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Category Archives: Local issues

Heather Somers takes a principled stand

Sunday, April 21, 2019

I haven’t had much luck getting letters published by the New London Day, so I thought I’d publish this one here.  Readers of the Day might be interested to know that State Senator Heather Somers, who “represents” the people of the 18th District, in which I reside, recently cast one of only two negative votes […]

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Something on the bright side

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Let us take a few moments to appreciate a brief ray of sunshine in our otherwise cloudy times. A few minutes ago I answered the call to come out with some other Groton Dems to support the strikers at our local Stop & Shop. I was wondering how the strike was going, and to what […]

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More whining about messaging

Thursday, October 18, 2018

This postat Hullabaloo caught me eye. In it, Digby states the obvious about Republican tax cuts: It’s a simple scheme, really. Whenever they control the government they immediately pass massive tax cuts and massive increases in military spending, always promising that the wealthy and the corporations will pour all that money back into the economy and […]

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Nothing new here

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Dave Collins, a columnist at the Day, did a survey of Republican legislators in this part of the state to see if any of them could explain how Stefanowski can eliminate the state income tax. He noted at the beginning of his piece, that there’s a talking point that the notion is really just “aspirational”. […]

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Heather ducks debates

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Bob Statchen, the Democratic candidate for the 18th Senatorial District (my District) has a letterin today’s New London Day in which he wonders why it is that Heather Somers, the incumbent Senator, has failed to respond to his own, and third party, requests that she debate him. He suggests a variety of reasons for her reluctance: […]

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Chris Mattie for AG

Sunday, August 12, 2018

This columnby old friend Bill Curry is well worth reading, but I especially want to endorse his take on the AG race: It’s partly our aged, inbred party machines. In the three-way Democratic primary for Attorney General, Chris Mattei, a clear progressive, faces State Senator Paul Doyle and State Rep. William Tong, two rare Democrats so […]

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Does she contradict herself?

Saturday, May 5, 2018

As the Republican Party in Connecticut becomes ever more like the national party, Republicans running for office here must play an ever more delicate game. They must convince what John McCain’s former campaign manager called “low information voters” that they are not at all like those other Republicans, while acting precisely like those other Republicans […]

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Arithmetic Lesson

Saturday, April 21, 2018

The City of Groton, distinct from the Town of Groton (I decline to address the absurdity of the existence of both of these entities) has announced a tax decrease: The Groton City Council is considering a budget for the coming fiscal year that would lower the city’s tax rate by 0.72 mill, or $72 for […]

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Strike a blow for net neutrality

Friday, April 6, 2018

The Republicans in the State Senate blocked the net neutrality bill using a parliamentary trick: Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme and co-chairman of the Energy and Technology Committee, used his authority to split the committee and allow only the four senators to vote. While Democrats have a majority in the committee when House members are […]

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Trump delivers for Dems in Groton

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

This is, of course, a minor story, but in a way it may be significant. We had our local elections today. The Republicans have dominated the Town Council for something like thirty or more years, and most years they have a majority on the Board of Ed, though sometimes we’ve had a slim majority on […]

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