The state legislature could meet as early as Friday in special session to fix the state's landmark campaign finance law.
Part of the law has been ruled unconstitutional, and lawyers have been studying exactly how to fix the law. The timing is important because many candidates are in the middle of political campaigns, and the primaries have been set for August 10.
"I think there's a strong likelihood we will be in session Friday,'' Doug Whiting, a spokesman for House Speaker Christopher Donovan, said Wednesday afternoon. "It's not nailed down yet. [Senate President Pro Tem] Don Williams put the odds at 90 percent.''
He added, "I would say everybody is anticipating coming in on Friday, and everybody is not in 100 percent agreement'' on how to fix the law. "We've not told them it's a 'go' yet.'
The top six leaders of the legislature met Wednesday with Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell. They discussed various aspects of the law, and Rell made it clear that she would not support raising the grants for the gubernatorial candidates.
Talk of raising the grants began after a federal appeals court in New York last month ruled that parts of the fundraising mechanisms of the state's clean elections program were unconstitutional, in particular one of the law's trigger provisions. It provided supplemental campaign funding for participating candidates who were being substantially outspent by wealthy, self-funded opponents.
Some lawmakers were considering the idea of increasing the initial $3 million grants to gubernatorial candidates participating in the general election to keep them competitive. Rell told the legislative leadership that she is adamantly opposed to the idea.
"All of those candidates that are in the clean elections program were counting on the trigger mechanism if they had a wealthy opponent spending all kinds of money," Rell said Wednesday in a radio interview recorded and distributed by her office. "I am not supporting raising that threshold. I told the leaders that today. We're in the middle of the cycle. You are two weeks away from the primary. You don't know who is going to win that primary.
"But frankly, right now, with the economy what it is, and the money that we have already adjusted for the campaign finance from last year's budget, we're giving candidates once they qualify after the primary, if they are in the clean elections program, $3 million. That is more than enough. And if their opponent is very, very wealthy and wants to spend $20 million, what are we going to do? Give them $8, $10, $12 million, $20 million? The answer is no.
"Frankly, this is kind of a strange election year. I don't think any of us expected this many candidates to be in there and frankly so many self-funded candidates to be in there."
Currently, those qualifying for public financing in the primary phase of the election cycle receive a base grant of $1.25 million and then a subsequent grant of another $1.25 million - depending how much their opponent spends. As such, Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy have received $2.5 million for their campaigns.