Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Connecticut last week was told to expect a 50% increase in electricity prices this winter and supposedly there is nothing to be done about it — except to rail against the electric utilities, though they are no longer responsible for power prices. Twenty-four years ago state government took the electric utilities outContinue reading “Electricity price increases invite politicians to try getting real”

By Chris Powell New Haven’s Board of Education last week awarded its teacher union a contract with raises so substantial that the union president, Leslie Blatteau of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, called them “life changing.” The award seemed premature and even backwards. For the contract’s total cost had not yet been fully calculated,Continue reading “‘Life-changing’ teacher contract won’t do much for education”

By Chris Powell Connecticut this week saw still another indication that its public higher education is overpriced. To encourage applicants the University of Connecticut and three of the four regional state universities — Southern, Western, and Eastern — waived application fees for a day. Central Connecticut State University waived the fees for two weeks. OfContinue reading “Higher education is overpriced but politics prohibits reform”

By Chris Powell One explanation offered for the failure of the Republican campaign in Connecticut’s state election rings hollow: that the Republicans are good complainers but don’t offer solutions. Maybe, but even if so, this hardly explains the election’s results. For given the great advantages they had everywhere in the country — like inflation, openContinue reading “Where are the Democrats’ solutions? And Hayes can’t take the heat”

By Chris Powell On the Friday before the state election, Governor Lamont and state Attorney General William Tong seized the last opportunity of their campaigns to show that most of Connecticut politics is empty posturing without relevance to daily life — indeed, to show that some of Connecticut politics is even a [ITALICS] denial [ENDContinue reading “Like segregationists of old, Tong raps outside agitators”

By Chris Powell With the Democratic sweep in this week’s election, Connecticut remains pretty much a one-party state, which promises excess and even corruption more than good government. Changing the situation requires trying to understand what contributed to the election results. Of course the controversies over former President Donald Trump and abortion were especially bigContinue reading “Can competition in politics ever return to Connecticut?”

By Chris Powell Nearly everyone in Connecticut purports to agree that the state needs more low-cost housing — just not wherever such housing happens to be proposed. The right place for low-cost housing is almost always someplace else. Opposition to low-cost housing is easy to understand if not always justified. Low-cost housing is associated withContinue reading “At zoning board hearings, put faces on housing need”

By Chris Powell With political journalism the questions that don’t get asked can be more important than the ones that do. Such was the case with the contrived controversy that arose in the last days of Connecticut’s campaign for governor. In a television interview the Republican nominee, Bob Stefanowski, reiterated for the umpteenth time hisContinue reading “Questions that aren’t asked can be the most important”

By Chris Powell Debating this week for the second and final time of the campaign for governor, Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski put on an instructive show. Even the third-party candidate, Rob Hotaling, added something important, if not what he intended. Aggressive and full of details, Stefanowski prompted Governor Lamont to perform betterContinue reading “An instructive confrontation for the governor candidates”

By Chris Powell Connecticut now may have its equivalent of Chairman Mao’s Red Guards, consisting of Central Connecticut State University students and members of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group who, according to news reports, last week pretended to purge racism from the office of the Republican registrar of voters at City Hall in New Britain.Continue reading “Red Guards raid City Hall; and the essence of politics”