Time For Governor To Stop The Gamesmanship And Lead (NL Day Op-Ed)
http://archive.theday.com/re.aspx?re=8a99bcfe-e4f7-4204-9b74-5fa9d2567bfa
Published on 6/23/2009
By Dan Malloy
On June 30, Connecticut’s fiscal year will end and we’ll begin a new two-year budget cycle. The question is, will we have a budget? June 30 is not an arbitrary date; it’s a deadline that, if missed, will have a potentially devastating impact on communities and community providers across the state who need to know what funding they’ll receive in the coming cycle. The delay also has a direct impact on taxpayers, as the state will pay $10,000 for every day that the legislature meets in special session – with no definitive end date.
With that deadline fast approaching, it’s important that politicians stop asking themselves how they let things get this far and instead focus on preventing a similar mess in the future.
The answer has a lot to do with the processes used to achieve consensus and actually get things done. As the mayor of one of Connecticut’s larger cities, and an outsider looking in on Hartford throughout the budget debate, it appears that the Capitol has been largely spinning its wheels.
Being a facilitator is key
That it’s come to this is largely due to a failure of leadership on the part of Gov. M. Jodi Rell. As our state’s chief executive, it’s her job to be a leader and a facilitator. Unfortunately, while the Republican governor’s rhetoric around the budget in February was encouraging, it was ultimately empty. Instead of leading the charge, the governor presented a budget that fell more than $2 billion short, put the legislature on the defensive and then waited for months to begin correcting it (to date, we’ve still not seen a balanced budget).
That’s not facilitating – it’s using a political tactic that is unfortunately all too familiar in Connecticut: one side tries to rig the game by setting the other up to fail before a dialog has even begun.
Meanwhile, my fellow Democrats, who have majority control in the legislature, say they plan to put their version of a balanced budget up for a vote. The governor provided a distant response through a spokesman that amounted to “I dare you.” That’s not leadership; that’s gamesmanship.
Put a budget on the table
The governor still has a chance to demonstrate what she failed to demonstrate in February: bold leadership. Even at this, the 11th hour, Gov. Rell can step forward and guide the process to a successful conclusion. How? By putting a balanced budget on the table that reflects her values, and asking legislative leaders to do the same.
To be clear, the likely outcome will be that neither side is entirely happy with the finished product. Our budget is going to be a mix of tough spending cuts, tax increases, and other painful decisions. But that’s what compromise is about, especially when you’re facing what many have called the worst economy since the Great Depression.
There will be those who read this and say that it’s easy for me to make suggestions because I don’t have to solve this problem. But as mayor of Stamford for 14 years, I’ve had to do every single year what this governor has so far refused to do this year: propose a balanced budget, and then negotiate a final document with a large bipartisan legislative body.
This year was particularly difficult, but in Stamford we were able to work with city employees and board members to cut out every penny that didn’t need to be spent, and to agree on a balanced budget without layoffs.
Honest starting point
Through all those balanced-budget cycles I learned that if you are not willing to step up and provide workable solutions as an honest starting point, the process simply doesn’t work. The legislature has to do its job, but it can’t do its job and the governor’s job at once.
Rather than spending the coming days planning for what happens without approval of a budget, for what happens if another deadline passes and more fingers get pointed, the governor and legislature must decide together that failure is not an option. It is time to change the game by ending the games.
Dan Malloy is the mayor of Stamford and currently exploring a run for governor in 2010.
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