Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

NEW: State police investigating possible corruption in New London department TheDay.com� Jan 7, 2011�� State police today seized a police vehicle and several pieces of evidence as part of an ongoing investigation into possible corruption in the New London Police Department, according to a press release from New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio. In a press conference Friday, the mayor announced that Officer Joshua Bergeson had been fired after a hearing to review his role in the Dec. 14 beating of Reuben Miller outside the Southeastern Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency facility on Coit Street. Continued at �.. http://www.theday.com/article/20120107/NWS01/120109729/1047/NWS

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The Recess Appointment(s) Obama Hasn't Made by Marian Wang | @mariancw� A move by President Obama this week to proceed with a handful of recess appointments [1] has top GOP leaders crying foul, complaining that the move is questionably legal [2] because it ignores a clever procedural technicality used by Republicans to prevent such appointments. But if the White House feels confident enough in the legality of its actions and has chosen to brave the political criticism and risk legal challenges [3], it's worth noting that it's only done so with four appointments. According to the White House, more than 180 nominees are currently pending before the Senate. And Ezra Klein, writing for the Washington Post, notes [4] that there are empty seats on the Federal Reserve�s Board of Governors and at key banking regulators. In particular, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has for years had an acting director who has opposed more aggressive help [5] for homeowners facing foreclosure -- measures such as cutting mortgage debt for borrowers who owe more than their homes are currently worth, provided that doing so makes financial sense� Continued at �. http://www.propublica.org/article/the-recess-appointments-obama-hasnt-made

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Medtronic paid millions to influential UW chairman� By John Fauber of the Journal Sentinel Paul Anderson, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, gets so much money from the medical device firm Medtronic that the university put its most stringent oversight on the relationship. One of the requirements is that Anderson, who has received $225,000 in consulting fees from Medtronic in 2008 through 2010, has to meet annually with his department chairman to review the relationship and its potential influence on his university activities. But the chairman, Thomas Zdeblick, got more than 25 times that amount from Medtronic himself during the three years. And a new accounting by the Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today shows he received more than $25 million in royalties from the company since 2003. What's more, UW Hospital spent $27 million for Medtronic spinal products from 2004 to 2010, according to documents obtained through an open records request. And Zdeblick, a renowned spinal surgeon, has co-authored several positive research papers about the company's spine products. �Continued at �. http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/medtronic-paid-millions-to-influential-uw-chairman-ca3c6nn-136240963.html

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Living in poverty but feeding the rich� By Wayne Drash, CNN updated 9:11 AM EST, Tue January 10, 2012� �It hurts because it's a constant reminder of the couple's shattered dreams. The Bryants used to make $40,000, lived in their own home and gave to others. Now they live below the poverty line in the city with the widest income gap between rich and poor than anywhere else in the nation.� They're among the millions of Americans who fell out of the middle class.� Read complete article at

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/08/us/income-gap-profile/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

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Most schools still resist push for longer school time By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Caitlin Emma� CTMirror.org�� When it came time for Tyrone Almonte to decide where he wanted to go to high school, he had plenty of magnet schools to select from in the Hartford region. He chose Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science -- a school not only with significantly higher achievement rates than nearby schools but also one of a handful of schools in the state with a longer school day than the required state minimum.� Continued at �.. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/14913/despite-push-and-spending-extended-school-day-and-year-instruction-time-remains-flat

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Public Employee Unions: The Year in Review (blog - Mary Pat Campbell / The Conservatory)

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Oil Industry Warns Obama: "Huge Political Consequences" if Pipeline Rejected� Read the Article at The Hill

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The Yaz Men: Members of FDA panel reviewing the risks of popular Bayer contraceptive had industry ties �Jan 9, 2012� By Jeanne Lenzer and Keith Epstein�� Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration convened a committee of medical experts to weigh new evidence concerning the potential dangers of drospirenone, a synthetic hormone contained in popular birth control pills including Bayer AG�s Yaz and Yasmin. In a decision that helped ensure the continued presence of these drugs on American pharmacy shelves, the committee concluded by a four-vote margin that the benefits of drugs with drospirenone outweigh the risks. However, an investigation by the Washington Monthly and the British medical journal BMJ has found that at least four members of the committee have either done work for the drugs� manufacturers or licensees or received research funding from them. The FDA made none of those financial ties public. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/01/the_yaz_men_members_of_fda_pan034651.php

