Democrats Still Ignoring CT Government’s Red Ink

My prediction on September 24th was the Democrats in the Connecticut General Assembly were ignoring the state’s economic outlook when they proposed a budget over three months late. “The Democrats’ budget anticipates tax revenue that is unlikely to materialize during this global recession. What does that mean – our state budget is likely already running in a deficit – less than three months into a two-year budget. The Connecticut Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates 2012-2013 revenues will produce a deficit of over $6 BILLION!"

The Fiscal Year 2010 deficit is already $624 million according to the State Comptroller’s November 2nd estimates! This fact was entirely predictable when the Democrats ignored the reality of the record recession and assumed unrealistic tax and casino revenues. Thankfully, Governor Rell is committed to calling legislators back to the Capitol to address the ongoing budget crisis.

The Democrats’ budget just kicked the can down the road by failing to make any meaningful spending cuts. The Democrats’ budget relied on one-shot gimmicks, Obamabucks and over a billion dollars of new debt to balance the budget.

Late last month, Moody’s Investor Service downgraded the credit rating on Connecticut government’s debt, sending off alarm bells in the credit market and diminishing the state’s ability to sell bonds. Moody’s cited the new state budget’s overreliance on revenue from one-time gimmicks, borrowing, and wealthy tax payers whose income levels remain volatile.

When will the Democrats in Connecticut see the light? Connecticut government spending outpaced our taxpayer resident’s income by 64% since 1987! Connecticut government spending grew at such a rapid pace in the last 22 years that it far exceeded the growth of income for the resident’s who fund the government with their taxes.

Early in the 2009 legislative session I was excited to be appointed to a new commission created to identify potential improvements and efficiencies of our state government operations. I felt my experience with this process in local government could lend a unique perspective to the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes (guvspeak acronym is CEAO). Now if we could just convince the Democratic majority leadership to seriously consider reinventing Connecticut state government’s operations we might actually reduce spending!

Residents of Connecticut expect more from their elected officials. Unfortunately, the Democrats hold a super majority in the Connecticut legislature and they still have their heads in the sand!

Running to the Keys...

Senator McLachlan’s remarks at a press conference this afternoon at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford:

I am pleased today to honor a community activist and author, Coach Doug Merrill. Coach Merrill is the founder of the Power UP Foundation which provides financial assistance to communities and programs promoting positive physical fitness and positive mental health. The Coach is in Hartford today on his way to Key West, Florida. He is participating in an historic run which began on October 4th in Boston and will end in April of 2010 in Key West, Florida. The run is part of an effort to raise $25 million for the Power UP Foundation.

Coach Merrill is author of the book “Fighting the Demon of Suicide.” The book is part of the inspiration for Coach Merrill’s run and focuses on conquering emotional stress and preventing the tragedy of suicide, particularly in youngsters. Coach Merrill has dedicated his life to this message as he resigned as a teacher and focuses solely on public speaking and writing. In the book Coach Merrill also outlines a ten-point plan on conquering mental illness and the “demons of mental depression.”

It is an honor for me to present this Governor’s Proclamation to Coach Merrill today. This historic run from Boston to Florida is a feat of tremendous strength, will and determination. His dedication to raising awareness, particularly in youngsters, about the need for positive mental health and fitness is a true inspiration and I wish him nothing but the best on the remainder of his journey.

During the six months of the run, Coach Merrill will run a ½ marathon (13.1 miles) each day. He will also stop along the way to speak with students at universities, colleges and high schools as well as community organizations to help promote positive mental health by improving physical activity. Programs across the country that promote positive mental and physical health would be eligible to apply for a grant from the foundation. The money that they would receive would assist their efforts to promote physical wellness.

I am pleased to report that Connecticut is focused on youth suicide prevention. The Connecticut Departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), Children and Families (DCF), Public Health, Education, and the Judicial Branch and the Connecticut State University System (CSU) are collaborating with the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) to develop, implement, evaluate, and sustain statewide youth suicide prevention and early intervention.

Special thanks to our professionals that joined us today. Deanna Lia is the Director of Community Prevention and Early Intervention for Connecticut Department of Children and Families and chair of the Connecticut Youth Suicide Advisory Board. Carol Meredeth is Assistant Director for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Prevention & Health Promotion Unit and is part of the Connecticut Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative.

Follow Coach Merrill’s “Run to the Keys” at the Power UP Foundation’s website

Connecticut Youth Suicide Advisory Board

Connecticut Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative






Coach Doug Merrill (l) is greeted by Senator Michael McLachlan outside the Legislative Office Building following their press conference.

24 Days Later the Democrats are Raising Taxes AGAIN!

Only 24 days have passed since the Connecticut General Assembly passed a budget along party lines – a state budget that included the largest tax increase in the history of Connecticut. Only 24 days since the Democrats authorized a fortune in long-term borrowing to feed the daily operations of Connecticut state government. I proudly voted NO!

Millions of dollars in higher fees for Connecticut residents – only 24 days after their fees were raised to feed the government budget monster in Hartford.

Connecticut government spending outpaced our taxpayer resident’s income by 64% since 1987! Imagine that – Connecticut government spending grew at such a rapid pace in the last 22 years that it far exceeded the growth of income for the resident’s who fund the government with their taxes.

The Democrats’ budget anticipates tax revenue that is unlikely to materialize during this global recession. What does that mean – our state budget is likely already running in a deficit – less than three months into a two-year budget. The Connecticut Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates 2012-2013 revenues will produce a deficit of over $6 BILLION!

The Democratic majority in Hartford is unwilling to prioritize and reduce spending in state government. The fiscal crisis in Connecticut is being exasperated by the Democratic majority as they continue “kicking the can down the road.”

Obama's Kicking the Can?

