According the US Census Bureau, CT has a 2012 estimated population of 3,590,347 which is a 0.5% increase from 2010. CT’s age demographics are 19 to 64 years 57%, 5-18 years 22.1%, 65 years or older 14.8%, and 0-5 years 5.4%. CT has a majority white population representing approximately 70% of the total population. The remaining population is Latinos 4%, Blacks 11%, Asians 4%, and, “other” for the remaining 1%. The CT female population is slightly higher than the national percentages with females representing 51% and males 49% of the population (“US Department”).
CT is a densely populated state with both urban areas and a large suburban population. CT has approximately 738 people per square mile. CT residents are highly educated with 88% graduating from high school and 38% earning a bachelor’s degree or higher. These high levels of an educated population surpass national statistics. We are the wealthiest state in the nation with a per capita median household income of over $37,000, median household income of $65,700 and a homeownership rate of 68.9%. Our median home value is over $293,000 (“US Department”). Our poverty rate is 9.5% and our unemployment rate is currently 8.1% (“Connecticut Labor”). CT pays the highest per capita tax in the nation, however this number is influenced by the amount of wealth that resides in the southwestern portion of the state. Total taxation puts CT approximately in the middle of the nation in taxation.
Our state Constitution was redrafted in 1965 to address the growing complexity and dynamics in our state government. There have been 30 amendments since that time (“Constitutional”). Like the federal government, CT is divided into the executive, legislative and the judicial offices. The executive branch includes Governor Daniel Malloy (D), Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman (D), Secretary of State Denise Merrill (D), State Treasurer Denise Nappier (D), Comptroller Kevin Limbo (D) and Attorney General George Jepson (D). These elected positions that have a 4 year term, no term limits and are elected in the same election cycle (“Constitution” and “Office”).
Our state constitution establishes the structure of the legislative office known as the General Assembly. It allocates 30-50 state senators with residential requirements within their districts currently holding a total of 36 state senate seats. It also allocates 125-225 representative seats, again with residency requirements within their districts currently holding a total of 151 representative seats. Both state senators and representatives have a 2 year term with no term limits. It is a bicameral legislature which means that both chambers need to propose legislation to move forward in the legislative process. An amendment to our constitution in 1980 established the minimum age of 18 to run for elected office. Any amendments to the state’s constitution require the passage of a joint resolution with ¾ majorities in each chamber. It then needs to win the majority of a popular vote in the next election cycle to be enacted (“Constitution”).
The General Assembly (GA) is in session February to May on even years, and in odd years January until June while they work on the budget. The GA meets every Wednesday, when working on the budget, but meets more often if needed to meet state deadlines. The GA is a part-time commitment with “A” committees meeting every Monday-Wednesday-Friday and “B” committees meeting every Tuesday-Thursday. The majority of the GA meetings are open to the public. All committees have their own staffs that support all committee members (“This is”).
In our judiciary, our constitution only allows probate judges to be elected by voters. Under Article 5 Section 2 in our constitution, the governor has the power to nominate state Supreme, Appellate and Superior Court judges. They serve 8 year terms and can be impeached. The governor also has the power to nominate lower court judges who serve 4 year terms (“Constitution”).
The major players in CT politics are Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman who acts as president of the senate, President Pro Tempore Donald Williams Jr. (D) who is elected by state senators, Majority Leader Martin Looney (D) who is elected by the majority party senators, Minority Leader John McKinney (R) who is elected by the minority party senators, House Speaker Christopher Donovan (D) who is elected by state representatives, Majority Leader J.Brendan Sharkey (D) who is elected by the majority house party and Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero (R) who is elected by the minority house party.
The most powerful position is held by Governor Daniel Malloy. His powers are too many to include, but the most significant ones are; Chief Legislator setting the legislative agenda and Chief Executive to manage the business of the state. These powers are not intended to minimize his power in his capacity to nominate judges, his veto power, the role of Commander in Chief of our National Guard or the power to appoint key leadership positions within the government. He does not have the power to pardon as they do in the majority of states (“Center and Governor”).
