In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
Inside Scoop
This Day in CT History
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Everyone's feeling the pinch—in Connecticut and all over the rest of the country
Seems as if we’re slowly moving toward some tough times for the economy these days. There’s talk about some additional relief coming from Washington and in fact, the IRS notified companies today that they are making a highly unusual mid-year adjustment for mileage reimbursements for business travel. Up 4 cents for the remainder of 2022, it comes as a relief for those who need to travel by car for business reasons.
Also this week the state Republican caucus in the legislature kickoff their “barnstorming” campaign for additional tax breaks for Connecticut residents and businesses located in the state. Next Monday in Torrington, both the Senate and House Republican leaders will catch up at the Sunoco gas station to promote their campaign for returning the surplus back to the taxpayers through a special session to make further adjustments in Connecticut taxes to help the “average” citizen better manage their family budgets.
While during the session they also called for tax rebates to go directly to middle-income households, Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Stratford) and House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford) admitted their embarrassment over the legislative budget and revenue solutions. Their package unveiled policies to make Connecticut more affordable, it includes providing relief from rising energy costs as well as cutting the income tax, sales tax, and taxes that drive up the prices of food.
The package specifically includes: 1.) a permanent reduction to the income tax for low to moderate-income individuals and families; 2.) a sales tax reduction and meals tax suspension; 3.) suspension of the diesel excise tax due to increase on July 1st; 4.) repeal of the new state truck tax, and 5.) bolster assistance to families that need help paying for energy costs like heating oil. They kicked off a social media campaign and a newly created website called AffordableConnecticut.com
Ahead, Connecticut residents are looking at increased costs for labor, everyday necessities and further increases in electric rates, as well as the skyrocketing costs of doing business in Connecticut. Republican leaders declared that Connecticut residents are being overtaxed. They proposed using more than $750 million in remaining budget surplus funds to make this happen. Their package requires no additional budget cuts, keeps the $2.8 billion in additional contributions to the state pension debt, and maintains the current $3.3 billion in the budget reserve—the maximum that the state law allows.
Also, while Governor Lamont kicked off the state’s newest marketing campaign, Republican candidate Bob Stefanowski called for nearly $1 billion in additional tax cuts. Stefanowski offered a six-part plan that covers a lot of the Senate and House Republican leaders' plan of cutting multiple taxes, including blocking a planned increase in the state’s diesel tax that will take effect on July 1.
After the struggles of managing through the pandemic, Candidate Stefanowski reminded reporters that, “People are struggling right now. People are making tough choices about what to buy at the grocery store versus renting a DVD versus buying medicines. People have been planning for a vacation all year after a canceled trip due to safety concerns, they now are canceling them because of the price of airfare, the price of gas. We have to do something now.’'
Governor Lamont reacted by promoting the recent budget choices and the priorities of the recently concluded 2022 Legislative session as enough to get residents and businesses through these upcoming months. Governor Lamont further discussed the growing economies of online gaming and the legalization of adult-use cannabis as great strides for the state.
As many tune into the TV, radio and print news coverage, the battle lines have been set. The punches and counterpunches are about to begin and we can expect more in the coming months as both parties fight to control the Governor’s office/state agency leadership as well as the state legislature.
As candidates reach out to voters to convince them they have the “special sauce” for stabilizing the national recession soon to arrive in Connecticut, it will be interesting if these pregame media events will make for an early decision on if Connecticut voters are content with the last four years.
Or, are they looking for a change?
As in the past, only the Nov 8th Election will decide the direction for Connecticut in the next four years. Be sure to register to vote, pay close attention to the news coverage, watch the multiple debates being planned and most of all, get out and vote in the Aug. 9th primary and then again in November for our next class of leaders to shape our state.
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List of Legislators not Seeking Re-Election
We would like to give a huge thanks to the following legislators that will not be seeking re-election this year for all they have done for Connecticut. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors!
- Rep. Cathy Abercrombie (D)
- Rep. Dave Arconti (D)
- Rep. Harry Arora (R)
- Rep. Whit Betts (R)
- Sen. Dan Champagne (R)
- Rep. Tony D'Amelio (R)
- Sen. Mary Daugherty-Abrams(D)
- Rep. Joe De La Cruz (D)
- Rep. Laura Devlin (R)
- Rep. Mike France (R)
- Sen. Paul Formica (R)
- Rep. Robin Green (R)
- Sen. Will Haskell (D)
- Rep. John Hampton (D)
- Rep. Brandon McGee (D)
- Sen. Craig Miner (R)
- Rep. Chris Perone (D)
- Rep. Bill Petit (R)
- Rep. Rosa Rebimbas (R)
- Rep. Emmett Riley (D)
- Rep. Sean Scanlon (D)
- Rep. Brian Smith (D)
- Rep. Charlie Stallworth (D)
- Rep. Stephanie Thomas (D)
- Rep. Dave Wilson (R)
- Rep. Mike Winkler (D)
- Sen. Kevin Witkos (R)
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Connecticut Receives Major IT Award for Using Technology to Enhance Resident Services
This week Governor Lamont revealed that Connecticut was selected to receive national recognition for streamlining and improving state regulatory practices through utilizing technology both during the pandemic and for new initiatives. The 2022 Tyler Public Sector Excellence award factors in Tyler’s state regulatory solution, CAVU eLicense, with state regulatory best practices to improvements on efficiency, citizen satisfaction, and return on investment. Connecticut regulators also spearheaded the creation of a national user’s group to share ideas, best practices, and solutions to issues with regulators in other states.
