Courant takes shot at Senate candidate Tong’s pet project

The Hartford Courant has published an editorial questioning the recent hiring of an $100,000 a year executive director for the state’s Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission during still tough fiscal times.

“This is good news for the commission, but Connecticut taxpayers may be asking themselves why, in financially strapped times, this group exists with such a price tag attached,” reads the editorial, which can be viewed in full here.

The state has other commissions on African American, Latino, women and elderly affairs – groups proponants say are invaluable resources for those residents and that critics argue should at the least be merged into one entity to cut costs.

Not mentioned by the Courant is the fact the commission’s creation was  a pet project of state Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford since his election in 2006. Tong was the first Asian American to join the General Assembly and is currently campaigning for U.S. Senate.

Tong is currently one of three Democrats vying for their party’s nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by “independent Democrat” Joseph Lieberman, also of Stamford.

While I have a hard time seeing either of Tong’s primary opponents – U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy and ex-Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz – making hay over the commission, the Courant’s editorial I’m certain will be in play should Tong make it to the general election.

What Republican candidate is going to pass up the chance to say, “William Tong grew big government, creating a commission in Hartford run by a highly paid director while your taxes were increasing.”

Here’s the testimony Tong delivered in 2007 to a legislative committee in support of the commission. 

Brian Lockhart