Dear Subscriber,
Spring is here (we think), and that means it's time for Political Outlook to poke its head out of the rapidly thawing topsoil and offer news and views from the Redding Republican Town Committee on the local, state, and national political scene. THANKS FOR SHARING...BUT NO THANKS Governor Dannel Malloy's proposed state budget is explicitly intended to "share the pain," which turns out to be a euphemism for "raise taxes" to the tune of about $1.4 billion per year.  True, he has a $3.4 billion deficit to cover, but we wonder why Malloy and the legislative Democrats (as well as much of the news media) seem to think it's a law of nature that when government messes up, the rest of us need to dig deeper to help pick up the tab. Meanwhile, it's worth pointing out that the governor's proposed budget reflects a $700 million spending increase over last year. Is it too simple-minded to wonder how more spending is an effective way to address a huge deficit? Malloy wants to make taxpayers responsible for "only" about half the gap, through such measures as higher income taxes, higher sales taxes, elimination of the property tax credit, and about a zillion other new or increased taxes and fees. (Our favorite might be the "discount" tax, by which sales tax will be calculated on the full listed price of an item even if you buy it at a discount. Yeah, right.) The other half of the gap will supposedly come from concessions extracted from public employee unions - except that these concessions haven't been extracted yet, and may never be. And if not, what then?
A BETTER ALTERNATIVE
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Reps Shaban, Carter and Senator Toni Boucher hold budget forum at Redding Roadhouse
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Fortunately, legislative Republicans have been working hard at the grass roots both to point out the flaws and inequities in the governor's spending plan, and to show the many different ways which, taken together, can produce a balanced budget and lower spending. Redding's own state representatives - Dan Carter (R-2) and John Shaban (R-135), along with State Senator Toni Boucher - came to Redding a couple of weeks ago and gave a rousing presentation to a group of citizens at the Redding Roadhouse. (See a clip of it here.) Republican legislators are holding town-meeting style presentation like this throughout the state. Similarly, a group of GOP legislators leaders, led by Rep. Larry Cafero (R-Norwalk) and Sen. John McKinney (R-Fairfield) got a lot of coverage by pointing out that our state government allows approximately 900 (900!) state employees to get paid by the taxpayers for acting as union stewards during regular working hours (see the clip here). According to Toni Boucher, there is a potential savings of over $90 million simply by requiring the unions to pay for their own stewards' activities. Your editor hastens to point out that this isn't about union-bashing...but there is a difference between private-sector and public-sector unions. The former are subject to market forces like most people, and their contracts are determined primarily by economics. That's fair enough. But the latter are subject primarily to political forces, which in Connecticut and many other states have tilted the playing field so far in their favor that the taxpayers don't stand much of a chance in the absence of politicians who have - until now - been unwilling to push back. Connecticut has one of the most heavily unionized public sectors in the nation, and we should all stay tuned to see how this drama plays out. TOWN ELECTIONS ON THE HORIZON Though perhaps lacking some of the drama of the statewide political scene, municipal elections are slated this year in Redding (and all the other towns in Connecticut), and your RTC hopes to have its slate together in the coming months. |
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First Selectman Natalie Ketcham to run for sixth term
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For the top of our ticket, we're pleased to announce that First Selectman Natalie Ketcham will be running again for her sixth two-year term, while Selectman Don Takacs will be going for his fourth. We also expect to have some new faces to present to Redding voters for various boards and commissions. Could one of them be yours? The RTC welcomes expressions of interest from individuals looking to help the Town. Please contact Dave Lewson to find out more about how you can participate in Town affairs. Meanwhile, mark your calendars for May 9, when the League of Women Voters will hold a public forum to help inform Redding citizens about the opportunities and rewards of public service.
HIMES WATCH In one of our favorite features of this newsletter, we again turn our stony gaze onto Congressman Jim Himes (D-All Things To All People), who, based on a recent interview, possibly doesn't quite Get It. "I represent people, none of whom want to see higher taxes, most of whom understand that there need to be changes made to address the deficit. But it's just not factual to say we're going be an economic ghost town if taxes go up," Himes told a group of reporters in late February. "If taxes grew completely out of control, that (relocation) would be an issue, but people move to a place like Connecticut for its quality of life and quality of schools," said Himes, a Democrat from Greenwich. "Slashing budgets will damage both of those things." (Gee, Jim, you mean we owe our quality of life to large government budgets?) The report concludes: "Malloy's proposed budget may have 'managed to anger just about everybody,' the congressman said. But Himes said no single group was outraged disproportionately, and Malloy made 'a level-headed effort at the principle of shared sacrifice.'" (Well, as long as everyone is equally angry, we're in good shape.)
PASS IT ALONG As always, you are encouraged to pass this and every issue of Political Outlook along to your family and friends, and to provide feedback on its contents (e-mail Chris Hocker.) To make sure you continue receiving RTC news, click on the "RTC Website" link and sign up for our e-mail list.
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