Berlin State Rep. Goes Low With “Pro-Criminal Democrats” Rhetoric

By John McNamara

BERLIN – State Rep. Donna Veach (R-30), a first-term Republican state representative representing Berlin and Southington, is calling Democrats “pro-criminal” on a campaign billboard.

Rep. Veach, however, received a rebuke from constituents at a candidate forum held at the Berlin Senior Center last week when she again attacked Democrats and, by implication, her Democratic opponent, Denise McNair, the former town manager, for being “pro-criminal.”

“Why are you calling Democrats pro-criminal on your billboard? It’s divisive and it’s an insult,” asked a senior center attendee. Veach at first responded by doubling down on her rhetoric as the crowd objected to her name calling. Only then did Veach apologize for the “bad phrasing” as the billboard at issue remains prominently on display in town.

CAMPAIGN 2022

State Senator Rick Lopes (D-6), representing Berlin, New Britain and a portion of Farmington, also attended the forum and said Veach’s “rambling backpedaling was too little too late.”

“The question is how can Rep. Donna Veach represent a district when she disdains half her constituents? How can Democratic constituents — really anyone not a registered Republican — expect to be heard at all when she puts her name on billboards calling them “pro-criminal,” asked Lopes.

Said Lopes: “She embarrassed herself. Except for her, all the other candidates of both parties spoke about being inclusive and stopping negativity that is disliked by the voters. She chose to go hyper-negative and attack everyone.”

Veach’s “hyper negativity” is really no different than the fear-mongering theme on crime being waged by many Republicans in CT, including Bob Stefanowski for Governor, Leora Levy for U.S. Senate and George Logan for Congress in the 5th Congressional District. The rhetoric may be more nuanced but these nominees rail about Democrats being too soft on criminals as they oppose common sense gun controls that many police chiefs and law enforcement organizations support to reduce gun violence. It’s also part of the GOP’s mantra to demonize Democrats with incendiary talk. Just last month Ronna McDaniel, the national Republican Party’s Chairperson and Donald Trump sycophant, made her way to New Britain to blast not one Democrat but all Democrats as favoring “greed, communism, and crazy. And that’s what they are for.”

Unfortunately Veach’s “Against Pro-Criminal Democrats” billboard is an old story for Republicans who offer little in the way of substantive policy or solutions to fight crime. Instilling fear and dividing constituents is their formula to win but not to govern.

It is encouraging to know that Senator Lopes called her out and the crowd over at Berlin’s Senior Center last week rejected the low road taken by Donna Veach.

The fictional “Bob” in the new commercial is the same “Bob” who ran for Guv in 2018

by John McNamara

Bob Stefanowski’s story is the stuff of hardscrabble immigrants making it to America in the 20th century to raise their families and realize the American Dream.

That is the narrative in Republican Stefanowski’s re-branding to voters in his first television commercial for Connecticut’s GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2022. No doubt that Mr. Stefanowski’s parents worked hard, played by the rules and got a piece of that American Dream for their son to attain wealth gained in a career in financial services at GE Capital, UBS and a London-based investment and private equity company. Bob ’22 wants you to know he is just a son of hometown North Haven who can make Connecticut more affordable with the business acumen he acquired in those investment banker jobs.

Surrounding himself with working folks in the commercial (if you watch television only a little you’ll see the ad multiple times) Stefanowski pledges to cut sales taxes and keep cutting taxes after he forensically takes state spending apart to identify all the waste that he implies exists. State Comptroller Natalie Braswell can save the Bob campaign the trouble by pointing out the forensics on the state budget already exist. They are continually updated at the “Open Connecticut” website created by former Comptroller Kevin Lembo where every payroll, contract and purchase in state government can be found at the click of a mouse.

Once Stefanowski gets “under the hood” it follows that he will then be able give voters specifics on where the waste is and exactly what state government should be spending tax dollars on in his first biennial budget.

The race for Governor is shaping up as a re-run of Stefanowski versus Lamont

Don’t count on it. Even Chris Powell, the very conservative Journal Inquirer columnist with a disdain for anything liberal, points to the empty rhetoric of Bob ’22: “Stefanowski’s critique of government in Connecticut was fair enough – that the state has become less affordable for the middle class and less safe. But he did not offer a detailed platform. While he noted that Connecticut can’t cut taxes without cutting spending, he didn’t specify where this should be done.”

