Surprise! Malloy cut spending DAN HAAR
So you think Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has run up state spending in his eight-year term?
That’s what Republicans charge, loudly. Bob Stefanowski launched a nineday bus tour on Thursday and the Republican nominee for governor won’t pass a single stop without shouting about Malloy’s supposed wild spending.
Democrats, none too eager to be seen with the nation’s second most unpopular governor, let alone defend him, seem happy to throw Malloy under that Stefanowski bus as they whistle by.
Well, think again. State spending on regular state government actually declined by 4 percent between 2011, when Malloy took over, and this fiscal year, his last of eight annual budgets.
Government agencies under Malloy saw their total spending decline by $250 million in the Malloy years, which will end on Jan. 9. That includes the University of Connecticut and the rest of the college and university system, the courts, state police and prisons and the vast, sprawling offices that look after troubled children and developmentally disabled adults.
Adjusted for inflation, that’s a cut of 16 percent, or $1.3 billion below the state government Malloy inherited from former Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
As of May, Malloy had cut the ranks of full-time, executive branch employees by 3,925 people, or 13 percent from the 29,500 who were on the job when he took over. That’s a 13 percent cut in the headcount and it doesn’t include the judicial branch, the colleges and universities and the many part-time jobs that also disappeared.
Speaking of Rell, she and fellow Republican former Gov. John G. Rowland combined for a $2 billion increase in government agency spending in the two terms totaling eight years before Malloy won election. That’s a 38 percent hike from the fiscal 2003 budget — compared with Malloy’s 4 percent cut.
They talked a big game of cost-cutting. Malloy talked about maintaining services while he quietly went about the hard work of government efficiency, hiring outside lean management experts to help.