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Special Events Reach 'Super-Saturation' Point On Connecticut's Gold Coast

Submitted by Amaris Elliott-Engel on Mon, 11/18/2013 - 16:38

I wrote a piece for The Stamford Advocate on how the gala season has exploded on the "Gold Coast" of Lower Fairfield County, Connecticut. One source told that me that 50 years ago there would only be one or two galas in the autumn and only one or two galas in the spring. Now there are two or three galas per week:

Fairfield County charities turn to galas to raise funds

Flowers flown from abroad. Live animals. Goody bags with luxurious gifts. Back in the financial world's heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, fundraising galas in Fairfield County were "hugely extravagant," says Elaine Ubiña, a photographic chronicler of the philanthropic scene with the website Fairfield County Look.

"Hedge funds ... the whole world of finance, everybody was just doing incredibly well and had less regard for the kind of money they were spending on the events," Ubiña said. "They knew there was always somebody who would underwrite" the lavishness of parties.

While the embellishments arranged for galas have been stripped down from years past, that has not meant any slackening in the number of special events put on by charities in Fairfield County and the rest of the greater New York City area.

"The competition is really fierce," said Christopher J. Riendeau, senior vice president of the Stamford Hospital Foundation.

Riendeau said that there are only five ways for nonprofits to raise funds: special events like galas, runs and golf outings; annual giving campaigns; large gifts of $25,000 or more from donors; planned giving in which nonprofits are named in donors' estate plans; and grants given by corporations and foundations.

As major gift-giving has decreased, more regional charities are undertaking special events, Riendeau said.

"The special event dollar, particularly on the corporate sponsorship side, is not infinite," Riendeau said. "It's definitely finite. I worry that we're going to get to this super-saturation point."

According to 2012 data from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Fairfield County's $1.3 billion in giving ranks it 10th in the nation.

Read the full piece here.

Arguments Set for Kennedy Cousin's Release in Murder Case

The Greenwich Time reports that a hearing on Michael Skakel's release from jail will be held next week. The Kennedy cousin has won a new trial after a judge ruled that he received inadequate representation by his defense lawyer. Skakel was convicted many years after teenager Martha Moxley was killed by being beaten and stabbed with golf clubs that belonged to Skakel's family.

Lawsuit Challenges Connecticut Alimony Laws As Unconstitutional

Submitted by Amaris Elliott-Engel on Mon, 11/11/2013 - 12:16

I wrote a story for ALM's Connecticut Law Tribune about a lawsuit challenging Connecticut's alimony laws as unconstitutional:

"Four plaintiffs have filed a complaint challenging the constitutionality of Connecticut's alimony laws on the grounds that they affect a "fundamental liberty interest in ending a marriage and in remarrying."

The plaintiffs, who filed their complaint anonymously and who were ordered to pay alimony as a result of their respective divorces in Middlesex, Hartford, Fairfield and Middletown counties, argue there are no standards to guide judges when granting alimony. The lawsuit claims alimony is an anachronism dating from when women's legal identities merged into their husbands' identities upon marriage.

Within that framework, no statue guides judges on the point of granting spousal support, according to the complaint. "In no other area of law is the judiciary cast adrift and empowered to force the transfer of a private citizen's assets with no stated goal against which to measure the appropriateness of the award," the plaintiffs' papers said.

In contract cases, courts are only allowed to award enough money to return plaintiffs to the positions they would have been if their contracts had not been breached, the plaintiffs said. In personal injury cases, courts are only allowed to award plaintiffs enough to compensate them for their pain and suffering as well as their lost earning power, the plaintiffs also said.

The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that Connecticut's alimony laws violate the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as well as a permanent injunction enjoining the alimony laws."

Read the full story here: http://www.ctlawtribune.com/PubArticleFriendlyCT.jsp?id=1202627142771

Connecticut Judge Wants to Hear Sandy Hook 911 Recordings Before Ruling On Their Release

The Associated Press reports that "a Connecticut judge said Friday that he wants to hear the 911 recordings from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting before ruling whether they can be released to the media."The judge set a Nov. 25 hearing on whether the recordings can be sealed so he access them, the AP also reports.