The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) is the state agency that includes the Bureau of Information Technology (BITS), the state’s centralized information technology organization that was involved in this project.
“The Department of Consumer Protection has been streamlining our licensing and enforcement services for many years and strives to offer the best experience to Connecticut residents,” Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull said. “We are proud to receive national recognition for the work our Licensing Division has done to expand and coordinate these services with our sister agencies.”
Regulators across several state agencies utilize Tyler’s technology for licensing, enforcement, disciplinary actions, and online services for regulated industries. Connecticut has been a leader in implementing one system and standardized processes across its agencies. Since 2016, Connecticut has expanded its use of eLicense from 4 agencies to 12, and increased the number of self-service options for licensees. Now, 41 divisions and regulatory boards across the state utilize the same technology, breaking down agency silos, ensuring a consistent experience for consumers, licensees, and state employees, and aligning workflows with the legislative requirements of each regulated industry.
Connecticut now provides streamlined automated processes and online self-service for regulators and licensees across more than 815 credentials. Renewals, payments, and account updates are fast, easy and, in most cases, immediate. The technology is also used for Connecticut Department of Banking consumer complaints and the Department of Consumer Protection’s consumer complaint center, allowing the agencies to quickly respond to and resolve consumer complaints, as well as recognize and track complaint trends in the state.
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The Public School Brain Drain
Nationally, public and private schools have experienced the largest single year drop in enrollment since World War II during the first year of the COVID pandemic. This information comes from the National Center for Education Statistics’ 2022 Condition of Education Report. Each year the report, which is required by congress, contains the most recent data on public school enrollment, demographics, achievement, and family characteristics to help educators, lawmakers, and researchers better understand the state of education in the U.S.
This year’s report, released last week, marked the first time the NCES looked at the COVID pandemic’s impact on education. The report examines data from Fall 2019 through Fall 2020, telling a story of what happened as schools shut down and attempted to reopen. The report also suggested a loss in average testing scores across the board, which is somewhat unsurprising considering the massive barrier to education that the lockdown presented. The key question here is how will local and state governments work together to bring students back to school and make up for the lost time during the pandemic?
On another topic entirely. As someone who was raised in Northwest Connecticut, it was an honor to see them mentioned as one of the “go to” places for art in the nation. A publication, “ARTnews” suggested recently that Litchfield county has become the “secret center of the Art World.” We’ve known and loved the variety of art and history in NW CT for many years and we’d encourage you to check it out.
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Five Months Out
Tradition in Connecticut is that after the state conventions and local delegation nominations, CT residents turn to vacations, HS graduations, kicking back and enjoying the summer. Following shortly after comes "back to school planning", where we all begin paying much closer attention to the Nov elections! With the primaries in early August, we are now looking at statewide primaries – one for the Republican spot for the US Senate seat now being held by Democratic US Senator Richard Blumenthal and another for the Secretary of State spot being vacated by our Secretary of State Denise Merrill (D). There are also several State Senate and State Representative races to be aware of during primary season.
As Connecticut residents head into Summer, we thought we’d focus on updating you on these races throughout the next few weeks and months. There is plenty of insight from these races on how each party will fare in November so stay tuned for the latest and greatest updates.
As voters are frustrated over high food prices, the disruptions in the supply chain, and rising gas prices, it will be interesting to see how much blame they place on Democratic candidates and how much faith they have for Republican challengers to turn the economy around during a national recession. The U.S. Senate race and Governor’s race have given us some interesting headlines early on. Gas prices, tax incentives, inflation, domestic policies even some international relations juggling in eastern Europe, are driving these races and it’s worth looking into early on as voters think about the impact on their household budgets.
Let’s dive into Part I of this series, Connecticut’s US Senate race.
For the United States Senate, Senator Richard Blumenthal is running for re-election after being in his seat for 12 years. National polls have not painted a great picture for the Senior Senator from Connecticut, or many incumbents for that matter. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Blumenthal with his lowest approval rating since being elected to the U.S. Senate. In Connecticut, Independent voters rule the nutmeg state and Blumenthal’s numbers show 41% of those voters approving and 44% disapproving. This is a national trend for incumbents with inflation and gas prices on everyone’s mind. Senator Blumenthal recently mentioned he is focused and ready for the race as he is running as if he is a few points behind. His opponent is not set in stone yet. Republicans Leora Levy, Themis Klarides, and Peter Lumaj are battling towards an August 9th primary to take Sen. Blumenthal on. The saving grace for the sitting Senator may be his cash on hand for the campaign at $8.2 million but also the history he has here.
