Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

HISTORY IS BEING MADE WITH THE ANTICIPATED SUPREME COURT RULING WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY IMPACT EMINENT DOMAIN ISSUES THROUGHOUT THIS COUNTRY.�� IF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN IN FEAR OF THE GOVERNMENT TAKING YOUR HOME � READ THIS!� IF YOU HAVE NOT, READ IT � THE GOVERNMENT COULD BE ON YOUR DOORSTEP TOMORROW!� THE FOLLOWING IS PROVIDED BY BOB YOUNG OF WETHERSFIELD�.

Bob Young, ryoung0@snet.net

Wethersfield Taxpayers Association

Subject:� Three of the many letters received on the Eminent Domain Issue�

Susette wrote me this letter and I wanted to share it with you. A heartfelt letter. My reply to her is below her letter. Angela

In a message dated 2/24/2005 6:07:37 AM Pacific Standard Time, susettekelo@netzero.com�� writes:

Even after being there, and listening to it all, some of them appeared to be on our side, some appeared to be on the other side, but I don't feel very confident that we will prevail, The reporter from the Christian Science Monitor said that when they write the descion it will be written in such away that it will benefit us, but how is anybody guess. The transcripts will be available in 2 weeks so you can downlaod them and read them and then let me know your take on what they are thinking. This whole thing is truley pathetic I beleive they actually think that by standing in the court that we are supposed to be pacified by that, I just want to keep my house Susette

Susette.....my heart really grieved when I read this. It seems to be such a long journey of never being able to wake up from such a very bad dark dream. We are held in the bondage of not knowing what is real or not real in the society of freedom and liberty as we know it, as we have been taught and programmed to believe.� I don't feel that such a decision like this should be left up to these justices who most likely, I am sure, have never had the travesty of having their home "taken" from them simply because someone wants to benefit someone else more. How can they base a decision on something that has "yet" to happen to them nor can they even begin to conceive. It should be noted that every time someone says: my home was "taken from me to give to another" what they really are saying is that "everything was taken from me" In the interim of them violating your property rights, they are violating your personal rights as well, as rights are all intertwined with each other.

We all share a dream, a dream that will never die, that someday everyone will hold their heads up high and be given what should never be denied...our Liberty.

Together we will be forever, proud and free. Angela� PS...yes please send me the transcripts. I would like to study it. Thank you for writing to me.

Letter by Leigh Standish of Wethersfield
To the Honorable United States Supreme Court Justices��

The Supreme Court of The United States of America
One First Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C. 20543
When my antecedents forced Jared Ingersoll, the King's Stamp Act
Collector, to resign his commission as such, the townspeople of
Wethersfield surrounded him on the Commons with the cry: "Liberty and
property!". We fought a revolution over the right to hold private
property without continued dispensation from the Monarch. Property
rights are so intertwined with every form of liberty described in our
founding documents, that eminent domain should only be exercised as the
exceptional need rather than the convenient option.� When commoners, the little people, no longer have a stake in the protections afforded by the State, they no longer have a stake in the State itself. Should property rights only accrue to the more successful, such will follow. Let not history repeat itself through
this abuse of power. We chose to form a more perfect union.

Letter from Liz Moser Outreach Coordinator Institute for Justice

emoser@ij.org�� Website:� http://www.ij.org/

Friends,� Since many of you have called and emailed, inquiring on how the Kelo hearing went today - below are a few resources that offer a good "snapshot" view and summary of the arguments and events today. Also included is a must-see video and news story from Minnesota, just one of hundreds of moving stories around the country this week on vigils/rallies and local property rights battles.�

Visit http://www.ij.org/private_property/connecticut/nl-argument_photo.html for a few photos from the hearing, and check back often to IJ's web site and http://www.castlecoalition.org/ for more photos, the latest on IJ's property rights cases, and information on property rights efforts in your state.

A few news articles/radio spots on the hearing that give a good summary of the arguments presented:

Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45249-2005Feb22.html

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4508927

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/22/scotus.eminent.domain/

ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=522629

KARE 11 (Minn.) - Great video: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=75825.

Thanks to all for helping us make this week possible!

Cheers,Liz Moser Outreach Coordinator Institute for Justice

emoser@ij.org

http://www.ij.org/� Website will take you to Ohio Supreme Court Decision

Other Interesting Articles on the Eminent Domain Issue follow:� http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-edpeople0220.artfeb20,0,6670987.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-eminentdomain.artfeb20,0,7443845.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

http://www.courant.com/news/local/nb/hc-bridev0217.artfeb17,0,7595393.story

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Donna McCalla, ctjodi@sbcglobal.net

Subject:� Education Budget Analysis FY 2005-2006

Feb 20, 2005

See Attached 2006 Education Budget

Hi, all.� Attached is the first version of the Education Budget Analysis for FY 2005-06.� With data from almost 50% of the school districts, the trends can now be more accurately analyzed.� No regression has been done on the data; it is early, although past history has shown that regression rarely changes the averages more than plus/minus .5%.

