Great discussion today at The Day (New London) #thedayct #CTsen #mertens2010

It was nice to have a major CT newspaper give me the time of day (pun intended). Great conversation today with Gary Farrugia, publisher, and Paul Choiniere, editorial page editor. They are clearly dedicated, real newspaper people who are very proud of their product. (There’s a reason The Day won 10 AP journalism awards: http://tiny.cc/bcho2). We had a far-ranging, rapid-fire 70 minute discussion of issues and the U.S. Senate race. I’m looking forward to further interactions, including (hopefully) a statewide televised The Day sponsored U.S. Senate debate.

More citizen input today #CTsen #mertens2010

I attended a BBQ in Bristol today, and received a lot of good input from several CT citizens. Much of it was related to state issues (as opposed to federal), but worth repeating here.

An employee at the UConn Medical Center (who asked that I not use her name) spoke at length about ways for the state to cut expenses. As a state employee, she said she pays only $48 every two weeks for family(!) health insurance, with $5 prescriptions and $10 copays, and argued that this was too little, and that she and other state employees should contribute more (how often do you hear that?), which would enable the state to negotiate lower health insurance costs. She also complained about the state hiring freeze (since 2009), which results in mandated overtime, and costs the state more money in the long run. It also greatly inconveniences workers, who are often told at the last minute that they are “mandated” and can’t go home. She also pointed out that Department of Corrections workers (who work on the inmate floor of the medical center), can retire after 20 years, and earn a pension determined by their average income over their last 3 years, and often arrange to work many hours of overtime during those last three years, to increase their pension. I agreed that overtime should not be included in pension calculations. Finally, she asked me to point out that she is denied participation in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) program, despite being a care-giver of her father-in-law; parent-in-law care is not allowed in CT. This could be changed by state legislation, but it could also be changed by federal law. I would support changing the FMLA to allow individuals to take unpaid time off work to care for a seriously ill parent-in-law.
You can read more about the FMLA here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993

I was also informed by someone at the BBQ who works in construction that they regretted Gov. Rell’s veto of a bill that would allow state construction projects to begin earlier in the spring. He made sense to me.

I will forward these comments to Independent Party Gubernatorial candidate Tom Marsh, www.Marsh2010.com, who, if elected, will have to deal with a $3.5 billion budget shortfall.

I also had a heartening conversation with a group of elderly Catholic citizens who deplored the demogoguery and misleading media coverage of the Islamic Community Center being proposed in Manhattan. They inspired me to give a speech about Islamophobia, Freedom of Religion, and the incredibly un-American things that have been said by politicians in recent days. Stay tuned…it will tentatively be on Thursday, Sept. 9.

A couple of vignettes from the Chester fair today #CTsen #mertens2010

I spoke with dozens of people today at the Chester Fair. I spoke at length with Bruce Major, a craftsman who makes beautiful musical instruments with 40 strings, played with a very narrow bow. (They are a type of zither, and I can’t remember the specific name. Argh.) He informed me that the first national anthem was a song named “Chester”, a religious-sounding song that he played for me. I’ve since looked it up, and it was written by William Billings, and considered our national anthem during the Revolutionary War, and until Francis Scott Key and our current national anthem came along. He also explained how he was haunted by the theme of the movie “Empire of the Sun”, and it took years for him to find the music for it, and played it for me as well. I mentioned that one of my favorite movies and songs are “The Third Man” and its theme, coincidentally played on a zither (by Anton Karas, in one of the most amazing performances and human stories I know). Bruce and I talked about immigration laws, and unemployment. FYI: I support a new worker visa program that protects employers and employees, and a pathway to legal residency and eventually citizenship for undocumented workers already in the U.S. I also explained my plan to bring us down from a real unemployment rate of 18% to a goal of full employment with stimulus in the form of tax breaks for working families and small businesses (see my speech on how to fix and protect our economy on the “30+ issues” page of this blog).

I also spoke at length with Ted Krogh, who served during the Vietnam War (I think it was 1964-1966). He was officially stationed in the Phillippines as part of a mobile communications group, but was sent to Vietnam (and all over Asia) many times to set up electronic communications centers. Like many veterans, he didn’t seem interested in talking about it. But he did have a lot to say about Iraq and Afghanistan, and we didn’t disagree on anything significant. I was especially pleased that he agreed with me when I said that I believed doing everything I could to try to prevent the Iraq invasion (going to protests before the invasion, writing letters to the White House to try to convince Pres. Bush to listen to Colin Powell and not Dick Cheney, talking to everyone I could in person and online to try to convince them it was a huge foreign policy mistake) was supporting our troops. I didn’t want them to be put in that situation. Mr. Krogh agreed to allow us to post video of our conversation on this blog, and it will be up soon.