Whatever the final diddling and doodling that brings the state government’s budget deficit under control, Gov. M. Jodi Rell will continue to have popularity ratings higher than anyone but Cohen the Columnist.
The deficit is perceived to be — and to a large extent, is — a national/international economic hiccup not of her making, and the Democrats will come across as what they are: shills for the state employee labor unions, which view the rest of the state’s taxpayers as an irritation.
Rell has suffered some modest criticism, prompted primarily by her traditional public policy strategy: bore everyone half to death. Yes, she cut back on state employees and political hangers-on driving state cars, and she took a day off without pay. But she hasn’t mounted the stage with a machete and explained how much she enjoys chopping budgets and the heads of union chiefs.
Rell did sort-of-ask the General Assembly to overturn a generous pay raise for the state’s prison guards, with the understanding that the Democrats would be more likely to name Sarah Palin chaplain of the Legislature.
To be fair, most of the governors across the country have been one part blather and three parts incomprehensibility on their recession strategies. The financial machinery of most states is not flexible enough and the accounting systems not honest enough to act quickly.
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Rich Taxpayers
If Connecticut seems less concerned about a two-year deficit that could rise into the billions of dollars, it is because the state has more rich folks, fewer desperately poor folks, and more docile and affluent upper-middle-class folks, than almost anywhere else other than Mars. The tax man can come knocking at the doors in Connecticut without being shot.
To be sure, at some point, the “rainy day fund” will be drained to protect the jobs of all those state employees. Below-the-radar taxes and fees will be raised. Budget items will be mysteriously transferred to the Bonded Indebtedness Heaven, where expenses don’t really seem to count. And every so often, Rell will sort of stomp her foot and pretend that she’s really, really angry.
The taxpayers of Connecticut deserve some entertainment out of all this. Rell must be the one to sound thrilled at the prospect of slashing bloated government and irritating regulation, using the recession as an excuse for acting like a real Republican.
It is Rell who must propose the suspension of the state’s prevailing wage law, which artificially inflates the costs of almost every major construction project, for the benefit of the construction unions and favored contractors.
It is Rell who must propose the suspension of “open space” acquisitions — a frivolous gift to the rich and well connected, who want a better view out their back yards.
No, the General Assembly would never do such stuff, but the entrenched Democratic majority must occasionally be forced to admit that union favors and “progressive” symbols are more important than substantive relief for all their constituents.
Even in Massachusetts, the governor has tossed a few hand grenades, including a plan to use civilians instead of state cops to stand around construction sites pretending to direct traffic. That won’t happen, but even in a state that only has 15 Republicans, the Legislature must occasionally be put to the test.
Haircuts on Mondays. Wine in grocery stores. Privatization of state services. Show us a good time, Jodi. We need it. Blame it all on the recession. Or, even better, do it because you really want to.
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Laurence D. Cohen is a freelance writer.
