A run of beautiful spring days. The end of the legislative session. A flood of new graduates enjoying graduation ceremonies before hitting the market. It all adds up to one thing: Time for a little short-attention-span reading:
ITEM: House and Senate Democrats won’t share end-of-session news conference
Even in a one-party government, we can’t seem to get along. At various points during the session, legislative Democrats rejected the governor’s plans for tenure reform, campaign finance reform and consumer-friendly liquor laws. Then they turned to squabbling with each other, resulting in no votes being taken on both the important expansion of assistance to small business and the counterproductive hike in the minimum wage. Different views and discourse are great. Political grandstanding and gamesmanship isn’t. If there is a poster child for our dysfunction, it lives under the golden dome.
ITEM: Governor’s drivers run up $150,000 in overtime
It’s hard not to be impressed by Dannel Malloy’s energy. Every day, he’s on the road, speaking here and cutting a ribbon there. No audience is too small to address. No corner of the state is too far. But this Energizer Bunny just seems to be following the Richard Blumenthal model and running for the sake of running. The legislative session suggests Malloy might have been better served by staying home and talking to the people who vote on legislation. There’s no doubt he faces a tough re-election fight and there’s no sin in starting early. But wouldn’t actually doing a good job in office be a better way to win? Meanwhile, how about creating a job? Hire a third driver and spare us the OT.
ITEM: State kicks off $27 million tourism campaign
Give Malloy credit here. As a candidate, he correctly identified his predecessor’s $1 investment in tourism as an abomination and promised to do better. The ‘Still Revolutionary’ theme has a little zip and the exposure of destinations and attractions is welcome. But there are still some bruised feelings in the PR and advertising community over the selection of two out-of-state firms to do the heavy lifting on the creative side. And our guess is that we’ll look back in a few years and rate this campaign only a modest success. When it’s time to try again, let’s see if the creative work stays home.
ITEM: Extended unemployment benefits end
The state has identified 11,000 residents who have exhausted 99 weeks of benefits and are still jobless. Many are older workers; many have skills no longer in demand. Some haven’t taken the hint that they need to adjust to a new reality; others are real victims of an economic upheaval not of their own making. Jobless benefits can’t go on forever but the shift from 99 weeks to 26 weeks of coverage feels a bit abrupt. After all, the unemployment rate is still 7.7 percent. The governor is right to intervene to help these 11,000, even after the program ends.
ITEM: Some town laws will still block Sunday liquor sales
And, finally, there’s the obligatory nod to an issue too rich in history to go quietly. While the state is now permitting Sunday liquor sales, it turns out the local jurisdictions have the right to pass more restrictive laws and some number — research grinds slowly here in the Constitution State — have such laws on the books. Others, presumably, could add them once the liquor lobbyist makes a stop at the town council. With 169 jurisdictions across the state, this seems a great opportunity for lobbyists. Of course it’s also a great opportunity for the liquor industry to refight the battle it just lost and get a different result far from the bright lights of media exposure. Never wonder why Connecticut is known as the Land of Steady Habits.
