tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069955.post7142910121945122989..comments2023-10-26T08:02:44.948-04:00Comments on Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State: How Could Rowland be So Stupid: Moth, Meet FlameDon Pescihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11167988001948356357noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069955.post-55656528437049788942014-04-12T09:23:15.954-04:002014-04-12T09:23:15.954-04:00Speaking of Chris Dodd... where were the good gove...Speaking of Chris Dodd... where were the good government guys when he was taking campaign money and funny money from those who he was regulating, those in a position to profit from lax Fannie/Freddie lending standards? His corruption was not harmless.<br />--------------<br />politicians over recent years had received mortgage financing at noncompetitive rates at Countrywide Financial because the corporation placed the officeholders in a program called "FOA's"--"Friends of Angelo", Countrywide's Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo. The politicians extended such favorable financing included the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad (D-ND). The article also noted Countrywide's political action committee had made large donations to Dodd's campaign.[1] peter brushnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069955.post-41354622088400362482014-04-12T08:56:39.399-04:002014-04-12T08:56:39.399-04:00the left of center uncritical commentariat that ha...the left of center uncritical commentariat that has for decades twiddled its thumbs while the state plunged into its present downward arc<br />--------------<br />Rowland has never struck me as a bad man. If I were to need a babysitter I'd much sooner entrust my daughter's care to him than I would to eminences like Bill Klinton, Edward "The Swimmer" Kennedy, or the waitress-sandwiching Christopher Dodd. He also has chosen his enemies well, and their hatred endears him to me. My sincere hope is that he gets off at trial, and in any case that any punishment he gets may be light. He's hurt precisely nobody with his violation of our idiotic campaign law complex.<br />Rowland is a moderate; a neo-con whose complaint about big government doesn't require elimination of FDR's or LBJ's legislative achievements, but only a less wasteful welfare state. When he won election in 1994 he beat the best man in the race; Tom Scott. But, Scott would not have been able to get rid of the income tax given the character of the people of the State as represented in its legislature. Rowland was a serviceable Governor.<br /><br />The good government puritans are perfectly content to destroy the State fiscally and morally, as long as their enemies are destroyed. We live in a state where it's ok for a pol to accept campaign contributions from public sector employees, to run up more debt per capita than any other state, but not ok to pay a radio talk show host for consulting without following police protocol.<br />Will the prosecution of Rowland cause fewer people and businesses to leave the Nutmeg State to escape from our gross mismanagement?<br />----------<br />He was later elected governor in 1994 at age 37 (the youngest governor in Connecticut history) and later defeated two Democratic opponents: former US Congresswoman Barbara Bailey Kennelly (63%–35%) in 1998 and former State Comptroller Bill Curry (56%–44%) in 2002...<br /><br />During the years that Rowland was in office, the state enjoyed record-breaking surpluses, state spending increased only modestly, with real spending growth rates of just over 2 percent annually between 1995 and 2003.peter brushnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9069955.post-77770564653517568842014-04-11T15:59:10.524-04:002014-04-11T15:59:10.524-04:00Johnny Porkchop is so stupid because he is so stup...Johnny Porkchop is so stupid because he is so stupid (his political skills were always more animalistic than intellectual). Either that or he's a sociopath of the narcissistic variety (aren't they all). Probably some of both.<br /><br />He's already played the Jesus card so copping to mental illness might be his only defense. Egomaniacs like him generally don't swallow pills that big however. I wouldn't want to be his lawyer. As Marc Ryan used to say; "He's a moving target".<br /><br />I'm guessing four to seven years.Paulnoreply@blogger.com