Dennis House, host of “Face the State,” invited myself and Mark Pazniokas, formerly of the Hartford Courant/currently of the new The Connecticut Mirror, to be the guest panelists during tonight’s taping with freshman Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Greenwich
A few highlights from the show, which airs Sunday morning:
1. Himes is open to a proposal made by Democratic President Barack Obama during Wednesday night’s State of the Union address to end tax cuts for investment fund managers and people earning over $250,000 – many of whom reside in lower Fairfield County and in Greenwich. There’s a BUT in there which you’ll learn if you watch the interview, clearly because Himes needs to tread carefully on taxation as a freshman Democrat representing wealthy lower Fairfield County and Greenwich.
2. Himes is prepared to vote for the Senate health bill “if the alternative is to do nothing.”
3. Himes is OK with Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke’s confirmation to a second term by the Senate even though fellow Greenwich resident/Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal wanted him out.
4. Himes sure likes to talk about how he listens to his constituents, particularly when he is not ready to commit to a position.
After the cameras stopped rolling I asked Himes about two other proposals the President focused on Wednesday night – taxing big banks to recoup federal bailout dollars and using $30 billion of the bank bailout repayments to improve the flow of credit to small businesses.
He’s prepared to support both.
I had also wanted to ask Himes for his thoughts on a proposal by potential Republican opponent Dan Debicella, a state Senator from Shelton, to repeal unspent stimulus funds and cut payroll taxes in half. But unfortunately I was unable to get to it.
But November’s nine months away, so there’s time.
