Next state legislature will have their plates full
Two consecutive weeks of national party conventions devoted to nominating and some myth-making has overshadowed all other campaigns — including races for state Senate and House of Representatives in Connecticut, where every seat is on the ballot.
We are lucky to be able to choose to reseat — or reject — the entire General Assembly every two years, but this is an especially unusual election year. The global pandemic caused the legislature to hand extraordinary emergency powers to Gov. Ned Lamont and then go home to the isolation of the prolonged lockdown.
The imperatives of social distancing mean candidates held virtual conventions, denying them the opportunity to boost the enthusiasm of the faithful for the campaign ahead. Some candidates are finding ways to reach voters by wearing a mask and a shield as they knock on doors. The nimble will cope with the constraints of these unusual times.
But it is not enough to solve the puzzle of how to campaign in a pandemic. Candidates’ first obligation is to offer ideas and convictions of consequence beyond their personal desire to hold public office. What they have done in the last two years and hope to accomplish in the next two may present a more formidable challenge.
The first issue candidates ought to discuss is how they feel about extending Gov. Lamont’s extraordinary powers to issue far-reaching executive orders legislative leaders conveyed it to him in March.
The legislature is expected to extend them when they expire in September. A second coronavirus wave in fall or winter could render the next legislature meaningless when it takes office in January if we continue to be governed by executive orders. The emergency powers given Lamont were to keep the pandemic from overwhelming our health care system. Together and with significant sacrifice, we have done that. Candidates should explain what conditions we should reach in order to restore full democracy to the Constitution state.
Relief in the ebbing of the virus this summer should not