Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

A recent poll – Governor Dannel Malloy has called it, dismissively, a survey – shows Republican gubernatorial prospect Tom Folly leading Mr. Malloy by nine points. The poll by YouGov , a survey firm that has partnered with The New York Times and CBS News, is a bit different than the usual survey.  Unlike the more traditional Quinnipiac poll, YouGov derives its nonpartisan data from an online panel of more than 100,000 respondents nationwide. In Connecticut, the poll shows Republicans favoring Mr. Foley 81-5, while Democrats favor Malloy 72-12. But one of the most alarming takeaways from the poll is Mr. Foley’s 50 to 15 percent lead among Independents .  That gap is huge, and unaffiliated voters in the state outnumber both Republicans and Democrats. These figures should alarm Democrats. Further, the majority of respondents said that they disapprove of Malloy’s performance as Governor.

“You cannot restore the fiscal integrity and competitive posture of this state unless you do three things: first, reduce state spending in absolute dollar terms; second, renegotiate state employee benefit arrangements in a manner that is fair to employees, retirees and the taxpayers who must pay the tab; third, right size state government and revise its operational practices. We also need to engage in regulatory relief and tax reform and other actions, but these three actions are critical.” That is Dave Walker, speaking more or less off the cuff. This is standard conservative – i.e. Chicago School – economic doctrine. A Republican running for Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Walker does not pull his punches. But because he is vying for a position comparable to John Nance Garner’s colorful description of the office of the Vice President, the punches land softly on the opposition. Mr. Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President, once described his largely ceremonial duties in scatolog...

“Dr.” Michael Sharpe, the CEO of the Family Urban School of Excellence (FUSE), padded his credentials; it turned out he was not a “Dr.” at all. Moreover, a cautiously concealed stint in prison further marred Mr. Sharpe’s record, which was, before journalists began snooping into his past, fairly substantial. It is said that the FBI is now examining FUSE with jeweler’s loops screwed into its many eyes. FUSE, according to its mission statement, is “an education management organization formed in 2012 to continue, guide and expand the work of Jumoke Academy, a high-performing urban charter school in Hartford’s north end.” In an earlier time, Mr. Sharpe’s Pilgrim’s Progress through adversity in the direction of a shining light might have served young urban African Americans struggling with their own demons as a positive object lesson: Here was a man who had pulled himself up from the mire by his own bootstraps. Both Malcom X and Martin Luther King spent some time in jail. Mr. Kin...

When hit in the forehead with the news, Nick Merrill, spokesman for possible presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton, asked “There’s a book?” Indeed there is. This one, due out in August and written by Ron Kessler, the Secret Service agent who broke the story that some members of President Barrack Obama’s Secret Service detail had hired prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, thus imperiling the president’s safety, is titled “The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of Presidents.” Some of the details disclosed in Mr. Kessler’s book are eye-catching, if unsurprising. We discover that when “The Energizer” – not her real name – arrives at Chappaqua for an assignation with former President Bill Clinton, he of the “blue dress,”  her progress is not impeded by Secret Service agents, so called presumably because they are able to keep secrets in addition to protecting the president, delicately and  surreptitiously , from unwanted intrusions.

“What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright” – Samuel Gompers When asked what unions wanted, Samuel Gompers – who is to unions what George Washington, the flag and apple pie is to America --replied, “More.” However, it should be noted that Mr. Gompers – no socialist he -- also said about profits, “The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit.” Mr. Gompers disdained pacifists and Wobblies. Connecticut employee unions want more of what they have -- higher salaries and more benefits. The only open question among union members in the Nutmeg State is: Are they likely to reach the point of temporary satiation more quickly with Governor Dannel...

Printed with permission from Shelia Gallo. Sheila Mathews is associated with AbleChild By Sheila Matthews The recent July 9th Ct. Mirror article, Children Stuck in Crisis , accomplishes the intended purpose of deceptively convincing the people of Connecticut that there’s a severe mental health services crisis in the state. On the surface, the article’s author, Arielle Becker, provides a compelling scenario of the state’s youth failing to get the needed mental health care and forced to rely on emergency room services. The problem with the presentation is Becker’s failure to address a key piece of information in the reported mental-health-crisis-puzzle – the increased psychiatric drugging of Connecticut’s children. The entire article focuses on the specific case of Peter, a 6 foot, 220 pound 13-year old, who apparently has been in the care of mental health professionals for many years of his young life. Peter is described as having “psychiatric issues and a developmental disor...

U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal is at it again . Earlier in the Congressional session, Mr. Blumenthal proposed a gun restriction bill that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid nixed. Mr. Reid is a Democrat who, unlike Mr. Blumenthal, occasionally concerns himself with the political well-being of fellow Democrats, and so the Speaker made sure the bill never came up for a vote. The proposed gun bill championed by Mr. Blumenthal and his compatriot in the Senate, Chris Murphy, easily could have passed the scrutiny of dominant Democrats in Connecticut’s General Assembly, but the Blumenthal-Murphy war on the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution caused major agita among many Democrats looking down the barrel of upcoming elections. Never mind, Mr. Reid was there to wipe every Democrat’s tear, and any prospect of a gun restriction bill was aborted at its fetal stage. Today, the Blumenthal-Murphy effort is useful only as a campaign prop in the Northeast and California.

