More on Mikutel, Malloy, voting and leadership

      I wanted to make a couple of brief follow-up points concerning my Sunday column about the voting record of Rep. Steve Mikutel, D-Griswold, and his opposition to some of the key policy provisions pushed by Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

     Commenting online, David Irons (I love that this guy has the integrity to use his real name) stated the following:

     “I do however question the wording of some of this article. While reporting that he voted against the budget, it states that he ‘objected to the tax package, criticized the labor deal, opposed both the law that will decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and changes that will allow earlier release of prisoners who demonstrate good behavior and get involved in prison programs.’”

    “As I read that, I see that he opposed, criticized and objected but I don't see that he actually voted against his party on them. How exactly did he vote on those issues?”

    I should have made that clearer, David. The tax package was not presented separately, but as part of the overall budget, which Rep. Mikutel opposed. He voted against decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and the early-release incentive program for prisoners. The labor deal was never presented to the legislature to act on.

    Also in the column I noted that Rep. Mikutel, while disagreeing with some of the governor’s policies, voiced respect for his leadership ability. This prompted “Lucina” to write: “He's a leader who is leading the state off an economic cliff. Is that leadership? I think not.”

   And USNAVYCHIEF said it was a mistake for Mikutel to “pander to the governor by adding that bit about being a true leader.”

   On this point I have to side with Mikutel. I’ve heard this argument before in reader comments. It goes like this: If a politician is not leading in the direction the commenter agrees with, then he or she is not a leader. But a leader, according to my Merriam-Webster’s, is “a person who has commanding authority or presence.” That defines Malloy in this past legislative session. He used his bully pulpit, executive authority and Democratic majorities to push his policies through the legislature and get things done on time.

   Now whether those were good policies, or whether they conform to Malloy’s campaign promises, is very much open to debate. But I don’t think Mikutel showed inconsistency in recognizing Malloy’s political leadership ability, while questioning some of his policies.

As for “leading the state off an economic cliff,” time will tell, but I don’t think that is the governor’s intention. It wouldn’t make for much of a re-election platform.