All The Democratic News Fit To Print In and Around New Britain, CT (USA)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A Vote For Kevin Lembo for Comptroller

Seasoned political observers will recall that the job of State Comptroller carried little weight in terms of governing a generation ago. At state elections it was the office used to balance a ticket based on diversity or geography.

For all of the time Connecticut has had a Constitution (and it is the "Constitution State") the office of Comptroller had been the backroom bean counter and, according to law, provided "accounting and financial services, to administer employee benefits, to develop accounting policy and exercise accounting oversight, and to prepare financial reports for state, federal and municipal governments and the public."

That started to change in 1991 when Democrat Bill Curry, a former state senator, got elected. Curry, an activist and policy wonk, who would become the gubernatorial nominee in 1994, raised the visibility of Comptroller considerably. Incumbent Nancy Wyman took up where Curry left off and has used the office to contribute to fiscal policy ideas, health care reform and the management of the state's finances. Under the Rell administration Wyman has emerged almost as a shadow governor delivering the sober news about state budget deficits and calling attention to the difficult choices Connecticut faces amid recession and dwindling tax bases.

Kevin Lembo, the state Health Care Advocate, is now running for state comptroller having abandoned an exploratory run for Lt. Governor when Nancy Wyman moved on to seek that office.

He gets my vote for the role he's played in helping residents deal with the health care system, especially the insidious practice of insurers denying coverage to people who thought they were insured. He may be the most experienced candidate in the race, having served as assistant State Comptroller for health insurance and implementing GAAP (You can ask your accountant what GAAP stands for). He co-chairs with Nancy Wyman the commission established under the Sustinet Plan to implement universal health care and as the state Comptroller would play a big rule in implementing such reforms as health care pools for local governments and small businesses (Pools = improved benefits at lower costs)

Meeting Kevin Lembo you can sense that this is an individual who believes in making real change in government at many levels. That, along with a hands-on progressive Governor, is what will be needed to, in Lembo's words, "reverse the years of neglect our state has suffered and regain the ground we've lost."

Lembo has my vote for continuing a more active and useful Comptroller's office and for what he will say and do about fiscal policy and management of state government. He'll make the bean counters in Hartford work in the best interests of citizens.

- John McNamara, Democratic Town Chair, New Britain

Sunday, May 16, 2010

16 May 2010

City Budget Hearing Monday May 17, At High School

A public hearing will be held Monday, May 17th, at 6 p.m. on the 2011 municipal budget for July 1-June 30 fiscal period with the timetable for budget adoption less than 20 days away. The hearing will be held in the Tercyak Lecture Hall at the Mill Street high school.

For a commentary on the need to avoid layoffs in frontline positions go to

http://newbritaindemocrat.blogspot.com/2010/05/muncipal-budget-hearing-monday-may-17th.html

Economic Opportunity Group To Present First Laddie Michalowski Award Tuesday, May 18th

Citizens for Economic Opportunity will hold “A Night of Celebration” on Tuesday, May 18th featuring cocktails, an awards ceremony and Stand Up Comedian Linda Belt beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Real Artways, 56 Arbor Street, Hartford.

This year the first annual Laddie Michalowski Workplace Justice Award will be given to UAW Region 9A and the Foxwoods organizers. The award is named in memory of New Britain’s Laddie Michalowski, longtime community and union activist. Tickets are $45 per person. For information or to RSVP: For more information or to RSVP, please contact ddalzin@c-e-o.net


State Convention May 21-22; Legislator Nominations To Follow May 24, 25


Democrats will decide endorsements for major state and legislative offices over the next week at conventions to conclude the first phase of the nominating process for the 2010 Election.

The State Convention will convene Friday, May 21, at Hartford's Expo Center, with the nomination for U.S. Senate involving Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Merrick Albert. The Saturday schedule calls for endorsements for state constitutional offices starting with State Treasurer (8:30 am) with incumbent Denise Nappier running unopposed. Nappier's nomination will be followed by votes for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the State and Comptroller. New Britain sends 35 delegates to this year's convention that will involve roll call votes for Governor and all the state constitutional offices except Treasurer. Send out a search team if we're not home by midnight.


Senate and House


On Monday, May 24th, the State Senate convention will convene at Trinity On Main beginning with a 6 p.m. reception and 7 p.m. convention. State Senator Don DeFronzo is expected to win the nomination for a fifth two-year term.

The 24th State Representative convention will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 25th when Rep. Tim O'Brien is seeking re-election. The convention will be held at the Italian Fraternal Society on 131 Monroe Street. The 24th convention will be immediately followed by a meeting of the Democratic Town Committee, Members from the 25th and 26th State Representative Districts will endorse candidates. Rep. John Geragosian and Rep. Peter Tercyak are seeking re-election. A 22nd State Representative convention will be held the same night at Plainville Town Hall where State Rep. Betty Boukus is seeking a new term.

