Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is sitting on a very lonely perch.
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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is sitting on a very lonely perch.
He's got an outright hostile relationship with hospital executives. The business community is still acrimonious after another wave of tax increases. Republicans continue to call for a special session following Malloy's recent decision to cut $103 million from the current-year budget, including a $63 million reduction in hospital Medicaid funding.
Even members of Malloy's own party, including Comptroller Kevin Lembo, are dissatisfied with Malloy's choice to cut health care and other social-service funding this early into the budget year, which began July 1.
Such is the life of a governor.
Legislators, however, shouldn't be so quick to point a wagging finger of disapproval. It is state lawmakers, after all, particularly Democrats, who have passed countless budgets in recent years that have helped drive Connecticut into “a period of permanent fiscal crisis,” as Malloy's budget chief Ben Barnes so eloquently put it last year, analyzing the state's financial condition.
Even two major tax increases in 2011 and 2015, haven't been able to stop the state budget from bleeding red ink, indicating that Connecticut's current fiscal path is unsustainable. Yet, lawmakers have refused to make the tough choices to put the state on a more stable financial footing.
Mid-year budget cuts, therefore, shouldn't come as a surprise to legislators, and neither should the fact that reductions largely came from health and social services, which make up a significant part of the budget. With so many fixed costs, including pension payments and state-employee salaries and benefits, there is little discretionary spending to slash, leaving the most vulnerable residents susceptible to cuts.
This is the harsh reality for a state that has been fiscally reckless for far too long.
Malloy, of course, takes some of the blame for the state's fiscal crisis. He has signed multiple budgets that were doomed from the start, falling out of balance as quickly as they were signed into law. Now the state is facing another potential billion-dollar deficit once the current two-year budget expires. That likely means more cuts and/or tax increases are on the horizon. Those ominous clouds won't instill business confidence, likely stunting economic growth for the foreseeable future.
One area that must be looked at is state employee wages and benefits. If Connecticut is truly going to adopt budgets it can afford, further concessions must be made by state workers and/or the state workforce must be downsized. Asking for union concessions, however, is very risky politically, especially for a democratic governor. But Malloy will not likely seek a third term in office, giving him more freedom to play hardball, even if it upsets his political base.
Malloy is certainly no stranger to throwing sharp elbows. Just look at the war of words he has started with hospital executives, whom he has essentially accused of being overpaid.
Malloy is a savvy politician who wants to leave behind a positive, lasting legacy. To do that, he must shape budgets that the state can afford without continually asking taxpayers to dole out more.
So far he has failed to do that.