Farrell To Shred Spending

The Republican Party nominee for Secretary of State Jerry Farrell has an enviable theatrical talent.

The present Commissioner of Consumer Protection is captivating the on the stump, and on Saturday, July 24, he will be holding a “Shred State Spending” event for residents in the towns of Middletown, Durham, Middlefield, Portland and Cromwell, who are encouraged, according to a press release, “to drop off their home and office paper clutter including personal documents and meet Jerry. The campaign has hired Shred It, Inc. with headquarters in Cheshire to perform the shredding with its mobile services.

“The event will be held in the parking lot of FUTURES, Inc. at 158 Broad Street at 8:30 am through 11:30 am. Set up for the event will begin at 7:15 am.” Other similar events in other parts of the state will follow.

Virtually all Republicans running for office this year have professed a concern in their ads and campaign literature on the ruinous consequences of state debt. Connecticut, along with other states, in is the debt ditch. There are two ways – and only two ways -- of resolving debts: The state must either cut costs or raise taxes. Republicans and Democrats this year part company on where the axe should fall first. Spending cuts and tax increases are hard choices because the consequences of either are severe.

The strategy of a Common Sense Party, if there were such a political instrument, probably would crystallize around detailed specifications involving spending cuts -- before tax increases were seriously considered. The relationship between tax increases and spending, the last 20 years have shown, is direct and ruinous.

What most voters will be looking for this campaign season from those running for office are tokens of seriousness. It will not be enough for a prospective governor or state legislator to profess his or her concern for job losses or the depth of the state’s indebtedness or excessive borrowing or the plight of the downtrodden at a time when unpalatable choices must be made for the greater good.

Words certainly may be tokens of intentions. But when the barns are empty, when everyone knows the coming harvest will be poor – words are not nearly enough. One wants a plan, a commitment that demonstrates to citizens who will be asked to shoulder the burden of hard times that those who govern us have, through their words and deeds, crossed a personal Rubicon and committed themselves to an action plan that, at some risk of losing votes, will call upon the angels of our better natures to make personal sacrifices.

“With the state's finances continuing to spiral out of control,” Farrell said, “I will fight to save taxpayer’s money by consolidating all state record-keeping in the Secretary of the State’s jurisdiction. This will help avoid duplicative spending in the various agencies of the state. In these tough times, we need to look for every way we can to save money and reduce taxes.”

Farrell said he also intends to spur job growth by assisting new businesses, an avenue with which he is familiar as chief of consumer protection. He has made economies in that office and will use his experience to do the same should he be elected Secretary of State.

Casey Chadwick’s Uneasy Life after Death

Casey and her mother Wendy "I just started grief counseling. I'm always sad. I'm sad and in pain and I miss her." Wendy Hartling Hartling is the mother of Casey Chadwick, murdered in 2015 by Jean Jacques , an illegal Haitian immigrant. Jacques was convicted of the murder of Chadwick in a New London Superior Court jury trial and sentenced by Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed to a 60 year term in prison. Since Jacques is 44 years of age, the sentence was, in effect, a life sentence. Connecticut Commentary coverage of the Chadwick murder may be found here , and here and here . Jacques could not have been sentenced to death because Connecticut’s Democrat dominated General Assembly, under pressure from the state Supreme Court, had abolished Connecticut’s death penalty law in 2012 . The slaughter of Chadwick was particularly brutal. Her body had been found by a friend who, opening a door to a closet, discovered Chadwick stuffed in a dark corner drenched in blo...

Understanding North Korea Through Dramaturgy

The U.S. military is sending the Vinson Strike Group, including the carrier and two guided-missile destroyers, to operate in the Western Pacific Ocean in response to Pyongyang’s recent missile tests. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, asked about the strike force, issued a terse statement: “The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.” Is this a post-Syrian bombing mission? Will the US take out North Korea’s missile launching sites, possibly with the unspoken concurrence of China? Never let a bombing go to waste. There are some in the United States who think any such incident should be used to rid North Korea of that runty little totalitarian cock-of-the-walk who keeps his countrymen starved, in fear and at his knees. Since we only have one chance, they say, go for the clean sweep -- no more Kims. Connecticut Commentary is reprinting an earlier piece about the Kims here. Best read with a glass of port.

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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