Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • May 16, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com OPINION & COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Budget battle messaging shapes November elections S ome media outlets expressed surprise last week when Senate GOP Leader Len Fasano lashed out against the Connecticut Business & Industry Association for backing the Democrat's fiscal 2017 budget. While it's unusual for a Republican leader to publicly go after Connecticut's largest business lobby (both tend to be fiscally conservative and pro-business in their policy positions) the motives behind the outburst make perfect sense. For Fasano, it's all about positioning Republicans for the November elections. If the minority GOP wants to gain a majority in the House or Senate it must market itself as a better, more fiscally conservative steward of state finances. A no tax increase budget that significantly slashes spending — and gains business-community support — makes the Republican pitch a slightly harder sell. Fasano's chief complaint was that CBIA was backing a $19.76 billion budget that failed to make the structural reforms necessary to prevent an unending wave of future deficits — a trend that has plagued the state in recent years. "CBIA's bar has been lowered so much that any budget without direct tax increases is all they need to claim victory," Fasano said. "I believe the people and businesses of our state deserve better." CBIA CEO Joseph Brennan countered that while the budget may be imperfect, any plan that reduces short- and long-term spending and doesn't raise taxes again is a good one, particularly in the wake of two historic tax hikes since 2011. Both Fasano and Brennan are accurate in their characterizations of the budget issue. The spending plan negotiated between majority House and Senate Democrats and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will help close a nearly $1 billion projected deficit in fiscal 2017 without raising taxes, but still leaves behind billion-dollar deficits in fiscals 2018 and 2019, according to the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis. Some of the budget cuts will create permanent, long-term savings and help lower out-year deficits, but others are more fleeting. For example, the budget requires Malloy to find more than $200 million in undefined savings, according to the Connecticut Mir- ror. Republican calls for spending and bonding caps were also ignored. Democrats are also slashing government spending without offering a larger vision for how the state will be able to get out of its economic quagmire. But they are play- ing smart election-year politics by shying away from another round of tax hikes, and instead relying on a more fiscally conservative spending plan. Republicans are hoping fed-up taxpayers will head to the voting booth this Novem- ber with the 2011 and 2015 Democrat-imposed tax increases — and the threat of future tax hikes — fresh on their minds. At stake are majorities in both the House and Senate, of which Democrats cur- rently control by 87-64 and 21-15 majorities, respectively. All 187 seats are up for grabs this year. For its part, CBIA had little power to control the budget negotiations and it would be unwise for the group to blast Democrats in a year they actually showed some fis- cal restraint. Its members, however, are cautiously aware of the continuing budget pressures Connecticut faces as growing debt costs threaten the state's fiscal outlook. Businesses will demand further structural reforms in 2017. Fasano, too, did what he felt was necessary to differentiate his party from the Democrats. The spat between CBIA and Fasano didn't signify a split between the business com- munity and GOP. It was simply a show of political theater during a tense and important election year. n OTHER VOICES What if the great 'reform' is actually already here? By Chris Powell C onnecticut's former and sometime Republican U.S. senator and governor, Lowell P. Weicker Jr., told the Connecti- cut Post the other day that Donald Trump's capture of the party's presidential nomination may be the "last act" of the party's destruc- tion nationally, leading to "total reformation" of the party. Maybe. But Trump's ascendance may be that reform already, and since polls show him run- ning competitively against the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in the decisive states of Ohio, Florida and Pennsyl- vania, the demise of the Trumpian Republican Party is no sure thing. Yes, Trump's success suggests that the Religious Right's influence in the party has been greatly exag- gerated. His refer- ence during the campaign to "two Corinthians" when he meant "Sec- ond Corinthians" was among his big gaffes, but it did him no more harm. He embodies an entire environment without fear of God or even concern for ordinary decency. But no matter — the candidate of the Religious Right, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, was easily turned aside even in the Bible Belt. Meanwhile, the candidates from the presumably sane section of the party — Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Chris - tie, and John Kasich — only divided it fatally. Disparaged as they may be by respect- able news organizations, the major griev- ances of Trump supporters are legitimate: illegal immigration and the political estab- lishment's calculated devaluation of citizen- ship; the disastrous failures of U.S. foreign policy; and the steady decline in incomes. In response to these grievances Trump has gotten away with offering only demagogic nonsense because little else is on offer. No wall along the Mexican border would be necessary under a government that enforced immigration law against employers. But Trump prefers the wall because it lets him vilify pow- erless foreigners instead of powerful citizens. Trump's foreign policy is merely incoher- ent rage: "America first"except when certain foreign powers are so repugnant that he wants to nuke them. As for incomes, no one more than Trump has used a system of cronyized government credit and corporate welfare that has pushed wealth upward. But no matter again, for reveling in his vile- ness, Trump even more than Bernie Sanders has captured the political mood — a contempt so complete that people feel exempted from respon- sibility even for their own place in public life. It's not hard to see what caused this con- tempt — the exploitation of most basic institu- tions of government by their supposed custodi- ans, from government employment to finance to education and medical care, undertakings where service to the public has become second- ary, service to self primary, and elected officials have done nothing to reverse the trend. Democrats have "reformed" too. They have managed to become the party of both Wall Street and the slob culture, of corporate and individual welfare. To try to win a pass from the masses for delivering the economy into a new Guilded Age of plu - tocratic consolida- tion, the Democrats promise free college tuition for students who never master high school, encour- age racial and ethnic minorities to think that their lagging has nothing to do with their own lack of effort, and righ- teously contrive con- stitutional rights for any sexual oddity no matter how trivial its grievances nor how much it tramples on social conventions. So not only has the country's political health collapsed. Its basic social health is collapsing as well under waves of drug addiction and suicide. Yes, what if the political "reform" is already here — not just with Trump and the Republi- cans but with Clinton and the Democrats too? What if politics has reformed the people them- selves out of their virtue? n Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester. HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM POLL Will Democrats' $19.7B budget hurt or help CT's economy? ● Hurt ● Help ● Negligible impact To vote, go online to HartfordBusiness.com. Last week's poll results: Do you have confidence state lawmakers will avoid tax hikes in 2017? 3.8% Yes 96.2% No Chris Powell ▶ ▶ … The major grievances of Trump supporters are legitimate: illegal immigration…; the disastrous failures of U.S. foreign policy; and the steady decline in incomes. In response to these grievances Trump has gotten away with offering only demagogic nonsense because little else is on offer. Send Us Your Letters The Hartford Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and guest commentaries for our opinion pages. Electronic submissions are preferred and welcome at: editor@HartfordBusiness.com.

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