Does it matter much who wins the Democratic primary for mayor of Hartford, which is for all practical purposes the election?
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Does it matter much who wins the Democratic primary for mayor of Hartford, which is for all practical purposes the election?
A former assistant to Governor Malloy, Luke Bronin, has wrested the Hartford Democratic committee's endorsement away from Mayor Pedro Segarra, who is in an odd position as the challenger.
Segarra's tenure has had many embarrassments but as with Connecticut's other cities, poor administration really isn't the problem. The problem of the cities is demographics, the worsening concentration of the poor, dysfunctional, incorrigible, dependent, drug-addicted, and parentless. How could even the most capable candidate for office in Hartford ever tell his constituents the truth — that the trouble with their city is mainly the people who live there?
That the most troublesome of those people may not be fully responsible for themselves but largely the products of horribly mistaken state government policy would be little consolation politically.
So according to the Hartford Courant, last week in their first debate Segarra and Bronin emphasized improving the city by developing its arts and tourism industries.
They could not have been less relevant. More arts and tourism won't change Hartford's demographics, just the subject.
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Joe Scarborough, a former U.S. representative from Florida who now is host of a morning news program on the cable television network MSNBC and lives in New Canaan, is being suggested as a candidate for the next Republican nomination for governor.
While it holds no statewide offices and none of its municipal leaders and state legislators are well-known, is the party really so bankrupt that it again must resort to nominating someone with no experience or record in the state's public life, as the party has done disastrously with its last two nominations for governor and U.S. senator?
So much is wrong with Connecticut and the state's decline is so obvious that Republicans may need only someone — anyone — who is familiar enough with state government and courageous enough to propose distinctly contrary policies. A Republican candidate for governor who actually had something meaningful to say might prove more sensational than anyone from TV land.
Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester.
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