From Paddi's Desk
What a week! Where was the crystal ball?
The "veto session" kicked off the week, followed by two days of U.S. Supreme Court decisions which had a big impact on CT.
It didn't turn out the way many had predicted. After seven bills were vetoed by Governor Malloy, all felt pretty confident that at least two bills would be overridden. One of those bills was the so called "school safety" bill, which pitted the Governor and the CT Education Association against each other over what to do about the school-to-prison pipeline. That phrase refers to the current process where discipline for "difficult" students turns them into "victims" of the prison system for what some believe to be insignificant violations of school policies and/or common behaviors.
The House overrode the veto, but the Senate took a pass on it, even after the extensive grassroots and social media campaign mounted by the CEA since the Governor put the big "V" on the proposal.
The second bill many thought would be overridden was an initiative to curb future governors' abilities to cut local educational funding mid-year, after CT's 169 towns and cities adopt their local school budgets. This past year, when CT's budget fell way short of revenue, Governor Malloy dipped into local school funding to keep the budget balanced, and the legislature rebelled. They finally returned the funding to local municipalities and vowed to make sure future governors would not have the ability to repeat this action in years to come.
Another controversial bill was the Hartford bailout. Last session, the legislature awarded Hartford additional funding to help keep the city afloat. This past session, Governor Malloy and Mayor Luke Bronin cut a deal where Hartford would not only receive $40 million in additional aid for a two year period, but that level of funding would be extended through the next two to three decades. For every action there's a reaction. The legislature passed a "take back" bill which would have severely cut the funding awarded to Hartford. As controversial as it was in May, neither the House nor the Senate took action to override the Governor's veto.
Very seldom does a legislature override vetoes. In fact, during Malloy's first four-year term, not a one!
As it turns out, we are headed to a special session on the topics of online gambling, a revised version of the school safety bill and possibly some efforts to address restrictions on faith-based women's health services.
As the CT legislature adjourned its veto session, the US Supreme Court (USSC) released its decision to turn upside down the customary practice of requiring all public sector employees to contribute dues to their unions, with the promise they will negotiate with federal, state and local government agencies for benefits, work rules and compensation.
Ouch! The decision was effective yesterday and all expect to see some real consequences, since now the unions will have to secure an affirmative approval to make routine deductions out of payroll checks. The ramifications to public sector unions - in their ability to gear up for election campaigns, recruit volunteers to help friendly candidates, lobby state and local agencies and the other various actions unrelated to negotiation of contracts - are what everyone is talking about.
The second USSC decision, relating to President Trump's travel ban being upheld, might not have direct impact on most CT citizens, but it will impact the Democratic Party's fierce opposition to the current immigration actions and the fall elections. As advocates for and against the wall or open borders battle it out in social and legacy media, candidates are gearing up to paint any Republican candidate with the national broad brush.
Disruptive politics was alive and well this week in Connecticut. It's getting harder and harder to keep pace with all that's going on these days!
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CT Agency Corner
Department of Public Health - Malloy Requests Special Session for Supreme Court Ruling on Pregnancy Counseling Centers
by Mike Johnson
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of repealing a California law that would have required pregnancy crisis centers to have signage about how to receive actual abortion services. In response, Governor Malloy is urging that the legislature take immediate action by passing its own state law that requires such signage at pregnancy crisis centers throughout the state.
The grounds for repeal by the highest court in the land by a 5-4 vote was that of the 1st amendment right of free speech and freedom of religion to not force a counseling center to have to disclose where a person could receive such assistance. The dissenting opinion reflected that the establishment of these centers is to persuade those to not have abortions and to ambiguously title their counseling centers as "pregnancy crisis centers" as a way to have members of the public arrive who believe they have gone to an actual abortion clinic.
On the state level, Malloy in his statement is asking the legislature to ban false and deceptive practices of these centers. The City of Hartford even passed an ordinance this year penalizing centers that provide deceptive information about the services they provide but now the U.S. Supreme Court has cast uncertainty over whether or not the city can constitutionally violate that ruling. Their law was set to go into effect July 1st, but the recent court ruling has indefinitely tabled whether or not it can be implemented. The City of Hartford is reportedly having city attorneys evaluate the next steps forward for the ordinance that passed.
