The smiling face of Democratic Secretary of the State Denise Merrill looms large over I-91′s southbound lanes in Hartford on a taxpayer-funded billboard urging citizens to vote on Nov. 6 – adding to the millions of dollars’ worth of advertising that already has appeared in Connecticut this year on behalf of candidates seeking votes.
Public service announcements such as this can raise questions when they are taxpayer-funded ($7,500 in this case, not a huge sum) and display the image of a state official as prominently as their message. These questions include: whether it was necessary to spend taxpayer money to give public exposure to the official; whether there was an urgent message that needed to be conveyed; and whether the official was seeking any collateral political benefit. Democrats asked similar questions back when Republican John G. Rowland was governor and he appeared in state tourism ads with his wife, Patricia.
No such questions have yet arisen in this case — but the new billboard advertisement featuring Merrill, the state’s top official in charge of elections, just went up this week. The Merrill image in Hartford is on an electronic billboard that changes from one advertisement to another several times per minute, and then repeats the cycle all day.
Asked about the billboard Wednesday, Av Harris, Merrill’s office spokesman said: “There were $7,500 in Secretary of the State General Funds allocated for the outdoor advertising encouraging citizens to vote in the upcoming elections. There was also empty space on billboards donated by outdoor advertisers for this purpose.”
He added: “Secretary Merrill approved the expenditure after consultations with staff.”
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10 Responses to Government Watch: Billboard Of Democrat Denise Merrill Says People Should Vote
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Ego trip.
Simple.
Maybe she should add a caption:
“I was outvoted unanimously by the Connecticut Supreme Court 7:0, and a survey of a couple of hundred 3rd-graders, but I still say that the law was open to interpretation. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.”
I’m Denise Merrill and I approved this message.
When people smile a lot and say foolish things that run counter to common sense, is that a sign of some sort of mental defect?
Just curious.
No doubt the staff she consulted with is the same staff she credits with mis-interpreting a simple law that any 5th Grader could understand — and forced the CT Supreme Court to render a decision.
Merrill is a partisan hack, just like her predecessor, who claimed she was qualified to run for Attorney General — who also forced the CT Supreme Court to render a decision.
No one is going to vote simply because this self-centered politician reminds them.
Ha… During a hearing in the Commerce Committee about her new proposed expensive website, I asked if she was going to promote herself on TV and billboards. Of course the answer was a slight smile and no. Not surprising.
Typical Democrat game, get your arse kicked by Supreme Court and go out pushing your agenda hoping people didn’t notice. How do you spell damage control? Btw why the heck didn’t the reporter mention the tie in with Merrill’s Supreme Court crushing of her blatant disregard for the law regarding ballot placement of a party? Malloy did not receive the most votes by a party and is now on the second line because CT GOP Chairman was forced to sue the Secretary of the State Merril to find justice. And another thingwhy did Democrat George Jetson not read up on this before his office defended Merril? Why because Democrats break the law all the timek and while the media has always been their get away driver !!!
Why did it take the Republicans two years to raise the top line issue on the ballot? If it was such a huge issue then why didn’t they immediately complain in the first place? Republicans had the top line in 2010 and lost every statewide and federal office here anyway so does it really matter? Does anyone (other than the three idiots mr illigocal, georgeboy and joey visconti who commented on it here) care? No, they don’t. So keep wasting your time writing foolish comments on blogs instead of doing the real work like winning elections and the results will be the same.
[...] the smiling face of a public official not on the ballot this year) reminding you to vote? See “Government Watch: Billboard of Democrat Denise Merrill Says People Should Vote” (CourantBlogs.com/capitol-watch, Oct. [...]
[...] Lender of the Hartford Courant already reported on the mechanics of Merrill’s statewide “franking privilege”. The Courant editorial board [...]
This chick has always been crooked. Remember the Anti-Catholic RAT she put in the budget?