The failures of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) under former commissioner Joette Katz will be on grim display at Wednesday morning’s Judiciary Committee meeting. The committee will review the $12 million settlement of the claim by the child known as Baby Dylan for damages against the State of Connecticut for the abuse and neglect he suffered in family foster care for five months in 2015.

Dylan was placed with his mother’s cousin and her husband under Katz’s misbegotten Kinship Enhancement program. The program required Dylan to be placed with relatives, who were unlicensed by DCF. In this instance. The relative who had been the subject of substantiated allegations of abuse against her own son, according to the complaint against the State of Connecticut. The cousin and her husband had no income and were unsuitable by any meaningful DCF standard.

For six months, DCF ignored urgent warnings and repeated alarms. As a result, according to the complaint, Dylan suffered severe malnutrition, physical and emotional injuries, developmental delays, and physical and emotional injuries. When doctors saw Dylan in November 2015, they described him as ”significantly emaciated,” according to an investigation by the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA). “At no time,” the report reveals, ”did a DCF supervisor, a manager or a DCF nurse visit the home [where Dallas had been placed] to assess the child’s condition.”

Dozens of DCF regulations were ignored by the agency, an action brought in Superior Court by Dylan’s adoptive father alleges. It reads like a criminal indictment against the agency. The Child Advocate’s 2016 report decried “the utter collapse of all safeguards.”

Wednesday’s hearing will provide an opportunity to shine a searing light on a shameful episode at the agency. What discipline was imposed on the DCF workers who failed to take routine steps to protect and rescue Dylan? The OCA report found DCF did not perform an internal investigation of the Baby Dylan catastrophe until the Hartford Courant reported on the case and the arrest of the foster mother, Crystal Magee, in February 2016.

Wednesday provides a rare forum for a complete and candid airing of facts. Katz did not resign and Governor Dannel P. Malloy did not fire her as the details of the horror became known. Only Dylan was sacrificed. Wednesday’s hearing ought to include an explanation of what actions the agency took to discipline the DCF employees who failed Dylan in the face of alarming evidence of his plight as it was happening.

Published February 22, 2023.

This will not go well for parents–or children. A University of Connecticut School of Law “symposium will explore the complex issues surrounding the role of parental rights in advancing progressive goals while at the same time examine how parental rights are being used to undermine racial, gender, and LGBTQ equality.”

The March 31st event will include a discussion on “how children’s interests can and should be represented, and whether that is best accomplished through their parents.” How many think the answer to that question will be “No, children’s interests are not best represented through their parents.” Raise your hands.

Just a guess from the description of the symposium but it sounds like parents are likely to rate as high at the event as UConn Law does on the US News ranking of law schools–that is–low, very low.

There was a time not long ago when a high calling of public policy was to formulate and enact policies that strengthen families. That may be only a memory on a law school campus in the West End of Hartford.

Published February 21, 2023.

Twitter has suspended Brookfield First Selectwoman Tara Carr’s account the day after Daily Ructions reported on a series of four tweets she posted on February 4th. The tweets accused President Joe Biden of ”aiding and abetting the enemy.” Each tweet concluded with ”Ready. Aim. Fire. One shot, one kill. That simple…” Three tweets appeared to have been prompted by the balloon from China making its way over the United States. The third made no reference to it, only to Biden.

The tweets remained in Carr’s feed on the social media platform until yesterday’s Daily Ruction’s story was published.

Published February 20, 2023.

Tara Carr used four tweets on February 4th to accuse the President of the United States of aiding and abetting our enemy and that one gunshot should be aimed and fired in response. Carr, Brookfield’s Republican first selectwoman, added the tweet to comments about a Chinese balloon flying over the United States—but not each time she posted it.

Carr, a veteran serving her first term in Brookfield, unveiled her malign and incendiary tweet in response to a tweet from U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN). ”Aiding & abetting the enemy. Ready. Aim. Fire. One Shot, one kill. that simple…,” Carr wrote.

