Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Judging from the poses being struck by Governor Lamont and state legislators of both parties, Connecticut might think that happy days are here again in what just happens to be a gubernatorial election year. Among other things the governor and legislators are plotting property tax relief, increasing the earned income tax credit,Continue reading “Debt grows to buy elections; and Rep. Fiorello evades with nastiness”

By Chris Powell For many years the case for raising the pay of Connecticut state legislators has been solid in principle. Their base annual salary is $28,000. Representatives get another $4,500 and senators $5,500 annually for expenses they don’t have to document. There is a mileage allowance. Legislators may get a few thousand dollars moreContinue reading “Why better legislative pay might not change anything”

By Chris Powell Maybe the best that could be said about Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy after his speech to the Senate last week is that he is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unwitting tool. Murphy scorned assertions that producing more oil and natural gas in the United States is necessary for the country’s energy independenceContinue reading “Murphy’s stance helps Putin; Blumenthal just shrugs at banks”

By Chris Powell Last week the U.S. Labor Department admitted that inflation is running at nearly 8%, the highest rate in 40 years. Since the government’s inflation measures have been revised many times in those 40 years to diminish the calculation of price increases and thereby mislead the public, some experts outside government maintain thatContinue reading “Connecticut’s patronage pork arrives riding record inflation”

By Chris Powell Announcing goodies for various municipalities and organizations lately, Governor Lamont has been using government money to win support for his re-election campaign, as any incumbent would. But all the goodies awarded so far don’t come close to the expense the governor would incur in favor of the state employee unions, the mainContinue reading “Reveal SEBAC deal right now; and study zoning override effects”

By Chris Powell Liberal Democratic members of the General Assembly again are pursuing what they call fairness in taxation, their euphemism for state government’s raising and spending a lot more money. Governor Lamont, a Democrat, opposes increasing taxes while state government has a lot of emergency federal cash on hand. But the governor may beContinue reading “With taxation in Connecticut, ‘fair’ is a disguise for ‘more’”

By Chris Powell Most people seem to like Governor Lamont’s proposal to reduce from 45 to 29 mills the state’s limit on municipal property taxes on cars and to have state government reimburse the revenue lost by municipalities that have car tax rates above 29 mills. The proposal supposedly would save people a lot ofContinue reading “Putting a cap on car taxes won’t really save any money”

By Chris Powell Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has rocketed the United States into a whirlwind of pious but ineffectual posturing. In his State of the Union address the other night President Biden told Congress that the United States would make Russian President Vladimir Putin pay heavily. Members of Congress and ordinary people keep goingContinue reading “Oil, not vodka, pays for Russia’s war; and Sen. Cassano gets relevant”

By Chris Powell Are things getting so bad for the Democrats that even Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator, Richard Blumenthal, is worried about winning re-election this year? That might have been construed from the senator’s silly pandering last week about gas taxes. Blumenthal — for 20 years the “eternal general” who now, at age 76, isContinue reading “Blumenthal plans his escape as inflation threatens Democrats”

By Chris Powell While the redrawing of congressional districts in other states has become more partisan, anti-democratic, and disgraceful — as shown by Democrats in New York and Republicans in North Carolina — Connecticut’s mechanisms for redistricting avoid the racket. In Connecticut redistricting of both congressional and state legislative districts is assigned to a bipartisanContinue reading “Boost political competition: Dissolve congressional districts”