Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Two weeks before Connecticut voters are due to troop to the polls, U.S. Rep John Larson debated his opponents – Republican Ann Brickley, Green Party candidate Ken Krayeske and Socialist Action candidate Chris Hutchinson – at the West Hartford Town Hall. According to one report, Mr. Larson appeared “annoying.” The journalist who turned in the report surely meant to say that Mr. Larson looked “annoyed,” though it is unclear from the report which of the three burrs under his saddle irritated him most. Those who could not attend the debate may find it on Ameriborn News . Following the debate in West Hartford, three more are scheduled. Lately, and most surprisingly, Mrs. Brickley has crept up on Mr. Larson in the polls, a mere seven points separating the two. Mr. Krayeske is best known for having been arrested by over-exuberant Harford police some years ago while innocently interrupting a parade and taking some pictures of Gov. Jodi Rell. He also confronted UConn coach Jim Calhoun wit...

The hills are alive with the sounds of Ken Krayeske’s release from Connecticut’s gulag, and a blow has been struck for the freedom of the press of those who own the presses in Connecticut. I am proud to say I added my own little bit to Krayeske’s liberation here . Krayeske appears to have been sprung by Stan Simpson, myself, his able lawyer, a ton of blogging well-wishers, progressive agitator elect Colin McEnroe and the God of common sense. We ink stained wretches all can breathe more easily now that Krayeske is free to take pictures of the governor, should she ever again venture out of sight of Lisa Moody.

Ted Kennedy Jr., the son of the senator from Massachusetts, has lent his support to COW. COW is, of course, the anti-war group Connecticut Opposes the War, a national group opposed to the present war in Iraq. The last letter in the acronym changes according to the state in which the group operates. The Massachussets chapter would be MOW; Wisconsin would be WOW. Connecticut’s list of endorsers, here supplied by the Connecticut Citizens Action Group , suggest that some members of COW may be opposed to war in any case, while others may be oppose to the Iraq war in particular. Endorsers of COW, according to CCAG, include: “Sisters Of Notre Dame De Namur; Sisters of Mercy Leadership Team; Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery; CT State Legislators Chris Donovan, Andy Fleischmann, Toni Harp, Jonathan Harris, Jack Hennessy; Evelyn Mantilla, David McCluskey, Denise Merrill, Tim O’Brien, Melissa Olson, Elizabeth Ritter; Brendan Sharkey, Toni Walker; AFL-CIO CT; AFT CT; AFSCME Council 4; AFSC CT; CC...

Everyone knows John Petroski by now: He was the hapless editor of a student newspaper at Central State College in New Britain who, attempting to write a satire about an “R” subject – Rape – got an “F” in satire and was roundly pilloried in the press, within the Central Connecticut State College community and, for all we know, at his family’s breakfast table. Everyone hates rape except rapists, and pretty much everyone is agreed that the subject ought to be treated gingerly. Following the onslaught, Colin McEnroe , no amateur in the art of satire, attempted to make a few general points about satire and mercy on his blog site. The guy's a student, not Rush Limbaugh, and presumably students, as well as the rest of us, should be permitted to learn from their mistakes. He wrote: “I don’t know this guy Petroski, and I certainly don't condone the stupid article he wrote, but let me say this: Enough. He actually stood there and took questions from the most angry audience imaginable,...

A good part of Ken Krayeske’s adult life has been one of provocation. There is nothing unseemly in this; the same is true of some journalists and other adult provocateurs – artists, for example. Andres Serrano who, several years back, dipped a crucifix in a vial of his own urine, dubbing the final product “art,” was robustly provocative. Serrano, implausibly, was surprised at all the fuss he had caused. Sometimes, when you provoke, the provocation is successful. There is nothing alarming in all this; it’s simply the way the world works. You set out to insult Catholics; your provocation is successful; Catholics are insulted. So then Serrano, non-artists and people with ordinary sensibility said, you are surprised? Come off it. On Sunday, in front of the courthouse in Hartford, the Ken Krayeske show was in full flower. A picture in the Hartford Courant – there have been dozens in Connecticut newspapers since Krayeske was detained by the Hartford police, shuttled off to a holding pen and ...

“One of the great sorrows of modern public life in Connecticut is the way it discolors the otherwise spotless” – Colin McEnroe McEnroe was referring to Leonard Boyle, the current commissioner of The Department of Public Safety, but he might easily have been talking about former state police Maj. Gregory Senick , an apparently spotless servant of the people whose reputation was discolored by an overzealous prosecution, while the paper McEnroe writes for, the Hartford Courant, spurred on the prosecutorial harpies. McEnroe’s comment is worth quoting in full: “One of the great sorrows of modern public life in Connecticut is the way it discolors the otherwise spotless. I have never heard a bad word said about Leonard Boyle, but the actions of his department now make him look like the head of the secret poice (sic). In my one conversation with Boyle, he semed (sic) like a stand-up guy. “Now he's apparently shopping his resume around. As you can see, the Moodygate story sticks to him lik...

Colin McEnroe is outraged--yet again. The precipitating cause this time is the arrest and detention of one Ken Krayeske , communications director for Green Party candidate for governor, photographer, mountain bike rider, blogger and disturber of the peace. Krayeske was detained and arrested by Hartford police--acting in concert with a shadowy group called the Connecticut Intelligence Center attached to the office of Homeland Security. According to a police report, some of the representations of which have been questioned by Norm Pattis, Krayeske’s pony-tailed lawyer, this is what happened: While Rell was parading in Hartford, Krayeske was seen by the police on a mountain bike proceeding at a fast clip to the head of the parade. Krayeske ditched his bike and rapidly approached Rell, intending to take a picture with a camera he had in a nylon bag. Krayeske took a picture before being apprehended by one of Hartford’s finest. The apprehending officer could not have mistaken Krayeske for ...