Skip to main content

Malloy Through The Looking Glass

After Alice falls through the rabbit hole, she finds herself in an alternate universe in which right is left and up is down, a distorted mirror image of life in the real world. Along the way, she encounters the heartless Queen of Hearts who says to her, “First the verdict, then the trial.” She also meets Humpty Dumpty, who uses words variously to mean A and NOT-A, prompting this dialogue:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things.’"
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master — that’s all."


 In Connecticut’s alternate universe, trials – some unbearable – follow verdicts: first the budget, then the union negotiations.

And words mean pretty much what powerful politicians think they mean by them. The elimination of tax credits are not referred to in polite company as tax increases. Why? Because Malloy had vowed, following the imposition of two massive tax increases, that there will be no more burdensome encumbrances. Yet, if a tax has been forgiven in year one and re-imposed in year two, the tax payer has suffered a tax increase. When the state withdraws tax relief from town A and shifts the funds retained from town A to town B, town A has suffered a tax increase – unless town A, unlike the state, is able to wring the loss of state funds from its employees by means of spending reductions. 

Malloy was the first Democrat elected governor in more than a quarter century. Following his ascension to the office during the Obama sweep, Democrats commanded all the heights of state government, the governor’s office, both houses of the General Assembly, all the constitutional offices and every position in Connecticut’s U.S Delegation. Facing a deficit, Malloy submitted to the General Assembly a budget that imposed on Connecticut tax payers the largest tax increase in state history. Some years later, confronted with another large deficit of his own making, he imposed on already burdened tax payers the second largest tax increases in state history. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he rested, godlike, on the seventh day, having vowed – no more tax increases.

Malloy had decided very early on who was to be master. Republicans played no part in union negotiations that substantially changed his already approved first budget. And Malloy’s first budget, substantially altered after union contract negotiations, was not resubmitted to the General Assembly -- so that Democratic legislators who had conferred on Malloy plenary powers might be spared their constitutional responsibility to approve every dollar spent. Malloy had signaled to legislators in his party that they need not approve the changes that increased spending costs; he would, the governor strongly hinted, take the bullet for them. To no one’s surprise, costs increased, foreshadowing future deficits, benefits and salaries for state employee unions were not adversely affected, and Republicans had been effectively neutered.

This time around, Malloy and the Democrats in the General Assembly, facing an anticipated $3.6 billion biennial deficit – funny how they keep happening --  have decided to pass along state employee pension costs to future taxpayers, cut tax relief to so-called wealthy towns on a promise the savings will be distributed to Connecticut municipalities, cities chiefly, that have not been able to balance their own budgets, and continue to make announcements that savings will be realized from give-backs from cosseted unions. Approximately 130 municipalities will have state support reduced under Malloy’s plan, and the reductions are permanent, not temporary or self-elapsing.

Republicans in the General Assembly are pushing back hard against an Alice in Wonderland view of reality. The state Senate, tied between Republicans and Democrats 18-18, has two leaders on opposite sides of the political barricades, one of whom, Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano, responded to Malloy’s attempt to escape reality this way: “Governor Malloy’s budget lacks a clear sense of direction or vision for the state of Connecticut. Once again we see a plan that will balance the budget on the backs of working and middle-class families while shifting problems onto others. Let’s be clear about what this budget includes each year: over $200 million in annual tax increases on low and middle-income families, over $400 million in new property tax burdens, potentially 4,200 state employee layoffs and $570 million in expenses pushed onto our children’s credit card thanks to the governor’s pension deal. I don’t see this budget creating stability. I see it creating chaos.”


No one trusts the governor – not unions, not taxpayers, not future Connecticut residents yet unborn who already owe the state millions to pay for costs present legislators are unwilling to cut, not Republicans who consistently have been shown the door when budgets are discussed, and not even Humpty Dumpty, who put the matter of political power plainly when he said, “The question is: which is to be master, that’s all.”


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Murphy Thingy

It’s the New York Post, and so there are pictures. One shows Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy canoodling with “Courier Newsroom publisher Tara McGowan, 39, last Monday by the bar at the Red Hen, located just one mile north of Capitol Hill.”   The canoodle occurred one day or night prior to Murphy’s well-advertised absence from President Donald Trump’s recent Joint Address to Congress.   Murphy has said attendance at what was essentially a “campaign rally” involving the whole U.S. Congress – though Democrat congresspersons signaled their displeasure at the event by stonily sitting on their hands during the applause lines – was inconsistent with his dignity as a significant part of the permanent opposition to Trump.   Reaching for his moral Glock Murphy recently told the Hartford Courant that Democrat Party opposition to President Donald Trump should be unrelenting and unforgiving: “I think people won’t trust you if you run a campaign saying that if Donald Trump is ...

The PURA soap opera continues in Connecticut: Business eyeing the exit signs

The trouble at PURA and the two energy companies it oversees began – ages ago, it now seems – with the elevation of Marissa Gillett to the chairpersonship of Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulation Authority.   Connecticut Commentary has previously weighed in on the controversy: PURA Pulls The Plug on November 20, 2019; The High Cost of Energy, Three Strikes and You’re Out? on December 21, 2024; PURA Head Butts the Economic Marketplace on January 3, 2025; Lamont Surprised at Suit Brought Against PURA on February 3, 2025; and Lamont’s Pillow Talk on February 22, 2025:   The melodrama full of pratfalls continues to unfold awkwardly.   It should come as no surprise that Gillett has changed the nature and practice of the state agency. She has targeted two of Connecticut’s energy facilitators – Eversource and Avangrid -- as having in the past overcharged the state for services rendered. Thanks to the Democrat controlled General Assembly, Connecticut is no l...

Lamont Surprised at Suit Brought Against PURA

Marissa P. Gillett, the state's chief utility regulator, watches Gov. Ned Lamont field questions about a new approach to regulation in April 2023. Credit: MARK PAZNIOKAS / CTMIRROR.ORG Concerning a suit brought by Eversource and Avangrid, Connecticut’s energy delivery agents, against Connecticut’s Public Utility Regulatory Agency (PURA), Governor Ned Lamont surprised most of the state’s political watchers by affecting surprise.   “Look,” Lamont told a Hartford Courant reporter shortly after the suit was filed, “I think it is incredibly unhelpful,” Lamont said. “Everyone is getting mad at the umpires.   Eversource is not getting everything they want and they are bringing suit. It was a surprise to me. Nobody notified me. I think we have to do a better job of working together.”   Lamont’s claim is far less plausible than the legal claim made by Eversource and Avangrid. The contretemps between Connecticut’s energy distributors and Marissa Gillett , Gov. Ned Lamont’s ...