Terry Cowgill

The Next Frontier

In an earlier post, I provided a link to a Nancy Johnson ad. In the spirit of fairness, here is one of Murphy’s — the one in which he responds to Johnson’s claim that as a state legislator he “raised taxes 27 times.”

Unless you watch the local network affiliates, you probably haven’t seen any of Murphy’s ads, because those are the only venues in which they currently run. Meanwhile, the well-heeled Johnson is all over the cable channels as well.

Also, I just had our webmaster set this blog up with video capabilities and I wanted to see how well it worked. Thanks for prodding me to explore a different technological direction, Jake. Here goes nothing:

Johnson vs. Murphy: What War?

[Photo of Chris Murphy at an unnamed fair (it doesn’t look like Goshen!) courtesy of the Murphy campaign.]

For Northwest Corner political watchers who are taking a strong interest in the 5th district Congressional race between incumbent Republican Nancy Johnson and state Sen. Christopher Murphy, there was an extensive analysis in Sunday’s Hartford Courant by Cornwall resident and Courant staff writer Rinker Buck.

And I use the word “analysis” advisedly, for the piece was anything but straight news. There was no indication in the headline or the slug that it was commentary or analysis, which it clearly was. Be that as it may, Buck is a terrific writer. He chose a Canton couple (who normally sit on opposite sides of the political fence) to illustrate a larger point. The man, a GOP stalwart, typically votes for Johnson, while the woman always casts her lot with Johnson’s opponent, whoever it is.

Continue reading Johnson vs. Murphy: What War?…

‘Soaring’ Out of Sight

[Photo of the recent SOAR fundraiser courtesy of yours truly]

If you’re interested in the matter of affordable housing (or lack thereof), there is a must-read piece in today’s Hartford Courant by Bill Cibes, the former state budget director and former chancellor of Connecticut’s state university system.

Cibes (pronounced SEE-bus) also chairs a steering committee for an affordable housing organization and served several terms in the General Assembly. As such, he is well positioned to write authoritatively on this issue.

Cibes runs through the usual litany of reasons for the lack of affordable housing in the state, most notably: escalating home prices; rising land prices that demand a high return on a developer’s investment (which explains the profusion of McMansions and the dearth of raised ranches).

He also enumerates some of the undesirable side effects: a thin labor pool made worse by the migration of young people from Connecticut; a bleak economic picture caused by the resulting exodus of job-producing companies from the state; an equally bleak civic future posed by the dwindling ranks of middle class volunteers for local ambulance, fire companies and town commissions and boards.

Continue reading ‘Soaring’ Out of Sight…

‘Durst’ You Care At All?

[Photo of the cinderblock Carvel Country Club clubhouse courtesy of Millerton News]

Imagine you lived in a small municipality (which is not much of stretch for those of us around here) and a developer wanted to put up a lot of homes on a couple thousand acres, doubling the size of your town and changing its character forever. Would you say, “Bravo, maybe there’ll be more to do around here”? Or would you recoil in horror at the thought of all those outsiders clogging the roads with their Volvos and SUVs?

Continue reading ‘Durst’ You Care At All?…

Local Reaction to Foleygate

We at The Lakeville Journal are doing a story on local reaction to the case of former U.S Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned in disgrace after the disclosure of racy emails and instant messages to teenage Congressional pages. If you are open to being quoted in a story, please drop me an email at thenews@hotmail.com.

Here’s what we are interested in:

• Do you consider this an isolated scandal that could happen to members of either side or is it a symptom of one-party rule, as we have in Washington right now?
• How would you assess media coverage of the scandal?
• What do you think of recent statements by Foley’s attorney that his client has checked into rehab for alcoholism and that he was molested by a clergyman as a high school student?
• From what you have observed, do you blame members of the House leadership for not reacting quicker to Foley’s communicatons with the pages?
• Do you think this scandal will have significant repercussions on the Congressional elections next month? Should it, for that matter?

All emails are subject to being quoted unless otherwise stipulated by the sender.

Thanks,

Terry Cowgill [thenews@hotmail.com]

Update: Since virtually all the reactions solicited from readers were posted here, for the time being, I have decided against doing a story for the print edition.

Must Reads

A couple of very non-partisan opinion pieces today in the normally very partisan Wall Street Journal editorial page.

I have often described myself as a political “hybrid” — in other words, someone who embraces policies that get me in trouble with my friends of both the left and the right. Well, today I saw that term used in print for the first time in a long time (maybe ever).

Northern California writer Peter Hannaford has a piece that looks at the remarkable comeback of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Terminator has succeeded in large measure because, Hannaford says, of his ability to appeal to those who are … “politically hybrid.” Perhaps I should move from the Land of Steady Habits to the Land of the Hunky Hybrid.

Then there is another piece by old friend John Fund, who gives a intelligent analysis of a book I admittedly haven’t read yet but need to. Written by the political editors of ABC News and The Washington Post, the “The Way to Win” is aimed at people who are “obsessed with electoral strategy and maneuver, not to mention with the gaudy carnival of presidential elections.” In other words, people like me. Click here to read the introduction to the book.

Update: There is also an interview this week with Salisbury’s own Tom Shachtman, who authored the recent book, “Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish,” which takes a look at the lives of Amish teenagers. Tom, who is also a Lakeville Journal columnist, shared his insights with Newsweek in the wake of Monday’s tragic school shootings in Lancaster County, Penn.

Hypocrisy Fest

If the subject matter weren’t so tragic, it would be hilarious to watch the reactions of both the right and the left to Bob Woodward’s new book, “State of Denial: Bush at War Part III,” which paints the administration as arrogant, incompetent and bedeviled by internal dissent.

The nation is going through what Andrew Ferguson of Bloomberg News calls a “Woodward Spasm,” that biennial convulsion that occurs when the celebrity reporter produces another insider look at a topic on everyone’s minds.

When Woodward’s last tell-all, “Plan of Attack,” came out in 2004, the White House took exception to some passages, but liked the flattering portait it painted of a determined president so much that it posted the book as recommended reading on the Bush-Cheney campaign website. Now, of course, they have nothing but criticism for Woodward’s latest effort.

Continue reading Hypocrisy Fest…

Monday’s Thoughts: Politics and Pizza

The Congressional Republicans’ ethical woes continue, as Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) resigned Friday amid the disclosure of dozens of racy emails and IMs he sent to a teenage page. This marks the fourth Republican to resign in ethical disgrace this year.

Today it was announced that Foley has checked himself into rehab for alcoholism. That surprised me about as much as the sun rising this morning — either because pathologies tend to come in bunches or because it’s much easier to blame the demon rum than to own up to being a sexual predator.

In any case, the question now is not just whether the loss of a viable candidate for Foley’s Florida district hurts the Republicans as they struggle to retain control of Congress, but whether the House leadership, including Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, took appropriate and timely action. If they are merely incompetent, that’s one thing. But if they did not act because they wanted to protect Foley at the expense of the young page, then they are toast. It is clear that an independent investigation is called for.

Continue reading Monday’s Thoughts: Politics and Pizza…