And don't worry if you sense mixed signals and feel that you have to read it a second or even a third time...

But she does clearly tap the horn loudly in the second-to-last paragraph, pledging to:

"encourage agency heads to seriously consider increasing telecommuting options and to make information about this program available to their employees."

If only she had shared this letter -- dated last Thursday -- with her Director of Labor Relations before she revved up her engine for the Hartford Business Journal for their article in this week's edition, she might not have said that she "doesn't favor an expanded telecommuting policy..."

The article is linked to the entry here at our blog from earlier this week where we revealed, to our astonishment, that our union and Larry Cafero were ridesharing on this issue...

And that was just the beginning of the media coverage of our unprecedented ride with House Republicans in the political carpool lane...

First, the Hartford Courant's Capitol Watch featured some of my comments reacting to the House GOP's announcement -- and the Senate Democrats' unexpected road rage -- in an entry posted Wednesday night...

Not long after that, the non-partisan weblog CT Local Politics posted a thread on the controversy, and helped clear up what we knew all along -- that the Senate Dems have long-supported the broad expansion of telecommuting for State workers we have called on Governor Rell to take to the streets...

Then, the Courant expanded its discussion of the issue in a feature article in yesterday's edition. The report links recent news of state and city officials across the country putting the brakes on government offices one day a week to reduce energy costs to telecommuting's ability to curb congestion and conserve fuel.

Then, later that afternoon, Capitol Watch posted an update -- this time, a link to a video the House GOP is circulating online that brought any speculation this story had reached its peak shock potential to a screeching halt!

Then, the online news source CT NewsJunkie posted a thorough update on what had become an unexpected political traffic jam. In addition to comment from General Assembly Senate and House leaders clarifying the official position on the issue, it includes a link to the site's article that broke the Senate Dems' controversial remarks...

Finally, our union's Political Director Rick Melita was a guest on WTIC-AM 1080's Afternoon Drive with Colin McEnroe show late yesterday afternoon. You can hear the full audio of the interview online at the station's website (a flash audio file will open directly in your browser's software when you click the hyperlinked text).

As these news stories whizzed by over this past week, they were caught in the headlights of the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), which is charged with administering the current telecommuting policy for the State workforce. The agency's Deputy Commissioner contacted the union hall on Thursday to complain that we were mischaracterizing their position on this issue to the press...

He claimed their agency has not been the road hazard to increasing the number of State workers telecommuting we have painted them about to be. This despite the dismal progress they have made -- less than 1/2 of 1% of the State's workforce telecommuting today -- ten years after the legislature empowered them to put the policy to work...

He also insisted DAS testified in favor of the legislation our members advocated in the previous session that would have improved the current policy, and created a pilot program in several State agencies. Read their testimony submitted to the General Assembly's Government and Administration Committee in March, and judge for yourself if their statement should be taken as a green light for expanding telecommuting and work-at-home options for State workers...

Regardless of who is responsible for bottlenecks that have slowed progress on telecommuting in the past, our members are looking forward to working with DAS and management in the agencies where we work to get the State out of the slow lane!

In the meantime, contact Governor Rell's office and thank her for hearing the voice of State workers -- and tell her we expect her political appointees to make good on her call for expanding telecommuting options for State workers:

CALL (860) 566-4840 or (800) 406-1527 toll-free statewide, weekdays between 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.

EMAIL Governor.Rell@ct.gov

WRITE Governor M. Jodi Rell, State Capitol, 210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106