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State Rep. Themis Klarides, who represents Derby, Orange and Woodbridge, apologized Thursday afternoon after re-tweeting a comment earlier in the morning by another person that called Gov. Dannel P. Malloy a “mean mick.”

Klarides was named the vice chairman of the state’s Republican party earlier this week.

The tweet and backlash from the Democratic party came while the legislature is back in session to fix the budget gap left by the union’s no-vote on concessions.

A little before 2 p.m., Klarides tweeted her apology, following a call to do so from the Democratic party:

“Apparently today I re-tweeted a comment authored by someone else that contained a slur against the gov. If you know me, you know that I would never use those words myself,” Klarides said. “The intent of the RT was to highlight the hypocrisy of the administration’s actions. If that author’s words caused anyone offense, then I sincerely apologize.”

Mick is an offensive term for an Irishman that likely derives from the common Irish surname prefix “Mc” and implies drunkenness among other negative stereotypes.

The offending tweet was directed at Klarides by a follower of hers. The retweet, which happened around 10:30 a.m., was as follows:

“Hahaha RT @CTIronman: @RepTKlarides @gideonstrumpet Remember Malloy’s TV ad? He conflates hyperactivity with effectiveness. And now we have one mean Mick, too

The tweeter of the original statement, was CTIronman, who describes himself as an “obscure attorney,” and “political muse” on his Twitter profile.

After Klarides apparent misstep, the state’s Democratic party quickly called for an apology.

“To condone—and, in this case, find humor in and perpetuate—such discourse does nothing to help people find jobs, stabilize our economy, balance our budget or solve our state’s problems,” said Democratic State Party spokesperson Jacie Falkowski. “This is the same old GOP tactic, using hurtful language when you have no ideas of your own. Rep. Klarides should apologize immediately. Her action is unbecoming of an elected official and beyond demeaning.”

Klarides apology came soon after.

Neither Malloy nor his office has issued a comment on the controversy.

In addition to being the new vice chair of the Republican Party, Klarides is the Deputy Republican leader in the House. She was first elected to her seat in 1998. She previously served on local boards in her hometown of Seymour and in Derby.

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The latest plan to reform Medicare comes from a partnership of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-CT, and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. The pair unveiled the main details of their plan Tuesday, saying it could save more than $600 billion over 10 years, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates.

Here are some of the provisions, according to a news release from Lieberman’s office:

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New Jersey’s outspoken Republican Gov. Chris Christie has had his run-ins with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in the past. And on Monday morning he did not hold back in gloating over Malloy’s most recent setback.

Just a few days after Malloy saw his concessions deal with the union fall apart, his rival appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Christie laughed as one of the show’s host Joe Scarborough mentioned Malloy’s name, and then took him to task for lecturing and preaching about how his concessions deal was the proper way to deal with a budget crisis and then leaving the people of Connecticut hanging when the deal fell through.

“Dan Malloy was lecturing me about how he can get it done, he’s conciliatory he negotiates with people. He got these big concessions in return for big tax increases,” Christie said. “So now what do the people of Connecticut have? Big tax increases with no concessions because the union stuck it to him.”

Christie, whose approval ratings in New Jersey have hit a lull of late continued, saying, “What these folks in the public sector unions respect is strength,” while Malloy showed weakness.

The New Jersey governor, whose name has been tossed around as a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate as soon as 2012, mocked Malloy’s failure.

“He went around and trumpeted the 1.6 billion in concessions that he got and they voted it down. So now the people of Connecticut have the tax increases without the labor concessions,” said Christie. “And now what he is going to have to do is lay off up to 7,500 people. I’d say that’s going to make him even more popular in Connecticut.”

Watch the full “Morning Joe” interview here:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Reports of the concession plan’s demise may be greatly exaggerated.

At least that’s what one union official and a state rep. think.

Reporter Brian Lockhart wrote on his blog “Political Capitol” that a do-over vote could be the way Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and SEBAC react to a potential no-vote from the union on their concession deal.

Citing a recent example in the Baltimore schools system, a union official said that a second vote could happen. In Baltimore, essentially, labor leaders thought that the rejection was so disastrous that they made a renewed push to explain the deal to members and tweaked it a bit before staging another round of voting.

“It ain’t over until the votes are counted, and maybe not even then,” said the Connecticut union official.

State Rep. Zeke Zalaski, D-Southington, a private sector union leader who co-chairs the legislature’s labor committee, believes the Baltimore example is exactly what will play out in Connecticut should Malloy and union officials need a Plan B.

Zalaski noted Malloy has said this is not a situation where the parties will return to the negotiating table with the expectation state workers will be offered more.

“He made himself clear he’s not offering them more. I just don’t think they’ll get more. As we always say, they’ll move the furniture around,” Zalaski said, adding the union at his plant once held three votes.

