It is hard to say exactly where the shock value of Rep. Ernest Hewett's proposed new legislation for New London's Fort Trumbull begins.    

It could be with the fact that the proposal, which would create a new taxing and bonding authority within the city, was slipped secretly into another bill, practically in the middle of the night. 

Even as the bill headed toward a public hearing in Hartford on Tuesday, two other lawmakers who represent New London said they had just learned of it and still were trying to understand what it is intended to do.

One of the legislators had fielded a worried call Monday from General Dynamics, wondering what the proposed law means for its Electric Boat complex in New London.

Maybe the shock value began to peak for me when I learned that this proposal comes from lobbyist Jay Levin, the same lobbyist whose firm once pocketed $392,000 from the corrupt administration of Gov. John Rowland for a report on the New London waterfront that laid the groundwork for the taking of people's homes by eminent domain.

The story of the proposed Hewett law hit a shocking new high for me when the lawmaker admitted, as I asked him about the bill, that the language of the proposal came directly from Levin.

Then — most shocking of all, I guess — Hewett admitted, as I asked him about the bill, that he doesn't really understand it.

First he told me the intent of the new taxing authority is to encourage new development. When I asked how that would work, he said he doesn't know.

"That's a good question," he said.

Honestly, you could not make this up if you tried: The lobbyist who laid the groundwork for an eminent domain battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court now proposes a strange new taxing district for that still empty neighborhood and a lawmaker, who doesn't understand it, tries to slip it into law.

"It doesn't pass the sniff test," Rep. Aundré Bumgardner of Groton, a Republican who also represents New London, told me Tuesday as he prepared for the public hearing on the bill. "It screams cronyism."

Even the architects of the proposal began to back away from it as soon as it started to go public Tuesday.

Hewett told me, even as the General Assembly's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee began its public hearing, that he was going to try to meet with the committee chairman and claw back the language for the Fort Trumbull plan.

New London Mayor Michael Passero said he has participated in three planning meetings about the proposal, including one he hosted Tuesday morning at City Hall.

Passero said the taxing district was modeled after one in use in Bridgeport, a measure in which Levin also was involved.

Levin was working on the New London plan as a private citizen and not as a lobbyist, Mayor Passero said.

I caught up with Levin late in the day Tuesday by phone and he said he proposed the tax district because it has worked well in Bridgeport, where his clients are involved.

He said he is not proposing it for New London on behalf of any specific clients.

The mayor said he didn't learn until Monday that the measure actually became part of a raised bill in the legislature. He first said the filing of the bill was a mistake, then corrected himself and said it was the result of a miscommunication.

Hewett was surprised when I told him the mayor told me he did not learn until Monday about the proposal becoming legislation.

The proposal submitted by Hewett is a dense 20 pages long in a large bill that includes many other state revenue issues, like phasing out the luxury tax on cars.

The elaborate plan for 90 acres of Fort Trumbull would create a district with leaders elected by property owners.

The district would have the authority to tax property and impose liens on properties with unpaid taxes. It also would have the authority to issue up to $190 million in tax-free bonds.

The district and its revenues and property also would be exempt from city and state taxes, according to the proposal.

One can understand why officials at Electric Boat, which might have designs on expanding someday into Fort Trumbull, would be alarmed.

I guess the good news in all of this is that it still seems shocking that a major initiative that would create a new tax authority would pass so easily from the desks of cronies in a back room into legislation being considered by the General Assembly.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com