Arthur O'Neil State Rep. From Southbury Shares His Views

This week my friend Dick and I had the great honor of meeting with State Rep. Arthur O'Neill at his office. This meeting was at the request of Dick who was very impressed with Rep. O'Neill's outlook on the politics of Hartford.

Rep. O'Neill, an attorney, is running un-opposed this year. During our meeting, of which lasted over an hour we discussed the politics and the control over the house in Hartford.

Rep. O'Neill has said that the state employee unions are the bosses up in Hartford and they have used the age old premise of "money for influence" to gain control over the "House." Rep. O'Neill said that they learned "long ago that by controlling the House they could effectively control their job security, and compensation by way of their benefits."

Rep. O'Neill said that they "also learned that filing deadlines for reporters are usually at 11:00P.M so when reporters are in the House they only speak on the floor on matters that the public will not find controversial. The real show starts in the early hours of the morning outside public scrutiny and those votes and bills that are introduced and passed are the ones that hurt taxpayers the most."

O'Neill said that the unions "overwhelmingly endorse Democrats because they are the ones who are most sympathetic to their cause." One idea that I mentioned to O'Neill was the use of the CEP (Citizen Elections Program) as a tool to fund alternate candidates challenging these "special interest" political agents who clandestinely serve the interests, not of the people they allege to represent, but rather their true masters, those dominant groups that hold their "purse."

O'Neill said that crossing the unions in Hartford is a very "risky and dangerous thing to do" citing that Gov. Rowland layed off and fired state employees who responded with an all out offensive to end him as our state governor. O'Neill is not completely convinced that the state labor unions were not involved in accelerating Rowland's demise.

His biggest concern in the state legislature is the Incoming Speaker of the House Donovan, according to a blogger at media attache "Donovan, who works part time as a union organizer for the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges, is viewed by the business community and most political observers, as being on the left side of the political spectrum." O'Neill agrees and this is of great concern me as well as small businesses and taxpayers who may have to suffer harder to make the lives of state employees less stressful.

When I asked Rep. O'Neil why it is that our state legislature, already marred with the worst record in America, rated dead last as the most undesirable state to conduct business, would entertain leadership that may levy even more taxes? He answered that once the laws are passed, and the regulations are put on the books the unions will have the unrestrained use of the police powers of government to levy and collect taxes. Basically he said when a man comes to your "door with a gun," small businesses will have no alternative but pay up or close down, even if that means auctioning off assets to satisfy the unions taxman.

Without a doubt, and as a small business owner myself already mired with my own difficulties, the last thing I wish for our state is to have its economic engine "small business" completely cease up. In conclusion we both agreed that serious reforms are needed but most importantly elected officials that understand economics must be elected to office in the state legislature.