Just Call Her Senator, Please
Originally published on Connecticut Local Politics on January 13, 2010
There is perhaps no better evidence about the disconnect between the political class and average citizens than the curious case of Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
Mrs. Bysiewicz, having aborted a prepubertal bid for Governor once before, has today done it again despite the fact that polling had demonstrated her to be the frontrunner in the race.
Rather than taking on the hard job of Governor where she would face a state budget with a $513 million current year debt and a $2.5 billion structural deficit that would almost assuredly require unpopular decisions, Bysiewicz is abandoning ship.
Instead, Secretary Bysiewicz is apparently calculating that she can use the job of Attorney General as a trampoline that will bounce her into the U.S. Senate in 2012.
Out here in the real world, people have to demonstrate proficiency in the job they have before they are considered for promotion. But in the surreal kingdom that is state government, the nobility is always looking for more subjects and better titles.
When our “leaders”, if we should so disgrace the term, exhibit this type of mania, it should be no wonder that the state finds itself in the troubled economic and demographic situation we now occupy.
The Secretary’s “profile in courage” is hardly unique in state government. A cadre of state legislators whose deficit mitigation efforts to this point could most aptly be described as “ignore the problem until it goes away” are considering their own promotions.
Anyone that enjoys watching intellectual gymnastics should ask Denise Merrill, Jonathan Harris, Don Williams – just a few of the potential replacements for Blumenthal and Bysiewicz – what they’ve done to justify promotion. Other than reflexive blame for George W. Bush, Lord knows what their answer might be.
If there is any good news, it is a disease mostly quarantined to the State Capitol. Whether their solutions would actually work is a wholly different matter, but Ned Lamont, Dan Malloy, and even Rudy Marconi have at least put forward cogent arguments to accompany their job application. No such luck from the Capitol gang.
But this is the way of the world in state government and if Susan Bysiewicz has her way, it won’t be her problem for much longer. Just call her Senator, please.