Do debates determine elections? On occasion, they do. Those defending the proposition that debates are determinative point to the Nixon-Kennedy contest of 1960. And of course the Lincoln-Douglas debates still are held up in the history books as demonstrating the political utility of vigorous debates. It is sometimes forgotten by those who urge the importance of debates that Stephen Douglas, not Abraham Lincoln, emerged the victor in their Senate contest. The Lincoln-Douglas debates later were assembled into a book by Lincoln. Widely distributed, the book helped him to win the presidential election of 1860. The format of the Lincoln-Douglas debates – a 60 minute opening statement from the first candidate, followed by an alternative 90 minute statement from the second candidate, followed by a 30 minute rejoinder  from the first candidate  -- became, with some adjustments, the template for most future political debates. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were moderated by L...

According to a recent news story , “Democrats in Congress announced Wednesday they are filing legislation in an attempt to undo the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that certain companies can deny workers’ contraception coverage on religious grounds.” The Supreme Court Ruling that Democratic Congressmen, among them Connecticut’s entire U.S. Congressional Delegation, wish to overthrow is Burwell v. Hobby Lobby . It is important to understand that the ruling was a very narrow one , which is to say it was a decision that sought an accommodation between plaintiffs and defendants in the case, though one would hardly deduce this from the hysterical response to it by abortion on demand Democrats. U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s response may be found on his senatorial site. His remarks are reproduced below. The Blumenthal response is a joint declaration. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy also signed off on the media release, and both senators co-sponsored a new bill, the Newspeak named...

There is a point at which serious journalism descends into pettifoggery. That point is reached when critics, betraying a lamentable want of bad taste, take something seriously that was intended in a humorous vein. One doesn’t shed tears at a joke or laugh raucously at a tragedy – not without getting thrown out of the theater. Kevin Rennie is a fine journalist when he takes seriously serious points and laughs with the rest of us at the foibles of politicians who, especially in Connecticut, tend to take themselves a wee bit too seriously, a professional hazard of almost all supermen, most of whom, at least in Connecticut, are professional Democratic politicians. Mayor Erin Stewart of New Britain is NOT one of these. And one has only to look at some of the pictures of her displayed in the Hartford Courant beside the latest effusions of Mr. Rennie – an oh so serious review of Ms. Stewart’s Fourth of July scarf – to understand that  Ms. Stewart does not take herself q...

Dave Walker, who is running for Lieutenant Governor on the Republican Party ticket, is recognized by most credible political observers as perhaps the most over qualified candidate for Lieutenant Governor in state history. He is a member of the Accounting Hall of Fame and for ten years was the Comptroller General of the United States. When Mr. Walker talks about budgets, financing and pension viability, people listen. Mr. Walker is also attuned to fine nuances in political campaigning. He is not running for governor, he says, because he had moved to Connecticut only four years ago and wishes to respect the political pecking order. Very few people in the state think that, were he governor, Mr. Walker would know less about the finance side of government than his budget chief.

A MEDIA RELEASE FROM LEN SUZIO Indicted Criminal Accomplice in Sensational Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial was Early Release Convict Calls on Governor to fire Undersecretary Lawlor Date: July 7, 2014 For Immediate Release: Contact: Len Suzio   (203)-530-1544 Former  State Senator Len Suzio, Connecticut's leading critic of the Early Release program, revealed that Carlos Ortiz, indicted for murder in connection with the trial of former NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez, was let out prematurely under the early release program.  Hernandez is charged in the murder of Odin L. Lloyd. “This is yet another example of the spectacular failure of Undersecretary Mike Lawlor's Early Release Program”, said Suzio.

According to a headline on Capitol Report pointing to a story in CTMirror , “Malloy Basks,” Governor Dannel Malloy, two days before the Fourth of July, was basking in the glow of his endorsement by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). When you want a service in the private market place, you buy it. The same holds true in the political market place: When you want the support of a powerful public employees union such as SEIU, you buy it with the prevailing coin of the realm, political favors. Political favors go a long way in politics . In return for political stroking – Mr. Malloy earlier had facilitated the unionization of day-care workers and personal-care attendants for persons with disabilities through an executive order – SEIU turned the floodlight on Mr. Malloy.

A decision has been rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Hobby Lobby case. The reaction to that decision in Connecticut among prominent Democrats was instantaneous. State Democratic chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said, “If you believe in progress for women, if you believe we cannot turn back the clock, and if you believe that women should make decisions about their health instead of their bosses, then you should sign our petition. Businesses should not be allowed to make decisions about women’s health—that should be up to a woman and her doctor.” That kind of canned, potboiler response is to be expected from the Democratic Party chairman. It is the key that fits the keyhole of a propaganda effort from the national Democratic Party that hopes to make use of the court’s decision to unhorse Republicans in the upcoming elections.