Incompetence. The Democrat Gold-Standard Of Governance In 2025

 In a review of 2025, let us look at a history of governance and leadership by our best and brightest elected officials, all of whom are Democrats, or were hired by a Democrat.

• January 1, 2025: The New Orleans Bourbon Street massacre unfolded tragically. Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick was completely blindsided, unaware of the barriers that should have been in place. This incompetence allowed a truck to plow through the crowd, resulting in fifteen deaths and ISIS flags being waved. The city council demanded her resignation, but Kilpatrick did not care. She even admitted that she was unaware that the barriers even existed. And she continues in her ostensible non-job of police employment to this day.

• January 8, 2025: Los Angeles wildfires raged out of control. Mayor Karen Bass fumbled the response with botched evacuations and delayed aid as she jetted off to Africa. Elon Musk tweeted to millions calling her "utterly incompetent." Homes turned to ash and lives were scorched, while Bass dodged questions and blamed the wind. A negligence lawsuit is now on the horizon. And she continues as Mayor to this day as virtually no damaged homes have been rebuilt in the region.

• August 20, 2025: Rhode Island's "Drunk AG Girl" incident caused a major meltdown. The Assistant Attorney General (Connecticut Native Devon Flannagan Hogan),while heavily intoxicated, trespassed at a fancy restaurant. She berated police officers on Nationally seen body cam footage in a horrific spectacle, demanding, "Do you know who I am?" Despite a zero-tolerance policy, she was only placed on leave and was given an ostensible break by her work colleagues in her sentencing.

• November 29, 2025: Governor Tim Walz's Somali fraud fiasco erupted in Minnesota. Billions in Medicaid funds were swindled under his clueless and hopeless watch, with half potentially fraudulent. Somali refugee programs were implicated in laundering cash. Donald Trump blasted the state as a "fraud hub." Walz downplayed the issue, leaving taxpayers to bear the financial burden. Great public outcry is also leveled at Minnesota Congresswoman Ilian Omar, who continues to smile, take no responsibility for the scandal and somehow attributes this financial and governance rape to Donald Trump.

• December 13, 2025: A Brown University shooting of multiple studying students turned into a nightmare. A gunman went on the loose, with suspected links to other institutions. Security measures failed colossally, and the manhunt was botched. Inane and embarrassing press conferences featuring leaders of questionable qualifications and blatant agendas droned on for days spewing politico-babble as the good people of Providence walked in fear. At last count, all people who participated in this farce remain employed leaving the same good people of Providence and all of Brown University under daily jeopardy.

(Note: “Drunk Girl” Devon Flanagan works under Peter Neronha, the Attorney General of the State of Rhode Island. With the suspected shooter found dead this past Tuesday, the good people of Providence are now breathing a sigh of relief )

• December 10, 2025: Waterbury, Connecticut faced a second, larger water main break leaving 60,000 residents without water for days. Healthcare facilities and schools were crippled by the outage.      Waterbury's decrepit infrastructure finally crumbled under neglect, leading to finger-pointing among officials. Residents described the situation as "horrible," with restoration efforts moving slowly amid escalating blame.

 

Of course, if you are a skillful Democrat incompetents, you must be very skillful in deflecting your personal responsibility towards any disaster that you, yourself are responsible for. Waterbury is no exception: “Working together, there is nothing we cannot achieve. Waterbury's best days are ahead of us.” — Democrat Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski, Jr., 47th Mayor of the City of Waterbury.
(https://www.waterburyct.org/administration/mayor)

However, clean water may not be one of those areas that Waterbury can achieve.

“The catastrophic failure of a high-pressure line in Waterbury’s aging water system left Connecticut’s fifth-largest city, and most of two suburbs—Wolcott and Watertown—without water Saturday, forcing a scramble to keep two hospitals open and bring in water by tankers and truckloads of bottles.

City officials said an earlier failure of a 10-inch water line installed in 1901 undermined a 42-inch, 55-year-old transmission main that burst with explosive force late Friday night on Thomaston Avenue by Waterville Park, launching pavement into the air and shattering windows.”
(https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/water-line-failure-waterbury-leaves-about-100000-without-water)

Needless to say, the public water situation in Waterbury will continue to be precarious, at best. You cannot drink the water, nor would most people want to bathe in it. One may also question why a Democrat-run city’s infrastructure for something as critical as water is still relying on a 124-year-old pipe along with a 55-year-old transmission line to supply the city. Of course, no previous Democrats in Waterbury over the past 20 years have ever been proactive about this situation as well. And ostensibly, Waterbury pays employees quite well via tax dollars that are charged with the responsibility of the city water system. Waterbury’s annual budget exceeds $446 million. A closer look shows that employee benefits, including pensions and health insurance, total over $114 million. Pensions and retiree health benefits alone account for more than $86 million. Combined, these costs exceed $200 million annually—almost 45% of the city’s total budget.
(https://www.waterburyct.org/filestorage/103431/104943/2025-2026_Mayor%27s_Proposed_Budget_Presentation.pdf)

The city also receives substantial aid from the State of Connecticut. Waterbury is a Connecticut example of a cash faucet city with no results and incompetence in governing, even though officials claim they are attempting to upgrade the water system. In private business, this type of crisis would not be tolerated and those responsible would be fired, but in government it has somehow become expected and the persons responsible never are removed.

