When Democrat and Republican leaders announced they had
produced a bipartisan budget, details to be released in two days, a Hartford
paper lamented in a page one, top of the fold headline, “State Budget
Negotiations: Talks Turn Bitter.”
Sorry, but no. Virtually all Democrat and Republican caucus
leaders, closeted together for more than a week hammering out a compromise
budget, agreed that their talks were cordial, business-like, productive and
remarkably free of animosity. The compromise budget passed the Senate by a
veto-proof majority of 33-3, and there was much fist-bumping in the House when
the budget passed in the chamber by a veto-proof 126-23 majority.
To be sure, Republican leader in the State Senate Len Fasano
said that Governor Dannel Malloy had been excluded from budget negotiations
because he had shown himself to be uncooperative and an impediment to productive
discussions. And Republican leader in the House of Representative Themis
Klarides was less temperate, though not less truthful, when she said in answer
to a reporter’s question, “We [Democrat and Republican leaders in the General
Assembly] were negotiating from draconian cuts of a governor who is a bully and
a baby and who continues to want to scare people in this state. I believe he
would have no problem operating this state by executive order until he leaves
[in January 2019]. He doesn’t care the pain he’s putting towns and cities
through. I do not understand how the person that is supposed to be the leader
of this state just sits in that office or wherever he goes and throws bombs at
people. … The second that we went off and met on our own, he acted like a baby.
There is no place for a baby leading the state. So unfortunately, we had to
take over.’’
It is no secret – especially not among Republicans – that
the bristly Malloy, who once referred to himself as a porcupine, can be
unforgivably petulant and vindictive. Klarides’ bright flare must be seen
against a dark background of unjustifiable and shabby mistreatment. Upon
becoming Governor, the first time Democrats had held this position in 26 years,
Malloy immediately elbowed Republicans out of the room whenever dominant
Democrats fashioned their budgets. This ostracism was to last throughout
Malloy’s eight years as Governor; budget after budget remained unsoiled by
Republican input.
Author Don Pesci |
To read the rest of Don's commentary, visit his web site.
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