As House Democrats were finishing their lunch, Gov. Dannel Malloy knocked on their Capitol door. Here’s most of the transcript of the tape, courtesy of your Blogster, who had to point out various state Freedom of Information Act sections when Democratic staffers tried to get him to vacate the scene.
“I know that there’s a lot of work to be done as we try to face down the problems of the state of Connecticut. I have worked closely with your leadership. I have worked closely with many of the chairs and very appreciative that at this early date we are at this juncture to send a very clear message to the people of Connecticut about doing their work. They want us to strengthen government, to reorganize it and to create efficiencies. They want to be able to predict their financial stability. They want us to begin the process of paying down our debt. They want us to stop borrowing money to pay for operating expenses. They want us to invest in our children. They want us to go down a road we have not been able to go before because in so many ways that road was blocked to us. And now it is no longer blocked. We have the ability to exercise and demonstrate fiscal constraint at the same time that we make appropriate investments in the future for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. This is a momentous moment. I know in a very short while your speaker will lead you into that great Hall and you’ll sit through a fair amount of debate and some things will be said that simply are not true. This budget represents a lot of very hard decisions having been made. After all, on November 15 when we were handed a budget by a Republican governor then going out of office that budget had a $3.5 billion gap. It was structural in nature. She failed to address the systemic problems of the state of Connecticut. From that day we worked in a tireless fashion to develop a fiscal plan for the state of Connecticut, not for a month, not for a year, not for a two-year period of time, but one that would set the course for the state of Connecticut for a generation to come. The time of constantly running up our debt and using our money in the wrong way and for the wrong purposes is over. Fiscal constraint has come upon us. In so many ways we spend less money and adjusted for inflation we spend less money. And we end the behaviors that got us into this very problem. I know not everyone can be as happy as some other people are. I know that there are issues that I will continue to work with your leadership on.”
By the governor’s side, House Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, nodded his head in agreement. “Some of those are local in nature and I understand that, but the people of Connecticut expect us to do something about the situation in which we found ourselves. Early this morning the Senate did it.”
The caucus cheers for Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, standing next to Malloy.
Malloy looked at Wyman and referred to the 19-17 Senate vote: “Ah hell, we won by a landslide, we didn’t even need your vote.”
“Earlier today the Senate took the first step. This is the next step. Then ultimately reaching an agreement with our friends in labor will be the final step. Then we will move forward and build a new and different Connecticut. One that we can be proud of. One that will require a level of sacrifice to get to….
So I wanted to stop by and Nancy wanted to stop by and say I can reasonably predict that you’ve got a long day and a long evening ahead of you. But when we next see each other, we will have done something of historic proportions and that should not be lost on anyone. And this rhetoric that’s going around and being used is simply untrue. We know how to run things. We’re going to run things. We’re going to get our state moving again and it begins in this body today when we move forward.”