Journal-Inquirer Managing Editor Chris Powell weighs in this weekend with an editorial critical of plans under consideration by the Hartford City Council to adopt a sanctuary policy like the one in place in New Haven.

Excerpt:

Forbidding police from inquiring about citizenship when it has no relevance to the investigation of crime is one thing. Giving identification documents to people who are in the country illegally, precisely to facilitate their remaining in the country illegally, and refusing to cooperate with the national government’s enforcement of immigration law are something else — subversive and treasonable.

Is there a failure of immigration policy in this country?
Should it be strengthened and better enforced, or should it be liberalized?
How much of an impact does illegal immigration have in Fairfield County?
Should local law enforcement be deputized or trained for immigration enforcement?
Are you more in tune with Danbury; or New Haven?

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John Reilly’s column in today’s Hour floats this preposterous idea and it took me 10 minutes to recover from the lunacy, whose exactly is ambiguous. From the Hour:

Unless my political antenna is bent, I’d say state Rep. Bruce Morris is weighing a run against hizzoner Dick Moccia. His involvement in the trash debate over Meadow Street, while not the territory you’d expect a state rep to be involved in, gave him a forum for some exposure.

If he decides to make a run, his major support will come from Ward B, assuming he has Bobby Burgess’ blessing.

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Friends of ours had a barbeque in honor of their young daughter’s birthday last night. I always have a good time at their things, and last night I heard an unusual and entertaining story of olden times in Middlebury.

OK, not so olden times. The year was 1969, and the place - the teller recalled - was Middlebury Town Hall. The story goes they administered a reading test to her brother, who was registering as a Democrat.

Feather adds some context here-

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed things like literacy tests. As I recall, he was asked to read a few lines of text.

There is an interesting history to the voting age being lowered. In a nutshell: it was first a law passed by Congress as an amendment to the Voting Rights Act in 1970. It was challenged, and the Supreme Court overturned the law in part - it applied to Federal not State elections. Next up - the Constitutional Amendment:

AMENDMENT XXVI
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.

Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment.

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

I wonder if anyone else will recall something like this, especially since it was illegal in 1969? But I did a bit of research and in 1855 Connecticut was the first State to adopt a literacy test for voters (via State Constitutional Amendment). Old habits die hard?

Do any of you long-time Connecticut residents have recollection of this sort of thing?

And, should Democrats in Middlebury still be required to complete reading tests in order to be registered to vote today? Just kidding.

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