By the time Gov. Jodi Rell arrived in Bristol, about 15 reporters and photographers were ready for her in the commuter lot on Todd Street, where aides had set up a podium flanked by the Connecticut and American flags.
But almost none of them cared a whit about the Route 72 project that Rell had come to Bristol to tout.
They came instead to quiz the governor about the tentative budget deal that Rell worked out Monday evening with Democratic leaders - a deal she didn't seem to know a whole lot about.
She couldn't answer, for example, whether the UConn Medical Center bailout was part of the deal. She seemed shaky on what elements of her health care initiative were included. She said the numbers generally were being firmed up today by others.
I thought it was funny when a woman reporter from Channel 61 got a little irked with a male reporter from one of the other stations (I never see any of these people on tv because I never watch tv, so I have no idea who any of them are, although I'd seen the guy around in the Capitol before.)
Oh, well. That wasn't why I was there in the parking lot anyway.
It's the first time I've seen Rell in Bristol in a long time, probably since her days as lieutenant governor, when she popped in with some frequency, having little else to do.
She's moved up in the world.
She got out of her car carrying a Blackberry, but not paying attention to it. After hugging various dignitaries and smoozing for a bit with local delegates, she made for the podium, then stopped.
Turning to an aide, Rell said, "I don't know why I'm carrying this Blackberry. It's been attached to me for the last three years."
All I could think about was: she's been hauling around a Blackberry for three years and doesn't know why?
But I snapped out of it to record what little was said about the Route 72 project, which was so minimal that nobody there knew for certain who the contractor for the $53 million project was going to be. It's Manafort Brothers, from New Britain, in case anyone else cares.
On Wednesday morning, I'll post links here to the stories I wrote for tomorrow's paper, if there are any online then, or I'll paste in the texts. It's big, big news for Bristol.
Proving that I still feel competitive, even when there's no real competition, I'm glad I got the story into today's paper.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
2 comments:
I know exactly what you mean, Im contiuously mystified by why people do some of the whacky stuff they do. Like when Couture, (and Stortz as well) used to make it a point to bring a bottle of poland spring water to meetings, or when Ellen had her apple, ad nauseum. Its obviously intentional to some degree, the problem arises when you have no idea what message it is your carrying.
Anyway, huzzah for 72.
Nice job, Steve. Your blog is really helpful. Please post as much as you can.
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