Supermajority status

The partisanship in the Legislature seems to ramping up a bit. Recently proposed legislation includes:

1) changing the filling of US Senate vacancies from a Gubernatorial appointment to an open election (CGA website)
2) changing Bond Commission control from the Governor to the Legislature (WRA)
3) hiring of State Education Dept officials by the Legislature's Education Committee (CGA website)

All of these actions have been described by others as power grabs brought on by the Dems' newfound supermajority status. I tend to agree that none of these things would be happening if the Dems hadn't achieved a supermajority. But that's not to say that the new supermajority will be able to run roughshod over the state and Gov. Rell.

Why?

1) Changing from a US Senate appointment to a US Senate election is not necessarily a bad thing. While there is both a 100-yr tradition of appointments and a tradition of appointments in 42 other states, I'm a believer in elections. To me, the difference between an election and an appointment of someone really should relate to the timing of the next election. That is, if a US Senate vacancy occured today (nearly two years from the next scheduled election), I'd support having an election. But if a vacancy occured one month before the next regularly scheduled election, then I'd suggest an appointment is appropriate. The key is deciding the "cutoff" point during the two year cycle... the cutoff point where elections vs. appointments occur.

Don't get me wrong, I don't see the need to change this... tradition does matter. However, there is merit to the idea.

2) I believe this proposal doesn't matter. It's DOA in the state Senate. Why? It's dead because the Dems would need 24 votes in the Senate and I can't believe they'll have 24 votes. Yes, they do have 24 members in their caucus. But seriously... do you think any Senator who plans to run for Governor in four years is going to vote to strip power from the seat s/he wants? I just don't believe that will happen. So I expect this proposal is going nowhere fast.

To the substance of the proposal though... I believe CT is already $36billion in debt. I'd suggest the legislature focus its efforts on addressing our huge underfunded postretirement benefits for local teachers and state employees before spending time on this proposal.

3) This proposal by our own state Senator Gaffey is a pure n simple power grab. I mean, unless I'm misunderstanding something here, he's proposing that a legislative branch begin hiring for the executive branch... or at minimum, inject himself into the process. And to me, that makes no sense. If you work for the Governor, then the Governor (or the administration) should hire you. Legislative bodies should set policy and oversee the executive, but the executive should administer the policy and hire & fire staff.

I find this proposal to border on absurd. I hope this is just a case of Senator Gaffey looking for headlines and not a serious proposal. If passed, such a proposal could cause serious damage in the hierarchy of all future administrations... Democrat & Republican alike.

So while I doubt these proposals would be under consideration if the Dems hadn't gotten a supermajority, I doubt there'll be much of a negative impact as I expect two of three to go nowhere.

However, I am concerned that a pattern of abuse could be emerging as a result of the supermajority. First, there is the issue of state Rep. Pat Dillon retaining her "title" and related pay despite admitting her guilt in a drunk driving arrest. And now there's news of Legislative Office Building (LOB) democratic staffers being caught on videotape as they rifled through the desk of a Republican counterpart (Courant). And the Democratic leadership are dismissing this as a "prank?" The Courant got it right when they said the democratic staffers:

should be removed from their jobs at least until the police investigation and an inquiry by the Democratic caucus are completed. The Democrats may have a veto-proof majority in both chambers, but that doesn't mean their staff members should act like bullies.

I hope the majority doesn't get carried away with itself in its newfound supermajority status. By virtue of their status, they have an even greater responsibility than before. I hope they take that responsibility seriously.

Tim White