"No" Vote

On February 20, Governor Rell nominated Appellate Court Judge Chase T. Rogers to be Chief Justice of our Supreme Court. (We first reported that Judge Rogers was under consideration here.) Governor Rell's Press Release notes that Judge Rogers "was confirmed March 15[, 2006 to the Appellate Court] on votes of 139-1 in the House of Representatives and 34-1 in the Senate." Because judicial confirmation votes are notoriously (i.e. negligently) unanimous -- even in the case of Judge Vanessa Bryant who has been rated as unqualified to be a federal judge by both the state and federal bar associations -- the two "no" votes piqued our curiosity. Who voted no, and why? Further investigation has yielded few details.

For starters, it appears that the Governor is incorrect as to the tally in the House of Representatives. According to the roll call here, (click on "House Roll Call Vote 6") the vote was unanimous, 141-0, in favor of the nomination. In the Senate, the vote was somewhat different than reported by the Governor, too. It was 35-1 in favor of the nomination. (See here, click on "Senate Roll Call Vote 11 ADOPT.) The lone "no" vote was cast by Senator Gary D. LeBeau, of East Hartford, pictured above.

We at ConnCon cannot find any press release explaining Senator LeBeau's no vote, but will endeavor to do so. Additionally, it will be interesting to see if Senator LeBeau repeats his no vote on the nomination this time.

CORRECTION: Representative Mike Lawlor has informed us that we at ConnCon have misread the vote tally and that (now retired) Sen. Gunther and NOT Senator LeBeau voted "no" on the nomination. Thanks to Rep. Lawlor for pointing out our mistake.