The Blogster wonder’s why the Senate debate on the budget rambled on for only 11 hours instead of 12. The folks in “the circle” were looking tired indeed after midnight and some lawmakers had been around since 10 the previous morning. But still, if the vote was so “historic,” couldn’t they have stretched it out until 4:18 a.m. for the full 12 hours, instead of 3:30?
The three Democrats who voted against the package in the 19-17 Democratic victory were Sen. Joan Hartley, D-Waterbruy, Sen. Ed Meyer, D-Guilford and Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford. None of them spoke during the debate, probably realizing that voting against it was bad enough for their standing in the 22-member majority caucus.
“People are struggling as it is,” Slossberg just told the Blogster of the two-year, $40.1 billion budget. “If you can’t pay for what you already have, you can’t spend more.” She said that the new spending in the budget is not advisable as the state still struggles with the effects of the recession. “It’s not right,” she said. Slossberg also opposes merging several of the so-called watchdog agencies – some call them lapdogs – including the Office of State Ethics. “With our history with ethics that would not be good,” she said. It was seven years ago that the corruption of the Rowland administration was pushing the now-disgraced governor closer to the brink of resigning, then eventually serving 10 months in a federal prison on his way to hosting an unlistenable afternoon radio show.
Finally, Slossberg said the $2 billion in new taxes is too much. “Anyone who says you can balance the budget without new taxes isn’t telling the truth,” she said. “But you can’t spend more money and raise taxes at the same time.”