Governor Malloy was elected in 2010 and is the first Democratic to occupy the governor’s office in the last 20 years. CT is a state where democrats have dominated the two chambers of the legislative branch and it has been considered a secure “blue” state in federal elections with both Senators and all five Representatives representing members of the Democratic Party. As well, at the state level the majorities of both chambers are held by Democrats (“CBIA”).
In our judiciary, our constitution only allows probate judges to be elected by voters. Under Article 5 Section 2 in our constitution, the governor has the power to nominate state Supreme, Appellate and Superior Court judges. They serve 8 year terms and can be impeached. The governor also has the power to nominate lower court judges who serve 4 year terms (“Constitution”).
The major players in CT politics are Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman who acts as president of the senate, President Pro Tempore Donald Williams Jr. (D) who is elected by state senators, Majority Leader Martin Looney (D) who is elected by the majority party senators, Minority Leader John McKinney (R) who is elected by the minority party senators, House Speaker Christopher Donovan (D) who is elected by state representatives, Majority Leader J.Brendan Sharkey (D) who is elected by the majority house party and Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero (R) who is elected by the minority house party.
The most powerful position is held by Governor Daniel Malloy. His powers are too many to include, but the most significant ones are; Chief Legislator setting the legislative agenda and Chief Executive to manage the business of the state. These powers are not intended to minimize his power in his capacity to nominate judges, his veto power, the role of Commander in Chief of our National Guard or the power to appoint key leadership positions within the government. He does not have the power to pardon as they do in the majority of states (“Center and Governor”).
Governor Malloy was elected in 2010 and is the first Democratic to occupy the governor’s office in the last 20 years. CT is a state where democrats have dominated the two chambers of the legislative branch and it has been considered a secure “blue” state in federal elections with both Senators and all five Representatives representing members of the Democratic Party. As well, at the state level the majorities of both chambers are held by Democrats (“CBIA”).
Current Events and Important Issues
CT has realized a steady and slow decline of manufacturing jobs since the 1990’s which is consistent with the national manufacturing picture (“Connecticut Labor”), but has stabilized at around 162, 000 manufacturing jobs (Baumen and Phaneuf). This is in part due to technological advancements that require less human capital as well as the shipment of jobs overseas. Job numbers alone do not represent the overall health of manufacturing in CT. The US is growing in manufacturing factories as is CT (Campos). CT manufacturing is now being dominated by high tech firms with smaller buildings with an annual growth rate of 6% adding some 290 new firms each year. There is a failure rate of 7.5% of these new start-up companies. CT provides a highly trained and skilled workforce that is very attractive to manufacturing (Baumen).
CT recently passed their two year budget increasing spending by 10% (Phaneuf). There are those who have concern about the risk of an overextension of our financial assets. It was rejected by all Republicans in both chambers if the General Assembly. It preserved aide to CT localities, designated needed monies to our state’s pension funds, and made critical investments into education, economic development and research and development. These are considered by an overwhelming majority of economists the essentials to economic growth. Republicans were focused on the state’s debt and expressed concerns about the state’s low economic health rating (Applebome).
There are varying indexes that rank CT as business friendly. The newly created CBIA Manufacturing Competitiveness Index ranks CT at 30th in the nation (Phaneuf) and others may rank CT 6th in the nation (Baumen). Potential explanations for the disparity in rankings may be; they serve individual interests, a wish to create a glossy picture to attract new businesses or use of different components in their measurement tools. I am not sure how to shake out the reliability of that specific information. It motivated me to conduct a brief interview of a few chief operating officer friends of mine as well as a former senate majority leader to get their opinions on the attractiveness for businesses to CT. All of them held not only positive, but high favorable ratings for CT’s business environment. During the informal interview, the former Republican majority leader also affirmed my conclusion that the governor’s office is very powerful.