Kevin Lembo, In Comptroller Race, Gets Nod From Incumbent Wyman


Kevin Lembo, the state's Health Care Advocate, has picked up the support of Comptroller Nancy Wyman to replace her as the state's elected fiscal watchdog as Wyman runs for Lieutenant Governor with Dan Malloy. Lembo, who previously won support of the United Auto Workers and the Connecticut Citizen Action Group in an exploratory campaign for Lieutenant Governor, immediately jumped into the void with incumbent Wyman's decision to seek a new office last week. Lembo may be the most experienced candidate running to replace Wyman. He previously served as Assistant State Comptroller focusing on health insurance for state employees and municipalities and implemented the state's shift to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

In Memoriam

New Britain Democrats extend sympathy to Ward 5 Alderman Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. on the passing of his father, Carlo Carlozzi, 80, last week. The elder Carlozzi, a registered Democrat for 58 years, immigrated to New Britain in 1952 and worked at Fafnir Bearing for 38 years until his retirement in 1991. He was a native of Campodipietra, Italy, Province of Campobasso (Molise). Memorial donations are invited to Saint Francis Cancer Center 114 Woodland Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06105-1299; Hospital for Special Care Foundation, 2150 Corbin Avenue, New Britain, CT 06053 (www.hfsc.org ) or The Italian Welfare League, 8 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10021 (www.italianwelfareleague.org).

Muncipal Budget Hearing Monday May 17th; Op-Ed Says Avoid Lay Offs in Frontline Jobs

The City Council will hold a budget hearing for the fiscal year that begins July 1 on Monday, May 17th, at 6 p.m. at New Britain High School about 20 days before the 2011 fiscal plan for municipal government needs to be adopted. This budget cycle arrives with flat funding from state aid, a tax hike proposal from the Mayor's office and the threat of "hundreds" of layoffs in the public schools.

The following article on the municipal budget appeared in part in a recent edition of the Hardware City Journal. This is the full text of the article.

By John McNamara

Don’t Cut Front-Line Jobs

The full weight of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is falling on the city’s budget makers in shaping a fiscal plan for the year that begins July 1st. Few cities or towns in Connecticut and the nation are exempt. And with Connecticut’s over reliance on property taxes the fiscal crisis falls most heavily on cities such as New Britain.

If there is one item across all city departments and divisions that should not be cut it is jobs – specifically: the frontline jobs that are integral to government functioning effectively. In times like these layoff proposals are inevitable because personnel represents such a huge junk of expenditures.

Maintaining direct service positions, however, should be the priority for the Mayor, the Common Council, department heads and labor unions as all parties look at tough options, including an increase in the mill rate. Maintaining frontline staff is all the harder because state aid won’t grow by much, and not enough federal stimulus dollars have been appropriated to bring local governments through the recession.

Eliminating municipal jobs, including the patrolman on the street, the on-duty fire fighter and the teacher in the classroom, certainly represents the easiest path to save the millions of dollars that will be necessary to hold the line on regressive taxes. But there is a direct correlation between layoffs of direct-service personnel and the reduction of essential services – a prospect that city residents will find untenable and an outcome that will prove more costly to the city over the long term. Cutting teachers means crowded classrooms. Cutting public safety personnel can lead to longer response times in an emergency. Pink slipping inspectors or depriving the city law office of sufficient legal counsel could even mean less revenue because of insufficient enforcement of what is due the city.

It is to be expected that the Mayor and Common Council will implement standard austerity measures for this year: hiring and spending freezes, consolidated purchasing between City Hall and the School District, eliminating the non-essential wherever possible -- ultimately raising the mill rate as the last resort as the Mayor has proposed.

All of these efforts, however, will not be enough to preserve services, avoid lay offs and minimize a tax hike. To implement a no-layoff budget the city and unions will have to strike deals through good-faith bargaining. Temporary furloughs are one option. State employees are in the middle of giving up seven pay days over two years along with other other short-term concessions that turned into job savers.

Municipal employees may be willing to step up, but only if management steps up first for the shared sacrifices that will be needed in fiscal year 2011 to preserve jobs and deliver city services.

There’s no guarantee that it’ll work completely, but setting the goal of a no-layoff municipal budget will serve the city and its residents best.

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New Britain Democrats

New Britain, Connecticut, United States
New Britain Democrat is a digest of e-newsletters that present news, views and information from the New Britain Democratic Town Committee. John McNamara, the Town Chair, is the editor. Mailing Address: Post Office Box 2112 New Britain, CT 06050 John Valengavich, Treasurer