Stefanowski is not likely to offer that “detailed platform” of draconian cuts and lower taxes before November 8. He’ll continue to serve up slogans within a make-believe, trickle down economics policy that leaves middle income and working families behind every time.

In 2018 Stefanowski bought the Republican nomination, bypassed a convention of party regulars and won a plurality in a crowded primary field to take on Ned Lamont. He edged out candidates such as Mark Bouton, the multi-term Danbury Mayor, who many observers thought would have been a more formidable general election foe against Ned Lamont. Boughton is now Lamont’s Tax Commissioner in charge of doling out federal infrastructure money. With the departure of former legislative leader Themis Klarides for GOP Governor, Stefanowski’s strategy is likely to work again for the nomination.

At issue is whether the CT Republican Party, its identity frayed by the wrath and authoritarianism of 44, can serve up a wealthy businessman for a fourth time. Tom Foley lost to Dannel Malloy twice and Stefanowski lost a close race to the self-financed Lamont in 2018 as Lamont bucked a trend of candidates of the same party not succeeding the incumbent.

The path for a wealthy Republican or any Republican to take back the Governor’s office won’t be easy. The 2018 Election was a better opportunity at the end of Governor Malloy’s two terms. Democrats are hoping a Republican nominee who demonizes government and has no public service record will fail a fourth time.

Governor Lamont, touting his moderate’s socially liberal and fiscally responsible brand, enters the 2022 gubernatorial race with a record of managing the mother of all crises (the pandemic) competently, a growing surplus and new federal help to address infrastructure and transit needs that didn’t exist four years ago. He’ll use those incumbent tools to offer targeted tax cuts of his own that will likely blunt the empty bromides from Bob Stefanowski who despite the new branding and pledge to cut taxes (it’s the sales tax not the income tax this time) is the same Bob who ran in 2018.

“Tax Equity” Proposals Call For Reducing Regressive Sales and Property Levies, Raising Rates On Wealthy

By John McNamara

Bills that would dramatically alter the way Connecticut taxes individuals and businesses were the subject of a marathon hearing at the Legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee on March 15th. An overwhelming majority of the more than 300 individuals who testified supported tax reforms but passage will face significant hurdles in the 2021 session.

The “tax equity” proposals, co-sponsored by New Britain Democratic legislators State Senator Rick Lopes (D-6), State Rep. Manny Sanchez (D-24), State Rep. Bobby Sanchez (D-25) and State Rep. Peter Tercyak (D-26) and other lawmakers, provide tax relief to low- and moderate income households by reducing reliance on regressive sales and property taxes. High-income households would be taxed more than the current maximum of 6.99%. on their incomes to make up the difference.

A key provision contained in HB 6187 and SB 821 would adjust the state income tax on individuals earning $500,000 or more and joint filers earning $800,000. Proponents say the adjustments would make income tax rates fairer by raising the rate to 8.82% for individuals at $500,000 and joint filers at $800,000. For households earning $1 million or more the rate would rise to 12.69 percent. Governor Ned Lamont opposes any change in the current rates but a significant contingent of lawmakers. in the Democratic caucus are pushing changes to lower the overall tax burden on individuals and families below $500,000. Raising rates on wealthier households would generate $1.75 to $2 billion annually.

A coalition of unions and advocacy groups that mobilized turnout for the all day March 15thhearing assert that legislation would level the playing field and make the tax system fairer. According to a Voices for Children tax reform report “Advancing Economic Justice Through Tax Reform” issued last December, median income households with $76,106 in pre-tax income pay an effective tax rate of nearly 14% while the top one percent of tax filers with an average income of $3,092,389 have an effective tax rate of 6.5%. The effective tax rate takes into account the total tax burden of property, sales and income taxes on taxpayers. It means that a nurse or salesperson earning less than $100,000 now pays double the taxes comparably to wealthy individuals whose burden has been reduced further in recent years as the result of the Trump tax cuts for the “one percent” with incomes in the millions and billions.

A 2% statewide property tax “on the portion of the market value of homes in excess of $1.5 million” also dubbed the “mansion tax” drew opposition at the legislative hearing from worried homeowners, most of whom would not be effected by the levy on only the highest value residences. The tax on “mansions” with assessed values exceeding $1 million would raise $663 million. The same “mansion” tax is proposed in SB 171 with State Senate President Martin Looney sponsoring the stand alone bill.

