Election 2014 - "Assault Weapons Ban"

Before I get to the questions that will appear on the 2014 ballot for Manchester residents, I want to share with you what I think is a little known glitch/exception/loophole in the SB1160 "Assault" weapons ban in the State of Connecticut passed in 2013. 

If you have no interest in guns or gun control, you need not read on.  However, if you have coveted an evil black gun like an AR-15 since the ban, if only because someone said you can't have one now, you should read on. Likewise, if you are for grabbing guns and want to know how your GA failed you, you too should read on.

It is true that in the act cited above, many named and unnamed but described "assault" weapons are essentially banned from sale in the State of Connecticut, and had to be purchased prior to the passage of the act.  These guns had to be registered with the State in order for someone to keep them, and this had to be done by the end of 2013.  Since then, it has been impossible to purchase a new "assault" weapon in Connecticut.

However, there is a catch.  Connecticut passed it's own "assault" weapons ban in 1994 along with the Federal government.  The Federal ban expired in 2004, but the Connecticut ban soldiered on.  When Connecticut passed that first ban, it exempted "assault" weapons that had been manufactured prior to September 1994 from the ban.  Those weapons did not need to be registered, nor were they considered "assault" weapons... they were simply called "long guns"

When the GA passed the most recent ban, they inserted a clause that was intended to make it clear that the GA did NOT consider those exempted weapons as "assault" weapons in the newest ban.  In other words, it was the GA's intent to CONTINUE to exempt these weapons from the latest "assault" weapons ban.  Don't believe me?  Check out the letter from the State in response to this exact question:  http://ccdl.us/blog/2013/10/17/preban-assault-weapons/

So what is the upshot of this?  Well, you can now go to a registered Connecticut gun dealer, and purchase one of these "pre-ban" guns.  You don't need to register it.  You don't have to worry about if it has too many "evil" features.  In fact, you can legally ADD "illegal" features!  Want an AR-15 with a front pistol grip, a bayonet lug, collapsing stock, and a grenade launcher?  Have at it!  Your pre-ban gun is just a "long gun" so all of that is legal. 

So can you really do this?  Yes you can.  I know several people who have.  I won't say who, and I won't say if I did myself.  But I can tell you that it is currently fine to purchase one of these pre-ban weapons, and while you cannot do it at Cabelas, you certainly can at Delta Armory and at Hoffman's.

So all that was the good news.  The bad news?  Well, if Dan Malloy gets re-elected, you should expect the GA and the Governor to close this loophole.  And when they do, your chance to buy a legal black gun in Connecticut will close, likely forever.  Regardless, a friend immediately purchased one when he overheard a sales manager instruct a sales associate to raise the price of all these prebans 40% on November 5th regardless of who is elected.  Sales ploy?  Perhaps.  But would you keep expensive stock around after the election without the prospect of high profits given the likelihood that soon they may be illegal to sell?  I wouldn't either.

What does this mean to you?  Well if you've been kicking yourself for missing out on the chance to buy an AR since the ban was passed, time is running out for you to fix that mistake.  So get your papers in order and pays the money ($1300-$1600) while you still can.  Or you'll be kicking yourself twice...

Election 2014 – Major State Races

There are 3 races I want to cover here… State Senator, US Rep, and Governor.  These should be fairly straight-forward.

State Senator

Okay, so this is a 2 way race between incumbent Steve Cassano (D) and challenger Whit Osgood (R).  So we all know Steve Cassano, who was Mayor of Manchester for, like, a hundred years.  Steve never really understood his role here – see, Manchester is a “council/manager” type of local government where our Board of Directors appoints a Town Manager and everyone who works for the town (but not the schools) works for him.  Steve thought somehow that because he was Mayor, everyone, INCLUDING the Board of Directors as well as the Town Manager, along with the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools worked for Steve Cassano.  I remember watching him chair meetings, and his idea of Robert’s Rules of Order is that the Board member speaks, and then he speaks, then another Board member speaks, and then he speaks, etc. 

