Jun 04
jonpeltoBridgeport, Malloy, Paul Vallas, Steven Adamowski, Windham Bridgeport, layoffs, Malloy, Paul Vallas, Steven Adamowski, Windham
Just a few weeks ago, Bridgeport, Windham and other school districts cheered when the Legislature approved and Governor Malloy signed legislation that allocates an additional $98 million as part of the new “education reform” act.
Of that, Bridgeport will be receiving at least $4 million more in state funds while Windham will collect at least $800,000. Depending on how the Malloy Administration approaches the creation of the new “Commissioner’s Network” system, the towns may receive significantly more.
So what is the first thing that Paul Vallas (Bridgeport’s $229,000 part-time interim superintendent) and Steve Adamowski (Windham’s $225,000 “Special Master”) do?
They dump Connecticut teachers and school personnel, while hiring more and more out-of-state consultants and directing contracts to out-of- state businesses.
The numbers are hard to track but between the two towns alone, we’re talking about more than 50 Connecticut residents, people who, for the most part went to Connecticut’s colleges and universities, and then stayed here in Connecticut to help strengthen Connecticut’s schools.
This has nothing to do with getting rid of the ineffective teachers.
This is about out-of- touch administrators who are pocketing a quarter of a million dollars each, and then using the additional taxpayer funds in such a way as to take care of friends and colleagues at the expense of Connecticut’s economy, Connecticut residents, and in this case, the quality of services provided to Connecticut’s students.
And let’s understand the context.
Connecticut’s latest “jobs numbers” will be out soon. Last month, the Malloy Administration focused on the positive news that unemployment remained at 7.7 percent, down 1.3 percent over the past year.
Using that strange, virtually nonsensical, “government financial speak,” the Connecticut Department of Labor reported that, “employment estimates show Connecticut continues to experience reversal from strong winter job growth in April by a decline of 4,100 total nonfarm jobs even while the unemployment rate held steady at 7.7%…. Despite variability in growth from month to month we still appear to be on a path of positive, albeit modest job growth.”
In the fine print came the news that Connecticut’s local governments dropped an additional 1,300 jobs last month. In fact, 8,000 jobs have been cut at the state and local government level over the past year.
While the United States is up over 2,000,000 jobs since May 2011, Connecticut’s “aggressive job growth” policy has translated into a new loss of 2,300 jobs over the past 12 months.
If budget cuts and stupidity hadn’t eliminated those 8,000 state and local public sector jobs, the employment situation in Connecticut would be in the positive as opposed to being in the negative.
The actions being taken by Bridgeport and Windham’s high priced administrators is not unique but is particularly insulting considering the state picks up 81 percent of the cost of Bridgeport’s schools and more than three-quarters of the cost in Windham.
Squandering public resources is never appropriate.
Sadly though, I suppose their best excuse is that everyone else, including state government, is busy undermining Connecticut’s economy.
At the same time Connecticut and its cities and towns have laid off 8,000 people, Governor Malloy and the state of Connecticut shifted up to $71 million dollars to CIGNA, $17.5 million to ESPN, $20 million to UBS, $291 million to Jackson Laboratories and, of course, let’s not forget the $4 million to TicketNetwork, before their CEO became too much of a liability and they had to pull out of the program.
In all of these cases, these companies promised to create at least 250 jobs each – OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS. Well, UBS had to promise to lay-off no more than 1,500 existing workers to get their money and CIGNA took the money and then outsourced their accounting office to India.
And that doesn’t even count the $626 million in public funds allocated to the “jobs package” that Governor Malloy signed into law last October.
One recent study showed that, to date, only 39 of the 70 companies that the state’s economic development program funded provided the jobs they had promised and the average cost per private sector job was in the area of $99,000 for the ten most expensive “deals.”
That said, a small restaurant that’s moving into my town is getting $100,000 from Malloy’s new fund, so I don’t want to sound ungrateful.
What is annoying, to say the least, is that despite these difficult economic times, and while we’re making a special effort to invest in our poorest, most challenged urban school districts, we’ve got school administrators like Paul Vallas and Steven Adamowski who begin by hiring consultants and laying off the very Connecticut residents who have been working so hard to make a difference.
Aug 23
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy layoffs, Malloy, state police
Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
Saying “It’s not a decision I wanted to make”, Governor Dan Malloy ordered the layoff of 56 state troopers despite the state having spent more than $4 million dollars to train the new class.
