I admit it. I'm partisan. I'm a Democrat. With a big "D" and with a little "d."
Governor Dan Malloy of Connecticut is another Democrat.
He was inaugurated Wednesday.
I was there, too.
Dan was happy.
I was happy.
:)
Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman was really happy.
She seemed humbled by her office.
And delighted that she got to
that office from where she originated.
She made Dan laugh a lot whenever they were together on a stage.
Nancy Wyman did that. :-D
High School student Mary Fox sang like an angel and looked like one, too.
She was really happy to be singing at the inauguration of
Democrat Dan Malloy!
Probably the most realistically delighted of all the Constitutional
Officers and maybe the most popular of the crew was
brand new
Secretary of the State
Denise Merrill.
While Dan was taking the oath, you could see his wife, our new
First Lady,
couldn't contain herself.
She was really happy!
So was the Judge administering his oath,
the Honorable Gerald Fox, a friend of Dan's
from Stamford.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman
just grinned and grinned
all day.
She told oodles of funny
unscripted jokes. :-D
You could tell
everyone really likes Nancy, too.
Nancy was delighted for all of her friends who won, too.
That showed.
These three pictures weren't taken at the swearing in at the Armory.
They were taken at the morning House session where Speaker of the House
Christopher G. Donovan,
another winning Democrat,
was re-elected House Speaker.
Both he and Denise Merrill were delighted.
But Denise is much more demonstrative than Speaker Donovan.
That's Sec. of the State Merrill taking her oath just before Dan took his.
In the house session, these shots came out really dark, sorry.
But you can see how happy the new Sec. of the State was.
You can't really see how happy Speaker Christopher was.
He was very happy and proud of his daughter, who is seated behind
him and a college freshman, his son who is behind him and his
wife sitting next to his daughter. They were all really happy.
All his kids like politics too, and look like they are majoring in Political
Science or gonna do politics somehow someway someday.
That makes Speaker Donovan proud.
Very proud.
It shows.
It should.
:)
You could tell that everyone really likes Secretary of the State Merrill.
She was so happy it was funny to see.
I want to do follow-up reporting on the Bridgeport ballot situation, among other election issues, and
Sec. Merrill is a key part of that process.
I got to meet her and her campaign manager, Liz,
at a rally for Dan featuring
another winning Democrat,
President Barack H. Obama,
btw,
YES WE CAN, SIR, AND YES WE WILL IN 2011 AND 2012,
at the Arena at Harbor Yard
during the campaign.
She's already called a conference on the matter,
and her press helper Av called me yesterday
to tell me about it and I'll see Denise at 10a.m. if
the snow's not too bad.
After a formation of Fighter Jets flew over them, a bunch of guns fired blanks
and gave Dan a 19 gun salute, and
they played Ruffles and Flourishes
Ms. Merrill came rushing into her office on the first floor of
the Capitol telling her staff
how much "fun" it was
standing with Dan whilst all
those honors were happenin'.
She went into her office,
emerged a couple of minutes later,
surrounded by a few people.
I asked her where she was off to.
She said she was going to the House chamber.
She was going to listen to Dan's speech to a joint session of
the House and Senate.
I said I was headed there, too, shortly. She said she'd be
back in her office after that.
She said "I have to give my 'OhYeah's.'"
That was just too real, too humble, and too funny.
Dan gave a barn-burner of a speech, with oodles of specific
proposals and promising a detailed budget message within a month.
He was inspiring, directive and a leader to say the least.
He was wearing a jacket and a bright green tie, but he
might as well have had his sleeves rolled up
and been sitting at a conference table,
because he was already getting to work with the Legislature.
He told it like it is.
This picture shows how happy Dan really was at his victory, and at
how his message did resonate with the voters.
But clearly he has the hardest job in Hartford today.
Cleaning up the mess following the Rell/Rowland 'Administration'
is a nearly impossible task. Governor Rell wasn't even around on Wednesday.
No class at all.
And we still have the whole mop-up going on nationwide following
the Cheney-Bush fiasco that just ended 23 months ago
resulting in
"The Great Recession"
and
two wars.
These are State Police choppers. There were oodles
of State Capitol Police, Hartford cops, and State Troopers.
They were all happy, helpful and courageous, yet unobtrusive.
State Capitol Police Lieutenant Glen Richards was so helpful
that I wrote the Chief of that department an email about it.
I also wrote a nice article at examiner.com/government-in-hartford/stevenalexander praising the State Capitol Police and they
were really appreciative. That was a very nice surprise
for everybody.
Up until she was sworn in as Secretary of the State,
Denise Merrill
was the House Majority Leader.
The new House Majority Leader is
J. Brendan Sharkey.
I met him, and he's very nice
and has a great sense of humor, too.
He spoke a lot during the House session.
But the most funny, popular and happy person that I saw was new
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.
She's real.
I regret not getting a chance to say thanks to
her predecessor,
Secretary of the State
Susan Bysiewicz.
She sure earned her paychecks
since the election,
what with the
missing ballots
in Bridgeport.
Now Denise
has inherited
that matter.
Susan
served the state
with grace,
honor,
dignity,
dedication,
and got
oodles
of
political
raw deals
in the past year.
Secretary of the State
Susan Bysiewicz
was a great
public servant and
will continue to be,
if we have that
good fortune
as a
people
as a state and as a nation.
We need her leadership.
I can see that her staff will miss Susan terribly. :(
I can see that the staff in that office
has affection for their new leader, Denise Merrill.
The happiest, and maybe the most popular Constitutional
Officer in Hartford at the
Capitol.
Wednesday
January 5th 2011
was
a
happy
day
in
Hartford
for
a
bunch
of
Happy
Democrats!
Guide them well please.
Amen.
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