And then we move to Providence and Brown University. Providence, Rhode Island will forever be enshrined in the Hall-of-Fame of political incompetency in its obtuse and fumbling efforts to locate a criminal who killed two students and wounded nine others at Brown University. University. What went on with Brown truly boggles the mind. A gunman just walks in to set up a killing machine. Security reportedly became lax, with camera monitors turned off, non-functioning or otherwise nonexistent in addition to other security failures. As a result, innocent students studying in a classroom were murdered in cold blood. And many students and their parents are now counting the cost of their woke ideologies and their hatred of police and law and order. For they are now learning a bitter and costly lesson. Neither incompetence, nor being woke, stops a bullet.

Police have been defunded in many parts of the country, while crime, contrary to false statistics presented in places such as Washington, D.C., continues to rise. Consider the daily antisemitic attacks occurring in Democrat-controlled New York City. For what reason? Have we become a lawless society? In many cities and states, it increasingly appears to be so. And what will the cost of this lawlessness be? How will those of a liberal mindset feel about being victimized and attacked? For they too will find out that neither incompetence, nor being woke, can ever stop a bullet.

One must also ask what would happen if a prominent Democrat became the victim of a crime, particularly at the hands of a repeat offender. How quickly would the narrative change? Or would President Trump somehow be blamed—as he seemingly is for everything since the nation’s founding? Regardless, they too as well, will find out that neither incompetence, nor being woke, stops a bullet.

Sadly, political incompetence takes many forms not necessarily dealing with immediate attacks of hostile violence. There is a form of incompetence which is much more subtle (and far more devastating) than any one incident. It is the destruction of an entire state economy leading to confirmation of its defeat as a welfare state. In that connection, Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut has now officially given his state the economic last rites by condemning it to perpetual beggar-welfare status as other states are aggressively availing themselves and using the incredible economic provisions of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to create economic opportunity and to empower its citizens.  Lamont and his ilk and minions never seem to ask themselves why their states have so many poor and so many needing help and never try to fix things. They simply hand out more of your tax money and blame Donald Trump more frequently. https://ctmirror.org/2025/12/18/lamont-aid-food-pantries-planned-parenthood/ My friend and colleague Tony De Angelo did a terrific job on his December 18 THIRTY WITH TONY show describing this very subject: https://x.com/TonyDeAngelo7/status/2001746474439426413. It is a sad situation, and in my opinion Republicans do a very poor job in not making this critical point clear and evident for all.

Accountability is in short supply today. Competence is even more scarce. Too many people shrug and look the other way when crimes are committed, whether shoplifting that raises costs for consumers or cold-blooded murder that wastes innocent lives while offering little justice for victims. Even more are silent at gross acts of political malfeasance to where Republicans, especially in Connecticut, never complain about Democrat incompetence such as the economic destruction of the state. Many Americans have had enough of the incompetence of government—elected officials, un-elected officials, and a legal system that often protects criminals over victims—along with the endless nonsensical fixation on President Trump.

Incompetence in governing has become the norm in our country. It must end, or we risk ceasing to be a country at all.

Connecticut-The Zone Of Opportunity Lost

 Why does Connecticut have so many economic problems?  It seems for the past 35 years Connecticut has had one economic problem after another.  Not much changes over the years.  And contrary to the standard party rhetoric on how safe and economically robust Connecticut is, there is still a massive crime and drug problem and economic malaise that has impacted Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven for years, all of which have become incredibly exacerbated since the takeover posture of Covid-19. 

For these cities, and for the state, it is insulting the definition of the word “obvious” that the solutions offered by the Connecticut Democrat Party have been nothing but destructive.

As just one example, last week on the 94.9 “Lee Elci Show”, my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo well-covered the farcical and arrogant “economic development” endeavors of the Federally-Investigated Connecticut (should-be-abolished) Department of Economic and Community Development, such as “The Pizza Trail” and the multi-million dollar “QuantumCT” (TONY DE ANGELO-LEE ELCI- LEE ELCI SHOW 10 14 2025) . To me, the biggest point that Tony made was that while these bogus endeavors continue, real economic endeavors and opportunities are completely blown by self-aggrandizing and delusional leaders, even though these opportunities are producing extremely well in other places. 

Perhaps the biggest of these blown opportunities is the reinstatement and establishment of new Qualified Opportunity Zones (“Opportunity Zones”).

In a simple definition, Opportunity Zones offer great tax savings to private investors in designated depressed locales if they stay invested for a decade, and this is exactly the medicine that poor urban areas in Connecticut need. No taxpayer contributions are required. Presently, Connecticut has 72 federally designated Opportunity Zones, and due to the sad economic state of the state can have 150 more under OBBBA, thereby taking up 25% of the entire state. Development tracts in Connecticut cities and rural areas are crying for any new capital and economic life. However, at the rate Connecticut is proceeding, it is in danger of losing its presently existing Opportunity Zones along with the potential of establishing more as there are strict deadlines. But money will move elsewhere. Stupidly, finite investor capital will find its way to better and more competent locales. And what investors want, is facility and fluency from government. 

To this end, I would bet you five dollars if you walked up to most any Connecticut elected official and asked them what an Opportunity Zone is and what it does, you will be greeted by a blank stare and a shake of the head.

