In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
From Inside The Golden Dome
This Day in CT History
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Happy Holidays to All!
With the year coming to a close, I wanted to keep it short and sweet, and thank the folks at the capitol and the Sullivan & LeShane team for all they've done this year. As we look to next year, things may be the same, but hopefully somewhat different. As we go into to the third year of the COVID pandemic, we will work hard to collaborate and make the 2022 session a great success. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a healthy 2022!
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Commission Convenes to Evaluate Outstanding Statutes During Civil Emergencies
A commission created to allow for recommendations to be made over laws that govern public health and civil preparedness emergencies convened their first meeting this week.
The group, which is being chaired by Rep. Michael D’Agostino, (D-Hamden), was created by enabling legislation last session that has been tasked to evaluate how the state could possibly navigate beyond executive powers during a state of emergency. Since the largest criticism during the pandemic has been the lack of legislative oversight during the executive order process, the panel’s primary goal will be to make recommendations before the executive state of emergency declaration on February 15th.
The major impetus of the commission being created was from some of the legislature's Republicans and Democrats that have pushed back on attempts to extend those powers that have been in place since March 2020. The Commission’s work is set to conclude by statute on January 1st, but Chairman D’Agostino has already indicated that the commission will likely need time through the end of January to finalize the commission’s recommendations.
CT Agency Corner will be sharing the commission’s recommendations as soon as they are released.
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Municipal Controversy
There were big happenings in Bridgeport last week that have ruffled some feathers with their neighbor to the west, Stratford. Since 1972, the municipal airport known formerly as “Sikorsky Memorial Airport” has been a source of pride for the region. The City of Bridgeport pushed to rename it the “Bridgeport Sikorsky Memorial Airport", which is actually located in Stratford. Unfortunately the Mayor of Stratford was outvoted by Bridgeport appointed members of the airport authority. This was an effort to rebrand the airport and provide Bridgeport an opportunity for an increased marketing effort for the state’s largest city. There were several objections to the name change in advance of the meeting including descendants of the namesake and the users of the airport, also known as “Friends of Sikorsky Airport.”
West Haven has seen its share of bad press in the last few months as a result of an indictment of a City official for wrongly purposing COVID relief funds. This week there was a regularly scheduled Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) and West Haven was on the docket.. West Haven has been a MARB member for a few years and has not met the MARB board expectations of accountability and increasing their controls and structures for effective governing. “Every month we listen to the same drill and nothing gets done,” MARB member Stephen Falcigno said during last week's meeting. Suggestions ranged from reaching out to neighboring communities for help with finance and procurement officials to hiring their own. Either way, MARB members are growing increasingly concerned about the lack of movement from West Haven in repairing the wrongs.
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Caucus Leaders Announce 2022 Legislative Priorities
With less than two months until the beginning of the 2022 legislative session, Connecticut’s legislative caucuses have been busy putting together their legislative agendas for the year. 2022 will be a short session, where the legislature is only in session from February to May, unlike odd years where session goes from January to June. Because it is a short session, the legislature will mainly be focused with producing a budget for the next two fiscal years. Bills can be raised through the committee process that are not exclusively related to budget matters. However, the short duration of the session often precludes action on many non-fiscal matters if there is not a groundswell of support for them.
Speaker of the House Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) stated last week that his caucus will be addressing juvenile crime through increased mental/behavioral health services, negotiating expiring state employee contracts, and the reopening of the Capitol to the public. House Democrats will also be trying to fund an array of strategies to encourage healthcare workers to relocate to CT.
President Pro Tempore of the Senate Martin Looney (D-New Haven) released his legislative agenda this week, which looks at easing the burden of property taxes on residents, addressing inequities in public health, and combating juvenile crime with increased intervention. Senator Looney also wants the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to provide the legislature with a report and recommendations regarding racial disparities in environmental health, such as air quality in urban areas.
House Minority Leader Vin Candelora (R-North Branford) listed a number of issues his caucus will be addressing this session related to “widespread government failures”. According to Candelora, this ranges from the handling of the economy, to the COVID-19 pandemic, to issues with juvenile crime. House Republicans are advocating for less strict masking requirements in public schools as well as looser quarantine requirements.
Last but not least, Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly’s (R-Stratford) Senate Republican Caucus will be honed in on providing aid to families that were harmed financially by the pandemic. He noted that the state has had an influx of tax revenue as well as federal funding, and hopes to use those dollars to aid Connecticut families.
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December 23rd: Bridgeport Benefactor Beardsley Brutally Beaten in Break-in
In 1812, James Walker Beardsley was born to a prominent cattle-farming family in Monroe, Connecticut, and remained a farmer for his entire life, splitting his time between his family’s Monroe farm and a second residence in the then-bustling city of Bridgeport. In addition to farming, Beardsley also dabbled in speculation and trading cattle futures, which had amassed him a sizable fortune by the middle of the 19th century.
In 1878, after he had formally retired from his agricultural and financial pursuits, he donated a large swath of prime real estate along the banks of the Pequonnock River to the city of Bridgeport, under the condition that the city “forever [keep it] as a public park.” The city soon hired famed American landscape architect (and Hartford native) Frederick Law Olmsted to design what would become Beardsley Park, and Beardsley spared no expense in funding the upkeep of the park and its continuous improvements over the next several years.
Unfortunately, all the positive press generated by Beardsley and the new park that bore his name led a pair of local thieves to believe he would make a lucrative target. On December 23, 1892, two men burst into Beardsley’s Bridgeport mansion while he and his sister were home and ransacked the place looking for cash and valuables. After finding only $60 and a gold watch, the frustrated robbers became violent, threatening and then beating Beardsley to try and get him to divulge the location of his valuables. They were unaware the 77-year-old philanthropist had spent the majority of his wealth on the development of Beardsley Park and had virtually nothing of value on hand. The men eventually fled, leaving behind a mortally wounded Beardsley, who died seven days later from internal injuries suffered during the home invasion.
Though, despite a massive manhunt, Beardsley’s attackers were never identified or caught, the city of Bridgeport went to great pains to ensure its generous benefactor was never forgotten. They commissioned a life-size statue of James Beardsley that was unveiled at the entrance of Beardsley park seventeen years after his death. A tragic end for a man who improved and forever transformed the city of Bridgeport, today in Connecticut history.
The original article from the CT Humanities Council can be found here.
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Sullivan & LeShane, Inc.
www.ctlobby.com | (860) 560-0000
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