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June 6, 2013
From: The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep,
President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
BREAKING: Connecticut's Economic Trend Worst In
Nation
Only State
Where Economy Shrank in 2012, New Report Shows
By MARA LEE maralee@courant.com
The Hartford
Courant 10:37 a.m. EDT, June 6, 2013 Connecticut
was dead last in economic growth last year, the only state in the nation where
the combined total of goods, services and salaries paid within the state shrank
compared with 2011.
State aid: How did your city or town make out? | The CT
Mirror
Here's a town-by-town breakdown of total state aid.
Keno legalization was a back room deal
CONNECTICUT: Source:
Hartford Advocate - Hartford CTWhere There’s Smoke:
Investigators Uncover A Culture of Corruption at the Capitol
Silent on corruption
Minuteman News Center What are
Connecticut Democrats doing to reform the system and hold colleagues
accountable in the wake of a corruption trial that exposed brazen swapping of
cash for killing legislation in the General Assembly? Well, besides, absolutely
nothing, they are actually sticking it right back in the face of voters they’re
apparently confident won’t hold them accountable.
See all stories on this topic »
Credit unions used simply to have to show
their tax exemption was proving useful, he said. Now they have to explain why
it needs to exist at all.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is
collecting the telephone records of millions of Verizon
customers under a top secret court order, according to the Guardian. The
British newspaper obtained the order, which requires Verizon to give
the NSA information on all of its customers' phone calls—not just those under
any suspicion of wrongdoing.
Why is what’s happening in Illinois,
important to Connecticut?
Because as Fitch Cuts
Illinois Credit Rating Over Failure to Fix Pensions (Karen Pierog
/ Reuters) suggesting that “the
burden of large unfunded pension liabilities and growing annual pension
expenses is unsustainable”, Connecticut’s State Legislators are
proposing a State Run Retirement Plan for Private Sector Workers as State
Employee Pensions are Funded at Only 48 Percent. More on this issue can be found at the
following link captioned
Senate Approves Drivers Licenses For Undocumented Immigrants.
Moody's
Warns Illinois Credit Rating Could Fall Without Pension Reform (Karen Pierog / Reuters)
Connecticut State Employee Pensions: Click Pensions In 2012,
payments were made to 46,124 retirees or beneficiaries totaling over $1.47
billion.
Connecticut State Employee Wages and Benefits: Click Employee Compensation Note: Above the Seach
Button Click Advanced Search to access more information.
The following are State Pensions Paid over $200,000
Get More Information on State Employee Pensions on the
Name
|
Total Pension Payments
|
Veiga, John
|
276,364.26
|
Blechner, Jack
|
270,234.60
|
Henken, Eleanor
|
239,708.52
|
Blanchette, Edward A
|
226,658.28
|
Hartley, Harry
|
211,652.28
|
Judd, Richard L
|
208,335.30
|
Sigman, Eugene
|
204,352.26
|
Dibenedetto, Anthony T
|
203,594.04
|
Raye, John R
|
200,597.34
|
*************************
According to CalWatchDog,
Yes, govt. pensions can be completely
canceled | CalWatchDog
May 15, 2013 By John Seiler We’re constantly told that California governments have a
“constitutional obligation” to pay for the pensions of public-sector employees.
Except when there’s no money left. If a city, county
or even the state goes absolutely flat broke, then
nothing will be paid. That’s happening in Detroit: “DETROIT (AP) — The first
report by Detroit’s emergency manager declares that the city is broke and
at risk of running completely out of money — a financial meltdown that could
mean employees don’t get paid, retirees lose their pensions and residents
endure even deeper cuts in municipal services.”
Continue reading at …… http://www.calwatchdog.com/2013/05/15/yes-govt-pensions-can-be-completely-canceled/
Could this happen in Connecticut? Let’s hope someone on the Hill in Hartford comes to their
senses and we don’t have to find out after reading the
REPORT State economy headed for crisis
*************************
Also Check out the following: Supreme court rules police can take DNA
samples upon arrest, Obama appointees using secret email accounts, CT State Rep
Blasts Irresponsible Budget, IRS Victims testify, CT State Legislators are
proposing a State Run Retirement Plan for Private Sector Workers as State Employee
Pensions Funded at Only 48 Percent, Court rebukes Rowland layoffs, Bridgeport
taxpayers foot bill for contractor, Passage State Budget, Lawmakes
want slot macines in their cities, Lembo reports surplus for 2013, ….
Supreme Court says police can take DNA samples upon arrest
By
Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON
| Mon Jun 3, 2013 1:15pm EDT (Reuters) - In a major victory for law
enforcement agencies, a divided Supreme Court on Monday ruled that police can
take a DNA sample from someone who has been arrested and charged but not
convicted of a serious crime.
Several of
President Obama’s political appointees are using
secret government email accounts, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. The
administration officials contend the separate addresses used by the former head
of the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments are necessary to
keep their primary inboxes from overflowing. But the practice invites concerns
that federal agencies are conducting official business through accounts that go
undetected in public records requests. It brings worries that government
officials are hiding information and decisions. Continue reading at ….. http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/303259-report-obama-appointees-using-secret-email-accounts
Giuliano Blasts Irresponsible Budget
HARTFORD – As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the Connecticut House of
Representatives gave approval to a biennium budget that circumvents the
Constitutional spending cap; relies on new gambling revenue; and accrues
hundreds of millions of dollars in new debt, State Representative Marilyn Giuliano said. The constitutional spending cap was put into
place as a compromise to the newly instituted income tax back in 1991 to
prevent state spending from increasing too quickly. However, the majority
party’s budget exempts a whopping $6.3 billion from the cap to make possible a
10% increase in overall spending. Continue reading at ….. http://cthousegop.com/2013/06/giuliano-blasts-irresponsible-budget/
*************************
Court rebukes Rowland, rules '03 layoffs were punitive
By Mark
Pazniokas Monday, June 3, 2013 Email
Follow @CTMirrorPaz
In a decision with far-reaching political and legal
implications, a federal appeals court has concluded that former Gov. John G.
