Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

“After Governor Dannel Malloy is put through the political grinder by status quo opposition forces that tend to resist his educational reform, he just might begin to feel, perhaps for the first time in his political life, what some Republican governors before him may have felt when faced with an intractable opposition” – Connecticut Commentary , March 8 It was a bit like watching a baby seal being clubbed to death by hunters. When the leaders of the Education Committee had finished stripping from Governor Dannel Malloy’s education proposals the principle elements of reform, the remaining limp carcass looked very much like a clubbed and skinned Harp Seal. All the important legislative decisions that shaped the final product concerning the governor’s reforms were made, according to one news report , behind closed doors in a “marathon meeting [that] included the Education Committee co-chairs — Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, and Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterf...

The requirement that the state balance its budget yearly is one of the few effective checks on spending left to us. State Rep. Andy Fleischmann of West Hartford, having drunk deeply from the well of current political rhetoric, proposes removing it. “If you believe it makes sense for government to stimulate the economy to help reduce the severity of the current downturn,” he writes in a Hartford paper , “then — whether you’re a groundskeeper, gas station owner or governor — you should join me in pushing Connecticut to alter its constitutional requirement to balance the state budget each fiscal year. “That’s why I introduced legislation requiring state government to balance its budget over the course of the 10-year business cycle — not in a single fiscal year. This simple change will allow our state to pursue policies that reinforce — rather than undermine — the recently enacted federal stimulus plan.” After cutting unnecessary services, Mr. Fleischmann would have state government issue ...