There clearly is a renewed interest in Republican ideals, and Gov. Dannel Malloy’s record $2 billion tax hike on Connecticut families will only continue to fuel the public’s pivot to a more responsible government. The challenge for the CT GOP is to figure out how to harness the public’s renewed interest in Republican principles, and convert local successes into statewide victories.
Dannel P. Malloy
Posted inMoney, Politics
It seems not every governor can produce a traffic jam
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy once called himself the “anti-Christie,” a gibe at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Now, his staff has produced the anti-Bridgegate: That’s when you count on a traffic jam, and it doesn’t happen.
Posted inMoney, Politics
On these ‘major victories,’ Malloy celebrates alone
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy forced legislators to yield to his every key tax demand in budget negotiations last week, including setting aside a portion of the sales tax for the long-term transportation improvements that could be the governor’s legacy. Now comes the harder task: Convincing the rest of Connecticut to accept his priorities and ignore the outcry over higher taxes on business.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
To lead effectively, Connecticut’s leaders must keep their word
For progressives to be successful, we need people to trust government. In 2014 Gov. Malloy ran on the firm pledge that he would not raise taxes. That pledge has been broken. And it was broken in the context of some nimble maneuvering to circumvent the spending cap. … To make government work better we have to keep faith with the people and to do that we have to be better about keeping our word.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy makes it official: His choice is Hillary
It’s not a recent decision, nor is it a surprise. But the time has come to go public: With the legislative session over, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president Sunday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Malloy’s criminal justice reform agenda deserves support
Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposal for reforms to Connecticut’s criminal justice system deserves widespread support in the General Assembly. There is no doubt there is room for improvement when it comes to how Connecticut deals with sentencing, its prison population, parole and probation.
Posted inPolitics
Dead at midnight, judicial nominations reborn in morning
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Thursday morning resubmitted the names of four judicial nominees whom the General Assembly failed to confirm in the 2015 session that ended at midnight Wednesday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
It’s time for Connecticut to break its bad budget habits
As recent decisions by the legislature’s budget committees show, it is not easy to meet the demands of Connecticut’s many human needs while limiting the burden on taxpayers, but solutions do exist and there is evidence they have worked in other states. The Connecticut Institute for the 21st Century (CT21.org), has produced a series of six reports outlining a “Framework for Connecticut’s Fiscal Future.”
Posted inEducation
Are students better off in charter schools? State says it’s unsure
Amid the ferocious debate about whether Connecticut students are better off in charter schools, the State Department of Education has released the results of its first-ever research on the subject. It provides little clarity, however.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
House adopts controversial state budget
Connecticut’s long-running budget drama began drawing to a close early Wednesday as the House of Representatives adopted a $40.3 billion, two-year package that largely restores deep cuts to social services and expands municipal aid while bolstering tax revenues by almost $2 billion.
Posted inPolitics
A second chance for Malloy’s justice reforms
Salvaged by a late bipartisan deal, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to end racially disparate sentencing and reduce incarceration for non-violent crimes was passed at midnight Tuesday by the Senate and sent to the House.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
New seats for charter schools not the answer for Connecticut
Can you imagine a neighborhood in West Hartford in which two or three of the children on the cul-de-sac attend a charter school, funded with $11,000 per student per year of taxpayer money and promoted as a superior school, while all the other children in the neighborhood attend what is said to be an inferior school also funded by taxpayer money? Can you imagine New Canaan parents sending their children to an elementary school in which 23.78 percent of the children are suspended? The answer to these and many others regarding charter schools is: Of course not.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Could Malloy’s push to fund charter schools jeopardize budget approval?
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s insistence on increasing funding for charter schools has more than a dozen Democratic legislators questioning whether they can support the next state budget if it means their neighborhood public schools are flat-funded or cut.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Paying for Malloy’s $100 billion wish list
There is no question that Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposed $100 billion transportation plan for our state is, as he puts it, “bold.” The question is, is it achievable? The problem is that the governor’s plan isn’t a plan. It’s a wish list, with something for everyone in the state. Nobody has vetted the various projects to say what makes sense and what doesn’t. Nor has the governor offered any ideas on how to pay for them.
Posted inPolitics
Under Malloy, a more diverse judiciary
Thirty percent of the 47 judges Malloy has nominated to the Superior Court since taking office in 2011 have been minorities, twice the percentage of those named by his two immediate predecessors. His latest group of nominees is up for confirmation by the General Assembly.
