How did Rep. Hewett miss the boat on Amistad?

There were some raised-eyebrow moments in last week’s debate between Democratic state Rep. Ernest Hewett of New London and his primary challenger, Chris Soto, like when the incumbent sounded dismissive at times about U.S. Coast Guard leadership, here in an official Coast Guard City.

Hewett compared his original career as a welder at Electric Boat, helping build submarines, to his opponent’s work as a Coast Guard officer, a Latino graduate of New London’s own Coast Guard Academy.

“Chris, you make it look like the Coast Guard is the most unique thing in the world, and it’s a beautiful thing,” Hewett said, in one of his attacks suggesting Soto’s career in a top-down Coast Guard, following orders, has not prepared him for Hartford.

“I worked on Trident submarines for 20 years of my life, building Trident submarines for Navy personnel to go out and protect this country. So I’ve been there, done that. I get that. But that don’t do nothing for you in Hartford.” OK. Then there was the admission from the lawmaker, who recently submitted legislation for a new taxing district in the city, provided word for word by a lobbyist pal, without unveiling it first to constituents, that he generally doesn’t like to introduce bills and refused five committee chairmanships in his 12 years in the House.

You have to wonder about the claim of being offered and turning down committee chairmanships when in fact he has served as chairman of two subcommittees and assistant chairman of another.

Why wouldn’t it be better to be chair of a full committee?

And isn’t a lawmaker who claims he doesn’t like to introduce legislation a bit like a painter saying he doesn’t like to draw?

Hewett says there are too many bills already before the General Assembly. Those would be the ones from other lawmakers working hard for their communities.

I watched the debate online. It is still available on theday.com.

I give Hewett a pass on his confusing the Fourth Amendment with the one that protects gun rights. Maybe he misspoke.

I’m glad the candidates chose not to tangle over Hewett’s demotion from his leadership post, deputy speaker, in 2013.

I vigorously defended Hewett at the time and I still think he was victim of ingrained racism in a controversy over a remark he made in a hearing. He was the only black among six deputy speakers.

He subsequently was restored to a less strategic leadership post: assistant majority leader.

Hewett’s attack on Soto for making a campaign donation to a Republican, someone Soto says has worked to help New London schools, hit a flat note for me. Aren’t we all hoping for bipartisan progress in improving the state?

I didn’t hear a single idea from the incumbent about how to address the state’s crushing deficit crisis. He pledged himself to the unions and promised to have no part in raising taxes or laying off any more state workers. There’s a dead end for you. I sensed, though, a lot more sympathy with the unions, whose contracts are coming due, than with taxpayers.

Indeed, he said he would “give the unions the benefit of the doubt” if there is “something going on in Hartford.”

The biggest surprise of the debate for me, though, came when Hewett said the Amistad is still in court receivership and money for the vessel has “almost certainly” been cut from the budget.

Of course the Amistad, a replica of the ship, built at great expense by the state, to tell the story of Connecticut’s and New London’s role in changing the course of slavery in this country, is long out of receivership.

The ship, as any casual reader of this newspaper might know, was rescued by the court from the nonprofit that failed to file tax returns or account for state subsidies for years, and given to a new education organization that is now putting it back in service.

In fact, Rep. Hewett, there is close to $600,000 in new Amistad operating expenses budgeted over two years, appropriations you voted for.

The state also bonded more than $1 million to help the new Amistad organization purchase and repair the ship, with a plan to make it self-sustaining. As for your pledge, “every dime should be cut off,” well, the ship long ago sailed on that one.

It’s hard to imagine a lawmaker could be so clueless about a prominent state-funded project that has been making so much news here for most of his term in Hartford.

Soto, unfortunately, chose not to comment on the Amistad question. Amistad not only tells the historical story of freed captives. It is also an excellent modern fable of state spending gone awry, without oversight or accountability.