Carr’s second launch of the same message came in a tweet minutes later in response to one by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The third time the one-time Amazing Race contestant unleashed her call had nothing to do with a balloon. it was in response to a general declaration of praise for Biden by Vice President Kamala Harris posted by the Republican National Committee. To eliminate any doubt who she was accusing, Carr added ”He” as the first word in the amended tweet. There is no reference to the balloon in the RNC tweet.

Carr does not tweet often but she posted the ”One shot, one kill. That simple…” for the fourth time that day in reaction to another RNC tweet. This one on Biden stating ”We’re going to take care of” the balloon.

The tweets were first highlighted by sharp-eyed @ctblogger Alfonso Robinson. Carr’s four tweets were visible on her Twitter account, @TaraBrookfield, as this story was posted Sunday morning, February 19th.

Carr is not a prolific tweeter but does use the social media platform to share her views, particularly on vaccines and 5G technology.

One day before she accused Biden of ”aiding and abetting the enemy,” Carr was monitoring and commenting on a tweet by Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. Murphy pointed out that Republicans put poisonous Sandy Hook conspiracy embracer Marjorie Taylor Greene on a committee that overseas school safety. Carr responded, ”Chris, tell your staff to do better. Otherwise, control your social media. these statements can’t be your own.”

Murphy irked Carr the same day with an announcement on twitter that children from low-income families will receive free swimming lessons under a federally funded program.

A day later, Carr was tweeting her call to ”one shot, one kill”—-four times. Carr does not have much staff, so there’s no reason to think the tweets did not come from her. State Democrats condemned the Carr tweets Saturday night. Republicans will reveal how far their standards have fallen if a defiant shrug becomes their response.

Published February 19, 2023.

Stone Academy, a private for-profit school with campuses in East Hartford, Waterbury and West Haven, has closed. Stone had offered medical assistant, practical nursing and patient care specialist diploma programs.

Students were notified of the closure Tuesday by a letter from Office of Higher Education (OHE) Executive Director Timothy Larson. The five-page letter’s purpose, according to Larson, is “to ensure that students have a comprehensive understanding of the various concerns and challenges facing Stone Academy, which precipitated the closure of the school.” One unintended revelation is that OHE appears to have failed in properly monitoring Stone’s programs and acting decisively when it eventually became aware of them.

Only on January 27th did OHE enter into an agreement with Stone for a “full audit” of failing programs. “Stone Academy has failed to comply with the Agreement. The audit has not been conducted.”

Private occupational schools pay into the Private Occupational School Account maintained by OHE in anticipation of the costs and hurdles students face when a school closes. OHE’s use of funds became the subject of mild scrutiny by the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) last spring when the agency requested a transfer of funds to cover costs for a career fair for high school students held at the Morgan Sun casino. An Office of Policy and Management memorandum revealed that POSA funds had been used for “IT expenses, consulting services, records storage and removal, temporary office support, and other agency operations.”

The legislature’s budget committee will hold a public hearing on Governor Lamont’s higher education spending proposal today. It should provide an opportunity to ask Larson or someone else from his office why OHE did not engage in its previous practice of beginning to find programs for students who were about to be displaced. The committee will also want a more detailed account of how Larson spent POSA funds.

Published February 15, 2023.

University of Connecticut student government leader Mason Holland has had enough of Governor Ned Lamont’s budget. Holland was reacting to UConn President Maric’s criticism of Lamont’s budget proposal, unveiled Wednesday. Maric complained that Lamont’s budget falls far short of what UConn will need to sustain itself and meet its obligations. Maric was particularly unhappy at the rising of cost imposed on the school by labor agreements. The new president may regret that her predecessors chose expensive peace with politically powerful public employee unions over fiscal prudence.

Maric may want to steer clear of complaints about UConn Health. It has tested the wizardry and manipulations of a generation of state budget directors. The state cannot give it away. No private entity coping with market forces would have kept it open through decades of deficits.

While Maric issued an ill-judged threat to cease scheduling sporting events at the XL Center in Hartford, Holland is organizing students to participate in a budget protest at the Capitol–food and transportation provided–next Wednesday. It’s a gamble–if students do not turn out in large numbers legislators may conclude they are not nearly as angry as Holland, whose missile included everything but a reference to a lily white Greenwich country club and the founder of the Lamont family fortune’s role as dictator Benito Mussolini’s accomplice in imposing fascism on Italy nearly a century ago. But there’s still time.