But sadly, people believe what they want to believe. Perhaps this ignorance is fashioned in the delusion that Connecticut is this magically wonderful place that is sought after by millions as Connecticut continues on its current path. If one reads about Connecticut through the eyes of political bureaucrats, one may wonder what state they are talking about since it certainly does not sound like Connecticut.  For example,  the state's website, in the area they discuss "Why CT”,  "Connecticut ranks among the nation's top states for quality of life. Great public schools, scenic suburbs, a low crime rate, vibrant yet manageable cities, access to exceptional healthcare, and a diverse array of recreational options are just a few of the reasons why so many enjoy living here."... "Long known as a leader in advanced manufacturing, aerospace, finance and insurance, Connecticut is also home to thriving sectors in bioscience, green energy, technology and digital media. This array of rapidly advancing industries positions the state for continued growth".   (https://portal.ct.gov/ChooseCT/Why-CT ) If Connecticut is so great than why does it have 72 federally designated Opportunity Zones? Why can it have 150 more? Why do the arrogant powers that be not take advantage of great amounts of private capital that will revitalize these tracts? How can it be considered a leader in business when Connecticut ranks as a bottom five state in most business economic activities and one the highest taxed states in the country? 

Why do these economic birdbrains persist in these farcical “something CT” economic endeavors that continually do nothing but give the illusion of economic vitality but simply burn taxpayer money? 

Why do Republicans never attack and criticize this sham of the Department of Economic and Community Development?

(Sadly, I can go on).

But if you look hard, you see a fake effort made on the Department of Economic Development state website . Here, we see this description  "To encourage additional development, DECD has been authorized by the legislature to identify, market and ultimately sell up to 10 (COUNT EM, 10) vacant state-owned properties located in Opportunity Zones. Various agencies within Connecticut state government are also working collaboratively to identify other incentives to maximize the investment in Connecticut’s Opportunity Zones." (Ibid)       But ask yourself something: All the tax credits, gimmes, and free Taxpayers monies in the world for the past 35 years has never resolved the economic problems especially by the failed Connecticut Department Economic and Community Development.  The department that offers no transparency and has been a failure in the money it continues to give away with no accountability as to whether it gets paid back. The Department that is watching serious capital go to other landscapes while it promotes "pizza".

Just look at the no answers to the SEMA-4 debacle of Connecticut Taxpayers monies and the involvement of the Department of Economic and Community Development with that.  Go all the way back to the Malloy "First Five" , the farcical "Back-9 Network" and the bulbous and wasteful over-building of UCONN, now crashing under its own weight. As politicians back-slapped each other with all of these pies in the sky, honest taxpaying citizens received boots to their posterior regions.

One must also wonder why a state as small as Connecticut has potentially 25% of the state qualifying as sufficiently depressed to be Opportunity Zones?  This comes about from a variety of factors including, (but not limited to), businesses leaving the city and state due to high taxes, high crime, high workers compensation costs, a lack of skilled workforce for that industry and a poor infrastructure. 

It is often said that Connecticut needs more housing which is particularly puzzling in a state with a decreasing population. But take one look at the dastardly and destructive anti-landlord rental laws of Connecticut. Houses and apartment buildings in the inner cities of Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury and Bridgeport have turned into many cases of being drug dens and slums.  Thus, the buildings and areas they leave are often neglected due to the landlords not having rental income coming in.  No income equals no monies for upkeep.  This also leads to bankruptcy of the individuals and companies that own these same buildings.  Government officials came up with the stoic plan of using Taxpayers monies in the form of zero interest loans, tax credits and cash incentives to try to rebuild these failed areas.  However, it is evident that if things do not change in a hurry,  the same problems of  high taxes, high crime, high workers compensation costs, a lack of skilled workforce for that industry and a poor infrastructure will again be the stumbling blocks of economic prosperity for any decent economic effort put forth in Connecticut.

In addition, many economically inane Connecticut politicians are fixated also on building both low- and high-income housing near train and bus stations in the state, overriding local zoning officials.  Any sane person knows that these deals are bound for failure as you can build all the "affordable" and or non-affordable housing you want, but if there are no jobs for these people nothing will change. And if you cannot build an economy by using real economic drivers and genuine business instead of pizza and computer concepts, you will not have workers to support the project, leading to the greatest slum developments since Father Panik Village and the gold standard of Cabrini Green in Chicago, which all ended in a hail of needles, bullets, and destruction.

However, the fiction of Nutmeg-wonderfulness continues unabated.  What is really funny is this public relations gem: "Governor Lamont, his administration and the state legislature are committed to helping businesses thrive in Connecticut. Already, they’ve implemented a host of measures to enhance the state’s long-term fiscal stability, control taxes and streamline state government." (https://portal.ct.gov/choosect/opportunity-zones). Sort of like Lamont's measures to enhance his family's hedge fund profits through Infosys Limited, Digital Currency Group and its affiliates, "ADVANCECT", Boston Consulting Group, UNITE US (CT), Mt. Sinai Genomics, "Thermo Fisher Scientific", "Sema 4", " Core Informatics", "Ocrulus", "Urjanet", "1life Healthcare", "Galileo Health", "Castlight Health", "Paladina Health", and "VillageMD"“The Horsebarn Hill Investment Fund”, McKinsey, “CT Next”, and Tidal River Fund, to name a few. 

It is quite clear that any “commitment to fiscal excellence” in Connecticut is limited to the elite on the Lamont bench. Further, Connecticut still has $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities well more than the “fiscal guardrails” we hear so much about  

Economic change in Connecticut is hard to come by as the political nepotism system of economics is still alive and well.  There is no transparency from an economics perspective in state government.  It is an entrenched political bureaucracy that sucks out the last breaths of economic prosperity daily.  Look at how many jobs and businesses were lost forever due to the draconian Covid-19 lie.  Connecticut would become an economic powerhouse with the elimination of the DECD and an overhaul from top to bottom in its state government, a sound and flat tax policy, and a commitment to business development by attracting new capital and business to 25% of the sad and decrepit state via the aggressive pursuit of Opportunity Zones as just one example.   

Is there hope in Democrat-driven Connecticut? Perhaps we will finally see the light going on in Republican camps all over the state aggressively attacking this horrific situation. But sadly, citizens have waited far too long for any effective advocacy and are odds-on favorites to see, yet, another opportunity, lost.

 

Editors Note; The next Swick Speak blog will be on Saturday November, 1. 

 

The State of Connecticut Has A Much Bigger Problem Than Crime And Incompetency

 The State of Connecticut Has A Crime Problem: Auto thefts surged by 33% in 2023 alone, jumping from 7,091 reported incidents in 2022 to a staggering 9,400, marking the third-highest percentage increase nationwide and leaving countless residents vulnerable to brazen juvenile offenders who often face minimal consequences. Persistent strings of car break-ins and thefts in 2025 continue to terrorize communities from Montville to Fairfield, underscoring a systemic failure to curb property crimes that erode public trust and safety. Almost every Connecticut city is a horrific and mismanaged hellhole. 

However, the gist of this article is not crime.

 The State of Connecticut Has A Competency Problem: Unhinged Liberal Incompetent Scraggly Bearded United States Senator Chris Murphy makes a fool of himself moment by moment on “X” with his repetitive nonsensical babbling reflecting his entire lack of conceptual understanding of any issue but also reflecting a crystal-clear hatred of President Donald J. Trump. Congressional Representative Rosa DeLauro, one of the oldest in Congress at age 82, is embarrassing in appearance and a babbling shame, shunning any suggestions of improvement or developmental vision for her pitiful Congressional district. Senior United States Combat Veteran Senator Richard Blumenthal lied about serving in Vietnam and lied about “not knowing” that he was addressing a Communist convention in 2021. Attorney General William Tong in his furious defense of illegal alien rights, called for a boycott of “Avelo Airlines” in New Haven, either not knowing (or caring) that the fiscally incompetent state Comptroller Sean Scanlon engineered the Avelo arrangement for the inadequate Tweed New Haven Airport campus, residential safety and noise pollution be damned. And not to be undone, Governor Ned Lamont (affectionately known as “King Ned, The Unaccountable”)  continues to move from fraud to scam, the latest being to corrupt the entire state with a new generation of incipient slum housing that helps along one of his wife’s investments, while he is trying to convince his wealthy neighbors in Greenwich that he has everyone’s best interests at heart. 

However, the gist of this article is not political incompetency.

Connecticut has many more problems too numerous to mention. But I submit unto you that Connecticut, (aka the State That Cannot Do One Thing Right) has a far greater problem than either of the above problems. It is horrible. It is insidious. It is crippling. It can send the state into bankruptcy and erode private capital and destroy any viability in the state whatsoever.

It is the Debt Problem.

Regardless of what the state-run media and the political system tell you, The State of Connecticut has a debt problem.  There is now an awareness and understanding of the debt and how much debt Connecticut is obligated to pay. Using real numbers, let us examine how much in debt Connecticut is in, and why this should be the number one issue in the upcoming state election in 2026.

To my knowledge, I am the only writer or reporter that has mentioned Connecticut has $100,000,000,000 to $150,000,000,000 (billion) dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. Certainly, no candidate or office holder has ever mentioned anything along the line. For a state as small as Connecticut and as small of a population that it has, this is a massive fiscal red flag. But it is not, as the Connecticut Democrat Party just cannot seem to tax and spend enough to satisfy its political special interest groups such as the state employee unions, myriad and unaccountable nonprofits, and politically connected state patronage jobs over the past four decades.

Here are some real fiscal facts that the entire political establishment avoids talking about as published in "The Financial State of the States 2024" report published by Truth in Accounting (https://www.truthinaccounting.org/library/doclib/Financial-State-of-the-States-2024.pdf). Connecticut in this report was given a "F" grade, ranking the state fifty out of 50 (or last) as far as its financial state of affairs. From the report found on pages 50 and 51, "Connecticut had $21 billion available to pay $85.9 billion worth of bills". This figure will increase in 2025 as some federal funding will no longer be available to the state. 

Trying to break down the $85.9 billion dollars’ worth of bills in complex and difficult to ascertain. Connecticut in each year's budget, which increases each year, also increases its bonding and borrowing within. Bonds are issued in the state for many reasons including building projects and other related items in the state. Bonds are issued to finance "debt" in the state. Total bonds in the state for 2024 were $34,355,859,000 according to the report. Also according to the report, Unfunded Pension Benefits were $38,010,340,000 and Unfunded Retiree Health Care Benefits were $17,091,549,000. In simple terms, this means every Connecticut citizen down to the smallest infant minimally shoulders a $25,000 debt of the state for which they did not cause. These figures are astronomical for a state as small as Connecticut and unsustainable in any way. Moreover, this massive obligation is more than the supposed "fiscal guardrails" that continue to be ignored by Connecticut's Political Fiscal Barons for what little value they provide. But more clear-headed people are seeing this horrific situation for what it is. My good friend and colleague Tony De Angelo also discussed Connecticut's per person state debt is his segment on Tuesday 9/2 on the 94.9 Lee Elci show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJCaC5DusE)  

The state therefore has a massive debt problem. It also does not have enough assets to cover all its debt. The Connecticut Democrat Party laughs about (or fails to comprehend) the debt issue by its usual incoherent economic gibberish. This incoherent economic gibberish includes the usual babblings that the wealthy do not pay enough in taxes, businesses do not pay enough in taxes, there are not enough social programs to help people, more funding is needed in education and that state workers deserve much higher wages and benefits. Economic reality does not exist in the state as Connecticut continues to be a bottom five state in many economic categories. This fact is glossed over by the new, younger incoherent leftist and socialist Democrat candidates that have announced their intentions to run Governor, United States House seats and state legislature seats. Where the money will come from to pay for all their "giveaways" remains a mystery to most educated voters, but not to them as they simply do not understand, let alone care.

It is a simplistic question that truly needs to be addressed by anyone running for Governor, on any ticket in 2026. Republicans that have continually failed to challenge Democrats on many  issues must first learn to understand this most critical debt issue and secondly challenge Democrats and Socialists continually. What is your plan for paying off the massive debt and unfunded liabilities of Connecticut's government in both the short and long run? What does the plan entail? How long will it take? What will you do to decrease state spending? What will you do to whittle the bulbous and often inept state workforce? These questions should be asked daily until there are specific answers to the same. But I am not confident that will ever happen, as courage is in short supply in Connecticut government.

You see, Connecticut's state government is like a drug addict. To feed the drug monkey an addict often lies and steals. It keeps taking drugs at all costs, looking for its next fix. That fix is your tax money wasted on another failed social program and or non-profit who could be pilfering as there are no financial controls on either. That fix is a long-serving state politician getting a simplistic state nonjob to help boost his or her state pension. That fix is to give money to a politically connected business or individual for their work in a campaign, with no worries as to how the money is spent and if it is ever paid back. 

And so, it remains in the indentured state of fiscally insolvent Connecticut. Connecticut Taxpayers are damned while the benefaction and veneration of the State's Political and Administrative Bureaucracy is the most critical work that our state government must perform. So let the state perform that critically valuable work all the way into bankruptcy. Regrettably, bankruptcy may be the only cure to eliminate the waste, fraud, crime, incompetency, and debt of Connecticut, once and for all.

Connecticut: The State of Legislative Criminal Forgiveness

 Connecticut's State Legislature has been a sad mess for years. 

The Connecticut State Legislature has seen multiple legislators, including (but not limited to) Robin Comey, Aundré Baumgartner, Geoff Luxenberg, Kevin Ryan, and Dennis Bradley face criminal charges ranging from driving under the influence (DUI) to campaign finance fraud.

Below is just a partial list of those that have offended the public trust in committing criminal acts.

Robin Comey: Arrested for DUI in March 2023 after a car crash near the Capitol, with blood alcohol levels nearly twice the legal limit, and removed from committee assignments. 

An earlier incident showed Ms. Comey making laws…while drunk.

Aundré Baumgartner: Arrested for DUI in March 2025 with blood alcohol levels over twice the legal limit, suspended from leadership roles, and entered a program for first-time offenders.

Geoff Luxenberg: Arrested for DUI in November 2023, removed from committees, and sought personal counseling.

Kevin Ryan: Had multiple DUI arrests, including a notable third in 2001 leading to 120 days in prison, yet retained office and won subsequent elections.

Dennis Bradley: Indicted in May 2021 on federal charges for defrauding the campaign finance system, with the case ongoing as of June 2024.

Every one of these people has returned to legislative service with the usual cries of “I am sorry” and “Let’s Move On.” However, in this past week we had another young lawmaker continuing in the great tradition giving yet another example of its disregard for laws of the land. The example is this week's debacle of Legislative Miscreantness is Democrat State Representative Raghib Allie-Brennan, a four-term lawmaker from Connecticut. 

Raghib was arrested Monday June 22, 2025 for allegedly failing to scan two items at a Target store in Bethel. He was arrested after police reviewed security video showing him attempting to leave the store with $26.69 in unpaid merchandise.

In reading Raghib’s biography one may be impressed in his qualifications as a young Democrat. For example, "Since 2018, Raghib has been at the forefront of shaping energy policy, pushing for renewable investments, stronger oversight of utilities, and greater protections for consumers."  

Connecticut Taxpayers may wonder if those greater protections for consumers include being able to freely shoplift goods for stores in Crime Free Democrat Connecticut. 

It adds; "Currently, he serves on the Energy and Technology, General Law, and Insurance and Real Estate Committees. A proud member of the legislature’s Moderate Caucus, Raghib has championed protections for domestic violence survivors, pushed back on overdevelopment, and advocated for Connecticut’s small businesses." 

Connecticut Taxpayers may wonder if he advocates to shoplifting at the few remaining Connecticut small businesses? 

Or how he feels about the obscene HB 5002 as far as over-development is concerned? 

In his standard statement of repentance after being caught shoplifting by hand carrying items out of the store, he stated that he remained committed to serving his community with “transparency and integrity". 

Connecticut Taxpayers may wonder if such transparency includes availing oneself of five-fingered discounts by using one’s fingers instead of shopping bags. 

Lastly in his bio is the inevitable virtuous statement of sexual preference;” An openly gay legislator, Raghib is a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and representation. He continues to reside in Bethel, where he remains deeply connected to the community he serves." 

Connecticut Taxpayers may wonder what does this have to do with anything with respect to governance or policy?

