OP-ED: WHAT IS CONNECTICUT HIDING?

Monday, April 20, 2026

Connecticut was graded a “B” by some non-profit group for transparency.  That looks like grade inflation.  Instead, if the state of Connecticut was graded on obfuscation and denial, it would earn a solid A.  The areas discussed below are just the most obvious large scale issues.  There is much more.  Individual acts of corruption are another large subject.  State Senator Rob Sampson has pointed out that the sheer volume of corruption in the state is overwhelming.

Artificial Intelligence Use by State Agencies

Lurking in the shadows in state governance is the role of AI.  The growing pressure to rely on AI  for decision making authority is in direct conflict with individual civil rights.  The state has done a study or two, but there has been no real public discussion.  The reason is that there is no real system of accountability for AI based decision making.  That is because current AI models are black boxes.  It is not possible to know how they arrive at their decisions.  How can you have accountability when you can’t explain your decision?  So far, the state would rather not talk about it.

Bad Economy

How do you hide a bad economy?  Well, said as softly as possible, the state of Connecticut admits it is not keeping up with the rest of the nation in terms of economic growth.  Statistical prestidigitation is used to make the state’s economy look better than it is.  Where the national GDP has been around 2%,  for more than several years, Connecticut has been closer to 1%.ss  By definition, progressive policies are anti-economic policies.

Bad Education

There are several national and international metrics for scholastic performance that measure Connecticut’s relative standing.  Take your pick.  Some aspects of these measures can make Connecticut look good, others not so much.  The ones that put Connecticut in a bad light tend to be more fundamental; e.g., literacy and math skills.  Bad test scores point not just to poor scholastic performance, but also to the factors that cause  poor performance; e.g., truancy, low parent support, as well as economic issues.  Members of the state’s educational establishment keep pointing to the wrong factors.  They also get caught up in phony issues that blind them to the real problems.

Solving these problems will take the kind of political honesty which has been missing from the state government for some 40 years.  So, the state will continue to pretend education is in good shape when it is not.  However, if the termination of the U.S. Department of Education offers anything, it is the ability to finally be free of federal insanity masquerading as federal policy.  The timing becomes interesting to study.  Just as more power over education is devolving to the states, then CT decides to attack home schooling.

Department of Children and Families Versus Home Schooling

Accusations directed at the incompetence in the Department of Children and Families has been going on for years.    Again, the state has tried to ignore and downplay their failings, but the current fight over regulating home schooling is pushing the DCF back to center stage.

To say the kind of neglect exhibited by the DCF is scandalous is an understatement.  A dedicated group that decides to dig into the many failures of the DCF will find much that likely breaks the law.  The decision to use them to go after home schooling parents may cause unintended blowback against the state.

FOIA Abuses

The state of Connecticut is experiencing a slowly building boil over access issues for Freedom of Information requests.  According to the all knowing internet there has been an increase in backlogs to over 2,000 FOIA requests.  Meantime, in 2022, the requests reached 1,916.   Some accuse the public of abusing the FOIA system.  They are called “vexatious requestors”.  But others counter that a lack of cooperation by government agencies only invite a flood of requests.

Meantime, on the other side, a number of agencies and organizations are trying to get more  exemptions in order to provide their version of privacy even though they get public money.

The Reckoning

Ronald Regan famously said “It’s not what liberals know, it is what liberals know that ain’t so.”  So much of the progressive policies of the state of Connecticut is driven by what “ain’t so”.

The bigger problem though is the damage that continues to be caused by these misguided progressive policies.  Lost opportunities, lost learning, greater frustration with the government, reduced earning power, and wasteful spending are just the obvious problems.

It is up to the citizens in Connecticut to stand up and bring about the kinds of change which will pull us back from the brink.