Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Speaker (Fire Chief) Donovan Steps Into the Democrats' Church Fire

"It's not a partisan issue," Speaker Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) said yesterday about the Democratic co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee's attack on religious freedoms! Donovan asked Republicans to avoid pouring gasoline on a volatile political issue.

So Donovan is the Democratic Party's fire chief now. He thinks Republican lawmakers should not host an informal hearing to allow Catholics to speak their mind now that the Democrats started this major conflaguration and abruptly cancelled a formal hearing on SB1098.

Donovan responded to news the Catholics are still rallying at the Capitol today by saying, "we join them in opposing this bill..." Oh really, Fire Chief Donovan, where was your Speaker's fire hose when this fire was kindling in the back room of the Judiciary Committee? Representative Lawlor is your appointment as co-chair of the committee and your responsibility.

Fire Chief Donovan's comments raises another big question about the Democrats' out-of-control legislative leadership this session. Where is Senate President Donald Williams? He appointed Senator McDonald (the Democrats' apparent leader on SB1098) the other Democratic co-chair of Judiciary. Does this mean Williams is out of touch with his appointee's incendiary politics?

I am hopeful the Democratic majority in the legislature sees this as a turning point to focus on the economic crisis we face in Connecticut. Stop fighting the Catholic Church and proposing the closure of university campuses and get to work on the real problem at hand - we have a state budget meltdown and we need real leadership to keep the ship of state sailing through this economic storm.