Tuesday morning open thread

Lamont for governor (0.00 / 0)

I'd like to get excited about Lamont for governor.

Then I see this Lamont quote in the "Day" piece you linked to:

"She (Gov. Jodi Rell) wants to borrow us out of this mess and the legislature wants to tax us out of it," says Lamont. "She's successfully blamed our budget mess on the legislature. Why not present a balanced budget and move the ball?"

I understand it's just a sound bite, spoken for whatever purpose Mr. Lamont had in mind at the time (or no purpose at all).  

But, to me, that statement shows an awkwardly simple-minded view of the budget fight. It doesn't sound like something that a progressive would ever say (or mean).  And if Lamont is talking that way for some strategic reason -- then I think I like the comment even less.

So what would Lamont stand for as governor?  Would he be a real champion for the middle-class, the working class, and the poor of CT?  Or just another "lesser of two evils?"

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by: iBlog @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:38:35 AM CDT

Governor just vetoed budget (0.00 / 0)

Veto message just out:

"Instead of reducing spending as families and businesses across Connecticut have done, Senate Bill 1801 does nothing to reduce the size or cost of a government that has outgrown the taxpayers' ability to pay for it. Rather, it pushes the pain of sacrifice off the state bureaucracy and onto the state's taxpayers. I cannot allow that to happen.  Senate Bill 1801 calls for $2.5 billion in new taxes on the people and employers of Connecticut in the midst of the greatest global economic downturn since the Great Depression: exactly the wrong move at exactly the wrong time."

She means: "It pushes the pain of sacrifice off the state bureaucracy and onto the state's tiny percentage of people earning a half-million/yr or more."

SHE prefers:

Children with gum infections tossing and turning at night because can't see a dentist.

Skill mothers sitting at home because there is no child care for them.

Adults going without eye glasses.

Job training programs shutting down.

Eliminating inspectors that ensure state nursing-home patients aren't living in squalor.

Cutting a half-million dollars for treating prison inmates with debilitating mental illnesses.

Yanking money for community health centers, mostly used by low-income families, even as the Obama administration is directing more money to them.

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by: iBlog @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 11:11:06 AM CDT