Luddites May Need To Unite To Save Newspaper Legal Notices For Now

The economic plight of newspapers in the internet age will be up for debate in the 2010 session of the Connecticut General Assembly and intertwined with arguments about the public's right to know.

Gov. Rell has called for ending the requirement that governments publish certain legal notices in newspapers, according to the New Britain Herald in a Feb. 5th story. 

For many citizens posting public notices and other information on the public business is sufficient on a town's web site. It meets the public's right to know more effectively and it saves publication costs at a time when government is looking to scrimp and save.

The newspaper industry, however, is mounting a counter argument that many among us are essentially Luddites when it comes to where we get information. A substantial portion of the citizenry, the industry says, relies on public notices in a linear way or we won't get it at all.  That is a strong argument in New Britain where a good portion of the reading public is older and accustomed to newsprint over using  the mouse to click on http://www.new-britain.net/

It seems the intent of public notice laws (and publication requirements) are to make information as accessible to the widest possible audience members who need to hear it. In that sense, it may not be enough to simply post on a city or town website.  The argument for publication in a general circulation publication is that the wide audience will know it.  It would seem a legal notice posted in an online publication would have the same weight as the printed page but at rates that are probably lower than conventional display ads. What should be determine is the real dollar savings of cutting out print ads versus the need for a greater portion of the public to be informed.  One possible compromise to the legislation -- if it is not already there -- would be to make the policy a local option law for each city and town to decide on its own.

The issue of printed legal notices is akin to newspaper classifieds which were once a cash cow for newspapers.  The internet is simply an easier way for renting, selling and all kinds of individual transactions that makes classifieds in newspapers dinosaurs. The newspaper business simply needs to come up with an economic model where more revenue comes out of information technology instead of the presses.

Having said all that here's a Luddite vote to keep printing those notices for now but not much longer.

MA Election Senate Fallout: Labor Leader Says Dems "Under Reach" on Issues That Matter

Who would have thought that a special election in Massachusetts would be the end of the Obama regime and a retreat from the "change that you can believe in" that was voted in just a year ago?

Media "gas bags", Democratic "moderates"  and no small number of propagandists for the corporate right  are proclaiming this new political reality in the aftermath of the special election in Massachusetts won by Republican Scott Brown.

Less is said about the Coakley campaign failing to practice Tip O'Neill's cardinal rule that "all politics is local" or that Coakley put all her money and eggs in a December primary, leaving her few resources and a general election plan that wrote off Brown as just another GOP patsy. In this case the better candidate with the "I'm mad as hell" message won. No matter that behind the pick up truck and neighborly image is a guy with six properties, including one in Aruba, who probably never met a Wall Street financier he didn't like.

Before the Rahm Emanuels in the Obama White House try to resurrect the Democratic Leadership Council formula of having Democrats move to the right,  President Obama and the national Democrats should heed  the "wake up call" of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Strategic Bonding: Senate Dems Push "Jobs Now" Initiative

The federal stimulus program is getting credit for mitigating 2008's economic free fall (Things would be worse without it). Recovery as defined by Wall Street financiers and their troika of Obama administration buddies --Rahm Emmanuel, Larry Summers and Tim Geithner -- is well under way.

But the employment numbers and continuing slide in local tax revenues make for a "jobless recovery" in Connecticut through 2011 or perhaps beyond. Federal stimuli, even when the state manages to get all the new money in the pipeline, won't solve a deep-seated problem.

"Over the last twenty years, Connecticut has seen perhaps the poorest job creation among all fifty states," stated a UCONN Center for Economic Analysis report in November. "And in the last decade, most job growth came in health care, accommodation and food services, education, and government (especially local government). A broader perspective gives little hope that Connecticut will see the restoration of growth in jobs—let alone high‐wage jobs‐‐given current policy and economic development initiatives."

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman, speaking to the New Britain Democratic Town Committee December 21st, confirmed CT's troubles saying Connecticut is probably in the top three or four among state governments having the most trouble balancing the books in the current economy. Emerging mitigation steps, including cuts to the social safety net and more givebacks by state employees, will not address the structural problem that is measured by Wyman's estimate of the loss of up to 80,000 jobs in recent years.

Last November's Metro Hartford unemployment rate of just over eight percent understates the employment problem. In cities such as New Britain that official number is more like 12 percent -- not including the discouraged workers and the under-employed thousands who are in the part-time work force.

