Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Connecticut schools deny that they propagandize students, but last week the state’s teachers gloried in their propagandizing on the job. Members of the state’s largest teacher union, the Connecticut Education Association, dressed in red to participate in the union’s “Red for Ed Day of Action,” demonstrating and soliciting support for several school-relatedContinue reading “Teachers politick on the job; propaganda claims flagpoles”

By Chris Powell Has Connecticut ever gotten a state budget more cynical than the one about to be enacted by Governor Lamont and the Democratic majorities in the General Assembly? According to the Connecticut Mirror, more than half the budget’s $600 million in tax cuts will not be permanent but will expire within a year,Continue reading “‘Transformational’ state budget misleads amid high inflation”

By Chris Powell Would the General Assembly’s rejection of Governor Lamont’s extravagant contract deal with the state employee unions have cost the state even more money? That was the argument made by state House Speaker Matt Ritter and Hearst Connecticut Media’s columnist Dan Haar on the eve of the legislature’s vote. This argument was misleadingContinue reading “Connecticut should replace arbitration with democracy”

By Chris Powell Count on Connecticut state government to misdiagnose a problem if doing so can facilitate rewarding an influential interest group. That is what is happening again with the student loan debt problem, as illustrated the other day by a report from the Connecticut Mirror. The report focused on a single woman with twoContinue reading “Forget student debt relief, finance non-profits better”

By Chris Powell Now it will be for a jury to decide whether state Trooper Brian D. North is guilty of manslaughter or was justified in fatally shooting Mubarek Soulemane more than two years ago after the mentally ill 19-year-old hijacked a car at knifepoint in Norwalk and led police on a 30-mile chase beforeContinue reading “Trooper isn’t the only cause of mentally ill man’s death”

By Chris Powell While Bridgeport’s troubled schools, filled with students neglected at home, perform terribly, the city’s Board of Education has put another holiday on its school calendar: Islam’s Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The board did so in the name of diversity and religious and ethnic tolerance at the request ofContinue reading “School holiday craze shows the wrong kind of tolerance”

By Chris Powell Anyone paying attention to state government last week might have been shocked by the disclosure from the state Office of Fiscal Analysis that Governor Lamont’s proposed contract with the state employee unions will raise state government’s labor expenses by nearly $2 billion over four years. Announcing the contract six weeks ago, theContinue reading “Did governor know or care what new contract will cost?”

By Chris Powell Beautiful as Connecticut is in spring, the state will remain a target-rich environment for the political action committee whose formation was reported by the Connecticut Mirror last week: Parents Against Stupid Stuff. After all, even as Parents Against Stupid Stuff was being announced, the state Senate voted to qualify strikers for unemploymentContinue reading “Connecticut sure could use clamor against ‘stupid stuff’”

By Chris Powell Someday, if the governor and state legislators ever tire of coddling the state employee unions and if the president and Congress ever tire of coddling investment banks and military contractors, maybe they should note what happened recently at Silver Lane Elementary School in East Hartford. Most of East Hartford’s students are fromContinue reading “Many kids can’t see well, and government can’t either”

By Chris Powell Even though he has decided against seeking re-election, state Treasurer Shawn Wooden has discovered a way to fix state government’s unclaimed property program, which his office supervises. In January the Connecticut Mirror’s Andrew Brown and Kasturi Pananjad reported that during the last 20 years the program had seized $2.3 billion in theContinue reading “Wooden’s idea great but late; and Lamont fudges on taxes”