By Chris Powell Wethersfield last week gave Connecticut the defining lesson about why only government’s own flags should fly over government buildings and on government property. A member of the Republican minority on Wethersfield’s Town Council proposed to raise the “thin blue line” flag at Town Hall to honor state Trooper Aaron Pelletier, who hadContinue reading “Flagpole propaganda; and hate on her sleeve”
Author Archives: cxpowell
Firing restores accountability; and governor boosts ‘ranked choice’
By Chris Powell By firing TaShun Bowden-Lewis, the state’s chief public defender and the first Black one, Connecticut’s formerly obscure Public Defender Services Commission has struck a belated blow for the public’s sovereignty over its own institutions. But it almost didn’t happen. Last year the commission was upset by Bowden-Lewis’ insubordination, whereupon she accused theContinue reading “Firing restores accountability; and governor boosts ‘ranked choice’”
Vermont rivals Connecticut in ‘climate change’ craziness
By Chris Powell While it may be hard to believe, Vermont seems to have gotten ahead of Connecticut in “climate change” craziness. The Green Mountain State has just passed a law allowing itself to charge big oil and gas companies for the cost to the state of the “greenhouse gases” emitted by use of theContinue reading “Vermont rivals Connecticut in ‘climate change’ craziness”
Only governor can achieve health center’s solvency
By Chris Powell For $504,000 Governor Lamont has just purchased a consultant’s report putting in print what nearly everyone involved with public policy already knew about the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington and what anyone else might have deduced on his own. That is, if the place is to stop losing tens ofContinue reading “Only governor can achieve health center’s solvency”
Many are above the law, especially in Connecticut
By Chris Powell Responses from leading Connecticut Democrats to Donald Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records were mostly along the lines of “nobody is above the law.” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, both seeking re-election, Democratic State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo, and others couldn’t be bothered to examine their tedious cliché, norContinue reading “Many are above the law, especially in Connecticut”
Connecticut needs innovation to end poverty and violence
By Chris Powell Appalled by the shooting of five people in several incidents in Bridgeport over the Memorial Day weekend, Governor Lamont hurried to the city on Tuesday to meet Mayor Joe Ganim and other officials and show moral support. While Bridgeport’s police department is said to be understaffed and to suffer high turnover —Continue reading “Connecticut needs innovation to end poverty and violence”
Chris Murphy exceeds Trump with demagoguery on guns
By Chris Powell Suppose Donald Trump, campaigning for president, cited Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s support for federalizing a right to late-term abortion and said the senator’s pandering to the abortion industry was meant “to kill more kids in order to make more profits for Planned Parenthood.” There would be outrage from the political left,Continue reading “Chris Murphy exceeds Trump with demagoguery on guns”
Push for teacher diversity risks racial bias in hiring
By Chris Powell Why is student performance so poor among students from racial minorities in Connecticut’s cities? A state law enacted last year suggests it’s because city schools don’t have enough teachers from racial minorities. Connecticut’s Hearst newspapers reported the other day that while the state’s schools have increased their share of minority teachers toContinue reading “Push for teacher diversity risks racial bias in hiring”
If you chant ‘Trump’ enough, Democrats’ policy failures vanish
By Chris Powell While Donald Trump can be intemperate, reckless, and megalomaniac, that is not why he has been so damaging to politics in Connecticut. Trump is most damaging to politics here because he has provided an excuse for so many members of the state’s majority party, the Democrats, as well as their allies inContinue reading “If you chant ‘Trump’ enough, Democrats’ policy failures vanish”
Why Connecticut will never get tough on gun crime
By Chris Powell Connecticut’s failure to prosecute many gun crimes aggressively isn’t as bad as it seems, prosecutors and a former state legislator told The Day of New London this month. They were responding to a General Assembly report that as many as two-thirds of the gun charges brought by police in Connecticut in recentContinue reading “Why Connecticut will never get tough on gun crime”
Chris Powell column 