Responding to the economic gloom, State Senator Donald DeFronzo and other state Senators have rolled out a "Connecticut Jobs Now" plan that would use $1 billion in state bonding to invest in transportation infrastructure, housing, energy conservation, clean water and higher education. Picking up where the federal stimulus won't go, state Senate Dems describe the policy as "an aggressive plan to create jobs, stimulate Connecticut’s sluggish economy and promote economic recovery."

States DeFronzo: “Connecticut needs jobs, and needs them now; we have a responsibility to create and sustain jobs in our state. The unemployment rate in Connecticut is 8.2 percent; construction industry employment is upwards of 25 percent. Our current market conditions offer an unprecedented opportunity for the state to make wise capital investments in new facilities, clean water projects, roads and bridges, mass transit and many other projects that could be bid and under construction in a very short period of time.” DeFronzo is Senate Chairman of the Legislature's Transportation Committee and General Bonding subcommittee.

"Connecticut Jobs Now", promising a 12-month push to create 16,000 jobs, calls for the funding of only those projects that were previously authorized. Wyman and other state officials would most certainly oppose any new bonding given the high levels of current debt incurred by state government from the Rowland/Rell years. The Jobs Now strategy calls for allocation of those projects that could be implemented within 90 to 120 days. Several state agencies, including the state Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works have already developed project lists that meet the recommended criteria.

“The state and federal government need to spark more private investment and job creation, and we can do that by re-prioritizing our existing bond authorizations to complete shovel-ready projects,” Senator Jonathan Harris (D-West Hartford) said. “We don’t need to authorize any more bonding — we just need to invest it differently. And we need to do this immediately.”

Governor Rell, who controls the state's bonding agenda, has not responded to the Senate Dems proposal sent to her in a December 18th letter. Whether she will buy into a strategic call to get moving on bond projects already authorized but not acted on by her bond commission is uncertain. Given the state's lackluster job creation efforts since the early 1990s, "Jobs Now" and similar ideas should be the dominant concern among those who are trying to succeed Rell. It's not a cliche to say "it's the economy stupid" in 2010.

Trash Talk From Mayor Sets Wrong Tone At Start of New Term

Mayor Stewart began a new term this week with an official call for an "end to political warfare" between his office and the City Council, according to Courant coverage

And there was some high-minded rhetoric from Stewart to get things going:

"Today we stand at the threshold of becoming a new and exciting city, one that will be the centerpiece of central Connecticut — at the crossroads of prosperity and the future home of new and emerging workplaces for our citizens to grow and prosper. Our city has seen days of glory and days of decline, but surely our best days lie ahead of us."

At Thursday's first Council meeting Stewart urged civility, according to Jim Craven's story in the Herald under the headline "Stewart Demands Civility".

But Stewart's admonitions to the Democratic City Council were quickly contradicted in a series of published quotes from the Mayor in both daily newspapers: Council leaders Phil Sherwood and Mike Trueworthy are "hacks" , "carpetbaggers" and "liars" who will obstruct his agenda over the next few years.

In a story by Don Stacom in the Courant, Stewart didn't hold anything back:

"I don't like Michael [Trueworthy], but I can talk with him. Phil Sherwood? He's a carpetbagger and a partisan hack. I don't like him and I don't respect him — never did and never will," Stewart said last week.

Stewart and Republicans call out Democrats on the Council for going after department heads and showing disrespect to developers; a questionable charge when it is the obligation of the Council to oversee budget and policy matters and to ask pointed questions when you are committing city resources to major investments. Democrats assert that the Mayor's office is over the top in keeping a tight lid on public information that should be available to them.

The Mayor, perhaps realizing the discord his words were sowing, backtracked late in the week and "apologized" for remarks he attributed to the heat of the campaign. His verbal shots at Sherwood, however,("nobody I would break bread with") continued. And in a serious blow to mayor-council cooperation at the start of a new term, Stewart shut the door on regular meetings with Council leadership to work on city business.

At this early point in the new term, relations between the administration and council are no better off than they were during last spring's budget debate and in the run up to the municipal campaign.

At the time New Britain Democrat observed:

Some observers may say that Stewart has to be on guard and keep his cards close to his vest all the time because of the dominance of Democrats on the Council. That assumes, however, there is not an ounce of good will from Democrats and that the partisan divide will never be bridged. But voters, who've opted for divided government in recent elections, want and expect their elected officials to end the campaign the day after the election and govern without partisan sniping at every turn. Politically, the Mayor has benefited from a "me against them" strategy; he may feel that partisanship is the winning strategy, even if that strategy is not always a good way to govern.

Sherwood and the Democrats issued their own calls for cooperation and appeared more surprised than angry at Stewart's post-election diatribes.

"The challenges to the city are so severe and numerous. I don't think we have to agree on everything, but we can be less suspicious of each other," Sherwood told the Courant. Rep. Tim O'Brien, the Democratic mayoral nominee, issued a conciliatory statement pledging to continue work on the issues he raised in the campaign.

The Mayor's intemperate remarks, perhaps fueled by Democrats' continued dominance onthe Council, can't help his administration nor the city amid a difficult recession and the "challenges" everyone agrees we face.

Although shuttle diplomacy is not often raised in local politics, the prospect of a continuing City Hall stalemate left one observer wondering if there are influential individuals outside of the process who could bring the Mayor and Council leadership into a room to get down to the business of governing and set aside the campaigning for a while.

Veteran's Day: "They Didn't Give Their Lives. Their Lives Were Taken From Them."

New Britain's tradition of honoring veterans of all wars occurs twice a year on Memorial Day (the real one not the Monday national holiday) and on Veteran's Day this month.

On Wednesday there will be a full round of remembrances put on by the Parks and Recreation Commission.

With soldiers' deaths being recorded almost daily in Afghanistan and Iraq. we are reminded that men and women are dying in service of their country. Two days a year are not enough for honoring those who served and those who died. That there is no citizen army (e.g. a draft) shows that the strains of getting in harm's way are falling on those in uniform who are being sent and re-sent into action. And it tends to obscure the toll being taken on military families.

Whenever these days come up to remember veterans I always recall the remembrance of Andy Rooney, the rumpled CBS commentator, on 60 minutes when he said he thinks of his friends lost in war every day:

No official day to remember is adequate for something like that. It's too formal. It gets to be just another day on the calendar. No one would know from Memorial Day that Richie M., who was shot through the forehead coming onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, wore different color socks on each foot because he thought it brought him good luck.

No one would remember on Memorial Day that Eddie G. had promised to marry Julie W. the day after he got home from the war, but didn't marry Julie because he never came home from the war. Eddie was shot dead on an un-American desert island, Iwo Jima.

For too many Americans, Memorial Day has become just another day off. There's only so much time any of us can spend remembering those we loved who have died, but the men, boys really, who died in our wars deserve at least a few moments of reflection during which we consider what they did for us.

They died.

We use the phrase "gave their lives," but they didn't give their lives. Their lives were taken from them.

There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.

Because I was in the Army during World War II, I have more to remember on Memorial Day than most of you. I had good friends who were killed.

Charley Wood wrote poetry in high school. He was killed when his Piper Cub was shot down while he was flying as a spotter for the artillery.

Bob O'Connor went down in flames in his B-17.

Obie Slingerland and I were best friends and co-captains of our high school football team. Obie was killed on the deck of the Saratoga when a bomb that hadn?t dropped exploded as he landed.

I won't think of them anymore tomorrow, Memorial Day, than I think of them any other day of my life.

Remembering doesn't do the remembered any good, of course. It's for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don't find some new way - some new religion maybe - that takes war out of our lives.

That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating.

from CBS broadcast 60 Minutes, May 29, 2005 by Andy Rooney

New Britain's Newest Newspaper: Hardware City Journal Hits The Streets

New Britain's "October surprise" has nothing to do with the upcoming municipal election and everything to do with what may be a revival of community journalism in town.

The first edition of Hardware City Journal (HCJ), a 16-page free circulation paper, began circulating Friday (Oct. 16th) packed full of local news and information. The paper, with only a handful of ads upon which free circulation newspapers usually depend, is similar in content and appearance to the Berlin Citizen weekly next door. The upstart HCJ appears to be the brainchild of Robin Vinci, a former Herald reporter who covered Berlin and a native of New Britain. Vinci's love for her native city comes through in an opening letter on the editorial page. She is a journalist who knows the town she is writing about past and present, a factor which can count for a lot in delivering news you may not find elsewhere.

