The governor may not have been the one who parked his Lincoln Towncar halfway into a no-parking zone in New Haven Thursday, prompting a $30 ticket from local police, but he paid the fine out of pocket, he said.
“Already paid,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said when asked about the ticket at a press avail following Friday’s Bond Commission meeting.
Reporters grilled the governor on the important issue. How did he feel after receiving the ticket?
“You know, I got a ticket and paid it,” he said, adding, “I am going to talk to the guy who drives.”
The guy who was driving that day was state Trooper Gary Williams, according to the New Haven Independent, which reported that Williams parked the governor’s car too close to a fire hydrant.
Now that Malloy has waived his right to appeal the fine to the city traffic department, the issue appears to be resolved with the governor $30 poorer. But the incident raised questions regarding why the gubernatorial transport vehicle doesn’t sport a one-digit “1” license plate.
In the midst of the “plategate” controversy in February, Malloy joked about how he tends to crane his neck when he drives past a car with a low-digit license plate, like the ones former Gov. M. Jodi Rell handed out to some staff and lawmakers during her last few days in office. The plates became a scandal when a member of Malloy’s staff leaked the names of low-digit plate possessors to a blogger.
The Hartford Courant reported that he had feigned disappointment that he wasn’t offered a low-digit license plate himself.
“I’m shocked that as a governor-elect I wasn’t offered one of those. I’m shocked and hurt – and I’m hoping to find a way to recover,” he joked.
He later admitted he honestly doesn’t understand why folks covet low-digit plates.
So it seems likely the governor’s nondescript license plate is more a function of security considerations, than his digit preference. State police officials were unavailable to confirm that speculation.