Bad ideas in the Nutmeg State

Proposed, a state AIG bonus tax:

In the latest proposal to recoup the AIG bonus money for taxpayers, state Senate Democrats are calling for an 80 percent tax surcharge for anyone who receives a bonus from a company receiving federal bailout money.

Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, the highest-ranking senator, said the law would apply only to Connecticut residents, and the surcharge would be paid through their state income tax. Many of those receiving bonuses worked out of the AIG financial products division in Wilton in Fairfield County.

Vengeance is theirs.

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Proposed, making the state legislature even more like an oligarchy:

An upstate lawmaker has a novel idea for coping with Connecticut's fiscal crisis -- get rid of two-thirds of the General Assembly.

State Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford, proposed a bill to combine the part-time Senate and House of Representatives into one full-time body, decrease the total number of legislators from 187 to 60 and have them serve four-year terms instead of two.

Sen. LeBeau's press release. I think it would make more sense to have more legislators, and pay them a lot less, but no-one asked me.

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And the state Supreme Court upholds the DUI conviction of a man who was not driving:

Drunken people don't actually have to drive their cars to be charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The court's 5-0 ruling came in the case of Michael Cyr, who was arrested in Manchester in February 2005 in a parking lot near a bar. He had started his car remotely and then sat in the driver's seat intoxicated, but never put the key into the ignition and didn't drive anywhere.

Another story on this, with more comments.

Don't take any wooden nutmegs.