The Sandy Hook Massacre has put gun violence squarely on the national legislative map and CT passed some of the most sweeping and strictest regulations in the nation in 2013 (Wilke). Over 60% of CT citizens favor gun control legislation due to our cultural norms of “cooperative citizenship” (Woodard) strong institutions and value in law and order. Although our nation has a high propensity for violence demonstrated by global studies, CT has some of the lowest death due to violence rates in the nation with 4 deaths per 100,000 (Woodard). While attending a Connecticut Against Gun Violence (CAGV) event, I learned that approximately 70% of illegal guns used in violent crimes come from Virginia which has very lax gun regulations. I compare it to someone polluting our water source by upstream dumping of toxic wastes.
Overall, Connecticut is moving forward through difficult economic times that started developing before the 2008 crash, but were certainly exacerbated by it. We had no job growth for the 16 years under republican governors and have only added 41,000 jobs since the 2008 crash. Approximately 10,000 government jobs have been lost. Like all local and state governments, big deals have to be made to keep or attract business. Most recent is the 71 million dollar grant to Cigna to expand its workforce and establish their headquarters here in CT. My overall view of Malloy's performance thus far is excellent and I will support his re-election bid in 2014.
CT has realized a steady and slow decline of manufacturing jobs since the 1990’s which is consistent with the national manufacturing picture (“Connecticut Labor”), but has stabilized at around 162, 000 manufacturing jobs (Baumen and Phaneuf). This is in part due to technological advancements that require less human capital as well as the shipment of jobs overseas. Job numbers alone do not represent the overall health of manufacturing in CT. The US is growing in manufacturing factories as is CT (Campos). CT manufacturing is now being dominated by high tech firms with smaller buildings with an annual growth rate of 6% adding some 290 new firms each year. There is a failure rate of 7.5% of these new start-up companies. CT provides a highly trained and skilled workforce that is very attractive to manufacturing (Baumen).
CT recently passed their two year budget increasing spending by 10% (Phaneuf). There are those who have concern about the risk of an overextension of our financial assets. It was rejected by all Republicans in both chambers if the General Assembly. It preserved aide to CT localities, designated needed monies to our state’s pension funds, and made critical investments into education, economic development and research and development. These are considered by an overwhelming majority of economists the essentials to economic growth. Republicans were focused on the state’s debt and expressed concerns about the state’s low economic health rating (Applebome).
There are varying indexes that rank CT as business friendly. The newly created CBIA Manufacturing Competitiveness Index ranks CT at 30th in the nation (Phaneuf) and others may rank CT 6th in the nation (Baumen). Potential explanations for the disparity in rankings may be; they serve individual interests, a wish to create a glossy picture to attract new businesses or use of different components in their measurement tools. I am not sure how to shake out the reliability of that specific information. It motivated me to conduct a brief interview of a few chief operating officer friends of mine as well as a former senate majority leader to get their opinions on the attractiveness for businesses to CT. All of them held not only positive, but high favorable ratings for CT’s business environment. During the informal interview, the former Republican majority leader also affirmed my conclusion that the governor’s office is very powerful.
The Sandy Hook Massacre has put gun violence squarely on the national legislative map and CT passed some of the most sweeping and strictest regulations in the nation in 2013 (Wilke). Over 60% of CT citizens favor gun control legislation due to our cultural norms of “cooperative citizenship” (Woodard) strong institutions and value in law and order. Although our nation has a high propensity for violence demonstrated by global studies, CT has some of the lowest death due to violence rates in the nation with 4 deaths per 100,000 (Woodard). While attending a Connecticut Against Gun Violence (CAGV) event, I learned that approximately 70% of illegal guns used in violent crimes come from Virginia which has very lax gun regulations. I compare it to someone polluting our water source by upstream dumping of toxic wastes.
Overall, Connecticut is moving forward through difficult economic times that started developing before the 2008 crash, but were certainly exacerbated by it. We had no job growth for the 16 years under republican governors and have only added 41,000 jobs since the 2008 crash. Approximately 10,000 government jobs have been lost. Like all local and state governments, big deals have to be made to keep or attract business. Most recent is the 71 million dollar grant to Cigna to expand its workforce and establish their headquarters here in CT. My overall view of Malloy's performance thus far is excellent and I will support his re-election bid in 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment