Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Maybe Connecticut’s recent police accountability legislation went too far with its provision limiting the “qualified immunity” of officers against civil lawsuits, but this month’s investigative report by the state’s Hearst newspapers about misconduct in the state police showed accountability is long overdue. The Hearst report, facilitated by the new law, reviewed 900Continue reading “Why greater accountability won’t expand beyond police”

By Chris Powell Whoever would have thought that after 22 years in the state Senate and another 22 in the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut’s 1st District, the most Democratic district in the state, John B. Larson, raised in an East Hartford housing project, devotee of President John F. Kennedy, and holder of aContinue reading “Is Larson not liberal enough to win a Democratic primary?”

By Chris Powell While he already had signed Connecticut’s Juneteenth holiday legislation the previous month, Governor Lamont went to New London last Friday to sign the legislation again more ceremonially alongside the replica of the ship Amistad, which was visiting the city. This allowed the ceremony to evoke not only the end of slavery inContinue reading “More holidays won’t address Connecticut’s racial failings”

By Chris Powell As gasoline prices kept soaring last week, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal campaigned for re-election by declaring that oil companies are making too much money and the government should seize half their profits and give the money back to gas buyers. Through most of his 37 years in elective office, 20 of themContinue reading “Blumenthal’s scapegoating misleads as gas prices soar”

By Chris Powell Eighteen months later the political left is still stewing about and running a congressional investigation into what it calls a “coup attempt” and “insurrection” instigated by President Trump and supported by many Republicans to steal the 2020 presidential election under the pretext that it was stolen from Trump because of widespread voteContinue reading “‘Coup’ instigator may return by left still would ban guns”

By Chris Powell Government cannot use union contracts with its employees to nullify its basic obligations to the public, a federal appeals court ruled last week in a case about the Connecticut state police union contract. The contract has allowed troopers to prevent disclosure of misconduct accusations against them, thereby facilitating the state police department’sContinue reading “Stop letting union contracts override right-to-know law”

By Chris Powell With gasoline prices soaring along with inflation generally, Governor Lamont and the General Assembly have suspended Connecticut’s gasoline tax until November 30, when the state election will have safely passed and voters won’t be able to do anything about the tax’s reinstatement. But the Connecticut Mirror’s Keith Phaneuf reports that two bigContinue reading “More tax increases coming to contradict Governor Lamont”

By Chris Powell Could Connecticut be tiring of its senior U.S. senator, Richard Blumenthal? That’s the implication of last week’s Quinnipiac University poll, which found the senator’s job performance approved by only 45% of respondents and disapproved by 43%. (Connecticut’s junior senator, Chris Murphy, didn’t do so much better, winning approval by 45-37.) Blumenthal hasContinue reading “Blumenthal might be beaten by a foe with something to say”

By Chris Powell As with the school massacre in Newtown and the supermarket massacre in Buffalo, the school massacre in Uvalde has brought forth the usual legislative prescriptions to prevent a recurrence, prescriptions often delivered by bloviating politicians pretending to virtue. But the prescriptions seldom have much application to the atrocities that prompt them. TheContinue reading “To diminish mass shootings, try ‘a well-regulated militia”

By Chris Powell Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District, encompassing the northwest part of the state, running from Danbury north to Waterbury with eastward extensions to New Britain and Meriden, is generally considered the state’s most politically competitive. So one might think that it would generate the most intelligent and issue-oriented campaigns. That isn’t happening yet thisContinue reading “Carpetbagger charge in 5th just diminishes the campaign”