Monday November 24, 2008
Too bad they didn’t schedule the special session of the General Assembly for Wednesday instead of today. Then the lame-duck session could be the lame-turkey confab of the House and Senate.
Speaking of turkeys, the unredeemed nickel deposits called escheats by wonks like the Blogster, will not be part of the deficit-mitigation plan. Sure, Jodi Rell just tossed it out there as a way to get another $25 million (or $10 million if you listen to the soda and beer distributors)but sooner or later, the state’s gonna retrieve that money.
“It’s unclaimed property and we should take it for the people,” Senate Minority Leader John McKinney just told a couple of reporters. “Every governor from Lowell Weicker has proposed it.” McKinney said that 30 years ago, the deposit law was passed as a recycling-and-litter strategy and that no one anticipated the possibility of people paying the deposit at the purchase point, then failing to redeem the empties.
“It should be a slam dunk,” said McKinney, noting that the state’s landmark campaign-finance reforms should have prevented lobbyist influence and yet clearly the beverage industry is winning this one, today.