Tax relief for the working class is part of the comprehensive legislation with an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to 50% of the federal tax credit at an estimated cost of $155 million. The Senate version of the bill also includes a state child tax credit similar to federal Rescue Act one designed to reduce child poverty. For property tax relief the tax credit would double to $400 on homes and motor vehicles at a cost of $63 million. For COVID 19 relief a direct payment of $500 would be sent to individuals who have faced hardships and unemployment over the last year.

The Finance committee is also considering other provisions of the tax equity legislation that would generally lower the tax burden on working and middle income residents:

A 10% tax on digital ads placed in Connecticut by companies with digital ad revenue of more than $10 billion (Google, Facebook, and Amazon) generating $140 million annually.

Lowering the estate tax exemption to $2 million, eliminate the payment cap, and enact estate tax rates similar to the rates in effect before the Great Recession. This would generate approximately $162 million annually.

Increasing the base corporation business tax rate to 11.5% for corporations with gross income of $100 million or greater and extend and increase the current surtax to 20%. This would generate approximately $250-300 million annually.

Imposing a surtax of 5% on capital gains, dividends, and taxable interest for individuals with income in excess of $500,000 per year ($800,000 for joint filers). This would generate approximately $850 million annually.

Proponents of the legislation face a considerable amount of misinformation about impacts on working and middle income households whose effective tax rates would stand to be reduced by passage. Any tax adjustment in the direction of equity always elicits arguments that the big taxpayers that the state depends on would flee like snowbirds to Florida and that businesses would go offshore if they haven’t already to avoid paying more taxes. Standing in the way of any change and buying into those arguments is Governor Lamont who made a “no new taxes” pledge to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association last week.

It remains to be seen how much the Democratic caucus and its leaders can move Lamont to support one or more of the provisions intended to reduce regressive taxes and make Connecticut’s tax system more equitable. Some are hopeful that Lamont will take a page from President Biden who is now calling for a higher rate on wealthy individuals making over $400,000 for public investments like infrastructure and to address a spiraling federal deficit from the Trump years.

For now the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, co-chaired by Hartford State Senator John Fonfara and Shoreline State Rep. Sean Scanlon, has its hands full in sorting out what provisions will move to a full vote in the General Assembly this session.

Stuck in the 18th Century: State Constitution Impedes Voting By Mail, Early Voting

By John McNamara

Pandemic Prompts Legislation To Allow Absentee Voting Option For All In November But Ballot Reforms Shouldn’t Stop There

Our license plates proudly proclaim Connecticut the “Constitution State” because the state constitution was one of the colonial documents that guided the Founders of the nation when they wrote the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

While a score of other states have ballot access via vote by mail and periods of early voting before Election Day, Connecticut is stuck in another century because of its storied Constitution and a restrictive absentee voting statute.

Amid the public health threat of pandemic the absentee voting statute is expected to change at a special session of the General Assembly in July. Governor Lamont, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Democratic legislative leaders are on board to extend absentee voting to every voter this year. As Merrill said to Meriden’s “Drinking Liberally” Zoom political forum on June 9th: “The last thing we want is to have people make a choice between their health and their vote.”

Opposition can be expected from Republican Party leaders intent on restricting voter access as much as possible. CT Republican Chair J.R. Romano is hard at work parroting the discredited assertions of voter fraud.

The need to add a public health emergency option to the absentee voting law would have been moot had a 2014 constitutional amendment referendum been approved in that year’s gubernatorial election. To the question “Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to remove restrictions concerning absentee ballots and to permit a person to vote without appearing at a polling place on the day of an election?” a majority (52%) voted no. Proponents blamed an underfunded “Yes” campaign and the wording of the question for its defeat. A contributing factor was the fact that almost 150,000 more voters chose a Governor but never made it to the question at the bottom of the ballot. The amendment lost by 38,000. Approval would have empowered the legislature to enact “no excuse” absentee voting and paved the way for early voting that accounts for an increasing percentage of turnout in other states.

Connecticut law limits use of absentee balloting to those who will be out of town on election day, members of the armed forces, for an illness or physical disability, religious beliefs and for serving as an election official other than at a place than where you vote. It’s likely this summer’s legislation will extend the right to vote by mail when an illness-causing public health emergency exists to stay within the bounds of the constitution.

