The magic words among progressive Democrats in Connecticut’s
General Assembly are “stabilize state finances.” It is an expression very much
on the tongue of House Speaker Joe Aresimowitz, long affiliated with unions. Mr. Aresimowitz
is employed as education coordinator for
AFSCME. Last December, Connecticut’s Office of State Ethics (OSE) advised Mr. Aresimowicz that “nothing
in the state ethics code bars him from continuing his job [with] an influential
public-employee union once he becomes speaker of the House of Representatives.”
Apparently, the OSE
is unfamiliar with the expression “putting the fox in charge of the hen house.”
This convenient expression,
“stabilize state finances,” should be taken to mean “raise taxes on the rich,” always
an easy target for progressives such as Senator Elizabeth Warren of
Massachusetts, the William Jennings Bryan of the modern period. Mr. Malloy has
been attempting valiantly to stabilize state finances ever since he was elected
to office as governor in 2011, and he has stabilized state finances by raising taxes – twice. The first jolt
was the largest tax increase in state history, followed in due course by the
second largest tax increase in state history. A quick survey of unending budget
deficits, the flight of entrepreneurs and capital from Connecticut, political
losses in the General Assembly among Democrats bitten by the progressive bug,
and diminished revenue collections from the state’s wealthier citizens should
be enough to convince even hard-boiled flat-earthers that soaking the rich ain’t
what it used to be.
The wealthy in Connecticut supply about one third of the state’s
revenue; this cache of easy money has diminished to such an extent that
reliable budget prognosticators are forecasting a budget deficit for the next
fiscal year of, in round numbers, $5 billion, a figure that has been bouncing
around for days in most newspapers and TV news reports. This entirely predictable turn
of events – at some point, as tax increases reaches the point of diminishing
returns and yield less revenue – has sensitized Mr. Aresimowitz. But
progressives in Connecticut are not easily convinced that doing the same thing
over and over again while expecting a different result eventually will make you
a candidate for the loony bin, and so, driven forward by the progressive wind
at their backs, they are unwilling to take off the table yet another tax
increase.
"'I still refuse to
enter the negotiations taking anything off the table,’ Aresimowicz said,” according to a piece in CTMirror, “noting that neither party nor branch of
government has offered a plan to date that comes close to solving the budget
crisis.”
Mr. Aresimowicz does
have a plan, a familiar one – more taxes. Here is his reasoning: “As the hole
in the budget grows,” largely because continuing tax increases have caused a
drop in state revenues, “the options become more limited.” Increasing the
options by, say, privatizing state functions and thus decreasing pension
obligations will never do – because enlarging options will not suit Mr. Aresimowicz’s
real constituency, the state's union lobby. Enlarging options by wresting control over
state budgets from SEBAC, the state union group authorized to conclude contracts with the governor, and vesting it where it belongs, within the state legislature,
will greatly offend Mr. Aresimowicz’s union supporters.
When the state of Rhode Island, facing red ink, wishes to
discharge a deficit, it does so through a change in statutes, an option not
available in Connecticut, where workforce changes are accomplished – more often
NOT accomplished – through negotiated changes in state and union contracts. A
change from contract to statutory control over state spending is not an
option on Mr. Aresimowicz’s table. And why? Because enlarging this option would
be a sane solution to Connecticut’s problems, and Mr. Aresimowicz prefers
narrow reforms that allow him to do the same thing over and over again, while
assuring the general public that this time the result will be different.
None of the
solutions that would bring Connecticut’s dying corpse back to life are easy,
because real solutions to fundamental problems touch the fundamental core of state politics. If pensions are the problem, one can attack the root of the problem
by bringing state workers into the 21st century. Pensions are old world
relics; workers elsewhere in the state rely on social security, defined contribution plans and,
in some cases, a second job. Multi-billionaire Warren Buffet raised the hackles
of progressives everywhere when he pointed out that he regularly paid less in taxes
than his secretary. Just try convincing Mr. Aresimowicz that the salaries and
benefits of unionized state employees should be no greater than employees
holding comparable jobs in the private sector.
Everywhere on the
left in Connecticut, the chatter is of tax increases, possible tolls, of moving a third of pension payments to
municipalities, of re-instituting Connecticut’s lapsed constitutional cap on
spending – but not yet, not yet, someday… what’s the rush?
And nothing is off
the progressive Democratic budget discussion table but serious, long term spending
reforms such as have been outlined by the Yankee Institute that really would, in the words of Mr. Aresimowicz “make sure we’re not
finding ourselves in this boat again.” How many times must the Titanic meet the
iceberg before the captain and crew make a course correction?
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