Lt Governor Outlines Budget Priorities For Local Democrats

“This is a time to be bold” Governor Jodi Rell said from the podium of the State House of Representatives, to the standing room only crowd gathered for Opening Day of the Connecticut General Assembly, on January 5.

“I hope she meant it,” was the reply from Lieutenant Governor Kevin Sullivan, speaking last month to the Newtown Democrats’ monthly meeting at Edmond Town Hall.

For the first time in about 50 years, there is a partisan split in the executive branch of state government. Governor Rell is a Republican; Lieutenant Governor Sullivan is a Democrat.

“There are three things to watch for when Governor Rell presents her budget,” the lieutenant governor said, and these will be telling indicators of “whether she will stand on the side of the vast majority of the middle income families of Connecticut, or follow the George W. Bush trickle-down model of government in Washington.”

The first is support for the restoration of the full property tax credit against the state income tax; a measure passed last session by the Democratically controlled Legislature.

The second test is whether she will support the continuation of the tax on estates exceeding $5 million. “This is not mom and dad, this is not the family farm, this is not small business,” he reminded listeners. “This is two hundred million dollars worth of the gap in the state budget. It is a very fair and equitable tax which no one has complained about and everyone has paid,” that was put on the state’s books last year to help make up for the cuts enacted by the Republican Congress and administration on the federal level.

The third indicator of the governor’s seriousness, according to Mr Sullivan, “will be her response on education. Will the Governor of the State of Connecticut choose to study the issue, leaving Newtown and every other community and property taxpayers hanging fire for another two years; or will she meet the challenge on an obligation that is supposed to be a full partnership between the state and the towns? We don’t need a study about property taxes, we don’t need a study about economic development, and we don’t need a study about education. What we need is to start doing some things differently than we have been,” Mr Sullivan concluded.