Gov. Rell's Budget Plan: Shop Until We Drop! by Doug Wrenn

Gov. Rell's Budget Plan: Shop Until We Drop!

By Doug Wrenn

March 20, 2007

I do not wish to cause any alarm, but if Governor Rell keeps spending the way she is, CTN, the cable TV channel that covers state government, will have to merge with The Home Shopping Network. The sage adage reminds us that "When in a hole, stop digging." Gov. Rell apparently never got that memo. Her digging has only increased, and at a feverish rate, not with a shovel, but with a blank check and a credit card. Take a breath, Governor. In case you haven't noticed, Connecticut is too small to have its own mint and too big to be a shopping mall.

President Bush is still answering for a remark he made a few months back that the Iraq war may have to be settled during the term of the next President. That was passing the buck. Gov. Rell's spending has exacerbated the state's already dire fiscal abyss to the point that it will conceivably be the next Governor's headache, four years from now, and it already looks like that may very well be a different governor. That's just passing the hat, and the buck stops "over there, somewhere." Even the late Democrat President "Give 'Em Hell Harry" Truman would not be happy about this manner of so-called governance.

The headline story (by Paul Hughes) in the March 19th edition of the Waterbury Republican-American says it all: "Rell's Budget: Charge It." (http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=21027) With the farce of a strategy of "limited spending," Gov. Rell is proposing that almost $50 million in short term expenditures from state agencies be charged to help balance the Governor's proposed $35.8 billion boondoggle she has the audacity to call a budget. Shifting such vast expenditures to credit to balance the budget is prima facie proof that this budget, as proposed, is in fact, unbalanced.

By her own admission, Gov. Rell admitted that the state's credit card is "maxed out." Her predecessor, John Rowland taught her well. As a Congressman, former Governor Rowland only received a slap on his slimy wrist when he overdrafted over $20 thousand in House Bank checks, a felony for us schmucks out here in the real world, and that was long before the overblown hot tub fiasco, which ironically got Rowland and his little rubber duck into the real hot water. (Why not? We impeached President Clinton for playing slap and tickle with the bimbo du'jour, yet gave him a pass on selling our nuclear secrets to China for campaign cash. Priorities…priorities….) Now, Rowland's protégé, according to the Republican-American article, wants to charge more than 60% of short term expenditures for state agencies, as Connecticut now ranks third in the country for debt indebtedness with a current whopping total of roughly $50 billion dollars of debt. A conveniently unnamed spokesman for the Governor preciously used all-too-common state government parlance by excusing this insane fiscal policy with the less-than-stellar logic that, "This has been the standard practice of state government for 20 years." Beautiful! Actually, the more colloquial version goes something like this, "That's how we've always done it." Yes, of course! So that simply must be the right way.

Considering that Gov. Rell already willfully broke the state-spending cap last year to appropriate funds for nursing homes as an excuse to attract (unconstitutional) federal funds, this strategy goes beyond sheer incompetence. It is flat out arrogance. This current budget again violates the referendum-induced budget cap and the Guv has been complaining about its lack of wiggle room. Indeed. Nothing is more annoying to a socialist dictator than "the will of the people." Don't you just hate it when that happens?

If you or I from the great unwashed in the cheap seats had further charged on a "maxed out credit card" for more than $50 billion, we would be locked up to never again see the light of day, and the escapades of Johnny Hot Tub and his bouncing, baby Congressional checks for about 25 large would fall somewhere between a knock-knock joke and a parking ticket in terms of significance. For someone who claims she was clueless about Rowland's shenanigans for about ten years when she was still Lt. Guv, Princess Pollyanna has learned well, or else, this is all just coincidence and she really is "clueless." Our Governor's managing strategy seems to be of the narcissistic theme, "Let me eat cake," while we pay for the ingredients and in return, get the fallen crumbs, at most. Somehow, I can't help but think that Pollyanna is about a disconcerted about having a veto-proof majority of Democrats in the legislature scrutinizing her budget as President Bush is about having the newly empowered Democrats in Congress cherry-picking the issue of so-called "immigration reform." (Wink, wink, nod, nod…)

Pollyanna's "plan," for lack of a better term, transfers money from that ominous, cryptic money pit called "The General Fund," into a bond supported purchasing fund. This fund is repaid (theoretically) with interest for 20 years. For some agencies, this will be how much, if not all, of their individual budgets will be funded, on credit. As per the Republican-American article, currently 12% of the state budget goes to paying interest.

As the Governor's shopping cart shifts into fifth gear and speeds through our wallets, I look around to some of the adjacent aisles and the view isn't pretty. Currently, we need a "clean-up" in roughly aisles 1-20, and nobody seems to be asking for a "price check." Where are coupons when you really need them?