The data consists of:� Superintendent�s Proposed Budget Increase; Board of Education Approved Increase; Increase Limit Proposed by a town�s funding authority; and Grand List Growth.� The trends are almost identical to last year�s, with the exception of Grand List Growth.

Grand List Growth, on average, is significantly higher than last year.� This year, the average grand list growth of towns reporting is 2.17%, although this could be skewed by two communities (Canton, at 8.98%, and Oxford at 7.6%.)� Without these two figures, Grand List Growth average in Connecticut is still at 1.98%.� Last year, Grand List Growth averaged 1.23%.

Last year, the average increase proposed by Superintendents was 7.67%; this year, the average is currently at 7.74%.� Additionally, last year the average increase approved by Boards of Education was 6.79%; this year�s average is currently at 6.98%.� Finally, some municipal funding authorities give guidance on acceptable education increases.� The average �cap� last year was 4.17%; this year, the average �cap� is 4.05%.

As a final note, the data has shown that Boards of Education who request a budget increase plus/minus 1.0% of the statewide average generally do not face multiple referendums.� There are exceptions, and those exceptions are almost always budget defeats until the percentage increase is far less than the statewide average.� In those exceptional communities, there are a variety of overriding concerns and considerations that have nothing to do with supporting or not supporting education increases.

With Winter Break this week, I don�t expect a significant amount of new data to come in.� However, for those communities who delayed reporting Grand List growth until the end of February, and with many charters requiring an approved Board of Education budget by March 1, I expect much data to come in the week of February 28.� I do not expect the averages shown in the attached spreadsheet to vary significantly following that new data entry, although these days in Connecticut, one never knows�� Thanks, Donna��

PLEASE OPEN THE ATTACHED WHICH IS IN EXCEL.

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Marvin Edelman, frogpond01@earthlink.net

Windham-Willimantic Taxpayers Association

Subject:� How Medical Boards Nationalized Health Care

Dear Sue: Have you logged onto the Mises website http://www.mises.org/

yet? Some of the articles are worth forwarding to our membership. The following is one�.How Medical Boards Nationalized Health Care,By Henry E. Jones,� February 24, 2005� The negative impact of high healthcare costs on the national economy may not be fully recognized. At over $1.4 trillion a year, healthcare costs represent 15%�approximately a seventh�of our total gross domestic product. Our annual cost per capita, $4,662.00, is nearly double that of health care in other countries. This excessive and constantly increasing cost prevents many businesses from hiring as many workers as they otherwise might.� Refer to the following website for a continuation of this article�.

http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1749

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Jack Morris, morrisjd1@earthlink.net

Subject:� At-Will Employees Versus Government Union Employees Susan, well put.� But what will most likely happen, as it already is, is that people will vote with their feet.� Everyone who I know is retiring has left or is planning to leave the state.� At some point there won�t be enough revenue coming from business and the residents to feed the cancer festering on the Connecticut Legislature and state and municipal governments.�� Jack�

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Marvin Edelman, frogpond01@earthlink.net

Willimantic Taxpayers Association

�Subject: The Innocent Are Dead or Bankrupt

Dear Sue: I don't know if you subscribe to the Mises Foundation but here is an article for your consideration.� How did your presentation to the legislative committee go?� Marvin

The Innocent Are Dead or Bankrupt, By Ted Roberts

[Posted February 18, 2005]

The concept of taxation well deserves its partnership with death. Death and taxes, you know. Two vultures. Both, to say the least, deadly.� Continued at the following website:� http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?Id=1745

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From:� Theresa McGrath
Executive Director,
Family Alliance for Children in Education
FACE0203@Comcast.net
860-570-1203�

Email:�� face0203@comcast.net��

Attention: Parents Raising Children with Special Needs March 1 Jeane Milstein Presentation
Connecticut Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein will speak in Stamford on
Tuesday, March 1 from 10:00 a.m. -noon at the Harry Bennett Branch,
Ferguson Library, 115 Vine Road. Jeanne will be sharing tools for success in contacting legislators� and be available to answer personal questions related to child- specific issues about advocacy. � To register, or for more info, contact Caroline Smit, 203-321-1949� or via email at csmit@optonline.net. This event is sponsored by the CT Family Support Network.� Please help spread the word about this event!

