Back Home About Us Contact Us
Town Charters
Seniors
Federal Budget
Ethics
Hall of Shame
Education
Unions
Binding Arbitration
State - Budget
Local - Budget
Prevailing Wage
Jobs
Health Care
Referendum
Eminent Domain
Group Homes
Consortium
TABOR
Editorials
Tax Talk
Press Releases
Find Representatives
Web Sites
Media
CT Taxpayer Groups
 
Home
The Hill: As Hillary White House run looms, questions linger about Bill

 

 

 

Rich senator, poor senator

 

By: Ana Radelat | May 16, 2014 CTMirror.org

Financial disclosure reports for 71 senators were released on Friday

 

Blumenthal is the 4th richest member of Congress

 

Also See What You Pay his Staff

 

WASHINGTON -- According to the latest financial disclosures filed in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., continues to be one of the poorest members in that chamber -- although he has a lot of cash in the bank….. Blumenthal did not file his financial disclosure form by a May 15 deadline, preferring instead to ask for an extension. An analysis of 2012 financial disclosure forms by the newspaper Roll Call, placed Blumenthal as the 4th richest member of the Congress, with a net worth of about $53 million.  Continue reading at …. http://ctmirror.org/rich-senator-poor-senator/

 

May 20, 2014

 

From:  The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact:  Susan Kniep, President
Website:
http://ctact.org/
Email:
fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

 

Explore: How much did CT’s congressional staffers earn?

CTMirror.org  May 19, 2014

Explore how much each congressional staffer earned working for Connecticut's delegation. Filter by legislator or role to see who and what kind of jobs pay best — and worst.

Example:  Richard Blumenthal Highest Earning Staffers

Laurie Rubiner

Chief of Staff, Blumenthal

$169,459

 

Richard F. Kehoe (Rich)

State Director, Blumenthal

$154,512

 

Elizabeth L. Kelley Kanick (Liz)

Deputy Chief of Staff, Blumenthal

$148,108

 

Gabriel Adler

Legislative Director, Blumenthal

$131,092

 

Continue to explore:  http://ctmirror.org/explore-how-much-did-cts-congressional-staffers-earn/

 

**************************

 

Appreciation is Extended to State Comptroller Kevin Lembo who is Providing Connecticut Taxpayers with Greater Transparency! 

 

COMPTROLLER LEMBO LAUNCHES "OPEN CONNECTICUT 2.0" WITH REAL-TIME STATE SPENDING AND REVENUE


The new enhanced section of the site can be accessed through Open Connecticut’s main web address noted above – but also independently at
http://opencheckbook.ct.gov. 

 

See more at: http://www.osc.ct.gov/public/news/releases/20140513.html#sthash.X7csSayn.dpuf

 

 

 

 

Contact: Tara Downes (860.702.3308 | Tara Downes@ct.gov)

 

Comptroller Kevin Lembo today launched “Open Connecticut 2.0” – a significant update to the online hub of state financial information that he first launched early last year in an ongoing effort to simplify and centralize public access to important information about state revenue and spending.

Open Connecticut – located at  
http://www.osc.ct.gov/openct/   -- has now been improved to include an “Open Checkbook” section with far greater detail and nightly updates to the underlying data. These nightly updates mean that Open Connecticut now reflects state spending and revenue activities more accurately and timely than ever before.

 

The improved site allows users to search real-time revenue flow by source, which was previously not available online. Real-time expenditure details can be viewed by fiscal year, fund, government function, agency, department, line item and account. Users can also now browse the various categories and then export datasets of their choice using various filter options. - See more at: http://www.osc.ct.gov/public/news/releases/20140513.html#sthash.5uAxemof.dpuf

 

 

******************************

 

Americans Spent Three Decades Paying For Federal Project That Doesn't Exist

 

More than $43 billion was collected for nuclear waste dump that never came to be.

 

Posted by Patch National Desk , May 17, 2014

 

For 31 years Americans have been paying a fee for a nuclear waste site that doesn't exist, CNBC reported.

The fee on electric bills was supposed to fund a nuclear waste disposal site in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The plan had been for the site to open in 1998, but it never did and the project has since been killed amidst political opposition.

But, the fee has continued to be collected and the fund for the nuclear waste site now is more than $30 billion. The fee costs people about $2 a year and it was established in 1983. http://darien.patch.com/groups/trending-in-america/p/federal-government-collected-fee-for-dead-project-for-decades13707357

 

 

 

************************

 

 

From the Yankee Institute:  A minimum wage is the problem

The Hartford Courant recently invited the Yankee Institute's Zachary Janowski to join its editorial board as a visiting member for six months. His first op-ed takes on the minimum wage by pointing out its victims:

the unskilled and the unemployed.

 

**************************

CBS NEWS REPORT

Feds say Credit Suisse helped Americans dodge taxes

 

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday filed criminal charges against Credit Suisse, alleging the Swiss financial giant helped Americans open offshore accounts in order to dodge taxes. Credit Suisse is pleading guilty to the charges and will pay a total of $2.6 billion to settle the federal lawsuit. Continue reading at ….

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-say-credit-suisse-helped-americans-dodge-taxes/

 

 

 

************************

60 Minutes Reports:  The real scandal in Washington isn’t what’s illegal, it’s what’s legal.

The news segment notes:    There seems to be a permanent majority in Congress that’s completely satisfied with the current state of campaign financing and congressional ethics and members of both parties have institutionalized ways to skirt the rules and maintain the lifestyles that many of them have grown accustomed to.

As we learned when we first reported this story last October, most Americans believe it’s against the law for congressmen and senators to profit personally from their political office. But it’s an open secret in Washington that that’s not the case. As the saying goes the real scandal in Washington isn’t what’s illegal, it’s what’s legal.  [CBS News]

 

******************************

 

 

Message from the Connecticut Policy Institute: Home

 

Thursday, May 22, the Connecticut Policy Institute will be co-sponsoring and participating in an education policy summit in Bridgeport: "New Strategies for Changing Communities: Moving Beyond the Soundbite."  The summit will take place from 3:30-8:30 PM at St. Paul's Missionary Baptist Church in Bridgeport.  Additional details are in the below flyer, and you can register for the free event at this link.  

 

The CPI is co-sponsoring this summit as part of our recently launched urban policy project, and over the coming months the Institute will be organizing and participating in additional community outreach events and policy forums in urban areas across the state.