This is a longer version of an op-ed I submitted to the CT Post. Will the Post publish it? Doubtful.

If this is to make any sense, read this first: CT Post editorial on the prospect of more casinos in the state.

Ok, now lets get to it. The prospect of more casinos in this state can only bother three different sets of people.

1. Pure, 100% Connecticut Yankees who are desperately hanging on to some semblance of neo-Puritanism in an attempt to maintain a facade which seems to only to appeal to blue-bloods that are already living in the state. (The author of the editorial linked above, I’m guessing.)
2. People who are worried about the influx of gamblers and their monetarily motivated, vice-enabling support staffs. Basically, traffic.
3. CT residents who are more concerned about how the state appears nationally, rather than how it’s economy can benefit people locally. (Malloy)

The editorial linked above is a perfectly benign opinion given a whitewash of sentiment covering the governor’s keister. What is the most alarming sentence in the entire article? You probably picked it out already but in case you were dozing off during your reading of it, here it is; “But Malloy has not guided public rhetoric on casinos as he seeks to put his stamp on the state’s character for decades to come.” I even underlined it for you. I am not going to pretend that elected officials aren’t at least partly motivated by their own over inflated egos but to observe Malloy in the context of the casino issue, we can only draw one conclusion: he’s already moved on to damage control.

Malloy has repeatedly contradicted himself and if nothing else has at the very least shown the rest of the country what not to do with taxes. So he’s got that going for him. In a way, he and the state should be used in every anti-socialist attack ad that Hillary runs against the rapidly fading Sanders. We’ve got it all! Crony capitalism operating under the guise of, “we’re all in this together!” type rhetoric and exorbitant taxes all facilitating a mass corporate and private exodus. It floors me that anyone living in this state can support Sanders after they’ve seen what a far-left governor surrounded by lefty leaning legislators and their tax proposals can do to a relatively small economy.

It is no secret that private companies are leaving CT at an alarming rate. The most recent blow to the state was the announcement that GE would be picking up shop and moving to Massachusetts by 2018. GE began rattling that particular saber last June and made the announcement 6 months later that they were going bye bye. The reason behind the move was simple; taxes in CT are unfriendly to business. I suspect that is only part of the reason to move. I’m sure proximity to Harvard / MIT didn’t hinder their decision as Massachusetts looks very much like Connecticut in terms of taxation.

So people and businesses are leaving. The state infrastructure is crumbling, or if it is being fixed it’s work rate rivals continental drift. (See; I-95 corridor through New Haven) Our taxes are being raised regularly to offset the financial crisis we find ourselves in. Everything is peachy. Who can blame anyone for supporting the building of a casino which, if it is anything like Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, will employ 10,000 people? Apparently our governor can. We know that a casino won’t solve the state’s economic downturn but when faced with the prospect of more jobs and more money coming into the state from surrounding states, no one can be blamed for their enthusiasm.

So, whats his problem? Mainly this; the character stamp he is attempting to put on the state, eluded to earlier by the author of the CT Post editorial, has already been sealed in wax. And it’s not good. The damage control portion of Malloy’s tenure exists now to alleviate the pressure put on him by CT residents who are trying to avoid the image of, “Las Vegas East” or even more horrifying, “Atlantic City North.” If he can’t figure out the state’s fiscal woes, which he obviously cant, then the least he can do is attempt to salvage the perceived character of the state, which by the way, hasn’t existed outside of the gold coast in years.

Don’t worry though, he’ll figure it out. And he’ll get reelected.