Government

New Canaan Republican Michael Handler Announces Candidacy for Governor

By |

Touting his work in getting Stamford on stronger financial footing, New Canaan Republican Michael Handler announced Monday that he’s making a bid for Connecticut’s highest elected office. Employed as director of administration for Stamford and serving as director of Emergency Management in New Canaan, Handler is known to thousands of local households as the recorded voice that advises residents about rescue efforts, shelter options, safety precautions and road closures during and after major storms.

Handler, 47, filed for a candidate committee for the office of governor July 14 and the state on Tuesday approved his filing, he said. Describing himself as “hands on” and with background in investments and finance in the private sector who also has “a very strong background in public safety” and the public sector, “having dedicated myself to public office in Stamford for the last five years,” Handler said he’s already achieved success in areas that now are of pressing concern for the state, such as negotiating multiple contracts with unions. “I have, more than anybody else out there, the experience of understanding what the prior administrations have done to Stamford financially and how to clean it up,” Handler told NewCanaanite.com. “The most critical issues facing Connecticut are primarily fiscal, and there is no question that governors for many years have failed to address the State’s structural costs and instead opted to kick the can down the road,” Handler said.

Around Town

New Canaan Library Director: Borrowing for Nonresidents Eliminated in Governor’s Spending Plan

By |

If Gov. Dannel Malloy’s spending plan for the state goes forward as proposed, nonresidents will no longer be able to borrow materials from New Canaan Library or any library outside of the town or city in which they live, the facility’s director said. Lisa Oldham said she’s contacted the town’s delegation to the Connecticut General Assembly to advocate on behalf of the Connecticut State Library, whose budget would see a $3.7 million (29.4 percent) reduction under the spending plan put forward last month by the governor. “If you live in Stamford or Norwalk or any other surrounding towns, you won’t be able to use New Canaan Library with ease,” Oldham said. The proposed biennial budget calls for a reduction from $16 million in the current fiscal year to $12.3 million in FY16, according to the governor’s proposal (see page 80 here). Major changes include the elimination of grants to local public libraries ($193,391 statewide or about $20,000 annually for New Canaan Library) and $315,875 for “Cooperating Library Supports.”

The proposed budget calls for no change in the number of full-time positions (55) within the Connecticut State Library (see page 53 here).

Government

Malloy: New M-8 Trains for Heavily Used New Canaan Line

By |

Gov. Dannel Malloy on Tuesday took a symbolic trip on Metro-North Railroad’s New Canaan branch line Tuesday by way of announcing that new M-8 cars are operating between Stamford and the Next Station to Heaven. During a press conference on the platform at Springdale station, Malloy said the first two of 25 single-car trains dedicated to the line are in place. Transportation officials estimate that travel on the New Canaan branch will increase 44 percent over the next 15 years, he said. “We are currently running 2,500 [commuters] Monday through Friday and we see that growing,” said Malloy, joined on the platform by State Rep. Tom O’Dea (R-125th), State Rep. William Tong (D-147th), Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker and other officials, many of whom had valid reasons to be there. O’Dea said he was “ecstatic” about the announcement and joined the governor in “calling for upgrades to the New Canaan line.”

Tong, who represents parts of Darien and Stamford, called the New Canaan line “part of the lifeline for Connecticut’s economy to “maybe the most economically important economic center in the world, New York City.”

Asked how much the cars cost, Malloy said the single-riders are about $2 million.

Government

Election 2014: O’Dea, Boucher Re-Elected; Wilms Wins; Malloy Claims Victory

By |

As a close race for the governor’s seat kept Connecticut residents awake into the predawn hours Wednesday, voter returns from Election Day showed that New Canaan constituents backed winners in the state legislature. New Canaan resident and State Rep. Tom O’Dea (R-125) retained his seat in the Connecticut General Assembly by a convincing margin—88 percent versus 12 percent for challenger David Bedell of the Green Party. Incumbent state Sen. Toni Boucher (R-26) also won re-election, defeating Democrat and fellow Wiltonian Philip Sharlach. In those two contests, and the race for the 142nd House District seat, the majority of New Canaan voters cast ballots for winners. Candidates for New Canaan’s delegation to Hartford in the state House and state Senate both debated in town two weeks ago.