State Capitol Autumn
Photo by Steve Kotchko
Posted 11/2/09
“To everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn,) and a time to every purpose, under heaven.” So sang The Byrds in a pop tune written by Pete Seeger and adapted from The Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes. It would appear that just about everyone in the good old New England state of Connecticut knows when to “turn” the seasons except members of the General Assembly.
Your part-time state legislature opened its annual session way back on January 7, when a cold rain beat against the State Capitol windows and the temperature barely made it into the 30s. Thanks to their bickering, palavering, procrastinating, and apparent desire to debate budget issues ad nauseam, lawmakers managed to drag their work into late October. Though the regular session ended on its constitutionally-mandated deadline date June 3, a string of veto and special sessions kept lawmakers roaming around the Capitol into the fall.
The whole shebang wrapped up on the afternoon of Oct. 29, when House and Senate Democratic leaders quietly called their respective chambers into session, ran through traditional opening prayers and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, and then voted to end not one, but two special sessions that had been hanging fire in case more legislating was needed.
“We terminated the two special sessions,” State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney (D-New Haven) told the Hartford Courant. “We are now out of session for the first time since January.”
Winter’s chill melted into the green warmth of spring, which bloomed into full heat of summer, and then transformed into the crisp air of autumn and still your lawmakers toiled at the State Capitol. You can see by the accompanying State Capitol photo that the leaves turned and almost finished falling before the legislature officially called it quits.
Don’t be fooled into thinking they’re really done with it all. Democrats were toying with the idea of using one of those just-ended special sessions to return and try to override Republican Gov. Jodi Rell’s veto on a budget implementation bill. It appears there was reluctance on the part of many rank-and-file lawmakers to tackle the task, so the gavel came down on special sessions.
Ironically, the only voice raised in opposition to that move was State House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero (R-Norwalk) who chastised the Democrats who control the General Assembly for not taking action in session to further decrease state spending.
Though Cafero had complained a potential Democratic veto session would be a waste of time “on the taxpayers dime”, the GOP leader said meeting to vote on more spending cuts would be worthwhile. He tied his argument to a missive from Moody’s Investor Service that it was changing its evaluation of Connecticut’s budget status from “stable” to “negative outlook”.
“If we do not take corrective action, I think we have doomed ourselves to a negative (bond) rating,” Cafero said. Though Moody’s didn’t actually drop Connecticut’s rating, the GOP leader feels their “negative outlook” statement is a warning.
House Speaker Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) sees things differently. “We can take some comfort in the fact that our bond rating remains excellent even as we begin to emerge from the most difficult recession in decades,” said the Speaker. Translation? It looks as if the U.S. economy is on the mend, so let’s not take any hasty action.
Cafero calls that attitude irresponsible. “We have lost jobs, we have recognized more business closures, and every single revenue stream is down considerably,” he said. “How can you say ‘it’s too early to react’?,” Cafero asked.
Several budget reviews have indicated the new state budget already is building a deficit of more than $390 million and Rell has indicated a new “mitigation package” is in the works with more spending cuts to ease the deficit.
The Governor told a business forum last week: “The real budget wars are about to begin.” She said she’ll be making cuts up to 5% in state agency budgets, using recessionary powers without the need for legislative action. She warned the cuts may be visible and painful.
If Rell starts slashing programs Democrats hold dear, it’s entirely possible Democratic leaders would force yet another special session this year to counter Rell’s moves and deal with the growing deficit in their own way.
As the Byrds sang: “A time to gain, a time to lose. A time to rend, a time to sew. A time for love, a time for hate. A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.”
Love, and peace, and no more legislating for a while—we can only hope.