The $100 million dollar fantasy called state-funded embryonic stem cell research continues, despite the arrest of a leading South Korean scientist for allegedly forging much of his data. This little ditty will also significantly help entities affiliated with many of the so-called overseers on the commission with charge of the appropriations, but that's OK, because we now have an "Ethics" Commission as well. Meanwhile, while Pollyanna and her biotech industry buddies break bread, the foxes continue to dine on "Hen alla Jodi" in their own house. Of course, the fact that embryonic stem cells, contrary to popular propaganda, have been found to cure nothing and cause malignant tumors, unlike the non-politically correct adult stem cells is but a minor detail, unworthy of interfering with the gluttonous feast. And where is it written that state government should even be involved with funding scientific research in the first place?

In another Republican-American article, it was reported that Pollyanna wants to up the ante on the current $61 million the state pays to municipalities for pre-school by an additional $12.7 million. Priority funding under this socialist panacea would target and benefit the cities of New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford and Waterbury. That's nice. The last three of those four cities have already almost gone or almost gone belly-up and required state assistance to stay afloat for their school systems or across the board. And of course, the loony left (and I include our RINO governor in that category) often invokes "the children" as a deterrent (as I have previously also written about other such liberal perceived "untouchable" shields like Cindy Sheehan, The Jersey Girls and Michael J. Fox) as if prudent fiscal conservatism, of which no socialist, including Pollyanna can relate to, means hatred of children and denying them their needs. Much to the contrary, but common sense sometimes acquires our attention via an icy cold slap in the face as opposed to soft, warm, feel-good fluff. It does not take a village and a liberal. It takes a home with parents, and preferably two, and preferably of different sexes. Here's a mind-bender of an idea, keep the 74 mil, let it grow some interest, and have Mom or Dad stay home and actually care for their own rug-rats. They made them, now they can raise them. Isn't Kindergarten enough of a needless gratis? What's next, "Pre-pre school," "Pre-pre-pre school?" At what point after birth do we draw the line, or do we draw a line at all? Our state Constitution mandates education, not babysitting services. Let Chip and Buffy give up one SUV or Volvo wagon and do with out one Vermont ski-trip to that quaint little B &B with the canopy beds and doilies under their skim milk latte's and home-baked muffins. Don't you people call that "quality time?" Quality time really can happen between 9 and 5 and between Monday and Friday. Get off the dole and make your own home a kiddy kennel. We're broke and busy with more than enough liberal social engineering and utopian entitlements. Our budget has just activated the "No Vacancy" sign. Try being parents. If you don't know how, ask your parents or grandparents. Somehow, they managed.

If you really want to test the strength of your digestive system, check out the Connecticut State Government web site at: www.ct.gov/ctportal. At the top of the page, click the link for "Executive" (even though we don't really have one), then when the page comes up, scroll down to view all of our state's agencies. Mind you, that list is inconclusive when you factor in entities known as "quasi-state government agencies." In scanning the list that does appear, you will find many state agencies that, just by name, practically beg to be consolidated into similar or closely related agencies, and in some cases, closed completely. Then think of all the interest paid for all that touchy-feel good fluff, much of which is funded on little more than a wink and a prayer.

There is also one very new addition that does not even appear on the list, the Office of Business Advocate, soon to be filled by former Second District Congressman Rob Simmons. This position was created by the Governor and approved by her fellow socialists in the General Assembly last year. On the surface, such a new office sounds like a good idea. But being that I am a dumb ham & egger, and one of those annoying "people," what then, do tell, is the purpose of The Department of Economic and Community Development, which is on the list? If that agency didn't handle business advocacy then it should, and if not, what does it do? Furthermore, if that agency was not doing it's job, and our Chief Executive was a real leader, she would "reform" (Isn't that her favorite gig?) that existing agency rather than creating a new one. Ditto with President Bush by creating the Department of Homeland Security, our nations largest expansion (and grossly floundering) of federal government because our intelligence, law enforcement and military agencies weren't communicating and playing nice with each other. What is it with these hypocritical liberals, who are supposedly always so obsessed with "the children?" When two siblings fight, do Mom and Dad mediate the dispute or make another kid, or possibly even buy a bigger house? Also when you consider this state's hemorrhaging business climate in terms of loss of jobs and industry, as well as increasing and excessive Draconian legislation regulation, fees and taxation, creating an office for business advocacy makes about as much sense as President Bush's tax cuts while he keeps spending money like a drunken sailor on leave in port. Rob Simmons should be Business Advocate about as much as Harriet Miers should be a Supreme Court Justice. This isn't rocket science. Any mechanic worth his salt will tell you that you best repair or replace that leaky radiator before adding more anti-freeze. Then again, mechanics are also businessmen, bound by common sense and cents. Government, on the other hand, seems to continually strive for and thrive on being both broken and broke.

