Partisan Budget Battle is Nowhere to Be Seen in General Assembly, But Takes Flight Before the CCM

 

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, tussled with House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Mansfield, this morning during a forum attended by about 40 people sponsored by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

 McKinney, speaking after House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk said “I wish you guys could come and run this place for a month,” reminded the chief elected officials, mostly from smaller cities, that Republicans have warned for two years about the state’s unsustainable spending.

 “We borrowed a billion dollars to cover our 2009 budget deficit,” McKinney said. “The year ended, we didn’t balance our budget, we were left with a deficit, we borrowed the money. We made it interest only and we told ourselves we didn’t have to pay any interest for the first two years. I guarantee you there isn’t a single mayor or first selectman in the state of Connecticut, in the history of the state of Connecticut, who’s ever done something so ridiculous as that.”

 He said that the current deficit has been known since at least last October and yet Democrats, who rule the House 114-37 and the Senate 24-12. “We’ve done absolutely nothing,” he said.

 Merrill was on next and denied that Democrats had been asleep at the majority switch, stressing that social-service needs were important to Democrats, who tried to retain funding levels without affecting programming.

 First, Cafero warmed up the CCM crowd.

“We were the only caucus, however, that did propose any cuts to municipal aid, not because we’re trying to curry favor with the municipal leaders, but quite frankly as we said before, we all represent the same people,” Cafero said. “So to sit and look the public in the eye and say we didn’t raise your taxes but we cut your cities and towns so they had to raise theirs, is a little disingenuous.”

 Merrill finally joined the fray and had some back and forth with McKinney before Jim Finley, executive director, finally called off the debate.