Anyway, seemed like he’d be a good State Senator because he wouldn’t be able to pull that kind of crap in the Senate.  But he has managed to worm his way into the Uconn stuff, and now he’s complicit in the scandal associated with the Uconn Foundation and the graft and corruption that is taking place at Uconn, all while he touts more money for the institution.  Now remember, I’m a Uconn grad, twice over, my oldest daughter currently attends Uconn, and my sister also is alumni.  So I’m pretty pro Uconn.  But a quarter of a MILLION dollars to have Hillary Clinton talk to a few hundred students?  Really?  Oh, Steve will explain that this is the FOUNDATION, not Uconn, and that the money was given and earmarked for Hillary and it’s all above board and all.  Tell us Steve… suppose a donor to the Uconn Foundation put up the same money to have Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, or maybe even Sarah Palin come and give a speech?  Would you be so accommodating then?

Meanwhile, there is Whit Osgood.  I don’t know much about him, but I had an Uncle Whit, and I liked him very much… And “Osgood” just reminds me of the Wizard of Oz, and the word “good”.  So…  Recommendation:  Whit Osgood

Congressional Representative

This is a 3 way race between incumbent John Larson (D), and challengers Matthew Corey (R) and Green Party candidate Jeffrey Russell.  So John Larson is a reliable Obama-man.  If you like Obama, you’ll love John Larson.  When gas topped $4.00 a gallon, he and DICK Blumenthal were out there yelling about the collusion and speculators in the oil markets.  Today… what’s that sound?  Oh right… crickets.  Apparently with gas looking to dip under $3.00 a gallon, that collusion and those speculators are all better now.  And by the way, if you want to know why gas ISN’T below $3.00 a gallon here in CT like it is in other states like New Jersey (hint, hint), it’s because of CT’s crazy high gas tax.  But hey, that’s Democrats helping the common man again.  

So bottom line, here is the recommendation:  Recommendation:  Democrats who would have voted for Larson in a 2 way race should vote for Jeffrey Russell – he totally agrees with you that gas taxes are too low.  Everyone else who has had enough of Obama should vote for Matthew Corey.  Let’s face it, this is his only way to win.

Governor

Well, the one you’ve all been waiting for… GOVERNOR.  There are three candidates for the office, incumbent Dan/Dannell/Dimwit/Dumbass/D****bag Malloy (D), and challengers Tom Foley (R) and Joe Visconti (R – Petitioning).  So let’s run these guys down… based on the advertising, Tom Foley is a ruthless, working man hater, uber-rich, yacht driving, man who will poison your children and make sure everyone ends up living in the mill housing and having to buy food at the mill store.  Meanwhile, Dan Malloy is a bungling, plan-less, tax raising, gun grabbing, union toady liar who will tax us into oblivion, abolish common sense, and force all your choices to be made by the government.  Joe Visconti doesn’t exist as far as the advertising world is concerned.

So where lies the truth?  Tom Foley isn’t my favorite choice.  I don’t have one in this race, but the closest guy to that would be Joe Visconti.  He opposes the gun control legislation, but this is a moot point as the GA will never send a bill relaxing those standards.  Joe at least acknowledges that state spending is out of control.  And that pension obligations are totally underfunded.

But Joe is a non-starter.  He can’t win.  All he’s really doing is syphoning votes away from Tom, or at least in greater measure than from Dan.  And that is not good given how close this race is.  And Dan CANNOT win re-election.  He will raise taxes again, having survived the first round.  He will be a Governor without any responsibility to the taxpayer, and the truly hard work of making choices will never happen.  Not until a completely Democratic state government has turned us into Detroit.  But there is one critical difference between a city going bankrupt and a state going bankrupt.  The difference is that states CANNOT go bankrupt.  All they can do is raise taxes and cut services at the same time.  They won’t be able to borrow anymore, as the bond markets will not lend.  Maybe the feds help.  But probably not.  So for my children, and everyone else’s…. Recommendation:  Tom Foley

P.S.  The last Governor who made a promise like Dan did in 2010, “I won’t raise taxes unless I have to”, was Lowell Weicker.  Lowell is counted by the JI as a Republican, but if there ever was a RINO, it was Lowell.  This is a guy who led the charge against Richard Nixon.  And after losing his Senate seat, he ran for Governor mostly as an independent.  The first thing he did was declare that things were much worse than he knew before the election, and then signed the Income Tax into law.  Ella Grasso, a Democrat who will have my undying respect, didn’t put in an income tax.  But we have to have one, cried the spenders… relying on the sales tax makes state government too dependent on economic cycles!  As if the income tax would fix that!  How’d that work out for you all?  So far, it’s cost me 10’s of thousands of dollars since it was put in.  Regardless, the important point to remember is that Lowell was a one term Governor.  We threw him out, and subsequent Governors were much more careful about tax increases from then on.  Now, we’re faced with essentially the same situation.  If we don’t throw the bum out, what becomes of Connecticut?