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Connecticut Lawmakers Say List of Personal Care Attendants Doesn�t Belong in Union Hands�� by Hugh McQuaid | Jan 9, 2012 5:30am �Posted to: Labor | Legal Two Republican lawmakers urged the governor�s administration Friday to refrain from handing over a list of personal care attendants to a union. But the Malloy administration says it is already publicly available information. Continued At �.. http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/lawmakers_say_list_of_personal_attendants_doesnt_belong_in_union_hands/

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RealClearMarkets - Tracking the Unreported (15.6%) Unemployed

By Aparna Mathur & Matt Jensen� Jan 4, 2012� ��The last three years have seen some of the highest unemployment rates reported since the Great Depression. The official rate moved from 5 percent in January 2008 to a high of 10.1 percent in October 2009, and a current rate of 8.6 percent. It rests 3 points above the 1948-2007 average of 5.6 percent. Unfortunately, the reality is even worse than these numbers suggest. This is because of the way the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the official unemployment rate. �. As a consequence, the official rate excludes workers who have decided to drop out of the labor market altogether because economic conditions have discouraged them, or for other reasons. The official rate also ignores those who settle for part-time work since they are unable to find a full-time job.� Read complete article at �..

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/01/04/tracking_the_unreported_156_unemployed_99440.html

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Thomas case shows poor DC accounting, Democrats' silence on corruption� Washington Post Jan 7, 2012� And it highlights anew the tendency in much of the city's Democratic political establishment to ignore � or at least minimize � evidence of political corruption.� Continued at �.. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/thomas-case-shows-poor-dc-accounting-democrats-silence-on-corruption/2012/01/06/gIQAvvjXhP_story.html

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Special Report: Did NJ property tax reform help most taxpayers?
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com�� Jan 8, 2012� Chris Christie has made reining in property taxes a big goal of his administration. �When you think that in the 10 years before I became governor, property taxes went up 70 percent in 10 years and now people are talking about 2-and-change increase, that�s great progress and progress that nobody else before we got here created in this state." http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/nj_property_tax_increase.html

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Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street - Financial Elite Start ...

Turning On Each Other By David DeGraw - ampedstatus.org� The lawsuits are piling up fast. Here�s an extensive roundup: Continued at �.. http://wakeup-world.com/2011/09/06/full-blown-civil-war-erupts-on-wall-street-financial-elite-start-turning-on-each-other/#comments

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Fraud and folly: The untold story of General Electric�s subprime Market ...� Ex-employees say GE ignored warnings from whistleblowers� The Center for Public Integrity By Michael Hudson 6:00 am, January 6, 2012 Updated: 10:59 am, January 6, 2012� For General Electric Co., hawking subprime mortgages was a long way from making light bulbs and jet engines.� That didn't stop the industrial giant from jumping into the subprime business in 2004, lending blue-chip respectability to the market for risky home loans by paying roughly half a billion dollars to buy California-based WMC Mortgage Corp.� What GE got in the bargain, former WMC employees say, was a place where erstwhile shoe salesmen, ex-strippers and even a former porn actress could sign on as sales reps and make big money pushing home loans. WMC's top salespeople earned a million dollars a year or more and lived fast, swigging $1,000 bottles of Cristal and wheeling around in $100,000 Ferraris and Bentleys.� In pursuit of these riches and perks, several ex-employees claim, many WMC sales staffers embraced fraud as a tool for pushing through loans that borrowers couldn�t afford.�� Continued at �.. http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/01/05/7802/fraud-and-folly-untold-story-general-electric-s-subprime-debacle

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Unequal Risks and Benefits for Citizens in Six States on Keystone ...

XL Pipeline Route�� By Lisa Song, InsideClimate News

� TransCanada getting 10-year tax holiday in Kansas but could pay $63 million a year into Montana�s coffers.� Jan 5, 2012�� Read complete article at http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120105/landowners-keystone-xl-pipeline-taxes-environment-transcanada-nebraska-texas-montana-kansas-oklahoma-south-dakota

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Lawsuit: DSS understaffing produces illegal delays for Medicaid applicants By Arielle Levin Becker on January 9, 2012� The state Department of Social Services has failed to employ enough workers to process Medicaid applications in the timeframe required by federal law, leaving thousands of low-income residents without access to health care coverage, legal aid attorneys alleged in a federal class action lawsuit filed Monday.

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Ex-Hartford mayor asks court to overturn corruption convictions, alleging ...Mistakes By Judge Read article at� http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/e87c3b599f8646afaa2e1a92783ed9df/CT--Hartford-Corruption/