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Provided by:� newmilfordcitizen@earthlink.net

Re:� Ethics Commission head steps down
By John Pirro� 2/16/2005

THE NEWS-TIMES, NEW MILFORD � The head of the Ethics Commission has resigned, questioning whether town officials are willing to do what's needed to
conclude one of the board's longest-running cases.� Wallie Jahn submitted a letter of resignation earlier this month, after waiting in vain since October for the town to hire an attorney to conduct a public hearing into allegations that finance board member John Spatola improperly benefited from a vote he cast in 2002.� Article continued at the following website:�� http://news.newstimes.com/story.php?id=69087�

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�

Jack Field, jfield150@earthlink.net
Washington CT Town Council

Subject:� Binding Arbitration Resolution

Susan -- A year or so ago, we completed and
I sent to you a Resolution re Reform of Binding Arbitration signed by
the chairs of our regional Bd of Ed chair, the First Selectmen and
Chairs of Bds of Fin of each of the three towns in the region. We sent this resolution to our legislative reps -- Maybe the initiative of Mike Guarco et al with pry open the door. The need we saw 2 years ago when we worked on the Resolution grows every year. One positive development is that the school Boards and Admins are now saying the same thing we are.Hope to meet you some day.Jack

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Tom Durso, TDurso8217

Watertown Taxpayers Association

Editorial appeared in Waterbury Republican Newspaper

Connecticut's Spending Binge: Look West Governor Rell

Connecticut's latest budget mess, not unlike similar botches in New York City and during the Carter presidency, once again demonstrates how professional politicians will put off the inevitable until we taxpayers are up against the wall. A rubber ball doesn't bounce back until it hits bottom. In 1965 when former New York Mayor John V. Lindsay was elected on a liberal-Republican line, he immediately began a series of cave-ins to the City's unions and welfare lobbies which set the pace for New York's ongoing fiscal mess. Lindsay's eight year administration was an unrelenting disaster for New Yorkers where services declined, private sector jobs and the middle class fled. The City's filth level soared. It's notable that the Great Society was also launched in 1965, a point from which socio-economic indicators trace the decline of many post-industrial cities such as Waterbury. New York City arguably hit bottom in 1975 when it couldn't pay bondholders and banks slammed the credit windows shut. New York Governor Hugh Carey and Mayor Abe Beame convinced the City's unions to help out by buying its bonds. World class financier Felix Rohayton was put in charge of the Municipal Assistance Corporation while the state's Emergency Financial Control Board (read:oversight) guaranteed these "Big Mac" bonds. New York averted default but when Ed Koch won the Mayor's seat in 1977, he continued to struggle with the City's culture of dependency and decline . In 1980, Koch stood down the transit unions and personally helped commuters cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Today, New York City continues to operate on the fiscal edge with high taxes , strangling regulations and a crumbling infrastructure. Mayor Bloomberg's plan is more taxes and regulations. 1975 may have been a false bottom for Gotham. Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 beating incumbent Gerald Ford by a slim margin. The economy was rebounding from the Yom Kippur war "oil shocks"; inflation was dropping to about 4%; and the nation was recovering from recession. Carter's incompetence surfaced almost immediately . Abetted by a liberal-Democratic Congress, his administration launched expensive make-work programs such as the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) which accomplished little except to crowd-out productive private investment which would have created millions of real jobs. Further, when we were hit with another oil embargo Carter's malleable Federal Reserve Chairman G. William Miller cranked up the printing presses to "pay" for the higher priced oil. Recall Carter's sweaters, lowered thermostats and gas rationing coupons. The result of course was record-breaking 13% inflation and a 21% prime interest rate. Carter's one-two fiscal and monetary whack at our economy, coupled with his under-funding of the military combined to deliver the nation into a deep recessionary "malaise". The cleanup man of course was Ronald Reagan who with Paul Volcker guiding the central bank proceeded to cut taxes and solidify the value of the dollar bringing inflation and interest rates back to earth. The Gipper promptly deregulated oil which pumped up supplies while slashing prices. The 1980's became a boom decade whose effects continue into the present. Many thought Connecticut hit bottom in 1991 when Governor Lowell Weicker and a trembling legislature� enacted the state income tax to ward off fiscal calamity. Intoxicating spending during the prosperous 1980's had set the stage up for a collision with economic reality . During the 1990's Connecticut muddled through but continued to lag behind the growth of the south and western states. Taxpayers thought they had a savior in John Rowland who won the governor's seat in 1994. He ran on a platform of low taxes; in fact, his campaign plan was to repeal the income tax. On the contrary, state spending and regulations grew; businesses and jobs continued to flee along with productive population and one House seat. Today taxpayers face a billion dollar hole in spite of some of the highest taxes in the country. Governor M. Jodi Rell began the year whispering spending cuts but now, agreeing to tax hikes, she appears to be infected with a basic flaw of professional politicians: the need to be liked by the self-proclaimed, insular experts perched in the Capitol. Contrast that mind set with that of Reagan and Bush : an unabashed appreciation of the everyday taxpayers who actually produce the wealth. George Passantino, Government Affairs Director of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, influenced much of the California Performance Review, a commission requested by Governor Schwartzenegger to study waste in state government. Mr. Passantino told me that with California's $ 8 billion budget shortfall, Schwartzenegger is determined to reign in state government and reverse the flight of businesses and jobs from the Golden State. The governor insists that raising taxes by billions would simply drive up spending by billions. Passantino said that much of the CPR leg work was performed by a team of 275 seasoned state employees whose mission was to "root out waste while identifying opportunities to improve performance." CPR uncovered a dysfunctional, socialistic state government rife with questionable programs, where agency missions overlap, state assets go unaccounted, agencies sue each other over turf battles, and the state's 340 boards and commissions cost taxpayers over $9 million in salaries for over 3,300 political appointees, not counting support staff, rent and travel expenses. Passantino notes that each line item has a constituency including the poverty industry, environmentalists, unions and consumer protection activists who lobby to defend their claims on the taxpayers' hides. He hopes that Schwartzenegger's star power will help to overcome these spenders but it won't be easy. Governor Rell's 80% popularity rating may help Connecticut's earners only if she takes the limited-government, economic freedom debate to the people who earn the money, as is California's "Governator" .�� Reason's Passantino concluded our conversation by stressing that public service was never intended to be primarily a jobs program. He agreed that professional politicians conjoined with the statist spending lobbies routinely take local and state government to the edge before market-based reforms are enacted. Connecticut has been to the cliff's edge before and each time it returns with less tax base and more government. Governor Rell's choices are clear: look west to California and revive the state's productive sector or she can while away the next two years presiding over the continued exodus of the state's tax-producing economy .�� Thomas P. Durso� Watertown CT.�� Tom Writes on economic/political issues� Note: Passantino's tel # 310 391 2245 or 310 292 2382

