Sen. Kane to Gov. Malloy: I am doing the job overburdened taxpayers elected me to do.

(The following letter from Sen. Kane appeared in the Dec. 7, 2013 Waterbury Republican-American.)

Senator is not peddling doom; he’s doing his job

In a Dec. 1 op-ed piece, “Sen. Kane’s destructive politics,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget chief, Ben Barnes, claimed I am peddling “doom and gloom” with my warnings about Connecticut’s budget challenges. I guess I ruffled the governor’s feathers.

To the Malloy administration, I say this: I am not peddling “doom.” I am a realist.

I am doing the job overburdened taxpayers elected me to do. Gov. Malloy cannot spin and sugarcoat the sour mess that is the state’s finances.

Our budget is not structurally sound. There is a $2.3 billion deficit in the 2015-17 biennium, as reported by the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.

After enacting Gov. Malloy’s largest tax increase in Connecticut history, how can this be?

Simply put, the state spends too much. Considering the governor’s proven inability to reduce expenditures, I would venture to guess more tax increases are on the horizon.

Gov. Malloy is welcome to prove me wrong.

He could start by cutting spending and taxes; stopping the budget gimmicks; being honest; and doing the job he was elected to do.

Rob Kane

Watertown

The writer, a Republican, is state senator representing the 32nd District.

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2013/12/07/letters/770049.txt