In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
CT Agency Corner
Municipal Roundup
Inside Scoop
This Day in CT History
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APRIL FOOLS!
So we all know that today is APRIL FOOLS DAY, but do you know how it started?
HA! No one does! According to a CT Public article today, it's hard to really find the origin of the “holiday.” We all know that there’s a lot of practical jokes that happen on April Fools, and we all might know that the tradition probably started in the Europe. Some of us might even know that it was during the Renaissance…
But then what? I dare someone to be able to explain it further. Well, in the CT Public article, they do!
I raise this issue because at the State Capitol, there’s no real joke these days. The committees have mostly completed their work, with only Judiciary, Appropriations and Finance Revenue and Bonding still to go (they are scheduled for final action next week).
The Speaker of the House has published the “tentative calendar dates.” As of now, they are only looking to come into the Capitol for 13 days to whittle down the hundreds of approved items, as well as union contracts, judicial and executive appointments, the Governor’s negotiated economic deal with Lockheed Martin and a Supreme Court judge appointment—after the recent news the Honorable Christine Keller will step down in August for “senior status.” That’s an aggressive schedule for a normal year and we’re still struggling with limited access to legislators—especially Senators—inside the Capitol and LOB.
The Senate hasn’t really announced their working days as a chamber, but from our experience they tend to meet less than the House and they’ll more than likely place an enormous amount of bills on the fast track called “the consent calendar.” This means both the Democratic and Republican Senators agree that the bill is needed and they like its solution to whatever the problem/opportunity is, and they agree to take a single favorable vote of any number of individual items as one calendar!
It sure speeds up the work, but as a lobbyist—and even for legislators—if you turn your head for one moment you could be looking at something you dislike, or even like, put on or pulled off the fast track. This normally will alert a lobbyist that there’s trouble in river city during a short session if your favorite bills are recommended for the “consent calendar.” Now you have to compete with some heavy lifting caucus priorities before they get to your somewhat narrowly focused item.
In the House, the jokes on everyone—traditionally there is no fast track until the final days of the session. At that point, if you don’t already know you’re good to go then you really start to sweat. Competing for the House to take your bill up as a standalone requires an enormous amount of one-on-one lobbying time and answering lots of questions. Last minute compromises are made (that are not always happily accepted) to get a group of legislators on board. Defensive strategies are mounted to fight off someone else’s “favorite” bill that they want to pass by attaching it to your bill because they hear it’s a GO and there isn’t time to wait for it to be debated in the 187 member chamber. So it’s safe to say, it’s going to be a crazy time at the Capitol on these 13 prescheduled days!
It's also safe to say today may be void of the pranks and jokes—but not to worry, for many of us who work under the dome, the next 13 session days will feel like just another APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!
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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, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors!
- Rep. Cathy Abercrombie (D)
- Rep. Dave Arconti (D)
- Rep. Whit Betts (R)
- Sen. Dan Champagne (R)
- Rep. Tony D'Amelio (R)
- Rep. Joe De La Cruz (D)
- Sen. Paul Formica (R)
- Sen. Will Haskell (D)
- Rep. Brandon McGee (D)
- Sen. Craig Miner (R)
- Rep. Rosa Rebimbas (R)
- Rep. Brian Smith (D)
- Rep. Dave Wilson (R)
- Sen. Kevin Witkos (R)
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March Bond Commission
Yesterday, the State Bond Commission met for the first time this year. They held their first in-person meeting at the Legislative Office Building since COVID began, and the room was packed with staff, lobbyists, and media personnel. When all was said and done, the commission approved $333 million in general obligation bonds across the twenty-four item agenda. The approved items included bonding for transportation upgrades, IT upgrades, and grants to support town construction projects. The commission, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, approved the items with minimal discussion. This round of approved bonding leaves the state about $400 million below the roughly $2 billion bonding cap. Governor Lamont expects the commission to meet again in June.
The bonding meeting followed in light of the federal Commerce Department's newly revised gross domestic product data, which found Connecticut's GDP had grown by 7.7% during the fourth quarter last year, ahead of the national average of 6.9%. Legislators in both parties applauded the GDP growth, and highlighted the positive impact that the newly released bond funding would have on communities across the state. Click here to view the State Bond Commission's agenda from Thursday.
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There have been a lot of debates from town to town and Board of Education to Board of Education in the state of CT the last several months. That debate revolved around how to appropriately invest the millions of dollars sent directly to towns and cities by the federal government from the American Rescue Plan. There have been some very creative ideas on how to make that decision. In Torrington, the Mayor and the local community foundation have partnered up on reviewing and assessing applications to spend almost $10 million. In Windham, there was an election of ideas from high school students on how to allocate $1.5 million. Some of the pitched projects were renovating an outdoor courtyard, building a greenhouse to learn agriculture skills and an annual fair to showcase and celebrate Windham’s diversity. The announcement of project winners will be in early April.