Holland should not be surprised if he receives a conciliatory call from Lamont as he tries to lower the temperature–and ask if the student leader knows anyone who would like to take UConn off the governor’s hands.

Here is Holland’s geschrei and call to action:

Dear UConn,

Many of you may have seen President Maric’s email earlier today about shortfalls in state funding to the University. As students, we once again will face the brunt of those shortfalls while Governor Ned Lamont sits on a record level budget surplus.  

For those of you who do not know, the Governor of Connecticut automatically assumes the position of President of the UConn Board of Trustees when elected. While in the past Governors have consistently taken this role seriously, Lamont has treated it as nothing more than an afterthought. We have not seen him. We have not engaged with him, and it is not from a lack of trying on our end. This academic year, the Governor has not met once with the students that he has a legal and fiduciary responsibility to— unless you count that one time when he came for his own reelection campaign, gave a speech, and then immediately left without engaging with a single one of us.

When the Governor delivered his Budget speech this morning, he started and closed with the focus of his vision: economic growth and inclusive opportunity. He ended ironically with “This is my budget, and within it, our values. Each and every one aimed squarely at economic growth and inclusive opportunity.” The Governor didn’t mince his words. We are not presuming the values of Governor Lamont; he is telling us. His “values” include raising tuition by $3000 for over 30,000 of his constituents, shaping a future where “inclusion” excludes Connecticut’s next generation. It begs the question, Governor: who are you trying to include?

Not everyone lives within the gates of your multi-millionaire neighborhood in Greenwich, Governor, and not everyone’s father could get them into the fancy schools, but apparently everyone can take hundreds of thousands dollars in student loans? It’s clear that the Governor would prefer we all attend Yale, where he is a much more active advisory board member (Yes…the President of our Board of Trustees is on an advisory board of another in-state university). But we have news for the Governor —  raising tuition by thousands of dollars and eliminating necessary student organizations and services does indeed make us more like Yale, but it destroys what UConn is for all of us in the process. How could he know that, though? He’s never even met us.

If the Governor had spent any time here, he would see what this place is: Connecticut’s future. When he cuts our budget, he kills dreams, he kills what Connecticut could be. Every dollar that Lamont adds to our tuition is another local business not created, another taxpayer lost, and another problem left unsolved.

In 1991, the State of Connecticut provided over $3,000 dollars more per student than they do today (that’s before adjusting for inflation, too). Connecticut began to see rising costs, and we, the future of Connecticut, made the sacrifice. And we made the same sacrifice over and over and over again, year after year…While our student debt exploded over the years of shouldering this sacrifice, the state is now in its best financial condition in years. Now was the time when Lamont should have taken the opportunity to become a national leader in supporting its students. In a time where the future is more uncertain than ever, now was a moment to make a difference. 

Thankfully for us all, the Governor’s “inclusive” budget must go through the Connecticut General Assembly—a General Assembly that wants to hear our voices. On February 15^th we, the students of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, will WALK OUT of classes and travel to the State Capitol in order to finally introduce ourselves to the Governor and to show the General Assembly that the proposed dangerous cuts are unacceptable. The student government will cover all student costs for the day, including box lunches and free transportation. Buses will depart from Hillside Road (near the Husky Dog statue) at 10:45 am. Seating on the buses is limited and on a first come/first serve basis.  The first 800 students to arrive will receive a #SAVEUCONN t-shirt. To be eligible for a t-shirt, RSVP here.  

It is vitally important that we have the largest turnout possible for this day. A day that will live in history, either as the day Connecticut took a stand or the day Connecticut destroyed its future. 

I’d like to end with a message to the Governor…

We look forward to meeting you.

Best,

Mason Holland

Student Body President

Published February 9, 2023.

Dan Carter, a former state representative, won Tuesday’s Bethel special election for first selectman. Carter defeated acting first selectman Rich Straiton, a Democrat. The election became necessary when incumbent Democrat Matt Knickerbocker abandoned his job to become town administrator in Wilton. Straiton was second selectman for 13 years before becoming acting first selectman.