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Did You Know?
Iconic Connecticut Foods
Now that the heat is here and the Fourth of July right around the corner, let's give those
taste buds
some ideas to
indulge
themselves with CT's best eats!
- Hot Lobster Rolls
- Homemade Ice Cream
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The Real Scoop
It's campaign season folks! Mark your calendars for upcoming debates to learn more about those candidates running for office this fall.
Sunday, July 8th, 2018 from 1:30pm to 3pm: The Washington DTC
will host a primary debate between Democratic Congressional Candidates for the 5th district Mary Glassman and Jahana Hayes at 2 Bryan Plaza, Washington.
The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges
(CCIC) will co-host a Republican and a Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum with the Connecticut Mirror and Connecticut Public Radio and the events will be moderated by WNPR's John Dankosky:
- Republican Candidate Forum on Monday, Aug. 6, with a reception from 6 to 7 p.m. and the forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield.
- Democratic Candidate Forum on Tuesday, Aug. 7, with a reception from 6 to 7 p.m. and the forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bucknall Theater, University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven.
WFSB
will host a series of political debates in partnership with UConn moderated by Dennis House:
- Gubernatorial Debate on Wednesday, Sept. 26, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the UConn Storrs Campus.
- U.S. Senate Debate on Sunday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. to noon at the WFSB Rocky Hill Studio.
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Municipal
Roundup
by Ryan Bingham
The legislature went back into session this week for a "Veto Session", or a session to potentially override those bills that were vetoed by the Governor.
One of the bills was impacting municipalities, and was a measure that would create a new process for school suspensions that put superintendents and rank and file teachers at odds with each other. Malloy vetoed the bill because, "as written, this bill creates too great a risk that students of color and those with disabilities will be disproportionately affected by its new removal powers." The rationale for the original legislation was that it gives "front line educators the ability to control their classrooms and keep schools safe and free from disruptive and dangerous behaviors," according to Minority leader in the House, Themis Klarides. The union that represents the teachers in CT, the Connecticut Education Association agreed with this assessment. There was general support for the override of the veto, but some members of the Black and Latino caucus grew concerned about the potential unintended consequences. The Governor's veto was not overridden this week and is now officially dead now that the veto has been upheld.
Another interesting happening these last few weeks was a visit from the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson. Secretary Carson made the trip to Willington to inspect, first hand, a home that has been affected by the crumbling foundations issue that many residents in CT are facing right now. The house that Secretary Carson inspected is one of 34,000 homes in 36 towns which have to deal with the potential cost of fixing their foundations, which can cost up to $200,000. Carson suggested, "... that problem was actually recently brought to my attention by the staff who've already started focusing attention on that." "It's a very valid issue and yes, we would be happy to work with you on that," he added.
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Behind the Scenes
By Chelsea Neelon
It looks like the primary ballots in August have been set after all those petitioning to be on the ballot have either been successful in their endeavor, or didn't make the cut. The last candidate to hear their fate was Guy Smith, a retired corporate executive from Greenwich, after he only obtained about 2/3rds of the number of signatures necessary to get on the primary ballot. This solidifies that the Democratic Party will be a showdown between two candidates, party endorsed Ned Lamont, and petitioning candidate and Mayor of Bridgeport Joe Ganim. The Republican Party has a true battle royale between five candidates, an unprecedented number of candidates for CT's top spot. Party endorsed candidate Mark Boughton will running against, Tim Herbst, Steve Obsitnik, David Stemerman and Bob Stefanowski.
With the ticket for governor all set for August, some tickets are still left up in the air, specifically that of the 16th state senate district. Party endorsed candidate Vickie Orsini Nardello, a former State Representative, claims an error in the Secretary of State's Office cost her a run for Senate on the primary ballot in August. The seat will be vacant, as Republican Senator Joe Markley will leaving the Senate on his run for lieutenant governor. A form that certified Nardello qualifying for the primary was filled out wrote and was not corrected by the deadline of June 4th, therefore the form was rejected by the SOTS office and Nardello was no longer an eligible candidate. There are claims of errors on both parties, and it will be quite interesting to see what decisions are made to solve this situation.
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