Secretary of the State Merrill says she is working with local registrars to open all polling places on November 3rd with any required social distancing that’s needed. A statewide secure mailing operation will be used to support voting by mail for any voter who wants to do so as long as the Legislature revises the absentee voting law. Her office has a $5 million COVID 19 federal grant to meet election costs but could probably use more. According to Merrill, election officials at the local and state level face a daunting task to ensure full voter access but that steps are being taken now “to make this a smooth election.”

One of the unintended consequences of COVID-19 may be to accelerate the movement to adopt post-pandemic statutory and constitutional changes allowing no excuse absentee voting and early voting in Connecticut.

In April the New Britain Democratic Town Committee (DTC) adopted a resolution to extend absentee voting to all this year and called for a new campaign to change the constitution. The DTC also endorsed the federal Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020 now before Congress that would extend voter access and provide states with new funding for election security.

The nonpartisan CT-SAM Task Force, led by former Metro Hartford Alliance CEO and gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel, is primarily pushing ranked-choice voting, term limits and open primaries but its platform also includes “removing obstacles to legal voter registration and….early voting, vote-at-home options, and/or by making election day a national holiday.”

Beyond this pandemic a broad-based and well supported coalition will be needed to make the permanent changes in the Constitution in a 2022 referendum. “It’s very difficult to change a constitution,” notes Secretary Merrill. “This situation has laid bare the limitations in Connecticut.” The hope is we can keep our venerable Constitution but tweak it enough to allow full voting access in the 21st century.

Rep. Sanchez Makes “Respect” for Early Childhood Educators A Priority As New Chair of Education Committee

By John McNamara

State Rep. Robert “Bobby” Sanchez (D-25) is the new House Chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee who brings a strong background in early childhood education to his leadership post in the General Assembly this year.

Sanchez, a former New Britain Board of Education member elected to the House in a 2011 special election, shared his priorities at a League of Women Voters legislative breakfast January 19th at New Britain Public Library.

“Teachers in early childhood education are not respected,” said Sanchez, noting that most early childhood professionals entrusted with the care and development of pre-schoolers are not fairly compensated. In Connecticut with its high cost of living, child care staff fare much better than the national average of $29,000 ($14 per hour), earning upto $40,150 ($19.30). Advocates, however, say classroom teachers and aides not covered by union contracts can fall below the average. On top of pay inequity, Sanchez also points to the requirement that all early child educators will need to hold bachelor’s degrees within a few years to meet accreditation standards. Getting those credentials means education expenses to make the grade as early childhood professionals.

Sanchez, a longtime case manager of early care and education and coordinator of the Fatherhood Initiative at New Britain’s Human Resource Agency, knows the pay struggles of the people he works with every day. Rep. Sanchez’ early childhood roots go back deeper than you may know. “Bobby” is the moniker he uses on election ballots and with friends — a name he probably latched on to when a teacher called him that at a Head Start classroom in New Britain when he was four years old. It may be that Sanchez is the first Education Chair who’s an alumnus of one of the Great Society’s most enduring programs that launched the movement for quality early childhood education for low-income children in the 1960s.

20190119-lwvlopes-0487(1) — State Rep. Bobby Sanchez LWV Legislative Breakfast (photo courtesy of Frank Gerratana)

Sanchez’ views are in sync with the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance and its Executive Director, New Britain BOE Member Merrill Gay. “Early childhood teachers are among the lowest paid profession in the state,” according to the Alliance in advocating for supporting the child care work force last year. “Early childhood teachers often rely on Care4Kids, HUSKY, SNAP and fuel assistance to make ends meet.”

To address the issue, the Alliance and legislative allies such as Sanchez are likely to push for “an increase in the full-day, full-year rate to $10,000 per child for School Readiness and state funded Child Development Centers indexed to any increase in the minimum wage, a higher infant toddler rate in recognition of the much lower staff to child ratio, delaying the B.A. degree deadline, and providing a rate bonus to programs that reach the staff qualification goal so they can retain the staff.”

The Education Committee will be addressing a score of major issues in the 2019 session, including school safety, curriculum, the education cost sharing (ECS) formula for school districts and child care subsidies that can nudge the pay for early childhood teachers up a notch.

It may be a tall order to secure adequate school aid and child care subsidies with state government saddled with built-in deficits and the pent up needs of other key services in the state budget this year But Sanchez and his allies in education are prepared to make the case to Governor Lamont and the General Assembly that better pay for those who care for the very young are smart investments for the state’s future.

