Politics & Government
General Assembly has ‘been deficient’ in oversight of state agencies
State Representative Godfrey says government reorganization should be considered
By Scott Benjamin
DANBURY – “It has been a long time since the Legislature took up government reorganization,” says Bob Godfrey.
So long ago, that Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury was not a state representative but an aide in the General Assembly.
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Godfrey was initially elected in 1988, before some of the current legislators were watching Sesame Street. On January 8 he starts his 19th term.
Government reorganization was so long ago, that it was 1977; baseball fans were evaluating Reggie Jackson’s five-year, $3.5 million contract with the Yankees and Ella Grasso was Connecticut’s governor.
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Godfrey was the clerk for the Government Administration and Policy Committee that helped craft the reorganization.
“It was the first major reform of the executive branch agencies since the 1930s,” Godfrey commented in an interview with Patch.com.
Lawrence Fellows of The New York Times wrote in 1977 that the General Assembly and Grasso took what had been 210 boards and agencies and put them into 22 departments “to contain all the important executive functions of government.”
Godfrey said former Gov. Lowell Weicker (ACP-Greenwich) “took a stab” at government reorganization in the early 1990s after the income tax was established but didn’t get anywhere.
As the legislators prepare for the opening of the regular session, Godfrey said, “All the thought is about losing federal dollars” under President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican.
“We always have some idea” of the federal funding, he said. “Going into this budget we have very little idea. We’re worried.”
“The state is not going to pick up the billions of dollars that the federal government gives,” remarked Godfrey, who is deputy speaker pro tempore. “The money is not there.”
Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) will present his proposed two-year state budget in February.
Said Godfrey, “The concern that there may be less federal money may be a driver to streamline state government” and attempt at reorganization.
“I lean toward the Legislature doing that again,” he remarked. “However, it is a labor-intensive process.”
State Comptroller Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) wants to establish zero-based budgeting.
Scanlon recently told John Dankosky of CT Mirror that, “I believe that the best thing we can do is blow up the way we do our budget, start from zero, figure out whether the things that we’re spending money on are actually getting the ROI that we think they are, and as a result of that, free up tens of millions and hundreds of millions of dollars to actually meet the needs.”
Said Godfrey, “[Zero-based budgeting] is hardly a new idea.” He said the legislators considered it some years ago.
“Among other things, the change from our current budgeting process to zero-based budgeting would have cost millions of dollars back then,” he explained.
Godfrey said there are other formulas to improve the way money is spent at the State Capitol.
“We’ve been deficient, in my humble opinion, in our oversight of the executive branch and all these agencies,” he said. “I think there is a lot to look at. We need to take a hard look at the effectiveness of executive branch agencies.”
“We had a Program Review & Investigations Committee which did exactly that, and unfortunately about a decade ago we did away with it in a cost-cutting measure,” Godfrey remarked.
“Now, maybe the new Government Oversight Committee might be able to take up some of those kinds of questions,” he said. He will be a member on that panel.
Added Godfrey, “We also once had something called Sunset Review, which Ella Grasso had started and Jimmy Carter had pushed it as governor of Georgia. It required the Legislature on an annual basis to take a look at each and every executive branch agency and make some decisions on their processes, procedures, effectiveness and cost. “We’ve done away with that too.”
During his gubernatorial campaign in 2014, then-state Senate Republican Leader John McKinney (R-28) of Fairfield proposed establishing an Office of Inspector General.
Former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst made a similar pledge during his 2018 bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, saying that a similar department with forensic auditors and subpoena power had more than paid for itself at the federal level.
Godfrey said that step is not necessary.
“We have had the Office of State Auditors doing this job since colonial times,” he commented. ”This bi-partisan office has been the General Assembly's most effective tool for delving into the workings of state agencies. The auditors have uncovered tons of information on the operation and effectiveness of agencies throughout state government. They have a recurring schedule for investigating agencies, and the reports they publish get both legislative and media attention. It is a watchdog agency that works”.
“I'm expecting that the new committee overseeing government operations will be better able to focus our attention on the discoveries the auditors make,” remarked Godfrey.
On a related topic, he said “there will be a vote” this session on altering the fiscal guard rails. He said it will probably be connected with the two-year state budget that will take effect July 1.
Godfrey added that there “probably” are enough votes in the General Assembly to revise the guard rails.
