Dems near to deciding ‘Which side are you on?’ Sleeping Giant reopens
WASHINGTON — Peruse the list of 62 or so House Democrats supporting impeachment of President Donald Trump and you won’t find a single member of the five-member, all-Democrat delegation from Connecticut. Heck, none of them have even bothered to respond to a New York Times survey question on the subject as of midday Friday.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t ferment. Rep. Jim Himes said on MSNBC that even though he has counseled caution and prudence in the past, “my patience is wearing very, very thin.”
There is the president’s statement on “I’d want to hear” dirt served up by a foreign adversary, and scoffing at the notion of first going to the FBI, Himes noted. There’s Trump confidante Kellyanne Conway accused of multiple violations of the Hatch Act for criticizing Democratic opponents while on government time, he added.
Impeachment is “the biggest weapon that the Congress has at its disposal,” Himes said. “So I’ve always been on the side of saying hey, let's be careful, let’s be prudent, let’s make sure that we have the people with us, which I think is where (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi is.”
But he’s getting closer and closer to the edge, even though as a proclaimed centrist and former chair of the middle-ground New Democrat Coalition he has “counseled caution and prudence.”
I’m not making any predictions here, but if the barrage of Trump’s alleged infractions of legal and political norms keeps up, neutral territory for House Democrats may start to shrink. Then it will be time for Connecticut Dems to decide (to quote the old labor hymn), “Which side are you on?”
Connecticut’s sleeping giant is finally awake and back open for business after a yearlong knockout. Sleeping Giant State Park State reopened on Friday, a year after getting slammed by a tornado whipping around 100-mph-plus winds.
The damage denuded tree tops and scattered branches and trunks like matchsticks. The park closed while workers cleared and fixed the damage to trails and park facilities, thanks in part to Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, was quick to claim credit for the FEMA end of the repair bill.
“When natural disasters strike, the federal government has a key role to play in making communities and families whole,” DeLauro said in a statement. “That is why I was proud to work with my colleagues in Congress and state officials to ensure FEMA funded this relief following last year’s tornadoes.”
DeLauro said she also managed to insert language into an appropriations bill “reminding” the agency it has authority “to provide federal assistance for personal debris removal following natural disasters.”
Connecticut residents who found huge tree trunks and other detritus on their property after the tornado found FEMA unwilling to foot any of the bill to haul it away.
Interesting that legislation would be directed at “reminding” a government entity of anything.
Did it direct FEMA employees to put alarms on and penalize them if they hit “snooze”? One wonders.