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities recently met with members of CT’s Congressional delegation to talk about ARPA funds. They reported out a survey of member municipalities which indicated that over 60% of towns said that the money would be spent on public health response, responding to economic harm and offsetting internal revenue losses. Further, 40% of those towns will be utilizing funds to create regional opportunities. They took the opportunity to urge their federal delegation members to consider local uses of federal infrastructure funds including rail. In addition to that, they’d like to see more investment in workforce programs going forward.
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The Money Committees!
If I told you that we were just about done with Committee deadlines, heading into the very important “money” committee meetings on the budget recommendations and Tiger Woods might play in the Masters Golf Tournament next week, you’d probably think my next statement would be, April Fools!
But no, all of those things are true, we are more than halfway done with a short session, most Committee deadlines have passed and our team at Sullivan & LeShane spent several hours on Wednesday and Thursday working on the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee hearings next to the Appropriations Committee meetings as well. Oh yeah, and Tiger might play in the Masters. With just a few in-session days left before the end of the session, we are firing on all cylinders heading right through deadline time for the State Legislature.
As I alluded to above, the big topic of discussion this week was how Connecticut’s fiscal year budget and how our tax dollars are going to be spent. Appropriations leadership continues to meet to talk more about the governor’s proposed budget, and the Finance committee met to discuss one of our favorite election year topics, the future of tax cuts for the state. As we know, we are in the stage of the budget process where the Appropriations Committee and their Subcommittee leadership oversee meetings, hearings, and closed-door implementer conversations. The Finance Committee has jurisdiction over all matters relating to finance, revenue, capital bonding, fees, and taxation. The Appropriations Committee has cognizance of all matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies.
These particular committee hearings have been a bit more jovial than in years past. With a vast budget surplus and big November election season approaching, we are talking about car tax cuts, property tax assistance, gas tax reductions, sales taxes reductions and the always-popular topic in Connecticut, how we can spend this money we are saving. It is important for those not encamped in the LOB to remember, it all depends on which party you’re talking to that’s either hot on one, not interested in any of them, or are interested in some combo of the tax and or spending options! In an interesting year, we are watching groups and stakeholders of all walks of life-fighting for their bit of this money.
As these meetings continue, Sullivan & LeShane is on the mission. So advice to all - make sure to fill up your gas tank, the gas tax holiday kicked off today!
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April 1: A Political Cartoonist for the 20th-Century Woman
As the first political cartoonist ever to win a Pulitzer Prize, Clarence Daniel “C. D.” Batchelor thought having been born on April Fool’s Day (in 1888) was appropriate to his calling. The cane-collecting (he died owning more than 500), dapper, Kansas-born, self-styled “character” – “It was just as easy to be a character as not to be one,” he said, “and a hell of a lot more fun!”– used art and irony to speak truth to power throughout a long career. During most of that career, he provided daily editorial cartoons for the New York Daily News.
Batchelor was a lifelong advocate for women’s rights, and included idealized, romanticized images of confident and capable modern women in much of his work. During his 20s, a majority of his production was created in support of woman suffrage. He produced illustrations and cover art for such publications as the National American Woman Suffrage Association Newsletter, The Woman Citizen, the Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News and The Woman Voter. In a 1920 interview in The Woman Citizen, Batchelor said artists had had to completely recreate the images of women used in magazines over the past 15 years because of the “assurance and confidence born of a changed and changing economic status and her approaching political freedom.” When asked about the ideal of the American girl he tried to draw, he said, “I cannot imagine her but intelligent and of aggressive opinion when the Soviet, industrial democracy, or Ibanez is discussed.”
In later years, Batchelor, like the paper he worked for, took an isolationist stance towards the United States’ possible entry into World War II. His breakthrough 1937 Pulitzer Prize winning cartoon depicting a female skeleton prostitute (War) enticing a young man (“Any European Youth”) with the line, “Come on in, I’ll treat you right, I used to know your daddy,” reflected that anti-war stance.
After Pearl Harbor, and for the rest of his career, Batchelor’s work displayed an earnest wartime patriotism, and later, fervent anti-communism. In 1943, for his then-country-home town of Deep River, he created the artwork that is the centerpiece of the Honor Roll of Deep River citizens who served in war. An admirer and artistic creator of the ideal 20th-century woman, Batchelor seems to have spent his life looking for the real-life incarnation of his artistic creation. A batchelor in name only, when he died in Deep River on September 6, 1977 at 89, he was survived by his fifth wife, Allegra.
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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