Malloy was quick to “insist” that the public would not be impacted by the trooper layoffs, but his Commissioner of Public Safety told reporters that “investigative functions would be weakened and certain response times slowed down.”
Furthermore, as a result of having to use overtime to cover the lost troopers much, if not all of the of the saving that would have been achieved by laying off the troopers in the first place will be lost.
However, putting aside the real world impact of the layoffs, the “best” part of this story is the contradiction between what Candidate Malloy said versus what Governor Malloy is doing.
Way back in last year’s campaign when Malloy was trying to get the State Police Union’s endorsement
and win over swing-voters Malloy promised to hire 55 additional troopers and released a major policy paper on the importance of public safety and the State Police.
Malloy’s “White Paper” led with “Our state and municipal police forces have become increasingly understaffed and the number of state troopers is currently 55 short of the 1,248 mandated level. We must
re-invest in the state’s commitment to community policing and ensure that Connecticut meets and exceeds statutorly required state police staffing levels.”
Yesterday, when asked about the state statute requiring that the state have 1,248 troopers, Malloy told reporters that he hadn’t read the particular statute but he did go on to say that “what I believe is that under optimum times the legislature thought that was the number that was required. Suffice it to say that these are not optimum times any longer…”
His observation about the Legislature’s intent may be correct but the times were hardly optimum last year when he felt comfortable promising – in print – to bring the state up to 1,248 statutory number.
Personally I don’t know whether public safety will jeopardized or not but any financial saving will be limited at best.
Perhaps more to the point, reasonable people can certainly disagree about whether state troopers should be “rewarded” or “punished” for voting against the concession package.
But one thing is for certain. If candidates are not held accountable for what they say and promise during campaigns then they are liable to say or do anything in order to get elected – even when they have no intention of following through…
Oh wait…Never mind.
Aug 19
jonpeltoUncategorized layoffs, Malloy, SEBAC
With passage of the Malloy/SEBAC agreement the unnecessarily long and unnecessarily difficult process comes to an end.
Governor Malloy said this agreement was needed or he’d layoff thousands and shred the safety net. He said there was no other option.
Meanwhile there was never a doubt that Connecticut’s state employees were ready to make major concessions in order to save programs, services and jobs.
But power politics, political pandering and just plain meanness got in the way … and so here we are.
Now the Governor can rescind the layoffs and the extra cuts including the especially deep and offensive cuts to the good government agencies (Freedom of Information, Ethics and Elections Enforcement).
Meanwhile, there are so many issues and questions that remain unanswered — but most of those can wait for another day.
Just two quick questions;
(1). Will the Governor rescind the layoffs for the state employees who staffed the state’s consumer utility hot line? Remember Commissioner Esty eliminated the program even though it is paid for by the utility companies and even though every other state has a hot line for consumers who have problems with their utility companies.
(2). Now that Section 8 of the emergency budget is no longer needed -
The Governor no longer has the power to cut more than 10% of any given line it. But we still don’t know how this “secret” section made it through the Legislature. Its time for the Malloy Administration and the Democratic Legislative leaders to come clean and tell the public what happened.
Aug 09
jonpeltoDemocratic Legislators, Layoffs, Malloy, State Budget Budget cuts, Democratic Legislature, layoffs, Malloy
(Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
CTnewsjunkie has a must read article today – Respite Center Employees Get Reprieve http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/respite_center_employees_get_reprieve/
Last month Governor Malloy’s Administration sent layoff notices to all the employees who staff Connecticut’s eight respite care centers as part of his Plan B budget.
These centers provide respite care for developmentally disabled children and adults.
They are some of the most vital and essential support services that Connecticut state government funds.
Now the Malloy Administration has announced that those layoffs have been put on indefinite hold.
Although they claim that the delay is not related to the ongoing second union vote, the delay does allow these vital services to continue – for the time being.
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management Ben Barnes told CTNewsjunkie that while he didn’t know the details behind the decision to delay the respite care layoffs, he did say that the Malloy Administration was delaying a number of cuts and layoffs pending the outcome of the second union vote.
Over the last couple of weeks the Malloy Administration has announced that it would delay closing DMV regional offices, would not be ending the vo-tech high school athletic programs and would also hold off laying off the staff that runs the ferry boats that cross back and forth on the Connecticut River.
