28 March, 2024
7 mins read

Lowell Weicker’s Victories Dashed The Hopes of Liberal Democrats Throughout His Career

Reflecting on the Politics of Connecticut’s Three-Term Senator and One-Term Governor By John McNamara The first time I and many viewers (outside CT) saw and heard Lowell P. Weicker was watching the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee hearings in 1973. I was paying attention every day from my perch in the newsroom of the Lynn Sunday Post where […]

1 min read

No Labels?

The New Britain Progressive, a publication of the New Britain Independent Newspaper, Inc. is free to read and community supported. http://newbritainprogressive.com Please feel free to help the New Britain Progressive with a donation and you are invited to purchase advertisements in the New Britain Progressive. Click here to sign up for the e-mail edition of […]

4 mins read

State School Aid to New Britain Up 56% Since 2012; Grant Will Reach $115.5 Million By 2025

“Flat Funding” Claim By Mayor Stewart Is Contradicted By The Actual Numbers By John McNamara The new state budget adopted last month brought increases in Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) funds to the New Britain School District over the next two years. The $11.9 million increase approved by the legislature and Governor will bring the total […]

6 mins read

Alderman Ayalon Counters Mayor’s State of The City Address

Ward 3 Democrat Cites Administration’s “Extreme Partisanship”, Increasing Debt Service And Gentrification Moves By John McNamara NEW BRITAIN – Alderman Aram Ayalon (D-3) , the Common Council Minority Leader, responded to Mayor Erin Stewart’s widely publicized State of The City address delivered on March 8th at the only scheduled regular council meeting last month. City […]

4 mins read

Matt Ritter’s Batterson Park Redux

State Park Status Can Bring Abandoned Recreation Area On Farmington-New Britain Line Back To Life By John McNamara Will Batterson Park, the abandoned recreation area and pond shared by New Britain and Farmington and owned by the City of Hartford, become Connecticut’s 91st state park? Last week State House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford picked up the […]

5 mins read

Legislators Get ‘Rennied’ for Bill On Mandatory Voting

Universal Voting Will Get A Hearing At General Assembly’s GAE Committee by John McNamara Courant Columnist Kevin Rennie has skewered the co-sponsors of a bill that would “institute mandatory voting” to “incentivise civic engagement” not once but twice this month. Raising Rennie’s ire is legislation that would require voters to cast a ballot or provide […]

3 mins read

Berlin Legislator Goes Low With “Pro Criminal Democrats” Rhetoric

By John McNamara BERLIN – State Rep. Donna Veach (R-30), a first-term Republican state representative representing Berlin and Southington, is calling Democrats “pro-criminal” on a campaign billboard. Rep. Veach, however, received a rebuke from constituents at a candidate forum held at the Berlin Senior Center last week when she again attacked Democrats and, by implication, […]

5 mins read

Why Trump’s Party Rallies In New Britain

Mayor Stewart’s former campaign HQ is one of 20 “RNC Community Centers” in the nation where “Stop The Steal” workshops are occurring By John McNamara Ronna McDaniel, the national Republican Party’s Chairperson and Donald Trump sycophant, made her way to New Britain this week to blast not one Democrat but all Democrats as favoring “greed, communism, and […]

6 mins read

Green Party Governor Candidate: Ballot Access Should Be Expanded

By Michelle Louise Bicking Equitable ballot access has long been a thorn in Connecticut’s side for decades. Despite the facade of deep blue progressive politicking and people-centered campaigns, Connecticut has the third most stringent ballot access laws anywhere in the country. “Stringent” is defined here as the least amount of time to petition for ballot […]

5 mins read

Does New Britain need a chief operating officer and a full time mayor?

Misleading Referendum Proposes High Level Patronage Job To Manage Municipal Government by John McNamara NEW BRITAIN – Creating a new chief operating officer to manage the municipality and making town clerk and tax collector jobs appointed instead of elected offices are big and very different questions for a referendum vote in November.Voters, however, won’t have […]

5 mins read

COO Patronage Job, End To Elections Of Clerk and Tax Collector Are On The Nov. 8 Ballot

Fuzzy Charter Question Will Keep Many Voters in the Dark by John McNamara New Britain voters will be deciding much more than who should be the Governor and making their picks for other elective offices on November 8th. City charter revisions will, if approved, make the biggest changes in a generation as to how Connecticut’s […]

5 mins read

Campaign cash soared in ’21 municipal election but voter turnout declined

By John McNamara “Money is the mother’s milk of politics” goes the observation first coined in the 1960s that applies to almost every state and federal election cycle as all kinds of committees and special interests raise billions in reported and anonymous donations. That old saying about money in politics applies less frequently to local elections where […]