Connecticut Local Politics

The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut and the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce cohosted the annual Economic Breakfast this morning in New London. The Glass is half full or half empty. The Economy is picking up or it is not. This was truly a day when all agreed with the late [...]

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–by Linda Meric, Executive Director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women.
Eighty-nine years after women finally won the right to vote, we honor the past success of the women’s suffrage movement and recommit to today’s continuing fight for equality.
There is still much work to be done. Women still earn less than men, and are still [...]

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Foreclosures are up, now the Courant is reporting that a shocking 1 in 17 (6%) mortgages are either overdue or in foreclosure. This is up from 1.5% in 2007. This number is higher (8%) nationally.
The unemployment rate is down slightly from 8% to 7.8%, though it’s still high. Nationally, unemployment is at 9.8%. Remember, however, [...]

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Above is a graph (larger view) comparing the rate of change of government employment to private employment in Connecticut over the last decade. The data was provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C.

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I’ve seen a lot of hand-wringing over the F-22 today from politicians all over the state following the Senate vote to strip it’s funding. For instance, here’s Chris Dodd:
“I believe it is our duty and responsibility to protect the thousands of workers in Connecticut and across the country from losing their jobs and to ensure [...]

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Sometimes it is difficult to know where to begin in the City of Hartford. It is a place that juxtaposes the Rose Gardens at Elizabeth Park, the historic State Capitol, or the brand new Science Center with 18 homicides so far this year.
In response to the harrowing murder statistics, Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels are [...]

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This morning, June 29, 2009, 2nd District Congressman Joe Courtney, defended his YES vote for the recently passed House Energy Bill to the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut. Courtney recognized that there were a number of questions regarding the bill but pointed out that the energy bill has been under discussion in the [...]

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by Don Pesci
The National Conference of State Legislatures’ report on how well drafters of state budgets read the recession’s economic tea-leaves is now in.
 
The results are disappointing, according to a report in the New York Times.
“Thirty-one states said estimates about personal income taxes had been overly optimistic, and 25 said that all three major tax [...]

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by Bill Gaston, Greenwich
The following is a response to a letter published in the Greenwich Time and other papers by three state representatives opposing the paid sick days legislation. A version of this letter also appeared in that paper this week. Paid sick days did not pass the legislature before time ran out on the [...]

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I contacted Rep. Joe Courtney and the “Armada” trade mission to the European Union using Skype today (Saturday 6/6), and recorded our conversation. The trade mission, which began Thursday and will run for two more days, is focused on building connections between Connecticut businesses and EU markets. Anne Evans of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s [...]

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by State Rep. Matt Lesser (D-Middletown)
Real Story Segment:
A bill coming before the Senate this week would make a real difference in people’s lives.
Imagine not getting a job you would otherwise have gotten simply because your employer finds out you have a low credit score. Strange as it sounds, nearly half of employers are now [...]

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by Jon Green, Director of CT Working Families
Once again, the issue of paid sick days has drawn considerable attention in the state legislature. The bill currently awaits action in the House, where this year it has the support of the Speaker.
The idea has attracted a broad coalition of supporters, including doctors and business owners. There’s [...]

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Rep. Joe Courtney and the Commerce department are putting together a delegation of small and local businesses that will head to Europe in the summer to explore new businesses opportunities for the state. They are, for some reason, calling it an “Armada.”
From the release:
The Armada Business Development Mission will include European Union business briefings along [...]

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Back in November, Rep. Joe Courtney sent a letter to Gov. Jodi Rell complaining that eastern Connecticut had been overlooked when federal stimulus dollars intended for foreclosure assistance were distributed.
Well, according to this editorial in The Day from Tuesday, New London and Norwich (along with Danbury) will receive some of the money after all. However, [...]

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Connecticut’s congressional delegation (along with others around the country) has been up in arms over the proposed cancellation of the F-22 program. Rep. John Larson (D-1st District), in whose district the Raptors are partially produced, has been defending the Raptor program since 1999, and teamed up with Sen. Dodd yesterday to promise workers that they [...]

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A joint statement from the Governor and SEBAC (the state employees bargaining unit) was released this afternoon:
Governor Rell and State Employees Union Leaders today announced that they had worked out the framework for an agreement intended to help reduce costs and protect public services in the current fiscal year and the upcoming biennium. When [...]

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With a structural crisis still weighing down the nation’s economy and the State’s balance sheet getting worse by the day, Legislative Democrats took the opportunity today to show just how far out of touch they are with reality. 
Sens. Eileen Daily and Toni Harp with Reps. Cameron Staples and John Geragosian, announced a budget proposal that treats the economic recession like a [...]

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The Government Administration and Elections committee yesterday killed several of the governor’s proposals, including her plan to consolidate several state agencies, and a proposal that would have reduced the amount of money participants in public campaign financing would receive.
This, of course, is the usual pattern. The governor will make a lot of noise about new [...]

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Daisy the Cow came to the Capitol today to advocate for the state’s embattled dairy industry. As stunts go, that’s a pretty good one!
But unfortunately, it led to this line from Richard Blumenthal:
“Clearly what you can see today is dairy farmers are getting churned, Connecticut consumers are getting creamed and we need to stop that [...]

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The Connecticut School of Broadcasting has suddenly shut its doors.
Unions and the city of Danbury have worked out a deal.
However, there is no deal between unions and government at the state level, raising the specter of layoffs.
The Courant is running stories today about the major troubles of The Hartford and Phoenix, both major Hartford employers.
Connecticut’s [...]

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