Interesting piece recently posted on the Wall Street Journal’s ‘Political Diary’ blog. For those of you who do not have a subscription, we have posted it below. The piece outlines the AG’s accusation that AT&T was removing 75 jobs from Connecticut, while preparing to spend $60 billion to purchase Media One, which was clearly inaccurate. More importantly, it is a reminder that some state policymakers are continuing to play the “blame-game” without much attention to details, when in fact they should be playing the “solution-game” in finding new ways to keep jobs and companies entering the state.
What kind of message are we sending to future employers with these kind of tactics? When will our policymakers start providing incentives instead of insults to lure more jobs back into the state? We hope our local leaders take note and begin to change their attitude…
Dick Blumenthal’s Flashback
You might wonder why a state’s top law enforcement officer is issuing a press release denouncing a private company for engaging in perfectly lawful layoffs. You might also wonder why Connecticut’s long-serving Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is getting mixed up about what decade he’s living in.
His office last week blasted AT&T in a press release for laying off 75
workers in Connecticut. The AG’s release stated: “Awash in money as it
stands ready to spend $60 billion to purchase Media One, AT&T is hanging up on Connecticut families and consumers.”
Now that’s just weird, since AT&T bought MediaOne (a cable TV business) way back in 1999 and sold it to Comcast in 2003. But then weird is Mr. Blumenthal’s conception of his office’s responsibilities, which includes frequent grandstanding on matters far afield from an attorney general’s normal concerns.
The episode became marginally less mystifying when Bill Henderson,
leader of the Communications Workers of America Local 1298, stepped up to take the blame for the faulty information. So Mr. Blumenthal is
issuing press releases denouncing private companies for engaging in
lawful behavior — press releases that are actually drafted by labor
unions?
Mr. Blumenthal’s political ambitions have been a perennial matter of
speculation in Connecticut. He has repeatedly passed up chances to run for senate or governor, seemingly because he doesn’t like the odds of any race that he might actually stand a chance of losing. He will soon be coming up on his 20th year as Connecticut attorney general. A risk that often afflicts long-serving office holders is that a certain lack of accountability goes to their heads. They get sloppy.
– Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