The underlying problem is that the Governor and Legislature had the moral and legal obligation to pass a balanced budget.
However, instead of hold off passing a budget until AFTER the state employee agreement was reached and approved, Malloy and the Democrats adopted and signed a budget into law that contained an unachievable $2 billion dollar concession package.
When the original SEBAC/Malloy proposed agreement failed to get the required 80 percent, instead of returning to the bargaining table and developing an agreement that could pass, the Governor decided to move forward with his Plan B budget.
Weeks later it still isn’t clear whether the Malloy Administration took this action because it wanted to “scare” the state employees or whether they actually thought Plan B was an acceptable alternative.
With the Administration delaying some of the cuts and the unions voting on a revised agreement there is a growing sense of hope that a reasonable conclusion can be achieved.
But then, just when there is some light at the end of the tunnel, OPM Secretary Ben Barns tells the CTNewsjunkie “We’re not backing down. We are fully prepared in the event that it’s not ratified to go through with the entirety of our plan.”
Go through with your entire Plan B budget?
Really?
Hasn’t this process taught you anything?
Shredding the safety net and cutting services to some of the most vulnerable people in our state is not an acceptable approach to governance.
Closing the respite centers was not only an inhumane proposal, but if even 10% of the families who utilize those services throw in the towel and move their loved ones into publicly funded group homes, the cost to taxpayers will be far greater.
The fact is – NO Democrat – especially the first Democrat to hold the Governor’s Office in 20 years should ever – ever – have proposed to close the Connecticut’s respite centers. (And no Democratic legislator should have allowed such a plan to go forward).
In the end a Plan B budget may not be needed, but if it is, the Democrats have a lot of work to do to improve the plan that is now on the table – and they all know – that there is a variety of alternatives to choose from including requiring the super rich to pay their fair share, closing corporate tax loop-holes that have been left in place, reducing municipal aid to the state’s wealthiest town, utilizing the surplus that is built into this budget or actually finding cuts that are less harmful.
Aug 01
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy layoffs, Malloy
(Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
Hundreds are no longer employed and the list of those who have lost their jobs and their health insurance is growing. While the overall list of those receiving layoff notices is now over 3,000, the Governor’s Office has been extremely quiet about the far more sinister list of those whose layoff notice period is over and are now on the unemployment line.
Monday’s list will include some of the most dedicated state employees in Connecticut, people who helped design and implement the state’s successful “Birth to Three” programs that helps thousands of Connecticut infants and toddlers facing developmental issues.
Touted by politicians as a tremendous success, some of the very employees who made that success story a
reality now find themselves severed from their life’s work.
Meanwhile, not a single employee in the Legislative Branch of Government has even received a layoff notice let alone are waking up to unemployment. A $70 million dollar legislative budget with over 400 full-time employees and rather than notify and lay off employees, legislative leaders decided to wait to see if the unions approved the clarified Malloy/SEBAC concession package.
And, as reported, the number of people working in the governor’s office has grown from 20 under Rell to 30 under Malloy and salaries for Malloy’s staff is up $661,429, or 41 percent, from before he took office.
In fact, three of his staff make as much or more than the Governor himself who makes $150,000.
Among his highest paid staff are the following;
Chief of Staff $150,000
Chief Advisor $160,000
Press Secretary $98,000
Chief Counsel: $160,000
Legal: $110,000
Legal: $85,000
Leg. Liaison: $85,000
Leg. Liaison: $85,000
Policy Dir: $98,000
Operations Dir: $92,000
DC Office Dir: $110,000
And down the street in the Governor’s Office of Policy and Management, Malloy’s Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Ben Barnes, is getting $187,000 a year. Barnes, with far less experience than his predecessor and a Masters Degree instead of a Juris Doctorate is paid $23,000 more.
Malloy’s other political appointees at OPM (the deputy and three assistant secretaries) make a combined $575,000 or $36,000 more than their four predecessors.
And here too political appointees are being completely spared from the nightmare that is facing so many other state employees and their families.
According to the latest state employee layoff report;
Governor’s Office: No layoffs
Lt. Governor’s Office No layoffs
Attorney General No political appointees on layoff list, 4 clerical, two staff
Comptroller No political appointees on layoff list, 2 clerical, five staff
Secretary of the State No political appointees on layoff list, 6 clerical, four staff
Treasurer No Layoffs
Not all generals fight from the back…but many do.