The front page includes a report on using smaller learning communities (SLCs) and academies in public schools to improve student achievement. The potential of SLCs is all the more relevant because New Britain High School is the largest in the state. There's also an in-depth story on the rise and fall of manufacturing in the city and the prospects for a town that still clings to a "hardware" image and retains a manufacturing base in need of rejuvenation for the 21st century global economy.

The HCJ mission promises readers a paper that will:

bring an accurate, honest and fair account of all aspects of New Britain. Our sole agenda is to bring residents a greater insight into the city. We will not run away from reporting on controversial news stories, but our goal is to report it and not create controversy.

The emergence of HCJ along with the revival of locally published New Britain Herald -- rescued from the plundering Journal Register company -- is a welcome sign that residents will have more than one source of local news to become more engaged in their community.

The development of the Journal is taking shape in print only at this time. You won't find it yet in cyberspace. In a city where many older residents like to get their news the old-fashioned way, a strategy of building a free circulation print paper and worrying about technology later just may work.

A shout out goes to Robin Vinci. No amount of blogs and blogging, including this one, can take the place of a community newspaper.

Remembering Ted Kennedy

http://newbritaindemocrat.blogspot.com

Ted Kennedy’s five-decade Senate career spanned 10 presidencies, starting with his brother’s 1,000 days in office through Barack Obama’s first year.

That longevity – which counts for a lot in the U.S. Senate –allowed Kennedy to leave a lasting mark on shaping landmark laws on civil rights, health and education, from the passage of voting rights in the mid 1960s to the current debate on health insurance being mandated as a right for all Americans.

The current bill coming out of Kennedy’s committee on insuring the uninsured – “the cause of his life” –will undoubtedly emerge in some compromised fashion with Ted Kennedy’s name on it.

The Kennedy Health Care Act (it’s not called that yet but will be), marked up by his friend, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, will be made law so long as the Democratic majority finds the will to do reconciliation and blows off the phony bipartisanship of the “gang of six” and the likes of Joe Lieberman.

Much of the commentary on the passing of the last of a generation of Kennedy brothers will focus on the “mystique” and the impression that Ted Kennedy was kind of royalty, not to be challenged at the ballot box. It’s true that Kennedy was never seriously challenged in the Democratic Party. There was the first run in 1962 when he was taken on by Edward McCormack, Jr. in an Irish brawl of a primary during the Kennedy presidency, but nothing ever since. Save for a well-financed run by former MA Governor Mitt Romney, the hapless Republicans have mostly served up a succession of patsies against Edward Kennedy for 46 years despite the Senator’s personal travails and unsuccessful run for the presidency.

While his name and money gave him a head start, Kennedy and his operatives rarely took the grassroots for granted. They always seemed to remember former Speaker Tip O’Neill’s advice that “all politics is local.” That entailed taking care of constituents' individual issues and old-fashioned politicking that has been the trademark of Kennedy’s well-honed home state operation for all these years.

My only encounters with Ted Kennedy nearly 40 years ago illustrated that Kennedy’s longevity came not just from his privileged life, but never forgetting the electoral base that would turn him into the “lion of the Senate.” They came as part of my job as a reporter for the Lynn Sunday Post between 1972 and 1974 when I was just out of college.

A regular part of the Kennedy itinerary would be to get around to cities and towns, to address high school assemblys and civic groups and visit the local press, including the tiny newsroom of a small weekly on the North Shore just outside of Boston. There, I simultaneously held the titles of city hall and state house reporter and was the paper’s national affairs correspondent when Kennedy came to town. These two or three annual newsroom interviews were 30-minute one on ones where I, next to a Royal manual typewriter, would ask the questions and Kennedy would give his well-rehearsed take on Nixon impoundments, Watergate and the tough fights for progressive legislation during a Republican administration.

We then would all pose for a picture with local politicians in tow before Kennedy moved on to the next town.

I think Kennedy knew when I met him briefly so long ago and to his last days that the local politicking he grew to enjoy and did every year counted for the very long run that he had in the U.S. Senate. It’s a politician’s chore that may be easy to forget after you’ve been in Congress for a few years with all the trappings of office. But Kennedy never forgot. [Photo from: Lynn Sunday Post 1972]