Election 2014 - The State Rep Races for Manchester

So even though I can only vote in one of them, there are actually 4 assembly districts that Manchester residents can vote on.  I'll look at each of the 4 races, who the candidates are, and why you should vote for one or the other.

11th District

Mostly this is an East Hartford race, but there are some Manchester residents who get to chime in on it.  The candidates are Jack Jacobs for the Republicans, and Jeffrey Currey for the Democrats.  Jack has never won an election other than the one for East Hartford Republican Town Committee chairman.  Jeff won a seat on the East Hartford Board of Education in 2009 and is now the Chair.  His surname will be very familiar to East Hartford voters as his mom was mayor and his dad the chair of the Democratic Town Committee.  In this race, you get to select between an establishment Democrat who supports the Common Core, or a "Ron Paul" Libertarian leaning Republican who opposes that.  If you like Common Core, vote for Currey.  Me?  Well, I've got it on very good authority that the Common Core, well, sucks.  Recommendation: Jack Jacobs

12th District

This is the race that I'll be voting in.  It is an open seat race, sort of, as Geoff Luxemberg is not running for re-election.  He said he wanted to spend more time with his family.  Then, Democrats, including Mike Pohl, the chairman of the committee, focused on John Sullivan to run for the open seat.  Now John is a guy I REALLY like... I know him personally... he's a reasonable man who is very bi-partisan.  I was excited the Dems might pick him to run.  But then he did the unthinkable.  He backed a compromise on a, frankly, silly squabble about the Board of Directors.  And Mr. Pohl was not amused.  All of a sudden, KELLY Luxemberg, Geoff's wife, and one term Board of Education member, was now running for the seat.  And Mr. Pohl enthusiastically endorsed her for the seat.  So much for John Sullivan, a stand up Democrat who's been waiting his turn patiently for years for the Dems to tap him for a position.  No word on why Geoff wants to spend more time with his family, but his wife has decided not to!  Anyway, Rusty Meek is the Republican running against Mrs. Luxemberg.  It wouldn't matter if it was Satan himself with the Republican endorsement.  Tell Mrs. Luxemberg that she too should spend more time with her family.  Recommendation: Rusty Meek

13th District

This is a rerun of the 2012 race for Jack Thompson's old seat.  Mark Tweedie for the Republicans, Joe Dominico for the Democrats.  Mark is a good guy, having served on the Board of Directors for years now, and he was on the SMARTR Committee (did I mention how much I HATE that name?)  Joe is a life long Democrat, and often votes with Gov. Malloy's agenda, but did break ranks on the minimum wage legislation.  That makes Mark's life harder as it is more difficult to paint Joe as a "typical" Democrat.  I'm also not a big fan of what the SMARTR committee came up with for Manchester's Schools. Bottom line is that I like both of these guys, and either would be a good pick to send to the General Assembly.   But alas, I must make a recommendation here, and I give Joe the edge simply because he was able to see through the blind Malloy/Obama minimum wage thing... Recommendation:  Joe Dominico

14th District

This is an interesting race as the Republicans have chosen not to put up a candidate.  Jason Rojas, the Democrat, is running against Richard Lion, the Libertarian!  Now I've met Jason Rojas, and I liked him when I met him.  He was new to his seat, and I asked a question that none of our other Reps would touch.  I said "Would you like to hear an idea that would save Boards of Education money, without costing the State a dime?"  Since Jason was new, he was the only one that took the bait.  And when I gave the idea, the other reps jumped to his rescue and explained in great detail how my idea wouldn't save local Boards of Education any money and that "Studies have shown" this.  Now, I was on the BoE, so trust me, I know what "Studies have shown" means... bupkas!  But I digress.  I have no doubt that Jason has learned the error of his ways, and I still like the man, this is actually no contest.  You MUST vote for a Libertarian whose last name is "Lion"  (If for no other reason, this is one of the best porn names I've ever heard!)  Recommendation:  Richard Lion

That's it... tune in later for another installment of "Moose Makes His Picks"

Election 2014 - The Lesser State Races

Let’s get the ball rolling with some State offices that will appear on the ballot this year.  Specifically, we’ll take a look at the races for Attorney General, Comptroller, Treasurer, and Secretary of the State.  

