EAST HARTFORD – The Yankee Institute for Public Policy, which did much to bring attention to the Malloy Administration’s plan to provide $300,000 in taxpayer funding to the New Haven People’s Center, home to the Connecticut Communist Party, releases the following statement from Executive Director Fergus Cullen in response to today’s bond commission meeting:
“It’s never too late to make the right decision, and the Yankee Institute applauds Governor Malloy for having the courage to change his mind and not fund the New Haven People’s Center.
This issue has never really been about the Connecticut Communist Party. Rather, this grant raised questions about why any private organization serving no public purpose deserves public funding, and how funding for this group could get put on the Bond Commission’s agenda in the first place.
I lived near the People’s Center for three and a half years. I liked New Haven and still enjoy visiting the city and the old neighborhood, where I had an off campus apartment. Frankly there are lots of run-down buildings in New Haven that could use a few repairs. Many of us would like to do some home improvement projects – but we aren’t looking for taxpayer money to do them.
Too many tax dollars have been wasted by the Bond Commission on questionable priorities over the years, and it’s time to bring this misuse of tax dollars to an end.”
