Yesterday Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, spokesman for the state’s Judicial Branch, told me that Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration never told the branch about its plans to shutter a handful of courthouses, including the one in Norwalk, as part of a revised two-year budget proposal.
Today Stearley-Hebert issued a strong statement from Chief Court Administrator Judge Barbara Quinn.
“The Judicial Branch fully recognizes the current economic crisis facing Connecticut and the difficult choices facing the Governor and the legislators. From the start, the Judicial Branch, through the leadership of Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers (of New Canaan) has made clear its willingness to bear its share of sacrifices for the ultimate benefit of the residents that all three branches serve,” Quinn wrote. “We have reached out repeatedly to the Executive and Legislative Branches over the past several months to keep the lines of communication open and to achieve additional savings. It is therefore with dismay that on Thursday we obtained a copy of the Governor’s second proposed budget. While we had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss the cuts in advance, we were not consulted and we heard of them only after the cuts were announced … The proposed elimination of six courthouses represents a major restructuring of the court system in Connecticut and should be considered only after careful and thoughtful planning among all three branches. This has not occurred.”
House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, told me yesterday he hopes if a final budget requires some courthouse closures that the Judicial Branch will be allowed to make the decision.
