I wanted to update you today on the status of the elderly in Connecticut and how they fared during the recent record setting event – that being the number of people who went without power after rainstorm Irene – and any related issues that we should publicize.
So I called Robert J. Norton who is the Director of Communications for the Connecticut Commission on Aging and a darn good one too. He is outgoing, media savvy, a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on aging and elderly issues and he always gets back to journalists who call.
Rob also is the go-to guy when I want to interview the commission’s executive director, Julia Evans Starr, who knows just about everything on this issue. It is rare when I write so glowingly about public employees, but once upon a time I did a job similar to Rob’s in another state, and my approach was similar to his and Julia’s.
So I figure they have the same attitude about public service that I do, and there is a measure of reassurance when you know how hard they work on behalf of our state’s elderly residents.
These are people who understand that they work for the taxpayers, care about their jobs and the people who depend on them, and make every effort to get the information people need when it’s needed. I presume they treat all journalists equally.
So it came as quite a surprise and disappointment when I got the commission’s voice mail saying we should remember that the offices of the Connecticut Commission on Aging are closed on Wednesdays due to budget cuts! WHAT???
How typically bureaucratic of this administration to cut the hours of the commission serving one of the few demographics in the entire state that needs more hours dedicated their issues, not less. Does the governor understand that when people are old they often don’t have a lot of time left on this earth?
Has he not realized that when someone calls the Commission on Aging that their question quite literally could be one of life or death? It’s bad enough to call a 911 Emergency Line and get put on hold, but to call the Commission on Aging for help with equally serious issues and find out that the office hours have been scaled back due to budget considerations is reprehensible.
It is so refreshing to call upon a state agency and find that you have a small number of people – four total in the paid staff – who put heart and soul into their jobs and then so disappointing to discover that their hours have been cut.
I’m sorry but this state is being flushed right down the proverbial toilet and if a Democrat administration can’t even maintain its loyalty to the needy, elderly and less fortunate, then exactly who does it represent?
I suppose I could do a few graphs on the way the lights were turned back on last week – right up to today actually. How the counties – Hartford, New Haven and Litchfield – where Gov. Dannel Malloy got the most votes and financial support in last year’s election got priority treatment. Maybe that’s who he represents.
Or how the entire 2nd Congressional District in Eastern Connecticut that went overwhelmingly for his opponent was stuck for the better part of a week taking showers in school gyms, eating meals prepared on a campfire and hauling buckets of water up two flights several times a day to flush their toilets?
Did you know that there were nine towns in Fairfield County that actually had their power turned back on as slowly as the people in Eastern Connecticut? Seriously. And the majority of voters in every one of them went for Tom Foley not Malloy.
Coincidence? Could be, who knows? Worth thinking about though, especially since so many people in so many of those communities are elderly.
Oh, and to the Connecticut Light & Power corporate lackey who claimed in a comment at the end of my column last week that I attacked the linemen and tree crews – eat my shorts.
How did that comment go? Oh, yeah, “How dare you imply that the crews are not working hard or that they are prioritizing by wealth and not by need.”
Allow me to retort. (Pulp Fiction.) How dare you come on to a website that is dedicated to providing truthful information to the general public and write a lie hidden in fake outrage?
How do I know you’re a corporate lackey? Because you hide behind an alias, that’s how – and you lie.
I defy you or anyone to find one word in last week’s Granny Snatching column that impugns the integrity of the crews who worked so hard to clear the lines of fallen trees and restore our power.
Last week’s column was on CL&P’s abysmal lack of a coordinated effort to effectively deploy the crews. It said nothing bad about the crews, so bug off and stop trying to use this website for your clumsy diversions!
So, I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to find out how the elderly across Connecticut fared after being assaulted by storm Irene. In the meantime I’m going to ask my mother to tell us some more stories of the Hurricane of 1938!
