History is a fickle master, as many elected officials have found.
For some, the legacy is finely buffed and orchestrated. For others, it just happens.
Lyndon Johnson, for example, is forever linked with the Vietnam war while the ‘Great Society’ takes second billing. Bill Clinton’s legacy can’t shake Monica Lewinsky. And Ronald Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Wall is more often recalled than the Iran Contra arms mess.
But as Gov. M. Jodi Rell nears her exit from Connecticut’s top office, her legacy may well be sitting on her desk right now in the form of the omnibus energy bill that surfaced late in the session.
The statehouse has been abuzz in recent days with rallies and lobbying efforts both pro and con. The bill is either the best thing since sliced bread or the end of the world as we know it. Naturally, the truth lies somewhere in between.
The uncertainty of the financial implications is the central concern. Estimates by experts on either side of the political divide vary wildly on the costs — from $40 million to $260 million.
The bill passed without the usual nonpartisan analysis and with a vote along party lines. Now the hot potato is in Rell’s lap. Will the Republican governor side with her party and use her veto, knowing the legislature lacks the votes to override her? Or will she embrace a plan that promises a quick fix to high rates and plays to public support for green energy?
Rell has had the unfortunate timing to preside over a period of economic turmoil here in Connecticut. On her watch, over 100,000 jobs were lost and the state’s finances are in ruin. That’s not an attractive legacy.
But signing off on an under-reviewed energy reform package feels a lot like letting it ride at the casino’s roulette table.
If the energy bill proves to be as brilliant a plan as backers claim, Rell’s legacy can be rehabilitated as the forward-looking green governor who put the state on a path to a sustainable future. But if it craters and ends up making matters worse, Rell’s legacy likely will enter Herbert Hoover territory.
Based on her record, playing the hand she’s been dealt and slipping quietly off stage with a veto seems the probable course. And it’s likely the one history will judge as the best for the state.
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Say It Ain’t So
At first blush, Connecticut’s offer of economic subsidies to encourage development of a local film industry seems a grand idea. The announcement that a film studio would locate in South Windsor was confirmation of the wisdom of all involved.
But now that work is underway on that first studio, a major crack in the plan’s foundation has become visible. As Greg Bordonaro reports on today’s front page, there simply isn’t enough skilled labor in the area to meet the need for film production personnel. And union membership issues seem likely to block any easy resolution.
Short-term, non-local workers likely will get much of the high-skill, high-pay jobs and the money will follow them out of state. That’s not what lawmakers envisioned and that’s not what taxpayers deserve.
The good news is that the state had the foresight to set up training programs within the state’s higher education system. The bad news is that, thanks to budget cuts, only the Quinnipiac University program is in operation. Programs at two community colleges have been left on the cutting-room floor.
This seems a clear case of penny-wise, pound-foolish. If the state doesn’t allocate the money to train the workforce for jobs that really exist, it’s failing in its educational mission and its economic development mission.
We’re big fans of a strong liberal arts education but the job market can wait for a few more history and English majors. Let’s give priority to developing the skills that are in demand.
