House Republican Press Release

October 8, 2007

Press Office: 860-240-8700

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

By State Representative John J. Ryan

If you actually follow what is happening in State government, isn’t it much more interesting than your average silly sitcom? For example:

- On the bonding imbroglio: even those two bastions of conservative opinion the NY Times and The [Stamford] Advocate are beginning to figure this out!  See their respective Sunday editorials (NYT –Connecticut section “The Cost of Being a Grown-Up”; Advocate – “Get Serious with State Bonding Package”] that merit perusal. The NY Times even repeated our September 27 column from this paper in full on Sunday in their “In Other Words” box in full! Both papers note Gov. Rell’s efforts at compromise and point out important little details e.g. that 11 cents of every Connecticut tax $ go to pay borrowing costs now.

But while actually taking cognizance of what is [not] happening in Hartford, both missed the opportunity to make the major point that the majority party’s P.R. chutzpah is beyond shameless: “big city mayors” ( i.e. Democrat mayors] are making noises about “suing the State” because they have not received their school construction funds and conveniently ignoring that Governor Rell had already called a Special Session to vote on the school construction items, which the Democrat- controlled legislature immediately adjourned!

And why did the New York Times chide the Governor that “she should also cultivate more political alliances with moderate Democrats”? Where do we have some of those, pray tell?? You mean the same “moderate Democrats” already on record (please look up their own quotes, folks) as being ready to vote to override the Governor’s veto and spend, spend, spend? It is certainly amazing what you can learn if you actually follow what really goes on in your own government.

- On task forces/”studies”/ad hoc committees: OK, I confess…I have really botched up this time. A recent news item that the same bonding package we have been discussing lately included “a mandate to study a stretch of the long-considered Super 7 highway” got me to thinking that here was a good topic to discuss in a column: how much governmental/bureaucratic time and effort (and tax dollars, not to mention trees] are wasted on “studies” that sit ignored on shelves, on analysis that it unnecessary, on task forces that rarely meet, on “ad hoc committees” created when there are already committees in place, etc. Now to be sure, not every study or task force is without merit, but did you ever get the idea that many of these hyped efforts are merely a ploy to create the appearance that something is actually happening? ( What was that Churchill quote…”Leaders lead, and politicians dither”?] Well, I bit off more than I can chew this time! I started to look into just how many “Hartford task forces” exist, found my first list to reference, and hit “print” and it was still going, dozens and dozens and dozens of pages printing away…………before I ran out of paper. Imagine if I get into “studies”! Maybe if I stop all work for the rest of the year here at my “real job” I can get a handle on the enormity of this topic? (You can’t make this stuff up…..]

- Surveys on cell phone/driving ban : I am trying to remember a constituent in the recent past who did not vigorously support this legislation, or a survey where voters did not indicate that this was a serious safety problem. More than 16,000 violators went to Court in the first six months of this year, so law enforcement is not exactly lax! Every single Chief of Police I know tells me emphatically what a major cause of accidents this is, and……….so why does almost every third driver whizzing past me on the road seem to be babbling away on their hand-held cell phone ?

- News item “TV writer Strike Closer as Talks break off”: and what did we say about the silly sitcom at the beginning of this column? Could civilization continue to function if we did not have writers on the job giving us sitcoms about “cavemen”?           

As always please feel free to contact me with your concerns and issues. As your state representative, it is my job, and my priority to represent you and to make sure that your needs and concerns are addressed at the capitol.  You can write to me at Room 4200, Legislative Office Building, and Hartford, CT 06106-1591, send me e-mail at John.Ryan@housegop.ct.gov or call my office toll-free at 1-800-842-1423.