For months I've been talking about the Connecticut General Assembly "kicking the can down the road." During our August 31st budget debate I said we are "kicking the can down the road" because the Democrats' budget proposal had no substantive government reforms, was spending more money with dramatically reduced tax revenues and that we've squandered an opportunity to truly reinvent how state government operates.

President Obama gave his big health care speech to Congress tonight and said we shouldn't "kick the can further down the road." Amazing how he used the same metaphor to say we need the largest federal government expansion of our lifetime during the worst recession this country has experienced in a generation! Scary thought, Mr. President.

Health care in America needs fixing but not Obamacare, thank you. Not Connecticut Democrats' SustiNet plan, thank you.

When will the Democrats in Washington and Hartford stop slamming their brand of "health care reform" down our throats that is nothing more than expanding government? May I remind them government is broke(n)? May I remind them Americans are broke?

CT Government Spending Outpaces Taxpayer’s Earnings By 64%

Governor Jodi Rell presented her fourth alternate budget proposal this morning that cuts spending by $520 million, eliminates the inheritance tax, reduces the sales tax from 6 percent to 5.5 percent and exempts small and medium-sized businesses from the temporary 10 percent corporate surcharge proposed in her last budget plan and the Democrats’ last plan.

Let’s see how the Democrats respond to this proposal. This Republican suggests we’re still not talking about substantive reform of government operations that will have a lasting impact on future tax policy in Connecticut.

Hidden in the supporting documents for the Governor’s announcement was a comparison of Connecticut state government spending versus the income of state residents. This document is the best argument in favor of spending cuts that I’ve seen in a long time!

Connecticut government spending outpaced our taxpayer resident’s income by 64% since 1987!

Imagine that – Connecticut government spending grew at such a rapid pace in the last 22 years that it far exceeded the growth of income for the resident’s who fund the government with their taxes.

I rest my case. No new taxes. Cut spending. Now!

Politicians Kicking the Can

As a freshman senator, I listened carefully to the “old-timers” in the General Assembly when I arrived in January. A common theme of their advice was listen and do your homework. The unanimous advice was “don’t plan a summer vacation.” I wish I had taken a vacation as nothing substantive happened at the Capitol in June, July or August. Now I have plans for a mid-September getaway…

The budget debate is occurring in the wrong place – the media. No sessions of the General Assembly have debated budget matters this month and the last dysfunctional meetings of the Appropriations and Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committees were held on July 30th with nothing accomplished.

A recent newspaper editorial criticized the governor for wasting gas travelling around the state for ceremonial bill signings. Perhaps the media should focus a bit more on the Democrat’s absurd road show.

Today, Speaker Chris Donovan is claiming with Governor Rell’s budget proposal, “we will see a lot of seniors losing teeth.” Bologna, Mr. Speaker!

Senate President Protempore Donald Williams suggested Governor Rell is a liar. He claims the Democratic supermajority has moved closer to the Governor’s proposed spending cuts but “we need to have her come just a little bit toward us.” Now there’s a classic shell game for you!

Obamabucks are the savior for many state budgets this year but Obama and the Democratic Congress send help with very deep hooks. Stimulus funding for education requires increased spending after the Obamabucks disappear. Stimulus funding for unemployment benefits requires increased benefits for recipients. Enhancements are “nice to have” but Connecticut’s taxpayers must pick up the increased costs when the Obamabucks disappear. Surely Obama can’t keep printing money when the federal deficit is in the stratosphere.

Only 21% of the Obamabucks coming to Connecticut are for infrastructure improvements – the real chance for jobs. The rest of the federal stimulus money is filling cavernous holes in the state budget and sustaining current levels of spending – preserving existing government jobs. This fact raises future deficits in Connecticut when the Obamabucks disappear. This is an example of politicians kicking the can down the road.

Our economy fell off a cliff last year and the federal government raced to the rescue. Obamabucks are a short-term fix with an exploding balloon note due at expiration. Even if the recession is ending next year, our state budget will fall off another cliff because we can’t replace the Obamabucks in 2011 with more taxes – especially if the Democrats in the legislature succeed in passing the largest tax increase in state history this year.

State government cannot survive operating like it does today. The biggest disappointment during my first year as a legislator is the unwillingness of the Democratic supermajority to consider substantive, efficient reforms of government operations. The Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes should’ve met all summer to discuss reorganizing government while the Democratic leaders were on the road warning seniors about losing their teeth.

Connecticut is truly at a crossroads in this budget debate. We must make tough decisions now to prepare for the next cliff we face in two years. If we fail to act responsibly now the decisions in 2011 will be catastrophic to state government operations.

I urge my fellow legislators on both sides of the aisle – Let’s not kick the can down the road.

What July Fourth Means to Me

I just returned home from watching the fireworks at Danbury Airport. All the way home I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the thousands of people at the fireworks felt the same patriotic spirit I’m enjoying right now.

Sure, I hang my U.S. Flag on the front porch every morning but that’s not the spirit I’m trying to describe. July 4th is Independence Day and I hope we’ll think for a moment what happened 233 years ago.

When he was president, Ronald Reagan wrote the following piece for Independence Day in 1981. Aide Michael Deaver later wrote: "This 4th of July message is the President's own words and written initially in his own hand."

What July Fourth Means to Me
Ronald Reagan

“For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.

I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.

No later than the third of July – sometimes earlier – Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We'd count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.

I'm afraid we didn't give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I'm sure we're better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant "cracker" – giant meaning it was about 4 inches long. But enough of nostalgia.

Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.

There is a legend about the day of our nation's birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.

The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever."

He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.

Well, that is the legend. But we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor.

What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.

John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.

Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston and Middleton. Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt.

But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world. In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation.

It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.

Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should. Happy Fourth of July.”

Ronald Reagan
President of the United States