The story of his shoplifting is interesting as the New York Post reported more information on his alleged theft. In their article (https://nypost.com/2025/06/25/us-news/democrat-ct-lawmaker-busted-for-shoplifting-at-target-self-checkout-line-then-uses-ailing-granny-as-an-excuse/), we find out that; "A Democratic state representative from Connecticut busted for shoplifting after failing to scan items at a Target self-checkout offered a litany of excuses, including that he was “in a rush to bring items to my grandmother in the hospital.” State Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan was arrested Monday night at a Target store in Bethel, about 60 miles southwest of Hartford, after authorities reviewed security footage allegedly showing he neglected to scan two of his items, totaling $26.69 in value. He was detained by loss prevention personnel, who later told cops they recognized the four-term lawmaker from “previous unreported larcenies,”  

Connecticut Taxpayers may wonder how many times has the Democrat State Representative stolen from Target and other stores in the area?

Raghib posted the following statement on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/raghibct/) that “During a recent visit to the Bethel Target, two items in my armload of others were not scanned. I was in a rush to bring items to my grandmother in the hospital, the store didn’t have bags, and I was juggling multiple purchases”  It is interesting to note that Democrat State Representative Raghib Allie-Brennan voted for House Bill #7424 which outlaws evil plastic bags as noted from the bill; “On and after July 1, 2021, no owner or operator of a store shall provide or sell a single-use checkout bag to a customer.” What an irony for Raghib! No bags to use in the store! Democrat Socialism continually reaches its finest moments in Crime-Free Democrat Connecticut.

Based upon well-established past precedent, we know that the esteemed Democrat State Representative will blame everyone but himself, get a slap on the wrist and be able to keep his position, benefits and pension as a State Representative as long as he wants. His colleagues will view this and say to themselves “if I screw up, the same soft-landing will be waiting for me as I am entitled.”  There is no deterrent for being a criminal if you are a Democrat Connecticut state legislator. If you or I did this we would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Can you imagine if a Republican State Representative did this? Or the Governor? (No, scratch that. Why would one bother with guppies when one can bag whales?)   

But this is Crime Free Democrat Connecticut. But a better term would be “The Legislative Criminal Forgiveness State.” But alas, that type of forgiveness applies only to a very small subset of the population. 

Connecticut 236 Years Later. The Long Road to Fiscal and Social Disaster

The time of Disaster has finally come, being long in the making. The bell now tolls for Connecticut, being the fifth state in our country since 1788. Ironically bearing the moniker of "The Constitution State," Connecticut seems to be gasping its' last breaths of its 236-year existence. 

The trip along the highway to disaster accelerated since the advent of the "cure-all" Utopian State Income Tax that was passed in 1991. Since that time, the state budget has increased from $7.9 billion dollars in 1991 to over $26 billion dollars in 2024. That is an increase of over 270%, far exceeding the rate of inflation. But has there been a great influx of new residents over thirty-five years? Hardly not. Connecticut's population has increased in the same period since 1991 by only 300,000 people from 3.2 million to 3.6 million in 2024. This is a 12% increase in 33 years, being far below the population increase in our country. So, using pure simple mathematics, there is no “population boom” nor teeming attraction for people to move into Connecticut. This realization is truly sickening, especially after the lies the Democrats and state-run media sources have fed to us to the contrary.

But that is just one symptom of the trip on the road to ruin. What was the cause? In recent history, we can start with Connecticut's Governor in 1991. The Governor was the liberal Republican turned Independent multi-millionaire Lowell Weicker, who was hailed at the time of enactment of the state income tax as saving the state from bankruptcy and cuts from essential services in the state. When looking back at some of the articles written during this debate, we heard that children would be starving, the homeless would have no place to go, and drug addicts would no longer be cared for if we did not enact the tax. The elderly would also become homeless with little to no social welfare programs for them, and anyone else would be in grave difficulty especially those most in need. Pedestrians would be shot and killed. Drug addicts would roam, rob, and pillage the streets! Women would be raped! Roads and bridges would be collapsing! Kids would come out of school stupid with no marketable skills whatsoever! Of course, these were all classic Connecticut Democrat Party talking points which have now turned into realities in Democrat Connecticut and are more solid realities after 35 years of separating Connecticut from their wallets and purses via tax money.

But on the road to the fiscal disaster Connecticut has a pattern of repeating its greatest hits. In 2024, Connecticut's Governor is the liberal Democrat vapid multi-millionaire King Ned Lamont, "The Unaccountable" who has helped to nurture massive increases in state spending, profited personally through questionable, unethical business dealings with no-bid state contracts going to firms such as Sema4  that were heavily invested in his wife's hedge fund Oak HC/FT, and has veto proof power in the State Legislature with an omnipotent one-party Democrat ruled majority.  As my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo pointed out this past week, SEC documents show that the Lamont-related interests made upwards of $77,000,000 in one day at the Sema4 public offering to a chorus of silence from anyone in the political sphere or corporate state-run media interests. But that egregious rape of ethics pales in comparison to the fact that any piece of liberal, socialist, or communist legislation can be rammed through and signed with ease by Lamont over the next two years. But what about that thing called Ethics? It is common knowledge that the Connecticut State Ethics Department could not find an elephant in the snow, and this has been made much more clear since the Lamont-related pillagings. The time for disaster has arrived for a true dictatorship and treasury leveraging never seen before anywhere in 236 years.

