Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" – Lord Acton   The word “emergency” is wrapped in laugh quotes in the Hartford Courant story “Senate clashes, passes ‘emergency’ bill. Both major political parties, we now know, have discovered the political usefulness of politically created “emergencies” during and after the COVID pandemic.   The Hartford Courant top of the fold story -- “ Connecticut Senate clashes over emergency session over warehouse workers, nonprofits, taxes, bottle returns ” -- is deliciously sardonic. We are told, “In an all-day marathon, the [Democrat dominated] Senate also voted 26-10 on mostly party lines for an omnibus, 121-page bill on a series of issues that were unrelated to each other.   Ordinarily an “omnibus” emergency certification bill would be regarded as an oxymoron because emergency certification, which usually bypasses legislative oversight and public commentary, commonly targets one rather than multiple ...

Cicero Freedom suppressed again and again regains bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered -- Cicero   The primary system in Connecticut was initiated to purge politics of party bosses such as the formidable John Bailey. Governor Ella Grasso, the first woman in the nation to serve as governor in her own right, was a product of the Bailey system, now defunct. Under the boss system, the party boss selected candidates for major state positions and presented them for affirmation at party conventions; a delegate convention being conventional and traditional, incumbents manage to retain their seats – why disturb the political universe? – and the façade of democracy is preserved.   However, there is a downside to all primaries preceding party conventions.   In semi-anarchic modern times, the candidates chosen in primaries often are not acceptable to voters in general elections. A primary choice may be a Hobson’s choice – that is a “choice” that is no cho...

  “Saying Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan is not enough, Senate Republicans are calling for $1.5 billion in tax and electricity relief in an election year,” the Hartford Courant tells us in its February 12 report, “ GOP unveils $1.5B   tax cut plan .”   Republicans are calling for tax cuts. Democrats are calling for tax relief . The two are entirely different. A tax cut is an uncollected tax that leaves dollars in the accounts of taxpayers who are, free market Republicans will insist, better able than tax-hungry bureaucrats to decide how dollars should be allocated. The difference between a tax cut and a tax rebate or credit , preferred by state Democrats, is the same as the difference between a price reduction and a temporary price discount. A rebate must be collected before it can be rebated. But a tax cut leaves dollars at the disposal of taxpayers. Rebates and credits can be easily redistributed by the tax collecting authority, but it is not possible to redistribute an un...

In Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield , Mr. Micawber finds himself headed to a debtor’s prison. Before it was abolished Dickens’ own father found himself in similar straights.   Micawber, chronically unable to take his own advice, tells Copperfield, “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, result happiness.   Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” The difference between economic misery and happiness may turn on a penny. Debt – or rather inattention to debt – accumulates, and cumulative debt is always painful.   The state Office of Legislative Research (OLR) reported in 2024, “You [perhaps one of our tax-thirsty legislators] asked for a 50-state comparison of state debt as a percent of state gross domestic product (GDP) and how Connecticut’s debt burden based on these measures has changed in the past 10 years.   “Connecticut had the highest NTSD [Net Tax Supported ...

A recent CTMirror story by veteran journalist Mark Pazniokas, “ How Marty Looney shapes CT politics, Patience and persistence ,” is, a staple of Pazniokas’ writing, both amusing and informative.   We find that Looney, whose political life spans more than 45 years, is Irish Catholic, a union supporter like his father, independent-minded like his mother, and persevering. In sketching Looney’s character, Pazniokas might easily have quoted Mark Twain: “The miracle or the power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application and perseverance under the promptings of a brave, determined spirit.”   There are, of course, two kinds of perseverance. Both the Devil and St. Michael the Archangel are, many Catholics believe, persevering creatures.   The success of perseverance in politics depends upon a few variables. Looney may best be described as a leftist Democrat in a Connecticut Democrat political party apparatus properly characterized as “left of ...

My inner skeptic – we all have one --is a skeptic’s skeptic. The word “skeptic” is yet to be used as a political cudgel by incumbent politicians and those who look favorably upon them, unlike such battering rams as “Nazi” and “Fascist.” Connecticut US Senator Chris Murphy has notably deployed his moral brickbat against President Donald Trump, nearly universally reprehended in New England, New York and Connecticut, the “land of steady [bad] habits.   “We must not,’ my skeptic says, “expect to see on Connecticut editorial or Op-Ed pages commentary in praise of Trump. Victor Davis Hanson, an astute political historian and commentator, wrote a book a few years ago titled provocatively The Case for Trump. The book has since been updated. The Epoch Times recently ran an analytical piece titled, “ 30 Ways Trump Impacted the US, World in First Year .” There is no question, even among Trump’s most energetic opponents, that Trump stands at the head of a transformative presidency. ...