When I cast my vote for US Senate in 2010, I remember many saying to me, “Senator Blumenthal has done so much for Connecticut, he is a shoe-in!” His reputation and name recognition was strong then and has since grown. Is that enough to push him over the top again this year? It’s dependent on his opponent. In what will likely be a low turnout primary in August, the Republican Party will select their candidate. Many are putting their money on former house Republican Leader Themis Klarides as the favorite there, as the former State Representative has solid name recognition and a strong campaign structure.
We have seen a lot of stakeholders write this campaign off. Although it looks like Republicans will do very well across the country, how would this impact a blue state like Connecticut? While the frustration is real across our state, CT families have reason to be upset at the current state of our economy and this race could be one as voters look at these midterm elections as a referendum on the President.
In a recent Quinnipiac poll, 45 percent of voters think CT’s economy is getting worse and 58% say they are worse off financially. Those numbers don’t help incumbents, and what that means to a statewide Senate race is significant. With 5 months to go, we still have a lot to figure out before we can say anything definitively but, if this trend continues, Connecticut may have some serious national attention in a US Senate race. Frustration among the voters of our state is important to follow as it continues to impact Connecticut companies and our workforce. As these campaigns and the issues continue to develop, our team will be heavily involved in gathering intel from across the state. Next week, Part II of this 5-month update, the Governor’s race, Part III - the secretary of the state primary, and finally the hottest of the hot state House and Senate primary races. Stay tuned...
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June 10: The First Union Officer to Die Fighting in the American Civil War
Today in 1861, 32-year-old Major Theodore Woolsey Winthrop, a descendant of one of the most important figures in the founding of Connecticut, died in action at the Battle of Bethel in eastern Virginia, one of the first land battles of the American Civil War. Winthop was the first Union officer to die fighting in that epochal conflict .
Born in New Haven in 1828, Theodore Winthrop was a direct descendant of both John Winthrop Sr., Puritan leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and John Winthrop Jr., longtime Connecticut governor and founder of both Saybrook and New London. He graduated from Yale (where his uncle, Theodore Dwight Woolsey, was president) in 1848, and spent the next four years touring Europe and the American West. He then settled in New York City, where he studied law by day and mingled with writers and artists by night, hoping to make a name for himself as a famous author. Among his unfinished works are memoirs and travelogues of his adventures to the Pacific Northwest and several gothic-style novels portraying the vivid Bohemian-style nightlife of antebellum New York City.
Though Winthrop successfully published a handful of short stories and articles in local magazines and newspapers, he put his literary aspirations on hold with the start of the Civil War in April 1861. Already a member of the New York State militia, the bright young volunteer joined the Union army, quickly earning promotion to Major and a posting as aide-de-camp to Major General Benjamin Butler in Virginia.
In early June 1861, Confederate forces around the Virginia state capitol of Richmond attempted to lure Union forces out from the strategically important Fort Monroe. That Hampton Roads installation was the last bastion of United States authority in the Virginia Tidewater region, following the military realignments that had taken place after the fall of Fort Sumter. To counteract the Confederate thrust at Fort Monroe, General Butler sent a regiment of troops, many under the command of Major Winthrop, to attack the Confederates. The two forces met at dawn on June 10, near a town known as Big Bethel, on the Virginia peninsula. Even though the Union troops outnumbered their Confederate counterparts two to one, a number of amateurish mistakes and communications breakdowns on the Union side — including several friendly-fire incidents — gave the Confederates a huge battlefield advantage. Even as things turned badly against the Union forces, many of whom were ready to flee the battlefield, Winthrop courageously attempted to rally his panicked men. He is said to have leaped on top of a tree stump and yelled, “One more charge, boys, and the day is ours.” Moments later, however, Winthrop was struck in the chest by a musket ball. The 32-year-old Connecticut-born Major subsequently died from his wounds, thus becoming the first Union officer to die in battle during the Civil War. All together, 18 Union soldiers lost their lives at Big Bethel and more than 50 were wounded, while the victorious Confederates suffered only one loss and a handful of wounded men.
The literary fame Theodore Winthrop sought during his lifetime arrived after his death, following the posthumous publication by his close relatives of many of his works. His novel Cecil Dreeme went through over a dozen editions in the late 19th century, and his memoir of travels through Washington Territory, titled The Canoe and the Saddle, was so popular that the town of Winthrop, Washington (as well as the famous Winthrop Hotel in Tacoma, Washington) was named in his honor.
Though Winthrop’s combat death made him the first Union officer to die fighting in the Civil War, he was not the first Union officer to have died in the Union cause. That distinction had gone to Colonel Ephraim Ellsworth of New York, who was shot to death by a hotel owner in Alexandria, Virginia on May 24, 1861, after Ellsworth had removed a large Confederate flag the hotelier had been flying from the roof of his establishment.
A promising young Union officer became the first to fall fighting in the American Civil War, 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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