Political Capitol

News reports circulated last month that the state’s colleges and universities were reeling from the loss of professors to the early retirement package lawmakers offered earlier in the summer to thin the ranks of public employees in the face of the massive, two-year state budget deficit.

But according to spokesmen with Norwalk Community College and the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus, most of their staff will be returning for the new school year.

Madeline Barillo, NCC’s director of public relations, said the school lost four faculty members – a math professor, a psychology professor, an architecture assistant professor and a math/physics associate professor – out of 103.

Ten non-teaching support staffers out of 150 also took the package, she said.

“I can’t see those numbers as devastating,” Barillo said.

UCONN Spokesman Richard Veilleux said only one faculty member at the Stamford campus retired.

“I wouldn’t think we’re worried,” Veilleux said.

When Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell in early February first proposed capping the amount of transferrable tax credits the state provides movie and television productions at $30 million annually, I wasn’t shocked.

On the one hand it seemed a bit anti-business for the same Republican Governor who happily posed for photos with John Travolta on a film set in Redding in 2007.

And industry insiders argue a cap will stop the growth of Hollywood East, the tag line former House Speaker and current gubernatorial candidate James Amann, D-Milford continually used when he spearheaded the credit legislation a few years ago.

But the three-year-old tax credit program continues to flummox lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who see some big films (although not always box-office winners) and television programs coming to the state but who are not quite convinced that they are getting a solid enough return on investment.

A recent report by the state’s film office concluded $113.2 million worth of credits had been issued to qualifying productions that invested around $41.5 million in return into the economy.

The industry lobbied against Rell’s cap and won over legislative Democrats, who have instead proposed tighter restrictions on the credit program aimed at saving the state money. Although industry insiders aren’t doing cart wheels over the Dems’ proposal, they’ve admitted they can live with much of it.

And, despite criticism of the tax credit program and critical news reports about it, the star struck public doesn’t seem to have an issue with it. This is hardly a scientific conclusion, but whenever The Advocate writes about efforts to limit or do away with the production credits, we receive letters complaining about those incompetent state lawmakers in Hartford who can’t recognize a good thing when they see it.

So I have to admit I was a bit surprised late last week when Rell issued her third two-year budget package and not only stuck with the cap – BUT RECOMMENDED LOWERING IT TO $25 MILLION ?!?!?

Not to buy into or promote stereotypes, but when even Democrats are arguing a policy will hurt business, you’ve got to figure it’s problematic.

So why is the Governor so dead set on this cap?