Jul 29
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy, SEBAC, State Employees layoffs, Malloy, SEBAC, State Employees
(Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
Not, I will beat you up until you bring in your lunch money.
I’ve read some crazy stuff over the past six months as Connecticut meanders towards a budget resolution but the Hartford Courant takes the cake with their recent editorial entitled “State Employee Pink Slips Can’t Stop” and applauds the Governor’s decision to “continue with layoffs till unions vote.”
I actually had to read the commentary piece a few times before I could bring myself to believe what they were saying.
According to the Courant’s editorial,” If Mr. Malloy rescinded the layoffs now, the unions would have little incentive to vote on the agreement with dispatch” adding “ Mr. Malloy has to keep the pressure on by continuing apace with the layoffs plan.”
Wait, let me get this right.
If the Governor puts the layoffs on hold union members would be more likely to vote against the agreement?
The Courant’s editorial writers have no concept of how the collective bargaining process works and worse, are either ignorant or uncaring about the impact layoffs have on the families receiving those notices.
As a result of the Governor’s approach, another 600 Connecticut families (and maybe far more) will face the daunting challenge of becoming unemployed.
Gone will be their bi-weekly check that many use to pay their mortgage or day to day expenses.
Instead these families will have to turn to an overburdened Connecticut unemployment system.
Also gone is their health care insurance.
Beyond the incredible amount of wasted time and lowered productivity as both the state and the laid off employee spend their time filling out paperwork, these families – like thousands of other laid off Connecticut workers – will now be preparing for the school year by reducing their purchasing which in turn hurts Connecticut’s already weak economy.
But even putting all of that aside, the Courant editorial is disgustingly insulting.
We aren’t talking about telling a child that they must get their grades up before they can use their Xbox.
We are talking about hard working adults, who are trying to put food on the table, pay their bills, raise their families and remain productive citizens.
I’m not sure if Governor Malloy is writing editorials for the Hartford Courant or the Hartford Courant is writing speeches for Governor Malloy but their approach is cruel, mean-spirited and unnecessary.
Yes, everyone, including Connecticut’s state employees understands that if the Malloy/SEBAC deal fails – thousands of state employees will lose their jobs. In fact, 57 percent of those who cast their votes in round #1 voted yes and there is no reason to believe that the state employees won’t vote in favor again, now that some issues have been “clarified”.
There is simply no excuse for hurting hundreds, perhaps thousands of Connecticut residents.
Let’s face it. If the population being impacted was deemed a “valued” one, worthy of being treated with humanity, neither the Governor nor the Courant would be say “whatever you do, don’t stop punching them until they hand over their money.”
Jul 23
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy, State Employees layoffs, Mallloy, SEBAC, State Employees
(Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
Once again Dan Malloy’s rhetoric seeks to scapegoat Connecticut’s public employees and trivialize the fact that they have already voted in favor (and are working to fully adopt) the largest concession package in state history.
From his budget announcement last February to his press statement last night Dan Malloy has consistently said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
At 10pm last night Governor Malloy released a statement that an agreement has been reached between his administration and SEBAC and that another vote would be taken on a concession package.
According to Malloy, “This agreement saves the same amount of money as the last agreement– $1.6 billion over 2 years, $21.5 billion over 20 years – and it contains all of the same cost-saving provisions as the last agreement.”
With that, the Governor then concludes;
“I hope state employees ratify this agreement, but I am assuming nothing. If they ratify it, the vast majority of layoffs and painful spending cuts can be undone. If this agreement fails, then we’ll unfortunately have to continue to lay people off and implement the spending cuts.”
And with that the Governor renews his familiar role of making this process as difficult as possible.
With the SEBAC by-law changes, 50% of state employees must now adopt this plan to fully authorize it. Originally 57% voted yes (when 80% was needed). The language related to the health care change that worried many state employees as been removed to ensure that no one thinks this agreement is part of SustiNet – the State’s comprehensive health care reform law.
Governor, continuing to lay people off pending the vote is mean-spirited, bad for the employees and the families of those being laid off, bad for the people who rely on the essential services these employees provide and bad for the state’s economy during the greatest recession of our lives.
Malloy could and should have suspended the layoffs pending the vote.
And yet again we see the double standard.
If a Republican governor was doing what this Governor is doing and if a Republican governor put out a press release like the one Malloy put out last night, Democratic elected officials would be condemning the action.
