Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell Few may begrudge Governor Lamont the cheerfulness of his “state of the state” address upon the opening of the General Assembly this week. As he noted, since last March Connecticut has produced much heroism in confronting the virus epidemic. That heroism includes the governor’s own. For nobody runs for governor to presideContinue reading “Cheerleading by governor belies damage to economy”

By Chris Powell When Bob Stefanowski was the Republican nominee for governor two years ago, he was mocked by Democrats for being light on the issues — for advocating repeal of the state income tax without specifying how to reduce government spending. Even so Stefanowski came within 40,000 votes of winning the election — aContinue reading “Stefanowski gets specific and the Democrats freak out”

By Chris Powell After a cowardly absence of nine months, the General Assembly reconvenes this week. Though legislators may not recognize it, the first question facing them is whether their new session is to be one of substance or merely a formality. For Governor Lamont has been ruling by emergency decree since the virus epidemicContinue reading “State legislators now must share authority with governor during epidemic”

By Chris Powell Employees of Connecticut’s largest newspaper, the Hartford Courant, cleaned out their desks the other day as the newspaper left the building at 285 Broad St. where it had operated for 70 years. It was well reported that the newspaper will continue publishing as its employees work from home, as they have doneContinue reading “Looting by parent company took Courant’s home away”

By Chris Powell Many in Connecticut, including most of its news organizations, are gushing about President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of state Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona, a Meriden native, to be secretary of the U.S. Education Department. News reports say the president-elect picked Cardona in large part because of the support he and Governor Lamont haveContinue reading “Cardona’s qualifications are what he is and what he isn’t”

By Chris Powell So much for Governor Lamont’s supposed reluctance to raise taxes. Last week the governor and his commissioner of energy and environmental protection, Katie Dykes, proposed putting Connecticut into an interstate compact that would not just raise gasoline taxes but, worse, conceal and shift responsibility for them. Under what is called the TransportationContinue reading “Hiding more gasoline taxes; and patronage has priority”

By Chris Powell When the first legal challenge to Connecticut’s system of financing local education was filed 45 years ago, the complaint was inequality — that since school finance was based on the local property tax, rich towns spent much more per pupil than poor towns and had more successful schools. This correlation was misconstruedContinue reading “Equality in school spending is easy to achieve — and would fail like everything else”

By CHRIS POWELL Frank Capra’s 1946 film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to be broadcast again tonight at 8 by NBC television, is loved most for its personal message of discovery at Christmas: that its hero’s life has been, unbeknownst to him, crucial to his family, friends, community, and even his country. Such general encouragement mayContinue reading “It’s a wonderful life — and a political one”

By CHRIS POWELL Legions of the politically correct are insisting that President-elect Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, be given the honorific title “Doctor” because she holds a doctorate degree in education, which she received largely on the basis of a mediocre term paper. Objections to her honorific are being denounced as sexist and anti-intellectual, an insultContinue reading “Abolish the ‘Doctor’ racket; and ‘when beggars die. …’”

By Chris Powell Government in Connecticut is often mediocre but it usually excels at clearing the roads during and after a snowstorm like last week’s. Maybe this is because while some failures are easily overlooked or concealed, there is no hiding impassable roads. They risk political consequences. So people in Connecticut can have confidence thatContinue reading “Snow obsession isn’t news; more taxes aren’t ‘reform’”