CT Devil's Advocate

A Statewide Property Tax For Connecticut Schools? Think Again

By Terry Cowgill • August 8, 2013 @ 3:26 pm • 0 Comments

More of my recent columns for CT News Junkie:

Region 1 Budget: Ask Yourself What No Accomplishes

By Terry Cowgill • July 23, 2013 @ 7:10 am • 1 Comment

Before you walk into your town hall today and slam our regional school budget — for the fourth time this year, no less — please do a cost-benefit analysis. What exactly is to be gained and what is the price to be paid in sticking it to the much despised Region 1 Board of Education and its top administrators?

From what I can tell, this habitual rejection of the budget is all about making people feel good about themselves: “We told them off. We showed those bastards how we feel!” Set aside your feelings for the moment and ask yourself what a fourth rejection accomplishes. Housatonic parent Karen Dignacco has done that much better than I could in the post previous post.

Sure, a no vote means we proceed on last year’s spending plan, so it’s not as if the region will be crippled by spending cuts. But the ongoing lack of a budget casts a pall over the high school. As Principal Matt Harnett told Dignacco, the school will be ready to open late next month as scheduled, but “Unfortunately moving anything forward, trying new strategies, implementing new plans and initiatives is difficult if not impossible – so we sort of maintain and wait for the dust to settle and see where we go from there.”

Furthermore, if memory serves, each referendum costs about $8,000. Is this really a good use of taxpayers funds?

Enough Already: Vote Yes On The Region One Budget Today

By Terry Cowgill • July 23, 2013 @ 6:06 am • 0 Comments

From Karen Dignacco, a parent from Sharon:

The following are a few comments/thoughts/observations re: the Region One Budget. They are my own opinions based on what I’ve read of the budget and the Pingpank report. They do not represent any board or organization on which I serve or for which I volunteer.

Woe Is The State Government

By Terry Cowgill • June 4, 2013 @ 6:32 am • 0 Comments

More than a month’s worth of my columns for CT News Junkie is linked here:

Jockeying For Position In The Marathon Bombings

By Terry Cowgill • April 20, 2013 @ 5:31 pm • 0 Comments

Last night, it ended. The people of metropolitan Boston can relax, for the time being.

I happened to be in the Boston area when the bombs went off at finish line of the marathon. I was with my son visiting colleges in the suburbs when my sister called me in a state of distress. Her husband is a Boston Police captain who is normally stationed at the finish line on Patriots Day. Thankfully, this year he was asked to be elsewhere in the city at that fateful moment.

Still, he rushed to Boylston Street, along with just about every fellow police officer who could be found. The captain did not return home until the next morning, at which point he caught a few hours of sleep and went back to work. All Boston police were told they would be working 12-hour shifts until further notice. The work of medical professionals, along with local, state and federal law enforcement authorities was nothing short of spectacular — to say nothing of brave and heroic.

Teacher Ed, Lobbying And Leadership

By Terry Cowgill • April 20, 2013 @ 3:15 pm • 0 Comments

Three recent pieces of mine for CT News Junkie:

A look at the culture of mediocrity that pervades teacher education programs; insight into the efforts of the major parties in Hartford to trample on the rights of minor parties; and an examination of leadership in the post-Newtown era.

Booze, Nursing Homes And Lobbyists

By Terry Cowgill • March 19, 2013 @ 7:57 am • 0 Comments

Three recent pieces of mine for CT News Junkie:

A look at the possibility of deregulating the liquor industry in Connecticut; the powerful special interests behind the opposition to a proposed nursing home for convicts in Rocky Hill; and an examination of the recent imbroglio involving lobbying efforts at the Capitol and the powerhouse law firm of Brown Rudnick.

Apple TV vs. Roku

By Terry Cowgill • March 19, 2013 @ 7:24 am • 1 Comment

Click here for a review of Apple TV I wrote for CT Tech Junkie.

The piece has been twinned up with my colleague Susan Bigelow’s review of Roku, which at $50 is half the price of ATV. My conclusion: if you’re very much a part of the Apple ecosystem, ATV is worth the price.

High-Wattage Discussion

By Terry Cowgill • February 24, 2013 @ 1:58 pm • 2 Comments

I had the unusual experience on Friday, Feb. 22, of being a guest on former Gov. John Rowland’s afternoon drive-time radio show on WTIC Newstalk 1080.

I’ve done a fair amount of radio over the years, but this is the first time I’ve ever been in the studios of a large-audience 50,000-watt network-affiliated operation. I’ve been a regular at very small shops here in the Northwest Corner that often have one or two people running the station.

At WTIC’s studios nestled in a vast office park in Farmington, there were two producers on the other side of the glass, a news and sports anchor in other parts of the building, reporters out in the field, traffic guys up in their choppers and receptionists to greet visitors. In other words, a far cry from Robinhood Radio, WAPJ and the old Q-103. But true to my roots, I got in a brief backhanded plug for Robinhood Radio’s emperor when Rowland asked if anyone ever made fun of my name.

Malloy Divides And Offends; Dodd In The Dark

By Terry Cowgill • February 24, 2013 @ 8:07 am • 0 Comments

A couple of my recent columns for CT News Junkie.

What exactly is Gov. Malloy’s strategy for getting a budget passed in the General Assembly? Some leaders adopt a policy of “divide and conquer.” For the interminably klutzy Malloy, it’s “Divide And Offend.”

In the second piece, former Sen. Chris Dodd’s position as chief Hollywood lobbyist puts him in an awkward place in the wake of the Newtown massacre. Plus in the same column, First-term Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty makes a rookie mistake with her off-the-record meetings with public officials about gun violence.