Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

It’s a little early in the political season for politicians and political watchers to be losing their tempers. But, then again, the stakes are high, particularly here in usually placid Connecticut, first in the nation in per capita debt. In an eye-opening op-ed column , retired state House Republican press secretary Joseph Santangelo reminds us that we are fast approaching the edge of the abyss. Connecticut’s tax supported debt is the highest in the country at $4,490 per person. Even Taxachussetts’ debt is lower. Nutmeggers owe $58.9 billion in unfunded obligations, which includes “outstanding debt, state employee pensions, teacher pensions, and retired state employee health and life insurance benefits, according to the state Office of Fiscal Analysis. For every man, woman and child in Connecticut, that means we each owe about $16,800, with no repayment plan in sight.” Assuming a recovery – The last post recession recovery in Connecticut was painfully slow; it took the state m...

The Day reports : “When Mark Davis, the chief political correspondent for WTNH-Channel 8, persistently questioned Dodd about his primary challenger, Merrick Alpert, and the challenger's claim that the senator shared blame for the financial crisis because of support for deregulation efforts in the 1990s, Dodd was curt. "’I reject that argument,’ he said sharply, then looked around for the next question.” Dodd was visiting Colonial Han-Dee Spring and trying to spread a bit of good news. Businesses have found it difficult to get credit, and Dodd was in Connecticut to assure business leaders that help is on the way from Washington, a monetary piñata: Some of the money used to bail out Wall Street has been returned to Washington, and the Obama administration intends to divert some of the returns as “loans to small businesses that have still not been able to get banks to extend them credit to continue their operations.” That problem, said William J. Lathrop, president of Ha...