Phony Connecticut Politicians and Gullible Connecticut Reporters

All politicians say they work hard to protect the environment – we expect that because exaggeration is part of what they do. But the opportunities to point out the disparity between rhetoric and reality on Long Island Sound issues are rare, so I’m happy to do it now.

Today’s Greenwich Time has a story about Connecticut State Senator William Nickerson’s re-election campaign. It’s as soft as a soft feature can be, with virtually no substance about what Nickerson actually stands for. Near the bottom, the reporter lets Nickerson get away with this one:

He said if re-elected, he will work to improve transportation, protect the environment, close the education gap and reduce taxes.

The reality is that when the Connecticut legislature was cutting funding for the cleanup of Long Island Sound last year, Bill Nickerson was clueless. While it was happening he didn’t even know it was going on. He and Greenwich’s other legislators were asked about it specifically at a forum last November, and they said they weren’t aware of it. I wrote about it at the time, here and here.

Is that how Bill Nickerson works to protect the environment?

Up in Easton, State Senator John McKinney told a local paper:

One of the things he has been proudest of since coming into the senate is drafting legislation that helped clean up Long Island Sound...

Great news! Long Island Sound is cleaned up! The truth is, there’s no record of McKinney having tried to stop the gutting of the Clean Water Fund.

Newspaper reporters should be a bit more knowledgeable, and skeptical.