Look at the Lie$, Come Back With The Truth

By MICHAEL K. NORRIS

There $eem$ to be a growing trend in the media to put a “$” in place of the letter “S” $o I thought I’d $trike while the iron i$ hot and u$e thi$ time to talk about two kind$ of journali$m $tyle$: ‘hatchet’ and ‘thorough.’

Thi$ i$ not another opportunity to thank Dan Malloy for $etting the record $traight about the $timulu$ package on Fox New$ the other day, when the “hatchet” $tyle of journali$m wa$ on full di$play. $teve Doocy a$ked que$tion$ he knew to be untrue in $uch a way he thought they would be embarra$$ing, and had the que$tion “ARE YOU SERIO$?” on the bottom of the $creen.

The hatchet $tyle i$ u$ed everywhere (not ju$t by journali$t$), particularly $ince it i$ ea$ier to $cream “PORK!” and u$e $illy $ymbol$ on a $creen to beat up your opponent than u$e fact$. We $aw it yet again Tue$day night with Loui$iana Governor Bobby Jindal, who $neeringly piled critici$m on the $timulu$ package by $ingling out $140 million “for $omething called ‘volcano monitoring.’”

I wi$h there were a thou$and Andrea Thomp$on’$ for every $teve Doocy: Thomp$on—who i$ a ‘thorough’ journali$t rather than a ‘hatchet’ one—wrote an excellent piece called Gov. Jindal Follow-up: What is’ Volcano Monitoring?’ in which $he (brace your$elf) publi$hed factual information about what volcano monitoring i$ and what the United $tate$ Geological $urvey u$e$ it and other re$earch for. Turn$ out, volcano and other $ei$mic monitoring (which doe$n’t even account for the $140 million Jindal claim$) i$ pretty important: according to the $tory, the $1.5 million $pent monitoring ju$t one active volcano $aved thou$and$ of live$ and over $200 million in property damage becau$e the monitoring allowed for a timely evacuation.

Jindal proved la$t night that the hatchet approach will continue, probably indefinitely, $o we’ll have to encourage all the Andrea Thomp$on’$ out there and anyone with common $en$e and a calculator to look clo$er at the lie$ and come back with the truth.

Leading the Way on Renewable Energy

By MATT GIANQUINTO

As President Obama signed the stimulus package into law yesterday, elected officials continued to lobby for the funding of shovel-ready projects in their cities to get America back to work.
 
The $787 billion measure is designed to jump-start an economy in tailspin by distributing federal funds for health care, green energy investment, and infrastructure projects.  Portions of the package will be used to fill some of the gaps in state and local budgets, but it will also be used to create jobs primarily through the improvement of local infrastructure.
 
Obama signed the package in Denver as a nod to that city’s commitment to green technology and environmental friendliness.  He might as well have been in Stamford.  One of the projects Dan Malloy will be working hard to secure funding for is a new power plant that runs on the most renewable of energy sources, dried wastewater.
 
“In Stamford, Conn., city officials are eager to build a power plan that would run on dried wastewater, a renewable energy source that can be used to generate electrical power.  The $50 million-$60 million plant would create about 120 jobs and fits well with Obama’s goal of developing clean energy sources, Democratic Mayor Dannel Malloy says” (Mimi Hall, USA Today 2/2/09)
 
When it is constructed—with or without stimulus funding—the Stamford Bio-Gas plant project will stand as a symbol of good government at work.  While most cities pay to have waste materials taken away and burned, Stamford will use the resource in a safe and clean way to help address another challenge of our lives today, energy costs.  10% of the 10MW produced by the plant will power the plant itself, the other 90% will be sold into the grid.
 
“This is a win-win for our city,” Malloy told Global Water Intelligence.  “We can use the sludge to generate environmentally friendly renewable energy that will also ultimately save us money.”  (Kathy Shandling, Global Water Intelligence vol. 10, issue 1, Jan. 2009)
 
It’s just one project among thousands being fought for within the stimulus funding, but it is going to save money, it is going to protect the environment, and it will put eager shovels in the ground.  It will be the first of it’s kind anywhere on the globe, and it’s happening right in Stamford.

For more information on the Stamford Bio-Gas project and the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority, visit www.StamfordBioGas.com

Yesterday

By DAN MALLOY

Here is a short video clip from yesterday in Hartford.

A First Step

Today at 12:30, I will be in Hartford to create an Exploratory Committee to formally explore a run for Governor in 2010.

Four years ago, I launched a campaign for Governor because I believed that Connecticut needed a new kind of leadership in Hartford: leadership that is transparent, bold, practical and deeply engaged in the basic, daily business of governing.  

Those are the principles on which I helped govern the city of Stamford – and it’s worked. Fourteen years ago, my administration inherited a city that had lost its way, and we got it back on track – building a strong, safe, progressive and economically vibrant city.

Today, the State of Connecticut faces challenges of historic proportions. In recent weeks, Governor Rell has told us that she is “scared” about Connecticut’s future. She has paid to bring in a consultant to talk to folks under the Golden Dome in Hartford about “reinventing government.” But that’s not the kind of leadership we need. 

We don’t need a Governor who’s scared; we need a Governor with a clear, confident vision, who’s ready to get to work. We don’t need consultants to help us reinvent government; we need a Governor who knows how government works.

Over the coming months, I look forward to talking with you personally to ask what you think – about the challenges we face, about the kind of leadership Connecticut needs, and about my potential candidacy for Governor. I hope you share my view that it’s time for a change in Hartford. And I hope you’ll tell me that you’re ready to work together with me to help make that change happen.