be a contender. Kelvin Roldan's name has also been heard as someone who might be interested in Fonfara's seat. Roldan's move on the seat could potentially be a political "bridge burner" though considering his ties to the DiBella's and Halloran's, the MDC's attorney.
This should all prove very interesting.
23 comments:
Kevin....If Marc DiBella wants to run and if Vargas wants to run for the seat as well, it is my belief that the DiBella's would try to get Minnie Gonzalez or Kelvin or some other Hispanic with a prominent name to run as a "spoiler" in order to chip away as many hispanic votes as they can against Vargas and to ensure DiBella's win.
If Marc DiBella wants to run he will show up to Thursday's MARG party.
Abe,
that would definitely make sense, the key might be Wethersfield though, that is what carried Fonfara over Vargas.
I think Minnie has a son who works at MDC, so support of DiBella is probably a certainty
Kevin...with a due respect, the key is the splitting the Hartford Hispanic vote....one assumes based on past history and present connections that DiBella would have Wethersfield in his pocket going into this race.
While it is true that Minnie's son works at MDC it is also true that Minnie receives alot of campaign cash by both Fonfara and by DiBella and their 3rd district co-chair Nick Carbone gave Billy DiBella his start in politics and remains " like family" to the DiBella's.Minnie would be the logical person that DiBella convinces to be a "spoiler" and if someone else runs as a spoiler then I am very confident that she will be supporting Marc DiBella over the Hispanic Ed Vargas.
Fonfara is a total zero.....he got Dehlia and P Tberious real mad at him...one he stalked and the other he made pregnant and presured her to have an abortion.And of course there is that afro-american gay hustler incident at Fonfara's house of some years ago...He never had a sucessfull job anywhere where he accomplished anything.He would be certainly not worth the 130k that he receives at DPUC..he is more a 30k man.
Marc DiBella would be a great State Senator. He understands how the Legislature works and would help bring some real leadership back to the Hartford delegation. It would be fantastic to once again have adults like Matt Ritter and Mark looking out for Hartford.
Marc will be looking out for his energy lobbying corporate benefactors and not the citizens of Hartford.Marc was a champion of such great democrats as felon Angel Morales and Lou Watkins,under federal investigation for kickbacks,to both be party officials.He is the son of the notorius Bill DiBella the MDC Chair who was found civally liable for taking kickbacks in the Paul Sylvester scandel.Moreover, the district is largely Hispanic so one doesn't see the justification for any DiBella candidacy..
I don't know that Marc is interested, but if he is, the 1st District could do a lot worse. He knows the process at the legislature and a lot of the players, so he won't be a clueless freshman. He's got good political instincts as shown by the fact he put together a coalition to knock out the Giles machine and he was an important part of dumping Eddie's lap dog, Sean Arena, out of the DTC chairmanship. He has relationships with pretty much the whole Hartford delegation, which is something not everyone in the delegation can say. He was a strong supporter of Dan Malloy and did a lot of work for him so he will get his calls returned and he has a good relationship with our Congressman, which can only help. Can he win? Yes. He's got many friends (and former neighbors) in Wethersfield and he and Shirley Steinmetz (DTC chair) have a good relationship. He would win in Wethersfield by at least as much as Fonfara. He will get every single Downtown vote (look at the town committee election results) and he will do just fine on Clay Hill b/c of all the campaigning he has done up there and his relationships with Jean and Clarinda. I wouldn't count him out in the 6th as he still has a lot of friends and supporters there, including about 1/2 the DTC. As for the 4th, it's the lowest turnout district in the State thanks to its lousy town committee. The 3rd? He and Nick Carbone go back a long way and Marc is one of the few people who can have a rational conversation with Minnie. Maybe he won't win there, but I don't think he gets slaughtered. I hope he runs. Hartford needs more elected officials who have something going on between the ears.
How about Larry Deutsch? He lives in the district.
@Anonymous 10:39 am, please tell me you are joking.
What about Carmen Sierra? Almost beat Hector when Eddie was still powerful and was backing Hector 100%? Hard campaigner. Relationships witha a lot of people, including Minnie. Well-educated and a good resume. Just a thought, but I think she'd make a pretty appealing candidate.
Not joking. He is highly thought of on this board and has a good name around town.
This is almost impossible their claws that prohibited this from happening. He could not be employed by any state agency till 2years after he has left office I could be wrong but check it out.
All the names mentioned are capable and would represent Hartford and its citizens well.Where people go in supporting one candidate or another will depend alot on past relationships.I have no trouble envisioning a Vargas,a DiBella or a Sierra as the Senator from Hartford.
Fortuneately the campaign season would be a short truncated 45 day election.Whoever puts together the best organization and pleads their case the best stands a good chance to win.
Like everyone else, I will talk to anyone who wishes my support and make my decision on who I think will best represent Hartford.
Is fonfara going to actually promote clean energy and turn CT into NJ with a green revolution? NJ is on track to surpass california in a solar power in only the past 5 years.
People say fonfara has corporations write his bills, which is corruption to me.
He had put in lots of language supporting the utilities in the energy bill so is he a good guy or a bad guy?
Senator Roldan and State Rep. Sierra is the future.
Dear Anonymous 4:51PM
Senator Fonfara in my opinion is owned by the energy company lobbyists. I base that assertion on the fact that more then 30% of the money he raised for his last 2 primaries and general elections came from the same energy lobbyists and corporate officials that he purportedly is supposed to regulate in his role as the energy committee chair.But dont take my word for it, check out Fonfara's contributions yourself by going into the Secretary of State's ECRIS program.
It is very sad indeed when a Senator is owned by the very entities that he is supposed to regulate.
"Senator" Roldan? He barely squeeked by Angel Morales, Angel Arce is already waiting for 2012 and Kelvin's even less visable in the South End than Forfara. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, he's also joined at the hip to Eddie Perez. "Senator Sierra" is a lot more likely to happen than "Senator Roldan" especially if they are in a primary against each other. Bet on Carmen in that fight.
Hello!!! Don't count me out--
Barbara J. Ruhe
Mr. Rubenstein,
You state that more than 30% of Fonfara's $$$ raised in his last two elections came from "energy company lobbyists." How is this possible if the State law prohibited any lobbyist from donating, or soliciting funds for such elected officials during this time? Your claim does not seem to hold water.
Dear Anonymous 9:41
In the archives of this blog Mr Brookman already has posted the same thing I did previously. I invite you to check the archives of this blog and to also look for yourself on the Secretary of State's ECRIS program and you will see alot of energy corporate officials giving money to Fonfara's campaign.The energy lobbyists at the capital,who are paid handsomely by the energy corporations.They set up and suggested undoubtedly, that those donations be made and by doing so,indirectly gave to Fonfara's campaign.
Mr. Rubenstein,
If you are insinuating that energy executives instructed lobbyists to solict contributions from those "legally able" to donate, than you are claiming the law was broken. I find it hard to believe that Elections Enforcement, who tracks, and audits all campaigns receiving clean election funds would be so oblivious to such an obvious violation of the law (at the time these elections took place). If you have proof that this took place, I encourage you, and/or Mr. Brookman to bring this information to the State's attention, if not, I would be more judicious with my accusations.
Mr/Miss Anonymous 11:22 AM
I insinuated nothing more then a great deal of energy company executives have given Fonfara alot of money for his campaign.He sits as the Chair of the Energy Committee and deals daily with the energy company lobbyists.It seems to me to be a rather cozy relationship,doesnt it?...In baseball jargon it would be " to tinker, to evans, to chance"
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