Sunshine On State Budget: Lembo Launches Open Connecticut

Score one for State Comptroller Kevin Lembo on the government and transparency front to start 2013. .

Lembo has launched a new website for the public to get an unabridged and politically neutral one-stop source for where state government spends its money, gets its income and borrows. If there are inefficiencies or redundancies to root out as CT faces billion dollar budget deficits this is the place to find it. “Sunshine,” the Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, “is the best disinfectant.”

Open Connecticut is more comprehensive than the website served up by the Yankee Institute — a right wing think tank — that paints state employees with a broad brush whether they are earning their keep or notand uses data to tear down government

According to Lembo’s office Open Connecticut — www.osc.ct.gov/openct —centralizes state financial data and simplifies access to important information about the state budget and its financial future.

Here’s more from the Comptroller’s Office:

“It’s your money, and you have a right to know,” Lembo said. ‘That’s the simple message behind Open Connecticut. ‘Pockets of state financial information have long been available, but scattered across state agencies. Those who actually have the time to locate information often discover the next difficult step – understanding the information. ‘Through Open Connecticut we want to accomplish at least two things – we want to end the scavenger hunt for taxpayers by creating a centralized warehouse for financial information, and we want to help explain and break down the state’s financial processes as simply as possible. ‘We want to help answer basic questions that the public may have – and deserves to know – about state government. For example, what exactly is in the state budget? Where did our deficits or surpluses come from? How much did we spend on a particular vendor or program? And what should we expect in future years?” Open Connecticut is currently organized into seven sections: STATE BUDGET: Provides access to the state budgets for current and previous years, annual end-of-year financial reports, deficit mitigation plans and results-based accountability (RBA) reports that serve as report cards on how state money was spent on certain projects. STATE INCOME: Features monthly reports by the Department of Revenue Services on the amount of state revenue received, as well as reports on income tax collected by bracket and by town. STATE BORROWING: Provides access to the state’s Bond Allocation Database, which contains information about projects approved by the State Bond Commission. This section also features background about the State Bond Commission, its members and how the bond authorization and allocation process works. FUTURE COST OBLIGATIONS: Provides background and links to actuarial reports on the state’s various retirement systems and retiree health care (known as the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) report). FOLLOW THE MONEY: Features links to transparency.ct.gov, an existing searchable website maintained by the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) that already provides information (from the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC)) about employee salaries, vendor payments, retiree pensions and other detailed information about state spending. FINANCIAL FORECAST: Includes links to monthly independent financial forecast reports by the OSC, OFA and Office of Policy and Management, as well as links to fiscal accountability reports and consensus revenue projections. TAX BREAKS & EXEMPTIONS: Provides links to reports by OFA and Department of Economic and Community Development on the cost of tax expenditures and evaluations on certain tax credit and abatement programs. Open Connecticut also features brief tutorials on issues such as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the state spending cap and consensus revenue. “This site is by no means a finished product – but a starting point towards greater transparency and connectivity between the public and state government,” Lembo said. “My goal is to see this site evolve and expand to include more information as it becomes available. I encourage state residents to use the site, to better understand their government – and to let us know if they have ideas to improve the site going forward.” Lembo, as state comptroller, is the state’s chief fiscal guardian. In that capacity he monitors state finances and issues monthly and annual financial reports. Elected in 2010, Lembo previously served as the state’s Health Care advocate..

24th House District Special Election: Sharon, Rick and Mike Vie For the 24th

24th State Rep Nominating Convention Tuesday, 11/29 In Newington

The convention to nominate a Democratic candidate for the 24th House District seat vacated by Mayor O’Brien will be held Tuesday, November 29th at 7 p.m. at Newington Town Hall Council Chambers, 131 Cedar Street.

Three candidates with considerable public service and legislative experience have emerged to replace O’Brien: BOE President Sharon Beloin-Saavedra, Former Ward 1 Alderman Rick Lopes and Common Council President Mike Trueworthy. They are seeking support from 13 delegates chosen last year for Rep. O’Brien’s re-nomination. The 24th District lies in New Britain and Newington — a multi-town district that requires a delegate convention instead of a nomination through the Town Committee. In New Britain the district comprises the Vance, NB High School, Roosevelt and Gaffney school polling places.