“All there has to be are minor changes to the contract offered to make them have another vote. Under the rules there has to be a change. They can’t bring the exact same contract back and vote again,” Zalaski said. “That’s what I think will happen. You never imply to members that if you go back to the well we’ll get more. Then they’ll always send you back to the well. All it could be is a shuffling around where there is no more, they just move the furniture around. They (labor leaders) get another chance to get another vote and really explain it properly.”

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SEBAC spokesman Larry Dorman has a lot to ponder after the latest AFSCME bargaining unit rejection of the concession package.

The third-largest bargaining unit in the state’s largest employees union rejected the concessions package put together by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and SEBAC, the organization that represents the 15 state employees’ unions.

The 1,800 human/social services state employees in the AFSCME P-2 unit, who work in agencies such as DCF and the Department of Social Services, voted no, according to union spokesman Larry Dorman.

See his statement on what this means here.

While neither Dorman nor  Malloy’s camp have publicly said the union deal is on the verge of collapse, many experts say it is heading that way.

That recent rejection puts the hopes of ratification for the $1.6 billion concession plan in the balance.

The AFSCME makes up more than 30 percent of the entire unionized employee population in the state. For the agreement to be ratified, at least 14 of the 15 unions must ratify the deal.

But, more importantly, those who vote yes must also represent more than 80 percent of all those who voted. That means a deal is nearly impossible without the support of AFSCME.

If AFSCME falls, then the plan likely goes down with it. And with a large majority of the AFSCME units already saying no, and the correctional workers only left to vote, it is unlikely that the state’s largest union will pass the concessions agreement.

The result will be a large budget gap for the state legislature and Malloy to fill, which could mean this summer will be a messy one for the state’s leaders.

Malloy has already threatened to lay off more than 7,500 state employees if the concessions don’t go through. He is expected to bring the legislature back into session, just months after a grueling budget battle and fight over a variety of issues, from paid sick leave to marijuana laws.

With the package teetering on the brink of failure, state employees, who played a major role in getting the Democrat, Malloy, elected over Republican Tom Foley by a small margin last November, are left to ask themselves. Will he really follow through with his threat?

Here are a few other stories relating to the concessions deal, from Hearst Connecticut Newspapers:

• SEBAC spokesmen accuse a conservative policy group of tampering with the union vote. The group, Yankee Institute for Public Policy, fiercely denies that claim.
• Explaining the voting process. Not every union is using paper ballots, some are allowing their members to vote online.
• Brian Lockhart breaks down the “complex process” behind the union voting.
• Ken Dixon provides a look into how the deal came to fruition, back when it seemed like Malloy had scored a major victory.

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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gets poor grades from Connecticut voters on his overall performance and his handling of the state budget, but large majorities approve of bills to mandate paid sick days and decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. (AP photo)

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning has plenty of bad news for Gov. Malloy, who gets negative remarks both on his overall job performance (38 percent approve while 44 percent disapprove) and his handling of the state budget (36 percent approve, 52 percent disapprove).

But two major bills championed by Malloy are extremely popular — and when it comes to the paid stick leave bill, perhaps a lot more popular than state legislators realized while the bill was being debated.

The sick leave bill, mandating major companies provide employees with at least five paid sick days, barely passed the state Senate by an 18-17 vote (Sen. John Kissell of Enfield was the only Republican to support it), and didn’t have a whole lot of margin for error in the House, either.

The Quinnipiac poll, though, shows that 72 percent of all voters polled support the measure.

The measure gets support from voters across party lines — 84 percent of Democrats support it, along with 72 percent of independents and even 50 percent of Republicans.

The bill decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana is also extremely popular: 66 percent approve, including 77 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 49 percent of Republicans.

A few other nuggets from the poll, which can be viewed in its entirety on the Quinnipiac site:

• While voters dislike Malloy’s policies by 50-37 percent, they like him as a person, 48 percent to 18 percent.
• 32 percent of those polled say Jodi Rell was a better governor than Malloy, while 20 percent say Malloy is better and 37 percent say they’re about the same.
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal continues to be the most popular elected official polled. The Greenwich resident’s approval rating is up five points from 49 percent in March to 54 percent now. His disapproval rating stayed at 25 percent.
• At 45 percent, Joe Lieberman has the highest disapproval rating of any official polled — one point higher than both Malloy and Obama. The senior senator’s approval rating is at 41 percent, slightly up from March, when it stood at 38 percent.
• President Obama’s numbers are better this time around. 53 percent approve of his performance, up from 49 percent last month and considerably higher than his approval rating in the country as a whole, which has hovered in the mid-to-high 40s in most polls. The president’s disapproval rating is at 44 percent — slightly lower than the 47 percent he scored in March.
• There are no signs that Connecticut will be anything other than a solid blue state in the 2012 presidential election. By a 51-43 percent, voters say Obama deserves to be re-elected, while voters prefer him over a generic Republican 46 percent to 35.

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With a historic legislative session in the books, we want to know how you’d rate the performance of Gov. Dannel Malloy and the Democratic-controlled state legislature.

Vote in the poll and — just as important — leave a comment to let us know why you voted the way you did.

You can also chime on one of our Facebook or Twitter pages.