Monday night, November 24, 2008
Seconds after the Senate voted final action on the $288-million deficit-reduction package tonight, Gov. Jodi Rell’s vast PR department cranked out a challenge to the spineless Ds, who in their $25.6 million in actual real-live spending cuts, eliminated most of the state Office of Business Advocate Rob Simmons’ office. Rob, for those of you who live west of the Connecticut River, was the three-term GOP congressman from the state’s Third District. Rell rewarded him with a patronage job when he got kicked out by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney.
Besides that partisan humor, the Ds didn’t really hit a home run against what could be a multi-BILLION-dollar deficit next year.
“The General Assembly took a step in the right direction tonight, but only a step,” Rell said in her statement. “The reality is that the cuts only get more difficult from here on out.
These actions do not bode well for the ability of the Legislature to confront the difficult decisions that will be required to protect Connecticut’s future in the face of $6 billion in budget deficits over the next two years.Much more than tinkering around the edges will be required in the weeks and months to come. Far more rigor – and far more backbone – will be required if we are to truly serve the best interests of the people of Connecticut.”
This from someone who put the bottle-deposit issue into her mitigation proposal as a long-shot way to get to a bottom line of $300 million and who also lacks the interest in facing Capitol reporters on any kind of regular basis for Q and A. But she has a tough outer shell.