At a New Britain Democratic Town Committee meeting November 17th involving New Britain and Newington DTC members and delegates, Beloin-Saavedra, Lopes and Trueworthy all pledged to abide by the result of the convention and unify for a special election that is expected to be held January 10th.

The candidate elected in January will served in the short session of the Legislature that begins in February and will almost immediately roll into the endorsement for a new term with Town Committees’ selection of delegates in March. New political boundary lines will also be established by then as the result of the 2010 Census and the work of the Redistricting Commission that has not completed its work. All of the announced candidates are expected to remain in the 24th District after the district lines are re-drawn.

from New Britain Democrats. 11/25/11 post http://t.co/PFLkH1XM

Remembering Rev. King and the Labor Movement – Again

Ultra-conservative radio host Dan Lovallo was distorting the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. the other day. He joined a caller in bashing labor unions by objecting to unions’ honoring and remembering King for his strong support of organized labor generally and public employee unions specifically. It’s all part of Lovallo’s and his drive-time competition’s (Former Public Employee John Rowland) steady trash talk against many who work in the public sector. Lovallo’s distortions aside, the anniversary of Rev. King’s assassination on April 4th is a sad and irrefutable reminder that King gave his life for both civil and economic rights, especially the right of public employees to bargain collectively. In this season of attacks against labor rights in the public sector Rev. King should be remembered for his close allegiance with labor. It’s something if you are of a certain age you don’t forget:

04 APRIL 2007

39 Years Ago Today

I remember exactly where I was on April 4, 1968. Thirty nine years ago today the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.

That week day, like many others in my senior year in high school, I drove to Bradlee’s Department store on the Lynnway in Lynn, Massachusetts to punch in for the evening shift earning some money before entering Boston University in the fall.

The news spread quickly that Thursday evening that King was dead. It didn’t take long to realize that my shift as a retail clerk would be different from all the others. The store quickly emptied out. Not a customer in sight all night. No need for Mr. Silverman, the shaken and somber store manager, to send me out on outside carriage control. The bullets in Memphis were enough to bring a normal business day to a halt in Lynn and most of the nation. Just five short years before I had come home from junior high on a late summer day to watch King deliver his “I Have A Dream” speech – an event that would inspire so many of us to become active in politics and protest.

There are many good remembrances of what King said and stood for on his national holiday In January every year, but not so much is being said on this anniversary of the day he died. It’s worth remembering on April 4th and throughout the year why King was in Memphis on a day I will never forget.

By 1968, Rev. King was widening the concerns of his movement. In Where Do We Go From Here? King opposed a Vietnam policy that had begun to break the nation further apart. The lunchroom sit-ins and battles over accommodations and voting rights were giving way to a broader agenda. He was planning a new march on Washington – “the Poor People’s Campaign” — when he decided to take up the cause of 1,300 Black sanitation workers in Memphis, a city of southern segregation, where the white power structure opposed the right to unionize and the Mayor vowed never to bargain in good faith in a way that would give the sanitation workers their dignity. The strike and a citywide economic boycott were a cause King knew he could not ignore.

King’s prophetic “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech on the eve of the assassination is his best known from Memphis. But two weeks earlier, on March 18th, King galvanized support for strikers by saying: “So often we overlook the worth and significance of those who are not in professional jobs, or those who are not in the so-called big jobs…..One day our society will come to respect the sanitation worker if it is to survive.” Following King’s assassination, the Memphis power structure gave up its intransigence – recognizing the union, awarding pay raises and instituting merit promotions.

King’s campaign for striking sanitation workers reaffirmed his greatness at the hour of his death and resonates today in the cause of social and economic justice. That is worth remembering most from the day he died.

from http://nbpoliticus.blogspot.com/2007/04/39-years-ago-today.html

Party For State Rep. Sanchez: Affirming the American Dream in New Britain

Ward 3 Ald. Shirley Black and
Rep. Bobby Sanchez
At Fiesta Latina

Family, friends and colleagues were on hand at the Puerto Rican Society Friday March 18th to celebrate the election of Bobby Sanchez as the state representative from the 25th Assembly District in New Britain.

Sanchez, the Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair and Board of Education member, was elected in the February 22nd special election to the state assembly seat . He succeeded John Geragosian, one of the new state Auditors of Public Accounts.

