Power & Politics: Analyzing Gov. Hochul's State of the State speech

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Seth Koslow on his bid for Nassau County executive

‘So much unity.’ Former Rep. Peter King, other NY lawmakers hopeful ahead of Trump inauguration 

Long Island native to sing the National Anthem at Inauguration

Power & Politics: Deconstructing the State of the State; 1:1 with Rep. Gottheimer

Sen. Blumenthal clashes with Homeland Security Secretary nominee Kristi Noem

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News 12 Staff

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I'm Mark Suddall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Imagine there's no heaven. Former President Jimmy Carter was recently laid to rest. The Democrats served as president from 1977 to 1981 during a time of economic and diplomatic crises. He earned a Nobel Peace Prize after leaving the White House for his humanitarian work. President Biden delivered Carter's eulogy throughout his life. He showed us what it means to be a practitioner of good works. And a good and faithful servant of God and of the people. Carter is remembered as a devoted humanitarian and champion of human rights. Well, Ken Gray, a lecturer at the University of New Haven, joins us now. Welcome. Thank you very much. Glad to be with you. Well, Ken, what do you remember about Jimmy Carter when he was president? So I'm old enough to remember the Carter presidency as one that had both high points and low points, high points including things like successfully managing to get Israel and Egypt to come together for the Camp David Accords. But at the same time, I also remember the long gas lines at the gas stations during the energy crunch when OPEC doubled the price of fuel. And so this was an administration that had, as I say, both high points and low points. Now Carter's work uh certainly continued after he left office. So what were some of the things he did? So President Carter was probably best noted for the things he achieved after he left office. He started the Carter Center, which worked on humanitarian efforts around the world trying to stop conflict. He traveled around the world trying to negotiate. peace in many conflict areas and also was involved in overseeing examinations of war crimes in places. President Carter was also very instrumental in some of his domestic pursuits, including the His uh starting the the uh uh what is the habitat, uh, building houses for people, uh, putting together some of his uh skills that he had from being a peanut farmer in Georgia and uh being very good with uh woodwork, uh actually going out building homes for people. So how do you think he should be remembered? As I said, he is remembered more for what he did after he left office than what he did during the time he was in office. Uh, of course, the Camp David Accords is one of the very high points. Uh, he started the Department of Energy and the Department of Education while he was in office. Um, but at the same time you had the hostage crisis going on where during the Iranian revolution students seized the American embassy there in Tehran and took the embassy personnel hostage and held them for 444 days. That was probably the real low point. Uh, during his administration was this cumulative drip drip drip of the days go by while Americans were being held hostage and then of course those hostages were released once Reagan became president. Uh, turning now, turning now to, uh, Monday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, is security going to be an issue you think on Monday? So this inauguration is different than the last inauguration in that uh you had the January 6th issue before the inauguration last time, so we saw the DC area become an armed camp with fencing put up absolutely everywhere and the fear that there may be additional problems after the January 6th event. This year, we do not have that same thing looming over us, but at the same time there will be protesters there at the inauguration, and so you'll see somewhat of the same type of response to this to guarantee the security of the inauguration. Additionally, we had the event down in New Orleans which showed that. A lone wolf acting in support of ISIS drove his car into a crowd there and so the security apparatus, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, of course, Secret Service, the DC police, and the National Guard that they are bringing in will all be on high alert for not only the protesters but also the possibility of terrorism. And you've worked a lot on terrorism over your career in addition to security and so many other things. Will terrorists be a threat to the next administration and what about foreign policy? So in many ways we thought with pulling out of Afghanistan that we were done with terrorism, that the war on terror was over and that we were ready to turn our eyes towards a great power conflict with a potential looming war. either Russia or China, but uh we, while we may have thought we were done with terrorism, terrorism is not done with us. Uh the fact that uh that Afghanistan is now occupied by a number of different terrorist groups. The fact that you see Syria being overtaken by what was a spinoff from al Qaeda, those things make terrorism still a looming threat. Additionally, Hamas is on the terrorist list on the designated foreign. Terrorist organizations and of course the still ongoing conflict there with Israel makes both Hamas and Hezbollah a potential problem also. And so I think that terrorism is just the greatest threat as it was back on 9/11 but it is a much Um, harder threat to combat because it's so uh spread out around the world. Ken, thank you so much for your time.

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Well, if you looked at the real estate listings lately, you know that Connecticut has a housing crisis. This week at the state Capitol, top Democrats said it's one of their biggest priorities this year. News 12 Connecticut's John Craven is here with some of the solutions they're looking at. Well top Democrats are vowing to make progress on Connecticut's housing crisis this year, but that may be harder than finding a home you can actually afford. Connecticut is famous for small town charm, but it comes at a steep cost. At the state capitol, top lawmakers say the housing shortage will be one of their top issues this year. Too many people are spending too much money. Uh, every month on their rent or their mortgage because house prices are so high, but can Democrats agree on a solution? Last year, Fairfield County Democrats killed a controversial fair share quota that would have forced towns to build a certain amount of affordable housing. Instead of mandates, Governor Lamont suggested a compromise last week. Time is money. Speed up the permitting process. Get those shovels in the ground. Lawmakers are also focused on schools. One area most agree on is more funding for special education. Special education is in need of immediate special attention. Bridgeport, Stamford, and other large districts are calling for half a billion dollars new dollars for schools. But any extra money will likely come with more state oversight. We got to look at what outcomes we're getting for those children who are in these programs. We've got to look at the cost of these programs. Well, the other big question Can lawmakers pay for all this without busting the state's strict spending caps known as the fiscal guard rails? House Speaker Matt Ritter thinks they can. John Craven, News 12, Connecticut. Still a lot of work to be done. That's all our time. I'm Mark Suddall. Thanks for watching.

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Business leader Chris Davis and Ken Gray, of the University of New Haven, join the show this week. 

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Power & Politics: The state of business in Connecticut; Remembering Jimmy Carter

Business leader Chris Davis and Ken Gray, of the University of New Haven, join the show this week.

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