Carter served three terms in the House and was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2016. He was defeated by Democratic incumbent Richard Blumenthal.

Published February 7, 2023.

Five House Democrats and one Senate Democrat revealed their anti-democratic credentials with a bill to require voters to vote. Voters who fail to cast a vote in an election will face an order to explain why they did not cast a ballot. Failure to provide an acceptable explanation will cause the imposition of a fine.

And we still call Connecticut the Constitution State.

The right to vote is accompanied by the essential freedom not to. It appears not to have occurred to the tyrannical six that many voters decline to participate in an election because the choices may be so unpalatable to sensible people. The failure is often not with the voters but with the candidates.

The half-dozen bullies may not have considered the consequences of their despotism: more people will not register to vote.

Representatives Josh Elliott, Brandon Chafee, Michael D’Agostino, Anne Hughes and Geraldo Reyes, and Senator Saud Anwar have mistaken “civic engagement” autocracy. It’s unlikely that each provides a written explanation each time they fail to cast a roll call vote in a committee or in the House or Senate–and they are paid to vote.

They cannot have considered the replies voters would send to election officials? The air turns blue contemplating the responses. And what would the imperious six deem “a valid reason” for not voting? Their arrogance and self-delusion blind them to an essential democratic norm–to be left alone.

Published February 6, 2023.

The legislature will meet Thursday to assist the University of Connecticut in its partnership with Pratt & Whitney to win hundreds of millions dollars in a federal energy research grant. The university and the jet engine manufacturer have developed a proposal that they believe could turn UConn into a significant hydrogen energy research center.

UConn President Radenka Maric, according to her online biography,  “is a world leader in technologies for clean energy and sustainability. She has significantly advanced understanding of materials and catalysts and has developed innovative manufacturing processes involved in fuel cell technologies, storage materials, and electrochemical sensors for health applications, leading to higher-performance, commercially viable clean energy systems.” That deep background in energy innovation includes hydrogen research.” Maric has been issued six patents over the course of her career. She knows hydrogen.

The application has been greeted with enthusiasm as UConn representatives, old hands at knowing how to do business at the LOB, have explained the public-private partnership to legislative leaders. Research into using hydrogen for energy generation will entail decarbonizing it into “green hydrogen.” That process is explained here. Hydrogen does have persistent critics in the competitive business of energy research and development.

The Department of Energy will provide $8 billion for hydrogen research under the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act. The UConn/Pratt & Whitney application is separate from the regional consortium of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Connecticut that is seeking to create a “hydrogen hub” in the Northeast. New York is the lead state in that hydrogen alliance, according to UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz.

Not everyone in state government shares UConn’s excitement for the proposal. Resistance to this innovative hydrogen energy research application may cause Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katherine Dykes’ nomination to remain on the House calendar without action.

Connecticut has served for decades as the home of public and private hydrogen research and development of hydrogen fuels cells as the industry has struggled to find a significant advance that will be make the technology affordable and widely available.

Published February 6, 2023.

Murphy omits some facts in fundraising bid. His re-election campaign began long ago. As of December 31st, Friends of Chris Murphy had $3.9 million in the bank. It spent $1.5 million on operating expenses in 2021 and 2022.

Nevertheless, he announced he has only just begun today:

Hey Kevin, Chris Murphy here. I just kicked off my re-election, and I need your support to make sure we’re ready for the challenges ahead.

The truth is that Senate campaigns, even in a state like Connecticut, are ridiculously expensive. But unlike a lot of my colleagues, I try to raise money the right way. 100% from people and not a dime of PAC money. I also limit my time at fundraising events and don’t spend all day begging billionaires for money. My job is to focus on the work you elected me to do.

I think raising money the right way is good for our democracy. But it means I count that much more on grassroots donations from people like you.

So if you are with me and agree that this is the way we should run campaigns, I am humbly asking you to contribute today:

Politicians have wrecked the common meaning of “humbly” and “humility.” A safe seat has caused Murphy to develop an aversion to PAC money. His attitude was different in the crunch. When the Democrat faced more competitive campaigns he was a longtime favorite of Northeast Utilities (NU) before it merged with Eversource.

Published February 6, 2023.