Archive - Feb 2, 2010
A Busy Day in Connecticut Politics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 16:13This morning, the Connecticut Office of State Ethics released a report that a total of $38.6 million dollars was spent on administrative and legislative lobbying in Connecticut in 2009. The top client lobbyists by expenditures were CBIA, Northeast Utilities, AT&T CT and Affliates, CT Hospital Association, CT Conference of Municipalities, Connecticut Bankers Association, the Knights of Columbus, Altria Client Services and Affliates, CT Association of Health Plans and the CT State Medical Society.
Early this afternoon, Attorney General Blumenthal opined
that the requirement of “ten years’ active practice at the bar of this state” set forth in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 3-124 is not unconstitutional, and that it constitutes more than simply status as an active member of the bar.
In short, this opinion is that the law which would prevent Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz from running for Attorney General is valid. What this will do to Ms. Bysiewicz’s plans at this point remain unclear, as do the implications to the races for various constitutional offices.
Also, it was announce today that Janice Andersen has been certified as a Clean Elections Candidate for Special Election Campaign, Stratford’s 120th Assembly District. As such, she will receive, $19,500 to run her campaign. That is, of course, provided that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals does not strike down the law before hand.
Addressing this concern, Gov. Jodi Rell today proposed her ideas on how to save and strengthen the State’s Campaign Finance Law. Key aspects to her proposal include removing the reversion provision, eliminating additional qualifying criteria for candidates of minor parties and petitioning candidates, and adjusting the sizes of the grants.
In other times, all of this would have lead to interesting discussions at Connecticut Local Politics. However, today Genghis Conn, who has run this site since he started it, announced that he was shutting it down. He spoke about seeking to try and keep it going, but recognized that no one wanted a blog with the legal baggage that Connecticut Local Politics has. It don’t know what the legal baggage is and why a group like Citizen’s Media Law Project hasn’t stepped in to address the issue.
Tomorrow, the Regular Session of the Connecticut General Assembly starts. There will also be a Free Clinic in Hartford. Then, on Thursday, the
Hartford Police Department's Traffic Division will conduct a DUI Enforcement checkpoint on Thursday, February 4, 2010, from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Returning legislators should consider themselves warned.
In previous times, all of this would have been discussed at CT Local Politics. Now, a new venue will need to be found.
(Cross posted at MyLeftNutmeg.)
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Jesus Didn’t Turn Anyone Away
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 11:32It has been interesting to follow the discussion about the Focus on Family Superbowl Advertisement that CBS will run during the Superbowl that has been getting so much attention. I’ve received emails from advocacy groups urging me to contact CBS to condemn their decision. I’ve read article in the advertising and marketing world analyzing the pros and cons of the decision, as well as some interesting political analysis of the decision. I’ve been looking for an angle to say something that hasn’t been said already about the advertisement, and it wasn’t until I found a blog post talking positively about the advertisement that I found what I wanted to say.
WordJourney Magazine talks about the advertisement as being ‘inspirational’, or at least it is inspiring controversy, but the author hopes it will have the ‘ the intended effect of touching lives for Jesus Christ”. Personally, I have serious doubts and suspect that it may, in fact, drive people further from Jesus Christ. I expressed this view in a comment on the article.
I hope, for our Lord and Savior’s sake, that you are right. However, I fear that this ad may in fact do more damage to the Kingdom than good. Mrs. Tebow made a difficult and noble choice. She should be lauded for that, and to the extent that the ad encourages other young women in her situation to make a similar difficult and noble choice, there is much to be gained. If, on the other hand, the advertisement encourages our leaders to not to allow other women to make this difficult choice, then it may be seen by many as the efforts of the self-righteous meddling in the lives of others. If this is the case, I worry that it may drive others further from looking towards God’s saving grace in times of trouble.
Likewise, it is wonderful that an anonymous person has stepped up to pay for the advertisement, and if the advertisement stays within the realm of encouraging people to make choices in their lives that will draw them closer to Christ, it is a wonderful thing. However, to the extent that it is advocating a political opinion, such illegalizing abortions, then it seems as if the person is at best skirting the laws that require public disclosure about advocating for political positions. It does little good for us as Christians if Christian leaders are perceived as trying to get around are laws to advocate for specific positions.
So, I pray that you are right, and I hope that we all pray that this message might glorify Christ and not drive people away from Him.
I deliberated about whether to post the comment in and of itself on my blog. I don’t often write about religion here. As I thought about it, I decided to go look at the advertisement that CBS rejected last time for the Superbowl. It was sponsored by the United Church of Christ and carried another controversial message. “Jesus Didn’t Turn Anyone Away”.
I do believe that the message of the United Church of Christ that was rejected would have done much more to ‘touch lives for Jesus Christ’ than the Focus on Family ad does.
