Posts

Showing posts with the label election 2025

Editorial: A legal victory with complications

The Connecticut Superior Court ruling Tuesday validated State Rep. John Santanella's complaint. This is a clear win, and allows him to avoid an August 11 Democratic primary against his challenger, former town attorney Tom Tyler. Tyler can appeal, but absent that, Santanella can shift his focus to November. But a winning legal outcome is not the same as a winning narrative outcome. This was an honest mistake by the Tyler campaign, a consequence of some flawed official guidance and a decision to rely on that guidance. The court found that the Democratic registrar provided petition sheets four days before state law allowed, and that the state-supplied forms lacked a legally required statement from circulators on the number of signatures gathered — a defect that invalidated all of Tyler's petitions. The ruling also notes that there was no evidence the Tyler campaign exercised due diligence to confirm the official guidance. Connecticut election law doesn't allow for honest mista...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who Will Win Enfield's Election?

Image
  A sign at October’s “No Kings” rally in Enfield captures a growing frustration across party lines that may help explain the town’s political shift: “Left or Right, We All See Wrong.” Unaffiliated voters now make up 44 percent of Enfield’s electorate. Photo by author. We don't conduct polls in Enfield, so it's hard to tell what motivates voters. Here’s a non-scientific look—a reporter's take based on registration data and recent history. Overall Election Outlook The outlook for this election remains genuinely uncertain. While the registration numbers point in multiple directions, recent history reminds us that Enfield voters are willing to surprise us. The Biggest Story: Unaffiliated Voters Widen Their Lead The main trend in Enfield isn't about Democrats or Republicans—it's unaffiliated voters solidifying their dominance. Their registrations grew 38% in ten years, from 8,695 in 2015 to 12,034. That's 3,339 new voters—exceeding both parties' combined growth...
Post a Comment
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
Read more

Looking Beyond the Blame Game: Enfield's Real Tax Challenge

Image
The previous post may have come off as a little too harsh on the Republicans. But there's a history that's troubling and needs to be addressed. My first post on the tax shift lacked context—context that this flier below helps illustrate. This 2023 flier claims the Democrats "soaked us with a 9.6% tax increase" in their second year. The tax increase was real—by my calculations, taxes went up about 4.5% in 2022 and roughly 9% in 2023. But the flier misleads voters about the causes. In 2022, the Democrats actually reduced spending by almost 1%, yet taxes still rose 4.5%— entirely due to revaluation effects . In 2023, they increased the budget by 5.4%, and taxes rose about 9%. Of that 9%, roughly 5.4% corresponded to the budget increase. The rest still reflected revaluation impacts. Looking at their two-year record: they cut spending by 0.75% in year one, then increased it by 5.4% in year two, for a total budget increase of about 4.6% over two years. Flier sent by Republ...
Post a Comment
Read more