Kiner's Korner: Please Count Correctly This Time

When is a majority not a majority? The answer - when government says that it isn't.

Where else but in the good old United States does it take a 60 percent vote to get a bill through Congress? Where else can someone obtain more than 50 percent of the popular vote and still lose the presidency? Where else but in Connecticut can a majority of state employees vote for concessions but lose because an 80 percent threshold (majority) is required.

Remember how easy it was for us kids just to say "majority wins" and mean it? Well, now closer scrutiny needs to be used when defining the word "majority". You know, kind of like former President Clinton saying, "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

We have all been following the budget saga in Connecticut. We know that to balance the budget, state employees had to make certain concessions. Basically the package that was just defeated had a two year wage freeze, a three percent increase over the next three years, minor changes in health and retirement benefits (for those who will retire after July 1, 2022) and this in return for a no-layoff guarantee for four years.

Haven't our leaders learned that the first rule of politics is that you must know how to count? The votes to ratify just were not there. Whose fault was that? Was it the state employees union leadership who miscounted? Was it Gov. Malloy's office who couldn't count? Or was it just a plain "let's wing it and hope for the best" approach?

Now that the givebacks are dead in the water, the governor has called for a special session of the legislature to return this Thursday to take the next step in plugging the $1.6 billion hole in the two year budget beginning July 1, 2011. Gov. Malloy is asking the legislature for approval to have budget cutting power along with layoffs (as many as 7,500 state employees may lose their jobs), without any input from the legislature.

That is wrong. The legislature and the executive are co-equal branches of government. The voters elected a state legislature to represent them and to make the tough decisions that need to be made. To anoint Gov. Malloy with "imperial" powers is wrong - dead wrong! The legislature earlier in the year voted against this measure. They should stand their ground and once more vote against giving Gov. Malloy these increased powers.

The legislators who voted for the budget (with the hope of employee concessions) did it with the best intentions. The budget would have maintained a steady flow of dollars to municipalities to fund education, public safety, keep property taxes stable, etc. As James Finley (the Executive Director of the Conference of Connecticut Municipalities) said, "The unwillingness by state employees to accept reasonable concessions will cost the jobs of their brothers and sisters at the local level." The budget voted on by the state legislature would have avoided those layoffs at both state and local levels. The original budget allowed the Enfield Town Council to pass a no tax increase budget.

What will happen next? Whatever does happen, my humble advice to those in charge is to please count correctly this time. Our state cannot afford anything less.