Thursday, April 07, 2005

Open Forum

What's on your mind?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone notice the latest fund-raising announcement from DeStefano? That's a lot of dough he's got now.
What's strange is that he's out-raising everyone, and if I recall correctly, but he's the lowest polling opponent to Rell.
He's going to need that money to change impressions of him around the state. The New Haven noose effect. What's Susan B. doing?
Anyone else in the ring yet?

Anonymous said...

I had another thought about Rell's support in the polls lately. Someone noted that no one really supports her political philosophy. They just like her because they don't disagree with her.
Rell is basically an empty governor. She's not there - she has avoided going to governor meetings with other Republicans. If she won't associate with Republicans, either in person or in policy, what is she offering anyone? She is not showing any leadership in any direction, progressive, conservative, or otherwise.
Rell's latest half-hearted support of Civil Unions is another example of tepid leadership. She neither embraces the civil rights of lesbians and gays, nor embraces the bigotry of the "pro-family" movements. So she makes no one happy.
It may be that the public wants someone who doesn't make strong stands, but in my mind, to have no leader at all is a greater danger.
How do we know that Rell has what it takes to lead should a crisis strike? How will she bring any benefits to Connecticut when she is a friend to neither party?

Anonymous said...

I think you guys are on to something in that Rell offers no real leadership.

I'm happy that she supports Civil Unions. I wish she supported marriage.

I'm happy that she carefully considered granting Michael Ross a stay. I wish she would have.

I'm happy that she supports social programs like HUSKY. I wish she'd fund it more.

And so on and so on. It seems like she's okay on everything. She's not bad, but not good.

My biggest problem with her, though, is her budget. How she can suggest, with a straight face, that CT residents who are wealthy enough to have received and $80,000 tax cut cannot afford to see their income tax go up is beyond me. And to then turn around and suggest raising excise taxes which will affect poor and minority groups in higher percentages than those who can really afford to pay their fair share is despicable.

I don't particularly love Blumenthol, but I really hope he gets in the ring. He has the name and reputation to beat her. I suppose it's too early to tell, but I think he (or maybe Dodd, but that Q poll has me rethinking that) is the only one who can beat her.

Just my two cents...

Anonymous said...

How about looking into the continual underfunding of the Teachers' State Retirement by the legislature. Even Gov. Rell is only going for 66%.

Genghis Conn said...

anon.,

Actually, DeStefano is polling slightly ahead of Dan Malloy (not included in my post) against Rell, but this early in the game the poll isn't all that meaningful. If those numbers don't change after DeStefano starts spending his millions... he's in trouble.

As for Blumenthal, smalltowndem, I won't believe he'll run until the day he announces. He'd be a great candidate, the polling shows he's well-liked, but he's cautious to a fault when it comes to his political career. I keep wondering what he's waiting for.

Genghis Conn said...

anonymous, stomv, tkd27,

Interesting points about Rell. If she runs next year, what issues will she campaign on? Ethics reform, I imagine, will top the list (although progress made there is a bit dubious). Fiscal restraint? Maybe, if her party can swallow a few proposed tax hikes. There isn't too much else, at least not right now. If the campaign is about issues, Rell may not do so well. But if it's about character (and, post-Rowland, we have every right to expect it will be) she'll be hard to beat. People think she's honest and straightforward, and they really like that.

Anonymous said...

Ghengis, yes, character is something Rell has an up on. The impression I took away from the Michael Ross thing is that she carefully studied the evidence and suggested that she would have made a different decision if there was ANY doubt. I am an abolitionist, so I was disappointed, but I walked away from that thinking better of her than I did before.

If she willingly signs the civil unions bill it will also show that is independent of her party and not afraid to show it. To sign such a bill is risky... for a Republican to do it, even riskier (even though it's not REALLY so risky in CT, if the polls are right... but it shows strength to stand against your party like that).

Ethics reform is right in line with character, and I think she scores well on that, too. This is actually why I want Blumenthol to run. I think he has the reputation to stand against that. I don't think Destafano will cut it.

As far as Susan B. (I'm not going to learn how to spell her last name yet :-P), she might stand against the ethics stuff well, but her stance on voting machines scares me.