Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Malloy vows to tackle fiscal mess ignored by Rell, legislators

  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • December 9, 2010
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

In increasingly blunt talk about the state’s fiscal crisis, Governor-elect Dan Malloy says his Republican predecessor, M. Jodi Rell, and the Democrat-controlled legislature clung to futile hopes for a quick economic recovery instead of making long-needed structural changes to Connecticut’s operations and finances.

“They should’ve been done earlier. They should have been done by the governor,” Malloy said in an interview with The Mirror in his transition office at the State Capitol. “They should have been done by the legislature. Now I have to do them.”

Malloy offered a view of the state’s multi-year fiscal crisis that is sharply at odds with his fellow Democrat, House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan of Meriden, who has largely blamed the crisis on the recession and resisted calls for sweeping changes.

In public speeches and private conversations, Malloy said he is making the case that legislators are wrong if they believe Connecticut can take stop-gap measures and then wait for a rebounding economy to erase a deficit of more than $3.5 billion

“They had the hope that this recession would be like other recessions, that the recovery would be well under way right now,” Malloy said. “Now, I never agreed with that. I never supported that.”

Despite his blunt language, Malloy said he is casting no blame or criticism at anyone who has been hoping that an economic recovery would save the state from painful spending cuts and tax increases, a pattern followed after most previous recessions.

“It doesn’t mean that they were evil, it just means that they were wrong,” Malloy said.

Rell proposed a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 that guaranteed the next governor would face a deficit. Her proposed $18.9 billion budget for the 2011 fiscal year was based on $2.7 billion in one-shot revenue, including federal stimulus dollars, reserve funds and borrowing against future revenue.

In a speech Monday to the House Democratic majority, Malloy said he wanted to acknowledge that many Democrats have pinned their hopes on a recovery. But they must embrace a tougher reality, he said.

“We’ve got to turn the corner on that, and our aspirations are undoubtedly going to be delayed. Those were two very pointed messages,” Malloy said.

Other than acknowledging he intends to propose a mix of new taxes and spending cuts, Malloy has declined to spell out what he means by structural changes. The details will come in his first budget proposal in February, a month after he takes office as Connecticut’s first Democratic governor in 20 years.

Donovan, who is completing his first term as speaker, resisted calls for fundamental changes in the state’s budget this year, saying that a combination of federal stimulus money and an improving economy could get the state through the crisis.

“Unfortunately, Dan wasn’t the governor then,” Donovan said Wednesday. “Now, we’re going to make those changes.”

Donovan said state revenues have picked up, but not enough to offset rising costs for Medicaid and other services. With the Republican takeover of the U.S. House, Donovan said he no longer is expecting more federal help.

“That’s a big change. We need to react to that change,” he said.

In an interview late last February, Donovan did not accept that government must downsize or that the state needs to renegotiate state employee benefits to reduce the state’s unfunded liability for pensions and retiree heath costs.

“I think in some ways government is the whipping boy for other structural changes that have to take place,” Donovan said then. “The Obama administration is right to look at health care. That’s a major cost.”

Donovan said unwarranted negativity is itself a drag on the economy.

“I think some people, constituencies hurt themselves by trying to make this worse. They don’t look for the silver lining,” Donovan said in the February interview. “They look for the most negative thing. In some ways putting out that attitude, throughout the state, throughout business, throughout the community, it hurts our recovery.”

Malloy said Donovan was hardly alone in viewing the recession as something the state could merely outlast.

“In fact, I think all but a handful of people in that room fall into that category. They are not bad people,” Malloy said of the House Democratic majority he addressed Monday at the Hartford Hilton. “It means that they were optimistic. They were overly optimistic.”

Malloy said he was not being critical of what failed to happen in the past; he is trying to focus the legislature and public on what must happen today.

“I have to acknowledge that no one acted out of malice. That’s my message. It’s not that I’m being critical of other people. I was acknowledging their good intentions.”

After Malloy addressed the House Democrats at a luncheon retreat Monday at a hotel in downtown Hartford, Donovan stood next to the incoming governor and pledged a partnership.

“We’re looking forward to working with the governor, facing the deficit squarely and saying, what do we have to do? What are the ideas?” Donovan said.

“There’s going to be disagreements,” he said, standing outside a room where most of 101 Democrats in the House had just applauded Malloy.”There are disagreement among the 100 people in that room right there, but we have dialogue.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Health issues carried weight on the campaign trail.
by Victoria Knight | Kaiser Health News

Even with the Democrats’ newfound Senate majority, differences in health policy between the party’s moderate and progressive wings will persist.

Trump’s pardons included health care execs behind massive fraud
by Fred Schulte | Kaiser Health News

At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers. “These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, […]

‘It’s a nightmare:’ A growing number of seniors are unable to book vaccine appointments as problems mount
by Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso

The state acknowledged Friday in an email to local health workers that some residents are waiting days for a callback.

Panel recommends small, inflationary pay hike for state officials
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Connecticut's part-time legislature hasn't received a pay hike since 2001. The annual base-pay for senators and representatives is $28,000.

Police task force seeks wider applicant pool for watchdog role
by Kelan Lyons

The task force sent four recommendations — and two that didn't get unanimous approval— to lawmakers for the 2021 session.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Miguel Cardona, who are you?
by Ann Policelli Cronin

When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say that he is really nice guy who knows what the challenges in our classrooms are, knows how to help teachers to improve their teaching, and respects public schools. All good. But what is his vision for teaching and learning that he will bring to the U.S. Department of Education?

Opinion Connecticut needs a strong two-party system, this Democrat says
by Edward Marcus

J.R. Romano’s recent resignation as the state’s Republican Party chair has brought into focus the need for a viable opposition party in Connecticut. It is not healthy politics when everything is totally controlled by one party:  the legislature, the governorship, and most of the major municipalities in our state.

Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO