Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

A week of political doings, undoings … and toilets

  • Other
  • by Paul Stern
  • June 10, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Some things got done last week in Connecticut politics, and other things were undone. But mostly it was a week spent talking about things to be done… and, of course, toilets.

Last Monday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson visited Willington to examine first hand one of hundreds of homes whose foundations are crumbling because they were poured using contaminated concrete. Saving the owners of these properties from financial ruin will require some doing from all levels of government, he said.

Gov. Dannel Malloy did some undoing when he vetoed two bills, including one that would have created a new process for removing violent students from classrooms. They were his second and third vetoes of the session; and while House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz thinks legislators should override one regarding tax credits for businesses, others say an override of Malloy’s first veto – limiting the governor’s authority to reduce education funding – will be unnecessary.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, right, and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, outside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Down in Washington, D.C., after some prolonged prodding from Sen. Chris Murphy, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos undid her earlier statement that local school authorities should be the ones who decide whether to call immigration authorities on undocumented students attending their schools. Later in the week Murphy and other members of the Connecticut congressional delegation invested a day encouraging the state’s Latino community to increase its political clout.

Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was also skeptical of President Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.

In another federal case, Connecticut has joined with a number of other states in an effort to stop a Texas lawsuit from undoing the Affordable Care Act, including its provision requiring insurers to accept clients with pre-existing conditions.

Murphy’s colleague Sen. Richard Blumenthal spent part of Thursday in federal court in an effort to have President Donald Trump found to be in violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. A couple days earlier the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who declined to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding, but observers said the narrow ruling will have little impact here.

The case did, however, make an impression on Rep. William Tong, a Stamford Democrat and candidate for state attorney general. He said if elected he would create a civil-rights division in the office addressing, among others, gay rights.

All around Connecticut various other candidates for public office were explaining to voters what they plan to do.

Clarice Silber :: CTMirror.org

Jahana Hayes addresses the panel at the Thursday hearing.

Mary Glassman, the Democrats’ endorsed candidate for the 5th Congressional District seat to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, said she would take up her party’s effort to oppose the policies of President Trump.  (A cloud hangs over Glassman’s endorsement, and after a long and rare hearing Thursday about the propriety of the nominating process, a panel of state committee members will rule on whether the endorsement should have gone to her or fellow Democrat Jahana Hayes.)

U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, who faces little opposition in the upcoming election, is nevertheless making the rounds promoting his favorite issue, the stabilization of Social Security.

Four candidates for governor, meanwhile, made a public appearance Thursday on a CPTV “job interview” where, rather than issues, they spoke about leadership and answered questions unlikely to be heard at a debate: What are three adjectives your mother might have used to describe you at age 10?

The Board of Regents for Higher Education’s plan to consolidate its dozen community colleges was partly undone by a regional accreditation agency some weeks ago, but the panel has come up with a more gradual consolidation alternative that is projected to save $17.3 million annually.

Finally, there were the toilets — the eight in Democratic candidate Ned Lamont’s house, the 10 1/2 at Republican  David Stemerman’s, and the many mentioned in numerous news stories, columns and editorials about the depths of this year’s gubernatorial campaign.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Stern Paul is the part-time assistant editor and the primary handler of the Mirror's Viewpoints commentaries. He has more than 40 years of reporting and editing experience at newspapers in New Jersey, Florida and Connecticut. He worked 22 years at the Hartford Courant in various editing roles including as deputy state editor, assistant editor of Northeast Magazine, and as an associate editor at Courant.com.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Best of 2019: Key Dems press bill to increase minority recruitment at Coast Guard Academy
by Ana Radelat

The bill is a response to allegations of discrimination and a racially hostile environment at the school.

Navy cuts number of EB Virginia-class subs in new contract
by Ana Radelat

Electric Boat wanted the Navy to include 10 subs, and possibly 11, in the so-called "Block 5" contract. But the Navy agreed to only nine.

Electric Boat facing mounting challenges as sub work ramps up
by Ana Radelat

There continue to be concerns about EB’s ability to build the new Columbia-class submarine alongside its smaller Virginia-class attack subs.

Talk of gun violence, little else
by Paul Stern

In national politics last week there was talk of little else than gun violence, white nationalism and gun control following the fatal shootings of 31 people in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. There was little more than talk, too.

Politics and the ‘dark psychic force of collectivized hatred’
by Paul Stern

President Donald Trump insists he is not a racist, but 51 percent of Americans believe he is, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. Certainly his “send her back” comments about Somalia-born U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and last week’s jabs at U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore did nothing to dispel that […]

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Biden is right to think big on infrastructure
by Jim Cameron

Hurrah! It was finally “infrastructure week” in Washington. In his first 100 days as President, Joe Biden has delivered a plan that his predecessor just kept teasing us with for four years:  a complete rehabilitation and expansion of the nation’s infrastructure.

Opinion My life and every other Black life matters
by Eugene Bertrand

"My life and every other black life matters." This is every black person's motto in the United States of America. In the past few months, we've seen an increase in deaths among the Black community.

Opinion Send us the children
by Kellin Atherton

Send us the children, President Biden. Send us the children, Governor Lamont. But not just the children. Move heaven and earth to find their families. Find mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. Children are coming here alone. Find someone to ease their loneliness and bring them too.

Opinion Lobbyist uses seniors and people with disabilities to protect drug company profits
by Ellen M. Andrews

Reading William Smith’s opinion (Connecticut must protect vulnerable populations from biased and discriminatory healthcare practices, April 13, 2021), I was worried that my state had passed draconian laws that were harming the health of seniors and people with disabilities. Thankfully, that isn’t the case. Our anti-discrimination laws are still in place and functioning.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO