This Week's News:

Shot-Gun Redo Primary Between Hennessy And Brown In State House Contest

 Kamala Harris visits CT ahead of key race in 5th District

With less than a month to go ‘til Election Day, I thought about a recent article I read where a seasoned senior-level political appointee (not from Connecticut) commented on four characteristics that mark a successful leader in the private sector:

1.     How well do they make decisions?

2.     Do they give clear and firm direction?

3.     Do they hold people accountable?

4.     Do they demonstrate a high level of risk-taking? 

Ironically, this person, who spent 23 years in public service and teaching government, pointed out that these admired characteristics in the private sector actually work to undermine the success of an elected official.

It turns out that political types and those in government aren’t very keen on a leader who pushes the envelope. What’s more, the public really doesn’t always want to hear the hard cold truth—they like theirs served with a little sugar coating. Colleagues in public service often reject the decisive “This is the direction we’re taking” leader, and lastly, heaven forbid a leader in public service holding people accountable—whether it be an industry, other elected officials, government employees or even the fickle public. 

So with a gubernatorial race hot and heavy in Connecticut, what would be the successful traits of our next governor? The political ads tell us it’s someone who has a plan of some kind, someone who gets the temperature of the voters and someone who keeps true to their party’s political philosophies. And the pros will tell you that most of all, it’s someone who can mobilize their base and convince the overwhelming number of unaffiliated voters that they can do a better job than the other candidate.

So what’s a voter to do? Let’s go back to the article I referred to, as the author outlined what they felt were the seven characteristics of a successful elected leader. Here we go. 

1.     Self-awareness: Don’t blame others or the circumstances when things go wrong, but analyze what they did or didn’t do to allow the “failure” to happen—and take responsibility.

2.     Authenticity: The ability to be empathetic and connect with the voters. They share their vulnerabilities and lead with their heart as well as their head. They are passionate about the job—and they show it.

3.     Reputation: The people need to know that their leaders have the right stuff to get the job done. If they don’t have the exact professional skills for the job, learn them and develop them fast. In the meantime, a leader can always draw upon their own experience to draw parallels until they have perfected the skills needed to do the job. Success breeds success.

4.     Ethical behavior: The fastest way for an elected official to fail is to forget what matters most—as the saying goes, what you do when people aren’t looking means more than what you do when they are looking.

5.     Willingness to listen: Listen more than talk. The more political leaders listen, the more they learn and the more successful they will become in the public’s eye.

6.     Ability to communicate: Successful political leaders talk about their vision often and clearly. Ditch the mindless drone of the traditional speeches, stump appearances, boring ads and direct mail. The compelling candidate for governor should be creative, break through the clutter, tell stories and paint a vivid picture of where they want Connecticut to go.

7.     Optimism: Finally, be optimistic—especially during immense challenges. Talk in “can-do” words. “If we roll up our collective sleeves, we can get the job done?” That way, when things that seemed impossible actually happen, the leader has rallied the people and succeeded.

Here’s my challenge: Take these seven characteristics, look at the candidates and score them on a 1 to 3 scale. Then compare the results. Do you know who you might vote for now? Only you will know but what a novel way to evaluate the best man for the job (sorry female friends, remember there are only men running for governor this year).

I dare you to give it a go! 

The "Hero Pay" Program Receives its First Applications

The program created last session to award dollars to frontline pandemic workers known as the "hero pay" program will be a central point of attention this Fall.

Applications for those who are eligible just wrapped up last Saturday and the program reportedly received around 190,000 completed submissions. The State also disclosed that another 169,000 provided their identity information but did not complete the full disclosure required.

The program, which will award the grants over the course of the next few months, will provide up to $1,000 in pandemic pay for eligible, private-sector essential workers who were employed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oddly enough, while the state is not still in a public health state of emergency, the Federal government ARPA funds are eligible to be spent by 2025 which can be used to assist with the "hero pay" program funding. It's been reported in the news that a special session is likely set to take place after Thanksgiving to expand this program, continue the suspension of the gas surplus tax and work on additional relief for homeowners who are set to have high home heating oil bills this winter. 

The November election helps influence the consideration for this relief but keep in mind it's also being done since there's not a lot of flexibility in how federal dollars can be passed on to residents. For example, the state cannot simply take the money being allocated and cut checks for each resident. There are programmatic requirements that come into play to provide relief through a policy initiative that's been executed in other states. My thought is more of these types of programs (while ARPA funding still exists) could be on the horizon in 2023.

Municipal Speed Round

A lot happened this week in the municipal world. We are back with another speed round to tune you in to all things municipal:

To the surprise of few, all eight CT counties have been named natural disaster areas due to drought. Farmers in these counties can now apply to receive federal assistance. After a year of little rain, municipalities across the state are finding ways to conserve water.

A report came out detailing the first increase in homelessness in CT in nearly a decade. Homelessness increased by a whopping 13% from 2021 to 2022. As many low income residents find themselves struggling to recover economically from the pandemic, some struggle to find long-term, stable housing.

While violent crime is down in CT according to a report released last week, there has been an increase in break-ins...by bears. 2022 has been a record year for black bears breaking into residents' homes. A report issued last week notes that there have been 65 reported black bear home break-ins this year.

Town clerks in various municipalities are being inundated with absentee ballot requests from campaigns, according to the vice president for the Town Clerk's Association. State law allows campaigns to distribute large amounts of absentee ballot applications. Town clerks are worried that campaigns are mailing unsolicited absentee ballot applications to residents, and that their offices do not have the resources to meet such demand.

The last push of fundraising pre-election day, and why it matters

If you have been keeping up with this blog, you know that part of our focus over the last few weeks has been the importance of identifying potential voters and gaining their support before Election Day. You also know which races could be targeted heading into the final days of campaign season as well as which campaigns are running strong races and which might not be. In our next installment focused on this year’s campaign cycle, we want to dive into the focus of final fundraisers before Election Day.

Money matters. According to an NBC news article, Connecticut’s Republicans actually spent more on the air than Democrats did over the last two weeks, $1.3 million to $1.2 million. Fundraising matters, especially towards the end. From radio ads, final mail pieces, digital advertisements, and most importantly, paid canvassers, there are a number of things to spend money on. Town Committees, individual candidates, PACs, and statewide leadership run their final fundraisers to pay for that last push. Let’s check in on a few.

The Connecticut Democratic Party holds an annual dinner in Hartford and as an attendee who was in the building, I will tell you it was HUGE. The event had one of the bigger turnouts with a ticket price over $100 that went directly to party operations. This took place last Sunday night and Representative (and House Majority Whip) James Clyburn, the popular Congressman from South Carolina, was the keynote speaker. Just about every democratic candidate across the state was there and it was an event that raised a ton of money for the party heading into Election Day. This injection of funds will go directly to the Get Out the Vote efforts heading into November.

The big Republican State Party event? The Prescott Bush Dinner in Stamford. This year was keynoted by US Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa. For a minimum of $300 you could help the party in their efforts to Get Out the Vote before election day. Similar attendee numbers to the Democrats event led to a big fundraising pull for the State Republican Party. Just this week, Senate candidate Leora Levy announced there would be a fundraiser held on her behalf by former President Trump which should bring a huge chunk of funds to her campaign just before GOTV. Local Town Committees hold events as well. Norwalk has their famous brunch each year, Stamford does their candidate breakfast. These are done throughout the state to help the final push for local candidates.

The final push matters. After all, voters need to be contacted directly. It appears voters wont be able to escape the barrage. Radio ads in the car, knocks on your door, or mailers in your mailbox, ads online, and the ever impactful TV commercial.

October 7: Jefferson, Danbury Baptists, and the the "Wall of Separation" Between Church and State

One of the central tenets of modern American political doctrine was borne out of a letter exchange between Connecticut Baptists and an American President that began today in Connecticut history. On October 7, 1801, the Danbury Baptists Association sent an eloquent letter to newly elected President Thomas Jefferson expressing their concerns about Connecticut’s backing of the Congregational Church as the state’s established religion. The Congregational denomination was religiously and socially at odds with the Baptists, who were seriously disadvantaged by the state support for the Congregationalists.

Even though the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights prevented the United States Congress from establishing any sort of national religion or religious preference, a handful of states — including Connecticut and Massachusetts — still lacked similar religious liberty protections. While Connecticans were not explicitly forced to join, attend, or endorse the Congregational Church in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, those not wishing to do so had to take explicit public steps to show they chose to support a different denomination. This exposed the dissenters to potential social and economic ostracism, as well as loss of political patronage. The Congregational Church was the openly favored denomination of many of Connecticut’s influential “Standing Order” politicians, and it also benefited from archaic laws that entitled it to taxpayer money.

The Danbury Baptists were fearful of the lack of explicit religious liberty laws in Connecticut. Writing to Jefferson in their October 7th letter: “What[ever] religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor[ity] part of the state) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights.” Acknowledging that Jefferson, as President, was in no position to write any actual legislation in their defense, they nonetheless asked for his support as a champion of religious liberty on the state level: “Our hopes are strong that the sentiments of our beloved president… like the radiant beams of the sun, will shine and prevail through all these states and all the world, till hierarchy and tyranny be destroyed from the earth.”

A few months later, on January 1st 1802, President Jefferson replied to the Danbury Baptists Association, explicitly agreeing with their desire to prevent any overlap between governmental and religious institutions:

“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature would “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”

While Jefferson delicately avoided voicing a direct attack on Connecticut’s state government, the Danbury association was heartened by the President’s expression of support, and to this day, Jefferson’s eloquent phrase — “a wall of separation between church and state” — is so deeply embedded in American political culture that many Americans erroneously believe it comes from the Bill of Rights itself.

Connecticut, for its part, chose to ignore the President’s comment, though opposition to its support of a state church continued to grow. In 1818, 17 years after Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, Connecticut’s first written Constitution disestablished its official church, guaranteeing freedom of religion to all Christian sects

To view the full story on the CT Historian's website, click here.