GOP Senator Slams Dems on Gas Tax, Budget [Hartford Courant]

Article as it appeared in the Hartford Courant on July 16, 2013

Witkos Plans To Go On Statewide ‘Tell The Truth’ Tour

By Wes Duplantier

Claiming that Connecticut’s governor and legislative leaders have misled voters on several key issues, a Republican state senator said Monday that he will travel the state this summer on what he calls a “Tell the Truth” campaign to make his party’s views known.

Specifically, state Sen. Kevin Witkos accused Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other Democrats of “distorting” the truth about the state’s budget deficits, its recently increased gas tax and its reduced payments toward health care for retired teachers.

“Connecticut is not improving and will not improve until we get the spending under control and until we are honest with the citizens we represent,” said Witkos, who is from Canton.

Speaking near the state Capitol, Witkos tore into the majority party for the recent increase in the state’s gas tax, which added as much as 4 cents to the cost of a gallon gas on July 1.

Republican leaders have been outspoken about the tax increase and late last month launched a petition drive calling on Malloy to convene a special legislative session to reverse the increase. A spokesman for Senate Republicans said Monday that the petition had about 17,231 signatures from around the state.

Malloy has so far brushed off calls for a special session on the gas tax hike. Top Democratic lawmakers have fended off criticism about the increase by pointing out that several Republicans — including Witkos — voted to support the 2005 bill that created the tax bump.

Witkos said Monday that Republicans had supported the bill because it supplied the funds for Metro North improvements in southwestern Connecticut. But he said that gas prices eight years ago were much lower and that lawmakers this year should have moved to cancel the increase, as they did in 2008.

The idea that the gas tax couldn’t be changed this year “is for naught, because we’ve shown that we can change the law and cancel a tax increase,” Witkos said.

Republicans introduced a budget amendment to cancel this year’s tax increase, but it was defeated in the Senate on a party-line vote.

Witkos was critical of the state’s budget overall and accused Malloy of blaming his Republican predecessors for deficits he inherited when he won election as governor in 2010. Instead, Witkos said those deficits were the fault of Democrats in the legislature, who currently control both chambers.

Adam Joseph, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, was dismissive of Witkos’ criticism and of his truth tour.

“The truth of the matter is, Sen. Witkos been on the wrong side of nearly every major issue,” Joseph said in an e-mail. “At a time in Connecticut when Democrats and Republicans have been able to work together, Sen. Witkos is moving to the extreme right and using the same playbook that has made Washington so dysfunctional.”

Witkos also called out one of the state’s two teachers’ unions, the Connecticut Education Association, saying that the group had not done enough to thank Republicans for trying to preserve state payments toward health care for retired teachers.

The state budget that took effect earlier this month slightly reduces the amount the state will pay for that health care. But Malloy’s office had originally proposed eliminating the state’s contribution, and the teachers’ union appeared to view the final reduction as a victory.

In a post to its website the day after the end of the legislative session, the CEA told its members: “If your legislator voted for the budget, please call and thank him or her for helping to stabilize the retired teachers’ health insurance fund.”

All Republicans in the Senate voted against the final budget last month. But on Monday, Witkos said that his party’s members had sponsored a budget amendment that would have kept funding for retirees’ health care constant.

That amendment was voted down by the Democrat-controlled chamber, but Witkos said teachers should have been more grateful for his party’s effort, rather than praising only those who supported the budget.

“I personally have had enough of the distortions coming from a special interest group, coming from the majority party and coming from the executive branch,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

Staff members at the CEA did not return multiple messages seeking comment Monday.

Some politicians use statewide tours like the one Witkos announced Monday as a means of raising their political profile ahead of a campaign for higher office. But Witkos said he intends to run for re-election to his state Senate seat in 2016.

“The purpose of this is to get the truth out,” he said. “I think people are yearning for the truth.”

Witkos also didn’t specify Monday where or when he would be speaking this summer.

In November, Witkos easily won re-election in his district, which includes the towns of Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Granby, Hartland, Harwinton, New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury and Torrington. Witkos first won the Senate seat in 2008, after serving three terms in the state House.