But regardless of whether Democratic legislators are silent, Malloy’s actions deserve to be criticized.
Thankfully, Connecticut’s state employees care more than this Governor when it comes to preserving vital
services and doing the right thing.
Jul 21
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy, State Employees layoffs, Malloy, State Employees
(Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
The Connecticut State Employees who are being laid off by the Malloy Administration aren’t the only ones paying a price for these unnecessary layoffs.
Nor are the thousands more who are being negatively impacted by the reductions to essential and vital services.
Connecticut’s taxpayers will also pay a hefty cost…
The initial hit comes when the state employees lose their jobs and start getting unemployment benefits.
First off taxpayers must pick up the cost of the unemployment benefits and second they must pick up the extra costs of overtime as agencies pay the remaining employees overtime to fill key positions.
And now another cost becomes apparent.
Many state employees carry accrued sick and vacation time.
Those costs MUST now be paid out to the laid-off employees in a lump sum check – often no later than the last day the employee works.
The cost to the state (as the employer) can be significant not to mention the potential tax implications to the employee.
In the SEBAC/Rell concession package of 2009, the one that included an early retirement incentive, the State asked and actually got permission from the unions to push-off paying the accrued sick and vacation payments to new retirees for two years because the costs were going to be so great.
The irony is that those costs were pushed off to this year when we have even less money.
How many signals does Governor Malloy need?
He could and should suspend the layoffs pending the finalization of an agreement.
Instead it is full steam ahead…And who gets hurt by Malloy’s actions.
The state employees who are getting laid off (and their families), the people who rely on the state services those employees provided, the Connecticut economy and…
Wait for it…. Connecticut’s taxpayers.
Hardly a move forward in the effort to make Connecticut government more efficient and effective.
Jul 16
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy, State Budget, State Employees, Wyman layoffs, Malloy, State Budget, Wyman
Oh and add prophet to the resume of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
On April 11, 2011 Paul Krugman wrote a commentary piece in the New York Times entitled “The President is Missing.”
In it he wrote “…Mr. Obama is conspicuously failing to mount any kind of challenge to the philosophy now dominating Washington discussion — a philosophy that says the poor must accept big cuts in Medicaid and food stamps; the middle class must accept big cuts in Medicare (actually a dismantling of the whole program); and corporations and the rich must accept big cuts in the taxes they have to pay. Shared sacrifice!”
Krugman ended with “I’d say that the nation wants — and more important, the nation needs — a president who believes in something, and is willing to take a stand. And that’s not what we’re seeing.”
One wonders if Krugman realized just how prophetic his comments were – for the nation and for Connecticut.
Here in Connecticut, in a state that could and should be showing the way forward during these dark times, we are saddled with a chief executive who appears to be an even greater failure when it comes to fulfilling his promise and his promises.
Since Dan Malloy released his proposed budget back in February we have been careening toward this terrible moment… reached yesterday when Malloy and Wyman released their revised budget to deal with the $1.6 billion hole in the state budget.
Connecticut is now the shining example of the Democrat’s inability or unwillingness to take a stand and confront the politics of greed, fear and failure.
We have come to the day when, to borrow liberally from Krugman’s piece, “Shared sacrifice” means that the poor must accept big cuts in essential services, the middle class must pay more in taxes while accepting big cuts in vital programs and the corporations and super rich must accept tax breaks (like Cigna) and government policies that ensure that they don’t have to pay their fair share (like the .02 percent increase in their income tax rates). Oh and in Connecticut, Shared Sacrifice means public employees are public enemy number #1 and thousands must now face the unemployment line.
The Malloy/Wyman Plan:
Layoff over 4,400 public employees in the Executive Branch and eliminate 1,599 vacant posts regardless of how important those positions might be.
Layoff or eliminate at least 600 public employees in the Judicial Branch
Cut $60 million more from Connecticut’s public colleges and universities (after already cutting over $70 million from their current service budgets).
A new asset test for Medicaid patients preventing many lower-middle class people from being able to access vital health and human service programs.
A massive cut to community health centers and school-based health clinics.
No more placement of clients into group homes when vacancies occur despite a backlog of people who can no longer live safely on their own.
Reduced funding for HIV prevention services, including testing, prevention intervention, housing and emergency financial assistance.
Eliminate the state’s drug treatment and rehabilitation program at Connecticut Valley Hospital.
