Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

The title of this talk is “Property Tax Reform for Whom?” I intend to answer this question, but it might be proper to provide a little background information first. I began writing for a local paper here some 25 years ago – perhaps more. And after I had produced what the Editorial Page Editor of the paper that launched my column perhaps realized were several “not liberal” (if not conservative) pieces that he gleefully printed, he said to me in the tone of a seasoned advisor offering a cautionary word to a promising columnist, “You know, the state is pretty liberal.” Meaning: You’re not gonna get very far convincing people that they should discard the ideological straight-jackets they’ve been wearing all these years, and probably no one else will print you.” I really didn’t care. I just wanted to mainline a bit of inoffensive contrarian thought into at least one newspaper, and I’ve persisted in this perversity ever since. But in answer to his remark, I said, “Yeah, sure. I wonder why th...