The Republican-American hit the trifecta with another article reporting that Pollyanna is playing a Rowlandesque shell game of "saving taxpayers money" by cutting funding to property tax exempt municipalities receiving state "PILOT" grants, which fund properties such as colleges, hospitals, parks, office e buildings, garages, courthouses, etc… These grants were inflated by one-time bonuses, another quintessential Rowlandesque brainstorm. The difference removed would theoretically make next year's payment to towns and cities about equal to this year's payment. That's a cut. Granted, not so in the real world, but in government, the lack of an increase equals a cut. That is why grants are often spent wastefully, because in many cases, if not all of the grated money is spent, less money gets doled out next time. Such is the bureaucratic mindset, along with the famous trademark phrase, "That's how we've always done it." Expect mayors and selectmen to scream their bloody heads off, and for taxes and fees on local levels to notably rise. The moral of this story is you can eat it here, or take it to go, but there is still no free lunch. Pollyanna didn't save taxpayers any money. She just merely made somebody else the bad guy, or for that matter, "the collection agent." Pointing fingers of blame will cross the lines distinguishing levels of government, but our fiscal burden will not change in this shell game.

Shortly after winning her first election, a giddy Governor Pollyanna zealously and prematurely answered a reporter's question in the affirmative, when she was asked if she would run again. This smiley, warm, maternal chameleon, of whom I warned you repeatedly long ago as being nothing more than a calculating, predatory shark in a fuzzy, button-up sweater has already shown her true colors as someone self-exempted from boundaries of constitution, law, ethics or decency. She is as arrogant as she is naive and holds her constituents in utter contempt from high atop her mountain of unquenchable political power. She has nothing but disdain for any semblance of conservatism, pragmatism, responsibility, or even liberty. We still have almost four years to go with this governor, who will only further drive more nails into our state's solvency with more growth of government, more spending, more taxes, more debt, more lame excuses, more shell games, more blatant lies, and all on tax-funded life-sucking credit. The well will become dry sooner rather than later. For that matter, that equally floundering, hapless and impotent entity called the Connecticut State Republican Party may soon also rightfully hear its well-earned deserved death knell. For all you who voted for the lesser of two evils, congratulations, you got evil. Meanwhile, the bill for that decision still has to be paid, and the interest is accumulating. And no, it gives me no solace in knowing, as many people have told me, that they "held their nose" while pulling the lever. Back then, you only thought you knew what stench was. Keep clenching that nose, or else your stomach may clench instead.

Our next governor, who will likely be a real and unabashed Democrat, instead of just a cowardly, phony one in the closet, will very possibly drive in that final nail if Pollyanna does not steal his or her thunder before then. Our state is now like a speeding train with no brakes. The question to be asked of the crash and pending doom is not "if," but "when." I recall what an insightful Hartford Courant editorial before the previous election called a "shallow bench" for the Connecticut GOP and I still see no real hope whatsoever. What few recognizable Republicans exist among the ranks of the currently elected, some are of the same ilk as the RINO In Chief, and the rest are too few and ostracized to wield any real power. And shame on the dysfunctional Connecticut GOP for giving us nothing but years and decades of a long parade of gutless, no talent hacks making noise instead of real visionary and principled leaders taking ground. You're not dying. You're committing suicide and taking us with you. And worse yet, I see even fewer electable heavy hitters on the horizon among conservative Republicans, third party candidates or independents to fill in the blanks in future elections.

Meanwhile, the Democrats under the big, tarnished dome enjoy their cake as well. Like a one-year-old child celebrating his or her first birthday, The Democrats aren't just eating their cake, they are wiping it all over their faces and rubbing it in their hair with raucous and unrestrained euphoric glee. The great socialist experiment worked. And for all you "Republic-rats" who sold your souls to the left at the expense of your base and just wanted to get along and be liked by the Democrats, much like the equally desperate and undignified school tart playing groupie to the football team, your state's fiscal future has been auctioned off to the most irresponsible bidder while you slumbered in blissfully ignorant peace under your self-imposed blindfolds. Newsflash: darkness does not make The Boogey Man go away. He's still here. You just can't see him.

"Memorial services for the dying "state" of Connecticut are still to be announced. Flowers are appreciated. Master Card, Visa, American Express and your gross earnings and life savings, as well as your home, car and first-born child will all be gladly accepted. Coffee and cake crumbs for all peasants will be graciously and generously offered at the post-mortem festivities."

M. Jodi Rell, Funeral Director