Sandy Hook Families Suggest Compromise for Public Access to 911 Records

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings, Connecticut has been having a huge debate on where to draw the line between public access to law enforcement records like 911 calls and protecting victims' families from further trauma and further invasions of their privacy. During testimony before a legislative task force, the spouse of one of the adults killed in the shooting suggested a compromise, according to the Hartford Courant: "Bill Sherlach, whose wife Mary was among the six adults and 20 children shot to death on Dec. 14, told members of the Task Force on Victim Privacy and the Public's Right to Know that he's willing to support a compromise: the release of a written account of the 911 calls made that day, as long as the audio is not made public. 'Transcripts can rely all the information that the public wants without having to hear the sounds of a slaughter in the background,'' he said."

Families of Sandy Hook Victims Want Right-to-Know Ban on 911 Tapes

There is a current debate in Connecticut on where to draw the line on access t0 law enforcement records like 911 tapes and crime-scene photos and the public's right to know in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. An attorney for most of the families of the Sandy Hook victims testified at a legislative task force that they do not want public disclosure of the 911 calls made because of the shooting, The Norwich Bulletin reports. While attorney Morgan Rueckert acknowledged the argument that the media has standards and does not always use the information accessed through right-t0-know requests, '"the reality is, every person now with a computer is an editor, a journalist and a publisher. The law needs to change to keep up and to stay in line with our peers."'

AP Editor Explains Request for Sandy Hook 911 Records

AP Editor William J. Kole writes that reason that his news organization requested the tapes of 911 calls made about the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., is because it would be in the public interest to examine "the law enforcement response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history." But, while Kole said a prosecutor's refusal to release the records breaks the law, he also points out that the AP may not use the 911 calls: "It’s journalism’s dirty little secret: Just because we have information doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to use it."

Ct. Legislator Questions Media's Judgment After Sandy Hook Shootings

A legislative task force appointed to give advice to elected representatives on the release of crime scene photos and emergency-call recordings heard testimony that "the news media needs access to as much information as possible -- even gruesome photos -- about Connecticut homicides in order to better inform the public," The Connecticut Post reported.

Meanwhile, a Connecticut legislator, whose district includes the town where the Sandy Hook school shootings occurred, questioned trusting the judgment of the media about releasing such materials. '"The idea of the public's need to know and the public's intrusion versus the victims' rights was obscene, in my mind. Having been there, having observed the behavior of the media was outrageous. To ask me to specifically trust the judgments of the media, I'm not willing to do that,"' The Post reported the legislator saying.

 

Sandy Hook Parents Seek Limits On Public Records

A Connecticut panel, appointed to review the state's public records laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings, heard testimony related to its charge to "recommend to lawmakers how to alter the delicate balance of victims' right to privacy and the public's right to know about crimes and the operations of agencies like police departments," The Connecticut Post reports.  One father whose son was murdered asked: '"What right do have to see my son's body or hear his last moments, just because such information is in a government file cabinet?"' The Post reported. But proponents of disclosure testified it would keep law enforcement accountable for their response in emergency situations.

 

CT News Junkie: New Law Puts Connecticut In The Minority On Disclosure

Connecticut is only one of nine states restricting the public disclosure of crime scene photos, Connecticut News Junkie reports on a survey conducted by the Connecticut Office of Legislative Research. Connecticut also is only one of 11 states restricting the public disclosure of 911 calls.

"Over the past few weeks the legislature’s research staff has been compiling reports for a task force convened by lawmakers to weigh the privacy of crime victims against the public’s right to know under the state’s Freedom of Information Act," Conneticut News Junkie reports. "The panel was created by a law that carved out new disclosure restrictions on the release of some law enforcement records pertaining to homicide victims and victims who are children" in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings.

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