Let Them Eat Cake
Posted 8/24/09
Many of us may recall that the record for a budget stalemate in Connecticut was the 1991 battle to adopt a state income tax and budget package. The struggle continued until August 22nd of that year, before then Gov. Lowell Weicker signed a budget into law.
At the beginning of this year, Republican Gov. Jodi Rell and Democrats who control the General Assembly said they were aware the recessionary economy and resulting huge deficit would make this year tough as well. Yet they vowed to work together to resolve the deficit and pass a budget with dispatch, so the state could recover.
That has not happened. August 22nd rolled by this past weekend and a quick visit to the State Capitol would have revealed no feverish negotiations to end the current budget crisis. Instead, Democrats and Rell spent a few hours in talks last week, shrugged their collective shoulders, and resumed political trench warfare against each other.
Democrats went back to their “road show” of press conferences in an effort to paint Rell as a heartless chief executive who is willing to cut emergency medical helicopter service, close schools, and destroy library programs. “She wants to see pain for the people in our state,” said House Speaker Chris Donovan (D-Meriden).
Republican lawmakers said Democrats refuse to consider any meaningful cuts in state spending to ease the deficit crisis. “They folded their arms across that (negotiating) table and said ‘we will not cut a dime, we want to tax our way out of this mess’,” said House GOP leader Lawrence Cafero (R-Norwalk).
Democrats claim they have been willing to cut spending up to $2.8 billion to attack the deficit, but Rell maintains that suggested Democratic cuts amount to “less than four-tenths of one percent of the total budget for the next two years.”
Does anyone in power care that the state continues to run on Rell’s monthly executive orders instead of a real budget? Apparently not enough to commit themselves to continuous budget negotiations to resolve the crisis.
“I’m frustrated, I’m very frustrated, with the lack of leadership from the Governor,” said Donovan. “In years past, the Governor was very involved and they worked out compromises,” he said.
Rell vowed not to be goaded into a budget deal. “I do not want to see a budget passed for the simple sake of having it passed, especially if the (spending) cuts are insignificant and phony, and the taxes and revenue increases are burdensome and hurtful,” she said.
Cafero warned that public patience with the budget stand-off is wearing thin. “Shame on all of us,” he said. “Our number one job, our oath, is to produce a balanced budget.”
So what’s next? Late this week, lawmakers are scheduled to meet in special session to take some steps to handle the deficit from last year’s budget, and to direct how to use the existing “rainy day” reserve fund made up of past surpluses.
If the powers-that-be are embarrassed enough by publicity surrounding the budget “anniversary” they blew apart, there’s a sliver of a chance they could reach a compromise and pass a final budget deal as part of this week’s legislative session. That seems a real long shot.
There is pressure to do “something” before September 1st, when school funding and bonding issues start to cause problems. Also, Rell will have to issue another monthly executive order to keep the government running, and she’s hinted spending levels will not be as generous as the orders issued for July and August.
However, if you read between the lines of the political statements made by all parties in the budget struggle, the theme seems to be that the budget crisis would be over if the “other guy” would just say “uncle”. That’s not compromise, but more like the Cold War.