GO CT! Dem's pass tax increase, protections for transgenders...

paid sick days and pot decriminalization for small amounts!

The Connecticut state legislature just passed paid sick days. They've passed a tax increase and protections for transgender people. Is Connecticut the lone bright spot in a year dominated by aggressive conservative politics--and what can we learn from Connecticut's progressives?

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Even the New York Times took note today of Connecticut's recent record: As legislators wrap up the first session in 20 years with a Democratic governor, who is working with two chambers in the Legislature under Democratic control, it is clear that either they did not receive or they decided to tear up the antitax, budget-slashing, confront-the-unions script that has characterized state legislative sessions elsewhere.

So how did Connecticut avoid the conservative wave that has so dominated state politics this year? Back in April, after a rally in support of public workers, Yale graduate student and organizer Stephanie Greenlea told AlterNet that progressives in Connecticut are organized and working in solidarity across a broad range of issues. Connecticut went Democratic as New Jersey went Republican and New York saw a Democratic governor sweeping in many of the same austerity policies as the Republicans.

As conservative governors and state legislatures face pushback from their constituents over austerity measures, it's worth a look at what's going right in Connecticut to see if there are strategies there that can be replicated elsewhere.


http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/609811/connecticut%2C_fresh_off_paid_sick_days%2C_set_to_decriminalize_marijuana/#paragraph4

under threat of layoffs. He wanted $2 billion in concessions and no one knew where he dragged that amount from. Some say that he was working with the CT Business groups, who are anti-union, to get that number. He ended up getting around $1.6 billion in concessions from public sector unions.

And paid sick days doesn't affect everyone. I don't get paid sick days, paid holidays or paid vacations. I was laid off in 2008 and can only get contract jobs, which only pay when I work.