Malloy’s efforts won’t stop state
While Connecticut taxpayers will not be voting for Gov. Malloy at the end of the year, he seems determined to make the remainder of his tenure as painful as possible. The least popular governor in America used his veto powers, once again, to thumb his nose at the legislature and the people of Connecticut.
There was the bipartisan bill to prevent cuts to legislatively approved Education Cost Sharing funding, as the governor did last year. There was the bill to expand tax credits as a way to promote the creation of manufacturing apprenticeships, something our state sorely needs. And there was the bill backed by the Connecticut Education Association to enhance teacher and student safety in the classroom.
The governor rejected all of these efforts to make Connecticut a better place to live.
He does this despite continuous reports of the state’s shrinking labor force and calls by manufac- turers to provide more training to create the skilled workforce they need. He ignores the state housing market’s inability to show a broad-based recovery because of years of people moving out of our state. Even though the state faces projected budget deficits, he throws millions of tax dollars to bribe businesses to stay in Connecticut that create only a few more jobs. Meanwhile GE and Aetna sought better locations for their headquarters. The businesses that still struggle here could benefit from lower costs that would allow them to be more profitable, not short-term handouts.
If there has been anything positive regarding Gov. Malloy’s tenure, it is the result of more Republicans being elected to the legislature to counter his poisonous policies. Our numbers allowed us to defeat tolls and tax increases. It also enabled us to pass a new, more fair education costs sharing formula.
It took a while, but legislative Democrats finally realized that working with us was their best option. This enabled us to produce more truly bipartisan legislation than our state has seen in a long time.
Even though Gov. Malloy vetoed some of this legislation, I am confident that when Democrat and Republican legislators return to the Capitol the week of June 25, we will have the votes to override most, if not all of the vetoes. That is because it is not about partisan politics. It is about doing what’s best for the people of our state.
Gov. Malloy may still have his tantrums, but he will quickly be in our rearview mirror. Connecticut can then embark on a bright new future.