Rowland illegally discriminated against union employees when ordering 2,800
layoffs soon after his election to a third term in 2002. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit faulted Rowland for exclusively eliminating union jobs when the
Republican governor was confronting a budget deficit. ……The decision is binding
on the Second Circuit, which covers Connecticut,
New York and Vermont.
Read entire article at https://www.ctmirror.org/story/us-court-appeals-rebukes-rowland-rules-03-layoffs-were-punitive
*************************
In February 2013, Bridgeport named highest-taxed city | WTNH.com Connecticut in the country. Today we learned why! CTPost.com reporters
Daniel Tepfer and Brian Lockhart write in an article
captioned Taxpayers foot the bill for driveway the following: BRIDGEPORT
-- Millionaire developer Manuel "Manny" Moutinho
has the best driveway to his waterfront mansion that taxpayer money can buy. And he ought to
know -- he built it. Moutinho
claims he and his two neighbors -- with far more modest homes -- ripped up a Stratford
wetlands for a new, 20-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long gravel driveway to their Long
Island Sound properties because of flooding on a dirt driveway across from Sikorsky Memorial Airport. Bridgeport
owns Sikorsky. City officials confirmed
they picked up the nearly $400,000 tab, and hired Moutinho's
company, Mark IV Construction, without a formal bidding process……. Like many other developers and contractors doing
business in and around Bridgeport,
Moutinho has contributed to the powers-that-be. Between 2007 and 2008, Moutinho and family
members gave a combined $4,500 to the Bill Finch for Mayor campaign.
Continue reading at ….. http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Bridgeport-pays-400-000-tab-for-gravel-road-4569762.php
*************************
Democratic
Senators Joan Hartley of Waterbury, Gayle Slossberg of Milford, and
Paul Doyle of Wethersfield
joined Republicans in voting against the budget.
by Christine Stuart | Jun 3, 2013 9:47pm CTNewsJunkie.com
The Senate
gave final passage Monday to the two-year, $37.6 billion budget that moves more than $6 billion in Medicaid spending out
from under the spending cap. If that money was kept under the cap, the two-year
budget would be about $44 billion, an increase of almost 10 percent over the
last biennium.
Republican
Senators objected to moving the federal Medicaid money. It was the focus of
nearly eight hours of debate before the budget passed 19-17. Democratic
Senators Joan Hartley of Waterbury, Gayle Slossberg
of Milford, and Paul Doyle of Wethersfield joined Republicans in voting against
the budget………...
Sen. Toni Harp, who co-chairs the Appropriations Committee, said the
public voted on the constitutional spending cap in 1992. But she says the
legislature never returned to codify it.
“It has
never been defined by any legislature to date,” Harp said. She said in a Supreme Court case clarified
that the legislature had an obligation to pass the implementation language of
the constitutional spending cap. The legislature meets every year and has the
ability to implement it, but bills proposing definitions are often defeated in
committee.
“It’s a
failure of ours not to address this in 22 years,” Frantz said.
Read entire
article at ….. http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/senate_gives_final_passage_to_budget/
House adopts $37.6 billion budget for next biennium — or is
it $44 billion? By Keith M. Phaneuf and Jacqueline Rabe Thomas CTMirror.org Sunday, June 2, 2013 The Connecticut House voted at sunrise
Sunday to adopt a $37.6 billion, two-year budget that preserves municipal
aid and meets a rising demand for social services, while relying on one-time
revenues and the exemption of an unprecedented $6 billion from the spending
cap. …… The budget expands the
education reform initiatives adopted last year while launching a major science
and technology expansion plan at the University of Connecticut. It
calls for expenditures of $18.6 billion in the fiscal year beginning July 1 and
$19 billion the next. ………………….. No New Taxes?
Read complete article at ….. https://www.ctmirror.org/story/house-adopts-376-billion-budget-next-biennium-%E2%80%94-or-it-44-billion
Keno not enough? Lawmakers want slot machines in their cities
By Keith M. Phaneuf and Jacqueline Rabe Thomas Sunday, June 2, 2013 Tired of watching
neighboring states expanding gambling while Connecticut's revenue from the
casinos steadily declines, a handful of Democratic
legislators Monday threw their support behind allowing 7,500 slot machines to
open in Bridgeport, New Haven and Windsor Locks. Continue reading at ….. https://www.ctmirror.org/story/keno-not-enough-lawmakers-want-slot-machines-their-cities
*************************
COMPTROLLER LEMBO REPORTS $164.8-MILLION SURPLUS FOR FISCAL
YEAR 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013 | Contact: Tara Downes (860.702.3308)
Tara.Downes@po.state.ct.us)
Lembo cautioned that the surplus is good news for the
current fiscal year, but is largely attributed to unreliable revenue sources
that the state may be unable to count on in the following years. -- read more
View PDF for Economic Indicators
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