As Gov. Dan Malloy starts his first full week in office, it seems likely the applause and rhetorical flourishes that marked his inauguration day are already forgotten.
In the years since historians and political scientists started measuring the success of a new administration by its accomplishments in the first 100 days, time has accelerated.
Malloy seems likely to have a short honeymoon, even in what is essentially a one-party system of government. As anyone who has reached for an extra helping at a holiday meal can attest, the battle for limited resources often trumps familial bonds.
It’s against this backdrop that a report from the state Department of Economic and Community Development stands as a curious tribute to our predicament. The agency looked at the myriad of tax credits and tried to shine a light on underperforming programs, holes in the state’s budget net that could be closed with little pain. It’s a worthwhile exercise but one with unintended consequence.
There stood Commissioner Joan McDonald, who is rumored to want to keep her post in the new administration, explaining that some tax credits were being claimed by fewer than a handful of companies. Worse, she told the media that even she didn’t know there was a tax credit available for companies that participate in traffic reduction programs that improve air quality. If she doesn’t know the credit exists, is it any surprise that firms don’t know either and aren’t taking advantage?
There’s certainly every reason to have an intelligent debate over whether the film industry tax credit or enterprise zones are producing enough bang for the buck. But the revelation that there have been only two applications for research and development grants to universities and colleges may say more about the red tape, the rules and the execution of these programs than they do about the original concept.
Before legislators start whacking tax credits to free up spare change, perhaps somebody should undertake a more meaningful examination of whether the problem is with the concept of a particular credit or with a byzantine tax and regulatory system that stifles access and undercuts the effectiveness of the plan. A good place to start is the tax credit for angel investments, a scheme neutered by over-regulation.
Tax credits that work are an important part of a state’s economic development arsenal. Clearing the bureaucratic underbrush and seeing whether a particular program works may be a smarter long-term strategy than cashing in small change today.
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Rell’s Legacy Â
It’s not quite clear when M. Jodi Rell recognized the meaning of that light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that was her stay in the governor’s office. But sometime this fall she saw the end coming and decided to burnish her legacy as best she could.
She was seldom more active and never more visible than she was this fall as she scurried around the state opening facilities and cutting ribbons. If she saw it as a victory lap, she miscalculated. Nobody was watching; all eyes were on Dan Malloy.
If she thought limiting media requests for exit interviews to tightly controlled 20-minute nibbles, she again miscalculated. The Hartford Business Journal was among those who pondered the rules and dropped its request for a sit-down.
And she miscalculated yet again when she ordered up a slick 36-page booklet rewriting history to cast her in the best possible light. We don’t begrudge her a $4,000 printing bill for the vanity project, although the total cost is undoubtedly substantially higher and a waste at a time when the state is flat broke. Were these mementos for staff or stealth time capsules to be dropped into unsuspecting libraries? We are left scratching our heads at the entire thought process. Perhaps that’s her true legacy.