Reduce services for Connecticut veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs including therapeutic, recreational, laboratory testing, and on-call health care services. Also cut was the state subsidy to help veterans’ families install special grave markers.
A 15 percent rates hike on the Metro-North line and similar increase on Shoreline East.
Eliminate the Dial-A-Ride program for all non-disabled patrons while cutting subsidies for bus, rail and transit services.
Ending the Rocky Hill-to-Glastonbury ferry and the Chester-to-Hadlyme ferry.
Closure of two state prisons by releasing some prisoners and having others sleep in gymnasiums.
Eliminate 57 state trooper posts, reducing the force to 178 below the statutorily mandated level of 1,248.
A 10 percent cut in funding for the state’s nine fire training schools.
Eliminate drug courts in Danielson, New Haven and Bridgeport and close other judicial facilities.
Major funding cuts for the environmental protection programs for mosquito control, emergency spill response, clean air and solid waste management programs.
And the list goes on and on.
CTNewsjunkie and CTMirror both have links to the Governor’s plan:
http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/budget/2012_midterm_budget/budget_balancing_plan_july_15.pdf
http://ctmirror.org/sites/default/files/documents/budget_balancing_plan_july_15.pdf
Jul 15
jonpeltoLayoffs, Malloy, SEBAC, State Employees layoffs, Malloy, Wyman
(Cross-posted from Pelto’s Point at the New Haven Advocate)
Whether it is in Washington or Hartford the reality is that the “game” has become so important that it trumps the truth almost every single time.
Take the on-going debate about raising the U.S. debt ceiling – an action that “must happen” in order to prevent economic chaos and melt-down.
Even faced with reality, the “politics” is what matters to most of the politicians and the media that cover them.
The “game” is what it is all about.
In a recent speech to Wall Street executives, Speaker of the House John Boehner said that while “It’s true that allowing America to default would be irresponsible,” Republicans would not vote to increase the U.S. borrowing limit (and avoid default) unless they got “trillions of dollars in cuts” to the federal budget.
Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann says the United States doesn’t even need to raise its debt ceiling and that default wouldn’t be that bad. Like her fellow Tea Party followers she will vote against raising the debt ceiling limit no matter what.
It’s is hard to know if these two Republican “leaders” actually believe the stuff they are saying or even know the difference between the debt and the deficit but what is clear is that to them, and to most others in Washington, the game – the political pandering and positioning – has become more important than doing the “right thing”.
While it is hard to accept or even believe that dedication to the “game” has eclipsed even the truth here at home as well.
Yesterday, Gov. Malloy issued a joint statement with Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman in which they “expressed regret” for the massive layoffs that are now taking place.
They rationalized their action by saying; “To be clear, this is not the road down which either of us wanted to go. It’s the reason we both worked hard and in good faith to come to an agreement with SEBAC that would have avoided the layoffs of rank-and-file state employees and managers…But at this point, with no clear path to reach a ratified agreement with SEBAC, it’s our job to find a way to fill the $1.6 billion hole in the budget and ensure our budget is balanced honestly.”
Of course it makes political sense that the Governor and Lt. Governor are trying to wash their hands of the impact their layoffs will have on thousands of hardworking Connecticut families and the tens of thousands of people who rely on the vital services that some of them provide.
Furthermore, as Malloy and Wyman reveal, the game “requires” them to find someone else to blame for these problems – in this case – SEBAC and the state employees themselves.
But the truth is – their statement is simply a lie.
Their claim rests on the notion that “with no clear path to reach a ratified agreement” they have no choice but to take this vicious action.
The fact is, however, that nothing could be further from the truth.
There are a wide range of paths that would lead to an agreement that would save the state billions and preserve existing state positions but Malloy and Wyman have chosen not to pursue those paths.
And yes, there is certainly enough blame to go around…
For one thing, SEBAC leaders could have and should have done a better job putting together the agreement and educating the state employees about the agreement.
But those issues miss the most important point of all. We are facing a financial crisis of unparalleled proportions.
The Governor and Lt. Governor were elected by the people to do the right thing.
Instead, at this moment that their leadership is needed most, they have retreated to the safety of putting their own political gain above doing what is right.
While the issues in Washington and Connecticut are different and the players are different, the failure to step forward and take responsibility for doing the right thing is shockingly similar.
It is a sad state of affairs we are witnessing.
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