Like many a gathering at the Puerto Rican Society the “Fiesta Latina” had plenty of home-made dishes of chicken, pork, rice and beans. Sanchez, a Washington Street resident and human services professional, welcomed attendees many of whom have worked with Sanchez through the years to register voters and promote turnouts on election days. Ward 5 Ald. Roy Centeno and DTC member Francisco Cuin introduced other elected officials during a brief program , including State Rep. Tim O’Brien, Ward 3 Ald. Shirley Black and BOE President Sharon Beloin-Saavedra.

Less than a month in state office, Sanchez says he’s absorbed in reading the many bills he’ll vote on. He faces a long week of sessions on the finance, revenue and bonding committee as lawmakers work on a state budget of “shared sacrifice.” His knowledge and career work in Head Start and social service programs will serve him well on the Education Committee, his other major assignment as a freshman lawmaker.

Sanchez, a New Britain native, reminded us that he was a child of the sixties. His immigrant parents enrolled him in the city’s first Head Start classroom at Saint Mary’s Church– the early childhood program that was part of the wave of social and civil rights laws enacted and for which people gave their lives to bring about just a generation ago.

The significance of the celebration for Sanchez was not lost on anyone in attendance. Sanchez’ election to state office is a milestone for the Latino community whose numbers, according to the 2010 census, rise rapidly in city and suburb alike in Connecticut. Pete Rosa came by to wish Sanchez well. Rosa, a former BOE member and New Britain Alderman, was New Britain’s first citizen of Puerto Rican background to run and win elective office. It was not so long ago that Rosa, for his willingness to run and hold office, endured phone threats from anonymous voices fixated on ethnic division and hate in the city.

That Sanchez has been elected a state representative is a solid sign of progress in New Britain. It says that people wanting to be part of politics and government will have opportunities regardless of ethnic background or economic standing. It says that New Britain is “a city for all people”.

Pete Hamill, the author and journalist, would agree. He once remembered looking out his “tenement window” in Brooklyn in his youth and seeing the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline.

“They weren’t symbols of New York; they stood for America itself……Those symbols, made visible and concrete by the efforts of human beings, were not lies. The first said that here, in these United States, men and women were free of the ancient curses of class, iron tradition, religious division. An Irish Catholic from bigoted Belfast, a Jew from some forlorn and isolated Russian shtetl, an Italian from the eroded wastes of the Mezzogiorno: all were free. Each was the political equal of the richest man in the country, able to cast a vote in free elections, possessed of rights guaranteed on paper in the Constitution of the United States. Here, no man or woman would ever genuflect before a king. Here, no child would shiver in fear during the terrors of a pogrom. Here, no feudal don would exercise arbitrary powers of life and death. Not here. Not ever. This was America. Here you could imagine a glorious future. Here, dreams really did come true.

[From “America: The Place Where Dreams Still Come True” by Pete Hamill]

DeFronzo’s Assignment: An Agency Where "There Is Something For Everybody"

State Senator Don DeFronzo, an early supporter of Dan Malloy in the 2010 gubernatorial race, is heading for the state Department of Administrative Services (DAS). The agency DeFronzo will lead is generally not in the headlines but has evolved into an omnibus branch of the executive that is a key to how state government runs itself and does business with others.

Here is how the agency introduces itself:

DAS has statutory responsibilities and administrative authority in the areas of personnel recruitment, selection and workforce planning; fleet operations; state workers’ compensation administration; procurement of goods and services; collection of monies due the state; surplus property distribution; contractor prequalification and supplier diversity; consolidated human resources, payroll, fiscal and equal employment opportunity services for small agencies; as well as printing, mail and courier services for state government.

In addition, we have proudly added to our agency the Claims Commission, the State Marshal Commission, the State Property Review Board, and the Insurance and Risk Management Board. DAS is also a partner agency for Core-CT which is Connecticut state government’s integrated financial, human resources and payroll system. The services we provide cross state agencies, municipalities, vendors, colleges and universities, non-profit organizations and the public at large. There is something here for everybody.

As if that isn’t enough there are strong indications that Governor-elect Malloy may try to extend DAS’ responsibilities and give DeFronzo an even bigger portfolio to manage in the Departments of Information Technology (DOIT) and Public Works (DPW). Such a consolidation would be up to legislative approval in the General Assembly.

At issue is whether a bigger DAS would bring the efficiencies and savings sought by the new administration as it seeks to spend less and deliver services.