Fiscal Irresponsibility: Now Showing at a State Government Near You!

It would seem that across the country, we see states in financial crisis, running up deficits equal to in some cases close to 20% of their operating budgets. At a time when families and citizens are tightening their belts and spending less, the governments across the country are doing nothing of the sort. Only a handful of state legislatures have taken steps to trim down the gross deficits of the recent and immediately forthcoming fiscal years.

In this country there are 27 state legislatures controlled by Democrats, 14 by Republicans, 8 are split between the houses, and 1 declared non-partisan. Of the 25 governments where party control is the same between the governor's office and the state legislature, 17 are Democratic.

Perhaps even more shocking, of the 37 states who face deficits 22 are increasing spending in 2009. Of those 22, 17 are controlled completely by Democratic legislatures. Only 3 are controlled completely by Republicans and 2 are split. In the two split states, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the House of Representatives, wher in most cases budget processes begin, are controlled by Democrats.

There is a simple explanation for this seemingly striking phenominon. President-Elect Obama. All of these state governments are waiting for a bailout package from President Obama that they believe will save them. But even if they do get a bailout package, how much is that honestly going to help? They will just use it to run up another deficit one, two, three years down the road.

Here in Connecticut, all of the bipartisanship and "roll up your sleeves for the sandbags" from new Speaker Chris Donovan has stopped. It seems to be just that: sand bagging. Governor Rell has already made it clear that cuts have to be made and she has started herself. Just the other day, she announced that Connecticut will begin to rollback its state vehicle fleet. She also announced looking into the necessity of junior level staff and commission jobs throughout the government. It is the price you pay when a do nothing legislature is in control.

Today was supposed to be the hearings in the State House for Governor Rell's required deficit mitigation plan. $300 MILLION were offered as cuts by Governor Rell. Only $134 Million were accepted by the Dems. We cannot sit back and let our legislatures take our money and then waste it!

The House Republicans offered an amendment that called for a 5% pay cut for the state legislators. AND ONLY ONE DEMOCRAT SUPPORTED IT! Here, in the simplest most obvious way for legislators to show they are serious about being fiscally responsible. And that is what it wall comes down to. The IRRESPONSIBILITY of Connecticut Democrats to do a single thing to stop wasting the money of Connecticut Taxpayers.

I don't mind paying some taxes and helping people out. I really don't. But the money needs to be going somewhere for good. But we need to find a way to KEEP money in the pockets of Americans, rather than put it there. We need to find a way, not to allow government to get control of us, but for us to get control of government.

But until we find legislators willing to do what is hard, not what is best for them we will never see that day. As long as democrats across the country expect President Obama to bail them out completely while doing nothing to mitigate the circumstances, we will see wasteful government spending and a ticking clock before we see our towns, our states, and our country run out of money.