Like all good parables, it starts in a far off land of milk and honey. The ruler had won election comfortably and was widely hailed as an honest and responsible leader who understood the value of building the economy and spoke the language of fiscal responsibility.
Don’t spend one-time money to address ongoing needs, he cautioned wisely. Don’t resort to gimmicks.
But the legislature didn’t listen. It was a land without a viable opposition voice and, well, the legislators could pretty much do anything they wanted. And ultimately, the wise leader signed the budgets, the regulations, the taxes they passed. And the storm clouds gathered.
We’re just a couple of weeks shy of the 10th anniversary of the day when a torrent of voter discontent swept across California, starting a recall process that swept Gov. Gray Davis into the dustbin of history.
There are clearly some significant similarities between 2003 California and 2013 Connecticut as we survey the wreckage left in the wake of the just closed legislative session. One-time money used to stop the bleeding of structural budget problems. Last-minute deals that sweep money from accounts — gutting valuable programs — in the name of expediency and changed bill language without notice. Phantom revenue from sources that might not materialize.
The one overarching difference is that Connecticut residents don’t have access to the nuclear option that is the recall. They do, however, have an election coming up that will in large part be a referendum on whether they feel better off than they did four years ago. That should be enough to give the entire state government some restless nights ahead.
The transgressions of this government during this session are too numerous to recite. They fall into broad categories, like nullification of federal and state laws legislators found inconvenient; ignoring their own rules and passing bills that have had no hearings, no scrutiny and likely haven’t been read by most who vote on them; budget-writing as Hollywood fiction; broken promises to power generators, to Indian tribes to other legislators to taxpayers; the consolidation of power by eroding the watchdog function; and, of course, putting political gain over public good.
The villains are many and the good guys few, just as was the case in California a decade ago. That melodrama produced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who of course brought a whole new range of issues.
Here in Connecticut, it’s clear there will be no wealthy Hollywood Terminator riding to the rescue. In many ways, that’s too bad. The Land of Steady Habits needs that kind of jolt to the system because the current government is simply broken.
The political scientists and philosophers sometimes will lean back and opine that the voters get exactly what they deserve. Often, they’re correct. Here and now, we disagree. No state with the intellectual capacity and resources of Connecticut deserves this type of dysfunction. Bright minds need to fashion a better way to govern.
Greater public engagement would be a start, but it’s a tough sell at a time when the news is dominated by a corruption trial and stories of late-night partisan shenanigans. A stronger field of candidates would help, but running for a part-time job that comes with limited pay and unlimited headaches is also a tough sell. But the alternative is proving the political scientists correct. And that’s a no-win proposition.
