Connecticut Governor Daniel Malloy has called himself the "anti-Christie" because of his willingness to raise taxes to help balance the Nutmeg State's budget. By contrast, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the object of Malloy's scorn, recently ruled out tax increases, as he has been doing ever since he became governor in 2010.
Malloy's recently passed taxes amounting to an estimated $1.4 billion annually include property tax hikes which according to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial (quoted at link's third item) amount to "$500 a year for the average homeowner."
But Malloy still needs to balance the budget by extracting significant cost savings from the state's recalcitrant employee unions, and guess what? Just like Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker, he's staring at the need to resort to layoffs if he can't reduce employment costs. But unlike the Associated Press's militant reporters in Wisconsin, the AP's Susan Haigh in Hartford is letting Malloy off relatively easy, as seen in these excerpts from her Tuesday evening report:
Conn. gov issues layoff notices amid labor talks
Connecticut's Democratic governor increased the pressure Tuesday on state employee unions to agree to $2 billion in concessions and other savings over two years and began issuing the first of more than 4,700 layoff notices to workers.
... "The governor is very sensitive to the fact that there are people who are being impacted by these decisions. He understands the angst they feel, that some people are angry, some people are nervous. (He) didn't want it to come to this. (He) still hopes there can be a deal that will make all of this go away, but has to do certain things to prepare for a scenario in which there is no deal," Occhiogrosso said.
... Leo Canty, second vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Malloy's so-called "Plan B," an alternative budget being considered in case there is no deal before the fiscal year ends on June 30, basically shuts down the vocational technical high school system.
Malloy had delayed issuing the notices Friday to give both sides more time to talk. But Occhiogrosso said the new governor, who received strong support from union members in last year's campaign, decided to begin issuing layoffs on Tuesday because not enough progress had been made to warrant further delay.
In the meantime, talks were expected to continue, but on a "day-by-day basis," according to Matt O'Connor, spokesman for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, the group that represents 15 state employee unions in the closed-door talks.
... Both sides have been tight-lipped about any specifics from the talks, but Malloy referred to trying to bring state workers' benefits - wages, healthcare and pension benefits - "more in line with those enjoyed by their counterparts in the private sector and in the federal workforce."
He said the union leaders have not offered enough so far.
"I simply refuse to dig us into a deeper hole," said Malloy, referring to Connecticut's various fiscal problems, including large, unfunded pension liabilities for state employees.
"In line" with "the private sector"? Gosh, Malloy is sounding a lot like Chris Christie and Scott Walker these days. In fact, in trying to address wages in addition to health care, pension, and other benefits, he's arguably going further than Walker did during the Badger State's two-month stand-off, which featured daily pro-labor demonstration in the state's Capitol and Democratic legislators who fled the state for several weeks in a failed attempt to keep Walker's initiatives from passing. Of course, Walker's legislation significantly curtailed the scope of collective bargaining discussions in Wisconsin, but as I recall it he never threatened to cut employees' current gross pay.
If Malloy were a Republican instead of a Democrat trying to force concessions, I dare say that Susan Haigh would not have demonstrated anywhere near the restraint she showed in her coverage of what may shortly turn into a Nutmeg powder keg. AP reporters Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond in Wisconsin surely didn't.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
