In The Loop – May 6, 2022
What started three months ago, ended last night—the 2022 Legislative Session, and what a trail of lefts and rights; thrills of victory and agonies of defeat; facts and myths, and the fun and not-so-much-fun.
That’s the best way I can summarize this session. Once again, for the third year in a row, what started out one way ended another. In 2019, the world was normal, it was a year of the dreams and hopes of a new administration and a new legislative class. There were a lot of learning curves with newly elected Governor. His course was abruptly rerouted as he was forced to lead Connecticut through one its most challenging crises.
2020 was the moment that politicians were defined. During a crisis they listened, learned, and led. They quickly learned that you either lead, follow or stay out of the way depending on each and every reaction to the fast paced changes. They listen to the people with the best information, the folks in the eye of the storm and then people on Main Street. And they lead with heart, a path forward and a calming voice.
With Connecticut barricaded corner-to-corner, people isolating with only their core families, worksites shuttered with no expectation of return to a normal workplace, shortages of almost everything on the shelves of the local grocery and drug stores, Connecticut families surely struggled. The legislature too was struggling, and within days, shut down for the remainder of the 2020 Session. The Governor stepped in and became a leader.