Chris Powell: Conn. GOP gets serious, Democrats wallow in trivia

The Connecticut Capitol, in nearly bankrupt Hartford.

While this year's regular session of the  Connecticut General Assembly has little to show for itself but more gambling -- another casino and more off-track betting -- it was positive in one respect: the recognition by Gov. Dannel Malloy and the unusually large Republican minority that structural changes in spending policies are necessary to save the Nutmeg State.

The governor has extracted substantial if inadequate concessions from the state employee unions, but he proposed to close the budget deficit by shifting to municipalities $400 million in teacher pension costs. Instead he might have proposed reducing teacher pension benefits, since those benefits, unlike state employee pension benefits, are set by state law rather than union contract. But having dozens if not hundreds of members and their dependents in every town, the teacher unions are far more influential than even the state employee unions, so no one dares to economize there.

The Republicans united behind a budget proposal that avoided tax increases by cutting more from state employee compensation. They essentially proposed to remove salaries and benefits from collective bargaining for the time being. Thus the Republicans realized at last that they gain nothing by being nice to the state employee unions. Since the Democrats are the party of those unions and retain narrow majorities in both houses of the legislature, this Republican effort to restore democratic control of public expense will have no chance of passing until Republican majorities are elected. But standing for something important may distinguish the Republicans favorably in next year's election.

The legislature failed to produce a budget for two reasons.

First, the Democrats could not hold their majority together. Most Democratic legislators are liberals and will always prefer raising taxes. But enough Democrats either agree with the governor that raising taxes now would hurt the state more than it would help or they fear for their re-election if taxes are raised again, since the public is realizing that living conditions have only worsened as taxes have been raised during the Malloy administration.

Second, the Republicans seem to have decided that any compromise with the Democrats on the budget will have to raise taxes and spending somewhat and that sharing responsibility for that isn't worthwhile politically, especially since, in the forthcoming special session of the legislature, the Democrats probably will compromise among themselves to reach such an outcome anyway. The Republicans may figure that the Democrats might as well own the whole thing and be obliged to defend it in the election next year, when the public will be looking for change.

Both parties bear responsibility for the expansion of gambling, policy that is disgraceful, contrary to Democratic pretenses of protecting the poor and opposing concentration of wealth and Republican pretenses of advocating responsible living. But at least the Republicans aren't celebrating the legislative session as the Democrats are.

Democratic state headquarters this week issued a statement lauding the legislature for banning therapy aimed at trying to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals, though there was no evidence of its use in Connecticut; for increasing penalties for hate crimes, as if they were not already seriously punishable; for reducing bail for minor offenses, as if this affects many people; and for approving a state constitutional amendment for a transportation fund “lockbox,” as if money still won't be fungible and government won't always find a way to divert it.

 Failing to produce a budget, the legislative session was all trivia.

 Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer, in Manchester, Conn.
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Conn. vs. Fla. may be equal contest

By CHRIS POWELL 

MANCHESTER, Conn.

With snowstorms seeming to arrive every few days, little room left for stacking 
the snow, road-salt supplies nearly exhausted, state and municipal snow-removal 
budgets in deficit, and the Connecticut General Assembly reconvening, many people in 
Connecticut feel that they have had enough of the state. 

It's little consolation to them that Connecticut may have the best snowplowing 
operation in the country, with the state's major roads almost always kept 
passable throughout even the heaviest snowstorms. For besides the extra snow, 
Connecticut's economy and standard of living are still declining, which may be 
the cause of most of the surliness here; the snow just makes people feel their 
resentments more keenly. 

As a result many of them look south enviously, especially to subtropical 
Florida, to which many Connecticut residents already have fled, either 
permanently or just for the winter. Indeed, when the University of Connecticut's 
basketball teams play colleges in Florida, the crowd often seems to favor the 
visitors. 

But while it may be harder to appreciate Connecticut after shoveling snow or 
falling on ice, Florida has its own climate disadvantages. In the late summer 
and  early fall Florida can be crossed by as many hurricanes as Connecticut suffers 
snowstorms in the winter, and the resulting property damage in Florida is far 
greater than that inflicted by snowstorms in Connecticut, just as 
weather-related electricity outages in Florida can last longer. 

Because of bad weather a few weeks ago it took three days and several flight 
reschedulings for a recently retired couple from Connecticut to escape the state 
by air for their new winter home in South Florida, one of those tightly 
regulated condominium complexes that forbid admission to anyone under 55. The 
couple had hardly begun breathing the state-income-tax-free air when a line of 
thunderstorms stalled overhead for 24 hours and dumped 14 inches of rain on 
them, flooding their new neighborhood, closing its roads, and incapacitating 
sewer lines and toilets for a couple of days. 

It wasn't a snowstorm; it was  worse. 

Not long after the couple got dried out and settled, some university researchers 
reported that alligators, which which infest South Florida, not only swim stealthily 
but also climb trees, in part for better surveillance of their prey. 

Told of the study, the new arrivals from Connecticut refused to be 
concerned. While they had not yet read their condo association's many rules, 
they figured that, in addition to excluding people younger than 55, there was 
probably one against alligators climbing trees on the property and eating the 
residents. 

They shouldn't count on it. Annoying as Connecticut's snow has been, at least it 
also has gotten in the way of the state's own many predators, both those with 
four legs and those with two. There's never much crime in bad weather. 

* * * 

Two executives of the Metropolitan Transit Authority came to Hartford last week 
so Gov Dan Malloy could reprimand them in front of the television cameras about 
the MTA's mismanagement of the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, whose many recent 
disasters have impaired service from New Haven to Grand Central Station in New 
York. The MTA executives duly promised improvements soon. 

But while the governor got to look tough, he really didn't increase 
Connecticut's leverage with the MTA, a New York state agency paid by Connecticut 
to operate the state's rail lines into New York. To gain such leverage 
Connecticut needs a plan, just as Metro-North needs a plan to improve rail 
service. 

Connecticut's plan might include demanding representation on the MTA's board, 
the renegotiation of Connecticut's contract with the MTA, and a study of how 
Connecticut could take over the management of its rail lines into New York. 

Until Connecticut has a rail-service-improvement plan that goes beyond scolding 
MTA officials on television, the MTA may assume that it can take its time about 
improving service here. 

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn.

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