But despite the incredibly obscene and bulbous amounts of tax money collected by Connecticut over thirty-five years, it is ironic that in 2024 we see the same issues that the state prophesied in 1991. Children are not being cared for except for things such as gender change. There is still a homeless crisis. There is a massive illegal drug crisis. There is now massive crime and theft in the state. There are still massive infrastructure problems with constant road and bridge repair needed. Yet the state budget increased by over 270% with the state income tax. And Connecticut has $125 to $150 Billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities that just never get mentioned, as the prevailing ideology is that saving the “fiscal guardrails” will save us all. Regrettably, nothing can be farther from the truth. As one cause, it is rarely discussed in 2024 that the bulk of the state's spending goes to state employee salaries, benefits, and pensions along with interest on the state debt. There is little to spend elsewhere. Read the state budget for this economic reality for yourself (https://portal.ct.gov/opm/bud-budgets/2024-2025-biennial-budget/fy-2024-2025-biennial-budget).

Connecticut’s 236-year road to disaster accelerated into the freeway fast lane since 1991. Since that time, the state has evolved into a cesspool of political nepotism, crime, serial incompetence, debt, and incoherent socialistic gibberish. Connecticut's state government caters to the well-connected and has little impetus to make life easier for those who are the indentured servants, the Connecticut Taxpayers who must fund this economic debacle. Could you run a company and earn a profit if the bulk of your business’s funds just paid for salaries, benefits, pensions, and debt service benefiting the old cronies on the top floor? But Connecticut's Democrat Party has no problem doing this. Why? How does it benefit Connecticut Taxpayers? In what way? Can anyone explain that to Connecticut Taxpayers?

Thus, Connecticut slogs along with high state taxes, high property taxes, high state debt, high homelessness, high crime, excessively high electric rates, high cost of living, massive unfunded liabilities, massive illegal drug problems, massive infrastructure problems and more.  It is not what our founders envisioned in 1788. Personal and economic freedoms should be flourishing in a state like Connecticut. Instead look forward to two more dismal years economically and socially in "The Constitution State" a state that its political class feel is theirs and theirs only. Citizen once again, be damned.

The Mythological Connecticut Republican Party

 If you were an ardent consumer of Connecticut State-run news sources this past year, you may not be aware that there was another election in Connecticut this November. Despite the microscopic and unenthusiastic endorsement from the Mythological Connecticut Republican Party, President Donald J. Trump gained a substantially higher vote count in the state than in previous elections, receiving almost 42% in 2024. However, despite the dogged efforts of the Mythological Connecticut Republican Party to deny the existence of anything relating to the obscene word “Trump,” no group of state Republican candidates came close to beating the ultra-liberal Democrat machine in 2024.

On a state level, Republicans lost even more ground in being a small minority in the Connecticut House, now holding only 49 seats to the Democrat Super Majority of 102 seats while in the Senate Republicans are down to 11 seats to the Democrat Super Majority of 25 seats. (excluding the results of the 8th District State Senate race). Sadly, things look poorly for the Mythical Connecticut Republican Party. 

As much are failures are continually attempted to be explained and excused away, it was more of the same in state Republican losses as have been seen year-in and year-out. It is argued that “all politics is local” However, it has become obvious that the state Republican message is ignored, lost, misspoken and or non-existent. What exactly is the message does the Mythical Connecticut Republican Party want to express to the Connecticut voting public? Is it less state governmental spending and the lowering of taxes? Is it a smaller, more efficient state government? Is it full transparency in state government along with a real check and balance mechanism? Is it more school choice and letting parents actually parent their children?  Is it liberty and personal freedoms? Is it a crackdown on crime and criminals with meaningful enforcement of laws to prosecute criminals? Is it the state taxpayer defunding of self-appointed sanctuary cities in the state? Is it enforcement of actual voting laws that would have prevented the ongoing crime in the city of Bridgeport's election and removed questions from other races? Is it the abolishment of dodgy “quasi-public” entities and opaque state-connected nonprofits that were most useful in the crooked Covid-19 machinations of King Governor Ned Lamont the Unaccountable? Is it enforcement of real ethics laws that govern state elected officials and state employees especially when state taxpayer funded contracts are involved? Is it criminal sanctions for law-breaking elected officials? Is it a “DOGE” type-effort in slashing the bloated and self-aggrandizing state workforce? Is it that state taxpayers have a real Bill Of Rights when dealing with state officials in Connecticut? Is it civil and criminal penalties when someone in that bloated workforce harms an innocent person?

What is it that the Mythical Connecticut State Republican Party bases itself on considering there is no doubt what is happening on the left. To this fact, it is quite clear that the Connecticut State Democrat Party stands for socialism, operative communism, government intervention at any and all costs, full term state taxpayer paid for abortion along with a state taxpayer funded abortion "hotline", minimal personal freedoms, election fraud, more and higher taxes, “creative ways” for finding employment for illegal students in state colleges, unobtainable clean/green energy conquests at any cost, more crime, less enforcement of laws that are actually legally binding, state run local planning and zoning law enforcement, and a crumbling bridge and highway system to just to name a few items.  In true Pravda style, the Connecticut State Democrat Party is able to achieve this with an obedient state run and state-supported media that echoes the Connecticut State Democrat Party rhetoric daily in its continual effort to help brainwash the public.

However, due to the efforts of a handful of independent reporters  and dogged ordinary citizens there are encouraging signs of political life in Connecticut with strong independent Libertarian and Conservative journalists and common citizens like my good friend Tony De Angelo and others who fight a daily battle in the state against this omnipotent one party machine's incoherent gibberish, effectively doing the work of what an opposing party should do.  Connecticut is in dire need of a vibrant, coherent Republican Party that no longer embraces the "coolness" of condemning all things Trump and all things Conservative while playing the continual patsy to the Connecticut State Democrat Party's hold.

