Sen. Sampson March Column: Decision Time for Governor Lamont

March 5, 2019

Connecticut’s legislative session has been under way for just about a month now and we have reached the phase where the many bills proposed have now been assigned to committees and are being screened by the respective committee chairs who determine what will go forward and what will not. This is also where the stage is set for what our future direction will likely be and just how the legislature will work together – or not. I thought it a prudent time to share some observations.

Since first being elected, I have done my level best to be a vocal and consistent voice for a different direction in our state. After all, the state budget has increased by multiple billions of dollars since Gov. Malloy first took office, our debt is spiraling out of control, and we continue to watch as our neighbors pack up and leave for the greener pastures of other states.

Current projections put the immediate budget deficit at approximately $4 billion over the next biennium. There are two basic options our new Governor how to handle that. First, he could do what has been done and find even more ways to generate revenue (aka taxes) to the state – a mistake that leads to perennial budget deficits and the economic malaise we are now facing.

Or, he could do something different and better. He could recognize that Connecticut residents are at their limit for taxes and that he must reign in legislative Democrats and their appetite for growing government – a difficult task given their current business model.

You have probably seen the numerous proposals floated in recent weeks for not just tolls SB 102 but also for taxes on groceries and medicine, and increase in the sales tax SB 475, increases in property taxes and a new statewide property tax SB 431, and a plan for regionalization of school districts. Under Senate President Martin Looney’s (D) plan, districts with fewer than 40,000 students would be forced together. I am in favor of allowing towns to join forces to save money voluntarily, but this is something different altogether. The problem with this plan is that it would force municipalities of different sizes to consolidate under one shared board of education. The larger municipality would control the board, and therefore how the money would be spent – resulting in taxpayers in well run small towns being forced to bail out the big cities.

The only way forward for our state, the only way to pay back the mountains of debt we have accumulated, is to grow our economy. Everyone needs to recognize that this is our only option – not for profits and state employees concerned about their futures included. Don’t buy into the argument that we need new ways to fund the government, it’s not working!

Step one is to simply stop spending and taxing so much. The taxpayers just cannot afford it. It is chasing away businesses, jobs, and people of all economic strata – the rich because they can afford to relocate, and those on fixed incomes because they have no choice.
Instead, we need to concentrate on our priorities and find ways to save money. Arguments that there is no place to cut are false. We should eliminate the massive fraud in Medicaid and in the EBT food stamps program, eliminate state agencies that exist only to lobby the legislature, get rid of the Board of Regents of Higher Education – an agency filled with political appointees making over 100k per year that don’t teach a single student, require able-bodied Medicaid recipients show they are looking for work, apply an asset test to entitlements, require proof of citizenship for state benefits, reverse the $500M bailout of Hartford, choose not to spend $45M on the XL center, or bronze statues, and splashpads in New Haven, and plenty more.

Of course, everyone is aware that Republicans across Connecticut took a significant drubbing this past November. However, despite the apparent mandate Democrats have to advance their own agenda unilaterally, I have been holding out hope that our new Governor, simply as a requirement of being tethered to the reality, would recognize the failure of our current spend and tax trajectory and choose a better path, and hopefully look to Republicans for help.

I am ready, willing and able to work with the Governor and anyone else, regardless of party, if their goal is a brighter future for Connecticut. We need to make our state a more attractive place to live, to work, to run or start a business, and to retire. Next month, I will share some of my ideas how we do that. As always, you can find me at www.senatorsampson.com and [email protected].