That Sunday Press Conference in Middletown.

The Stamford Advocate’s Brian Lockart and WFSB anchor Dennis House have each offered some thoughts on odd moment in Sunday’s late afternoon press conference in the wake of the fatal gas explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, the appearance of Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele.  A Republican candidate for governor, Fedele joined Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and other officials at the Middletown resource center set up several miles from the site of the tragedy.

Fedele, who’s left no footprints during three years in statewide office, offered little at the press conference, speaking once and saying Governor M. Jodi Rell was monitoring events at the State Armory in Hartford.  Rell had arrived at and departed from the nearly-complete energy plant earlier in the day without speaking to reporters or being caught on camera.  Immediately after the press conference, Fox61’s Laurie Perez interviewed Fedele and asked him if he’d been to the site of the explosion.  He had not.

It’s unlikely that Rell choreographed her entrance and exit from the scene to make way for Fedele.  His role in her administration has been minimal on its busiest day.  Rell may have been surprised to see Fedele at the press conference if she watched it by using this website here.  Keeping the lieutenant governor informed of events has not been a priority of Rell’s tightly controlled office.

It would not have been like Giuliano, a nice guy, to turn away any of the officials who showed up for the press conference but had nothing to add to the public’s knowledge of the horrifying events and their aftermath at the power plant.