The Mythical Connecticut Republican Party must end. It needs a functional and common-sense platform that embraces those who work and pay taxes in the state. It needs a functional and common-sense platform that embraces and relates to minorities especially the working Hispanic population that is found in many cities in the state. It needs new people from top to bottom in the party organization and not the perennially failed Republicans that embrace the Party's race to oblivion and stupefaction to nothingness and continual defeat. The Mythical Connecticut State Republican Party needs to emerge from myth to reality and generate a real candidate to run for Governor in 2026 and not another self-destructing unknown or benign party poster child running to be acceptable to all things wrong.

To emerge from obscurity, The Connecticut State Republican Party has time to prepare if it wants to. It must embrace the heart of the country that is rooted in strong American principles. It must be able to say the word MAGA and not run behind a tree in shame. It must show its dedication in fighting first for the non-state connected working person. It must champion a DOGE-based effort to shrink the monolith of state government and the administrative state. Or the Connecticut State Republican Party can continue in perpetual uselessness and defeat in becoming the new Whig Party of 2024.

To conclude, I will borrow one of Tony's favorite phrases. Change is simple as that, and just as difficult.

The Steady Habits Of Crime And Incompetence In King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable's Connecticut

It has been a while since I revisited the crime issues of Connecticut. "Crime Free Democrat Connecticut" is a fantasy media-enabled construct that King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable and his cronies in the Democrat Party and state-supported media preach to Connecticut taxpayers daily. We see the inept and serially incompetent United States Senator Chris Murphy bellowing that the Biden Administration-created border crisis is the fault of the lack of action on the part of the Republicans. He creatively avoids any Democrat responsibility for the horrific crisis the left has created and is never taken to task for this by a lap-dog media. On the other hand, Connecticut Democrats crow that there is little to no crime in the state based on the diluted and maligned statistics they boast. These same statistics seem to show little to no actual reality as far as crime is concerned.
Do you disagree? Allow me to share a serious case in point being an amazing article that was actually published by the left-leaning Hartford Courant concerning a crime that could have been avoided. The alleged criminal Franklin Post, 35 years old, apparently sped through a stop sign in Griswold, CT and killed Charlotte Degrado, 96, of Branford, who was an occupant in the car that he hit. According to the article, Post has at least a dozen criminal convictions and has at least ten more criminal cases pending against him. He has served hard time in prison on three different occasions. He was free on bond even though he has been arrested six times since January. Inexplicably, he has had the ability to post $275,000 in bonds. (https://www.courant.com/2024/06/13/court-files-show-ct-driver-suspected-in-crash-that-killed-96-year-old-woman-has-long-criminal-record) Post also has repeatedly violated his probations, and this time fled after the accident. "Troopers found drug paraphernalia and a knife inside of the Audi, according to Connecticut State Police. Witnesses told authorities that three people inside of the vehicle had gotten out after the crash and ran away...His GPS ankle device had been tampered with, he had pills that tested positive for fentanyl and had more than $4,000 in cash on him."(https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-london/serious-injuries-reported-after-griswold-crash)

Based on all of Post’s prior convictions, violations of probation, and ostensible drug use, why was this man free to be allowed to murder this 96-year-old innocent woman by his vehicle? In a stark, staring testimony to the total lack of professionalism and integrity of the administrative state in Connecticut, how is it even possible that he maintained his driver's license? Why was he walking free in numerous violations of his probation? These questions need to be answered immediately, if not sooner.
It is evident that the Connecticut Democrat Party and its assorted facilitators and enablers have little to no concern whatsoever about public safety in the state. Spending just a few minutes driving on a state highway, or in any of the sparkling cities and inner-ring suburbs in Connecticut will tell anyone that. Connecticut is at such a state of disaster that even a prominent state legislator referred to it this past week as a “laughingstock”. Where no real and productive job creating business would ever venture to come into the state, we are instead treated to The Unaccountable’s self-serving visions of “Innovation Clusters” benefiting his family interests. But none of that matters, as more weighty issues concern the left like lowering the prison population and making everyone unsafe except for the career criminals and crime gangs that roam freely in the state as they are now coddled and protected by the left. Car insurance costs on the state have skyrocketed due to the constant theft of vehicles in the state and the abysmal traffic enforcement on state highways and roads. Juvenile delinquents roam free to steal with no fear of any type of legal action due to the dysfunctional and defective state legal system that apparently will not prosecute them. Retail store costs of shoplifting continue to climb with costs being passed on to you and I as legitimate customers. Blatant crime exists with thefts of anything and everything in the state, from being held up while trying to put your groceries in your car, from pumping gas, and even now with you a law-abiding citizen sitting in your home being at risk of intruders breaking in.

One can only hope that Degrado family takes all possible legal avenues against the state judicial system, its judges, probation officers, defense lawyers and state elected officials to expose and hold them liable for their actions for the death of their family member. Yes, it is high time that our highly paid and serially unaccountable Connecticut administrative system hold responsibility as well along with the criminal in this case for their careless and negligent attitude in handling this career criminal. Yet another innocent life is lost due to the crime spree that exists in "Crime Free Democrat Connecticut", for no reason at all except for the stupidity of a politically correct non-functioning judicial system. A system that helps to buy votes evermore for a horrific social experiment that is now at a point of no return to a once proud and productive state, called Connecticut.