Connecticut is a horrible place to do business.
Connecticut is a great place to live.
Connecticut has among the highest taxes in the nation.
Connecticut is a great place to go to college.
Well, as we all know from our experience and national surveys, all of the above is true.
The question is how do you fix the anti-business and high-tax problems?
As Washington moves to hurt small business with its health plan overhaul ”“ which no business owner in his right mind would have asked for ”“ and the economy still stagnant, the state of this state will remain so until legislators start listening to their constituents, and that means business owners.
But, once we get our state legislators”™ ears again, they must do the right thing, something that they and their counterparts across the country have been derelict in doing; namely passing on the concerns to the lawmakers in Washington.
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The buck just doesn”™t stop in Hartford. It has to stop in Washington, which has been asleep at the wheel for too many presidential and congressional terms.
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The work of state legislators should not end when the session does. They need to carry on their work in the off-season.
Our state leaders need to put pressure on U.S. Sens. Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd and Reps. Jim Himes, John Larson, Chris Murphy, Joe Courtney, and Rosa DeLauro.
Our state lawmakers need to look the Washington representatives right in the eye and ask: Which of your bills have helped sustain the business community in your home state?
Take a look at the legislation they have sponsored, not co-sponsored.
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Was there anything helpful? How many of those bills actually made it out of committee?
It”™s not pretty.
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Congress remains ruled by a few.
The top five, as far as sponsoring the greatest number of bills and getting them enacted, are:
- Sen. Orrin Hatch, R- Utah; 61 of 468.
- Rep. Donald Young, R-Arkansas; 56 of 380.
- Rep. F. Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin; 31 of 191.
- Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona; 31 of 483.
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California; 31 of 602.
And in case you were wondering: Dodd”™s numbers are 15 of 360; Lieberman, 7 of 206; Larson, 3 of 87; DeLauro, 3 of 177; and Courtney, 1 of 29. The numbers are courtesy of database govtrack.us
The business community needs to come together and itself propose meaningful legislation that would stanch the brain drain and exodus of business to more tax-friendlier climes down south.
As we have commented before on these pages about the poor replies to surveys conducted by such business groups as Connecticut Business & Industry Association, if you don”™t act, don”™t complain.