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TODAY�S NEWS: A brief summary is offered below.� FCTO encourages you to read the entire news articles at the websites referenced.

Top State Pensioners Get More Than Governor

Hartford Courant by Christopher Keating, February 25, 2005 - At a time when Gov. M. Jodi Rell is complaining that some officials earn more than her commissioners, a recent report shows that nine retired state employees earn annual pensions that are higher than the governor's salary of $150,000. Click the following for a continuation of article http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-pensions0225.artfeb25,0,7827673.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

Model in Utah May Be Future for Medicaid

By Kirk Johnson and Reed Abelson
February 24, 2005, SALT LAKE CITY - Anyone looking for clues as to how the Bush administration might overhaul the Medicaid system should come to Utah and read the fine print of Tony Martinez's health insurance plan. Click the following for a continuation of article http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/national/24utah.html?ex=1109912400&en=a7be74c091941959&ei=5059&partner=AOL

Nuclear Workers Kept Waiting

Slow Pace Of Settling Claims For Industrial Exposures Criticized

February 24, 2005, By THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, Courant Staff Writer - Four years ago, Alfred L. Lavoie learned of a federal program intended to compensate people seriously ill from exposure to hazardous substances during their work in the nation's once-secret nuclear weapons industry.� Click the following for a continuation of article �

http://www.courant.com/hc-atomworker0222.artfeb24,0,6313258.story

MDC Seeks To Tackle Sewer Woes

One Big Problem, A Multimillion Dollar Solution

February 22, 2005

By OSHRAT CARMIEL / Courant Staff Writer ��� Hartford's outdated sewer pipes, overburdened with sewage and rainwater, annually leak about 1 billion gallons of untreated sewage - equivalent to about 33,000 backyard swimming pools - into local waterways such as the Connecticut River and Wethersfield Cove. Click the following for a continuation of article �

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hr/hc-sewage0222.artfeb22,0,176024.story

A Budget Reality Check,

By Tad DeHaven & Veronique de Rugy,

National Taxpayers Union� http://www.ntu.org/main/

Feb 18, 2005 - President Bush's FY2006 budget is being widely derided in the media and across the political landscape. The newswires are alive with dramatic claims of "deep cuts" and "scores" of programs being axed. The New York Times has taken umbrage with what it refers to as "the cruelest cuts." The Washington Post labeled proposed cuts "draconian" and counseled lawmakers to "remember the poor." All lament the President's "tax cuts for the rich" and obsess over the deficit.� Continued at the following website:� Click the following for a continuation of article http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=699&org_name=NTU