On his one-week anniversary in office, new Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is showing a different, hands-on style that is exemplified by his handling of a historic snowstorm that hit Connecticut.
Malloy held constant briefings for the news media, and appeared on live television broadcasts three times Wednesday. That came on top of three briefings on Tuesday, in which he talked about the "news cycles'' and the need to spread the message through the news media about the approaching and then-arriving storm.
While Gov. M. Jodi Rell also held emergency meetings at the state armory during storms, she never met as frequently with the media as Malloy did during a 30-hour period.
In answering questions, Malloy constantly referred to his 14 years as mayor of Stamford as a way to explain his preparation for the storm that dumped more than 24 inches in some parts of the state.
"When you're mayor, you have to be out there in the community and be the face of government,'' said Democratic operative Matthew Hennessy, who handled storms and crises as the former chief of staff to then-Hartford mayor Eddie Perez. "Dan is bringing that approach to being governor. This is just the beginning of Dan stepping up to the front. You bring that ethos that 'I've got to be out in front of the situation' in a hands-on, accountability model.''
For more than 24 hours, Malloy was on a whirlwind of conference calls and press conferences as the storm approached and then did its damage. He participated in a conference call Tuesday at the state armory with about 250 state and local officials before he briefed the media. At that news conference, he said he would have updated weather information at 4 p.m. Tuesday. When reporters arrived at his state Capitol office at 4:30 p.m., staffers were still monitoring the weather, and Malloy announced that he would have yet another update at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Later, his press office announced another update for 6 a.m. Wednesday - after the snow had started accumulating - and then at 12 noon. The noon conference was carried live on Channel 3, 8, and 61 as snow-bound citizens watched the update from the comfort of their homes.
At 6 p.m., all four local network affiliates - CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX - broadcast some portion of Malloy's press briefing. Fox CT broke into its regular programming to carry Malloy's remarks before returning to the program at about 6:12 p.m.