When the Norwalk-outers called for open debate on the council floor at last weeks special common council meeting, it prompted me to wonder why there was such concern over debate on the floor, when most of the debate about issues occurs at committee meetings.

Committee meetings, for the uninitiated, are the work sessions where relevant issues are brought up for consideration and potential action by the full council. For example, the BET committee meetings that were held drilled down to the granular issues that drove what budget line items were made of. The way committees work is basic, any committee chair or member can put something on the agenda for either study or action by the committee. The committee chair is responsible for placing action items on the council agenda at the appropriate time.

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Although its early, the state fiscal year begins July 1, the battle lines are emerging on the state budget. Earlier in the year Governor Rell proposed a constitutional budget cap busting budget that focused on delivering more money for education. The legislature, crafted by the Democratic majority revealed a budget that broke the cap that included more money for health care. That’s the simplified version.

Each side claims high ground over the philosophical issues that line up Democrats with preserving services and tax reductions for the middle class and the Republican proposing property tax reflief for all and concerns over over-taxing “the rich.”

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The Courant reports on the the difficulties in changing the culture up in Hartford with Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board. At the helm, Ben Bycel, revels in a watchdog role that causes some state lawmakers to be a little more circumspect. The Ethics board was created by the legislature in 2005, following the Rowland administration scandals. Bycel was hired to set up the department, and after some clashes with the entrenched way of doing business in Hartford, he has largely succeeded, at least, according to him. But Bycel, who set up  the ethics agency in Los Angeles, knows that it is inevitable that he will be fired not too far in the future.

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