The guard rails were established in 2017 during prolonged budget deliberations that concluded around Halloween. There is a spending cap and volatility cap, which funnels capital gains revenue toward the rainy-day fund and paying down pension obligations for state employes.
CT Hearst columnist Dan Haar has stated that Jeffrey Beckham – the secretary of the Office of Policy & Management, one of the departments that was established in the 1977 reorganization - said recently even with budget surpluses and a robust rainy-day fund, Connecticut needs to hold the line on spending. Beckham presented news headlines to legislators recently from other states that are facing budget deficits because of excessive spending.
Ken Dixon of CT Hearst has reported that Lamont said recently that even with the fiscal guard rails Connecticut ranks sixth worst in the nation in its pension funding. Budget reporter Keith Phaneuf of CT Mirror has reported that the pensions for the state employees and the public-school teachers were structurally under-funded every year from 1939 through 2010.
However, Godfrey and other legislators have said the current provisions don’t leave enough funding for essential programs.
Phaneuf has stated that, “A Connecticut Mirror examination of the state’s policies found that fiscal guardrails imposed by state lawmakers over the last seven years have resulted in what could be described as a de facto ‘tax’ on core programs, such as education, health care and social services, some of which are eroding at the same time the state’s coffers have swelled.”{
Phaneuf wrote that one of the casualties has been: “Public colleges and universities, facing shrinking funding, have raised tuition and fees sharply while preparing to shed staff and trim course offerings.”
Godfrey said, for example, he wants the state to start bond appropriations this year for the estimated $80 million in repairs to Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.
On another topic, state Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield has called for at least a two-year freeze on the salaries of the state employees. He said they have gotten a cumulative increase of 33 percent over the last six years, far beyond what workers in the private sector have received.
Harding told Patch.com, “I think remaining consistent on a non-increase salary for at least the next two years is financially prudent. I think it would go a long way toward finding efficiencies in our fixed costs.”
“Absolutely not,” Godfrey said regarding a freeze on the salaries of the state employees.
“Like everyone else, they have had to overcome inflation caused by corporate greed,” he remarked. “If you want to freeze something, freeze prices.”
Godfrey emphasized that the contract is negotiated through Lamont and the Office of Policy and Management, the governor’s budget arm. He said he expects that the General Assembly will “ratify” the agreement that is reached.
Harding also has called for state employees to do more of their duties in their offices and less from home.
Said Godfrey, “I can’t make a blanket statement.”
He said that work from home has saved on “commuting time, and noted there are staff members in the General Assembly who have done more work from home since the 2020 pandemic.
On a separate subject, Godfrey said that although Lamont recently announced he will not continue to pursue getting completely gas-powered vehicles off the roads by 2035, he hopes the state continues to facilitate more charging stations. The governor apparently changed course because of President-elect Donald Trump’s resistance to providing more federal funds for the conversion to electric vehicles, according to News 12.
Godfrey said, for example, Pete Molinaro, whom he worked with when they were both vice presidents at the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce in the early 1980s, had trouble getting his car charged when he recently traveled from his home in Virginia for a family function in Danbury.
Regarding Danbury municipal government, Godfrey praised Democratic Mayor Robert Alves for going to the State Capitol “to advocate for the city.”
“He met with all of the leaders of the General Assembly,” he commented. “He met with the governor.”
Alves, who was elected in 2023, emigrated to the United States from Brazil at age five. He recently was named by Lamont as his choice to be elected in early 2025 as the new Democratic state Party Chairman.
Godfrey said he believes that Alves will help build support for the party among Latino voters. Reports have indicated that Trump has had growing support in the Latino community.
However, Godfrey said that 42 percent of the constituents in his legislative district, which encompasses much of downtown Danbury, are Latinos, and their concerns are similar to the rest of the “working class.”
Godfrey explained, “No one talks about the Europeans in America voting as a bloc.”
Resources:
Interview with Bob Godfrey, Patch.com, on Sunday, December 15, 2024.
Phone interview with Bob Godfrey, Patch.com, on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
Interview with Stephen Harding, Patch.com, on Wednesday, November 27, 2024.
https://www.ctinsider.com/politics/article/ct-budget-lamont-warning-lawmakers-19968432.php
https://ctmirror.org/2024/01/28/ct-budget-fiscal-guardrails-legislature/
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/harding-wants-freeze-state-employee-wages-least-two-years