Attorney General

There are three candidates running, Kie Westby for the Republicans, George Jetson Jepsen for the Democrats, and Stephen Fournier for the Green Party.  Let’s cut to the chase here… Jepsen looks good, mainly because, well, he’s the only one I’ve ever heard of, and after DICK Blumenthal, the single WORST A.G. the State of Connecticut has ever seen, was promoted to the US Senate, anybody, even Jepsen would look good.  Recommendation:  Jepsen

Comptroller

What does the Comptroller even do?  Well, I looked it up.  He’s basically the guy who provides accounting and financial services, as well as administering employee and retiree benefits.  Got it.  So who is running?  Sharon McLaughlin for the Republicans, Kevin Lembo, the incumbent Democrat and Rolf Maurer for the Greens are the candidates.  And this one is no contest.  Lembo administers the retiree plans, which are ridiculously under funded.  Does he tell that to the public?  Nah… That would make our Governor look bad.  Can’t have that.  And although Sharon McLaughlin shares the same last name as a girl I was sweet on in high school, that isn’t enough to make me overcome the obvious answer here.  You have to vote for the Green Party candidate!  His name is Rolf for crying out loud.  How can you not vote for Rolf!  Recommendation: ROLF Maurer

Treasurer

This one is also easy.  The treasurer is responsible for the Teacher’s Retirement Fund.  Denise Nappier has done NOTHING to close the incredible gap that exists there.  Right now there is a HUGE i-owe-u in there from the State because they’ve pissed the money away on things like the Colt redevelopment project and any other pet project the General Assembly had at the time.  So Nappier is out.  That leaves the only other candidate, Timothy Herbst.  So hold your nose, vote for the Republican.  After all, it’s for the CHILDREN!  Recommendation: Timothy Herbst

Secretary of State

Well this is an interesting one.  Peter Lumaj for the Republicans, Denise Merrill for the Democrats and S. Michael DeRosa for the Greens.  Well, this is too important a position to leave to the Greens so DeRosa is out.  The most important thing the Secretary of State does is elections.  That makes the remaining task simple.  Democrats want to make voting so easy that illegal immigrants (Yes – they are immigrants.  They are here illegally.  Therefore they are Illegal Immigrants, not “Undocumented Workers” as many don’t work, and documents makes it sound like there was a clerical error or something)… as I was saying, Democrats want illegal immigrants to vote for them.  I want to make sure that Voter ID laws are passed and enforced.  There is NOTHING more important to our democracy than ensuring that voters get to vote once, and once ONLY per election.  The choice is clear.  Recommendation:  Peter Lumaj

Well, that’s it for this round.  Stay tuned for updates on the higher races, the ballot questions, and my overall prediction of how the races will go.

The 2014 Election

Well, it's that time of year again.  Election day is coming soon.  For those of you who will be availing yourselves of the right to vote, I thought I would throw out some blog posts on my thoughts on the candidates in various races, ballot questions, and basically how I think you should vote.

Let me say that the last clause above is pretty bold of me.  I was a pretty firm believer that no one should have the temerity to tell someone else how to vote.  When I ran for election myself I found it difficult to ask people to vote for me.  I never asked someone straight up how they would vote.  Part of me didn't want to know, part of me just thought that it was too personal a question.  Most politicians would laugh at such concerns.  That's why I was never a very good politician, and got out of the game.

Having said all that, I've had a bit of a change of heart.  It seems that everyone is telling everybody how to vote these days.  The Courant presumably does it, although I don't know for sure since that paper has lost all credibility with me, and I don't take it anymore.  The Journal Inquirer, while not having formally announced their picks yet, tells you virtually every day why Dan/Dannel/DoggyDo Malloy is the only reasonable pick.  The only reason I continue to take the JI is that when you turn the page, you get the only really insightful analysis of the election from Chris Powell, who speaks truth to power and shakes his head at the utter nonsense that has become politics in Connecticut and in Manchester.

So in the spirit of a lone, mournful, and meek voice, I intend to tell you exactly how you should vote.  Some of the candidates I know, some I only know by their records, and some I don't know at all.  None of this will keep me from my pronouncements... I will be telling you how to vote.  Take it for what it's worth.  And I hope you enjoy.

P.S.  I'm a voter in the 12th assembly district, and for State Rep, although there are people I cannot vote for (as me, anyway, but you know what they say, vote early and vote often), I'll be telling you how to vote in each assembly district as if I lived there. 

Enjoy the show!