House Republican Press Release

January 16, 2006

Press Office: 860-240-8700

Money, and Marketing

By State Representative John J. Ryan

It is already only a few weeks until the next General Assembly Session convenes, and two words beginning with "M" dominate the developments in Hartford. You must have seen the headlines that the latest projections put the potential State surplus in our present fiscal year as approximately $525 million, so at least one bit of "money news" seems promising!

But is a 1/2 billion dollar impending surplus really good news? The Stamford Advocate cheerily reported this development with a front page headline on January 7 as “State spending spree may be coming” (I guess they are beginning to figure out the inclinations of our Democrat legislative majorities!) Doesn't that reinforce your worst suspicions about government that if there is an extra dollar to be found somewhere, LET’S SPEND IT?

So for your participation exercise this week in government, good reader, please consider some options for this $500+ million surplus that could develop; would you like your State government to A] spend most of the money on new programs ? B] tuck much of it away in our emergency savings account, a/k/a the Rainy Day Fund ? C] pay some of our [whopping] bonded debt and thereby reduce our large interest payments ? D] put some money to reduce the large shortfall in our teacher's pension fund, or some combination of these ? So this presents a good chance to get going on your Letters to Editor! [If you cannot guess that I lean towards B, C and D, you have not read many of my columns!]

Of course, I have seen no one in the media make the obvious conclusion that if our budget, now being done on basically an annual basis, is already projecting a large revenue surplus over the budget target amount, that this budget has an excessive tax burden?

And while on the topic of money, you have heard many times in the media blitz on 'campaign finance reform' about the problems money causes, so I assume that you saw the recent Mayoral funding results in our adjoining towns? In Norwalk, incumbent Mayor Alex Knopp raised $92,073 and challenger Richard Moccia raised $43,297; by the way, Moccia, outspent more than 2-1, was the winner. In Stamford, incumbent Mayor Dan Malloy raised $299,363, and the challenger Chris Munger (who did not get into the race until July) raised about $88,000; Malloy eked out a 51-48 win!

It is also the time of year when politicians and political causes are filling up the media with press releases on forums, seminars, announcements of impending legislation to be filed, etc. etc. My favorite example lately was that Senate and House Democrats recently touted at business seminars that they are "considering" cutting the corporate tax surcharge recently passed, and other pro-business initiatives. I was surprised that two different business-leader constituents [who apparently actually follow pending legislation regularly through groups like CBIA] commented to me that these positions were not exactly consistent with the raft of anti-business legislation that the same groups propose every year! I certainly miss Cablevision's Hartford correspondent Jim Murphy, who said a few years back when asked why he was not "making a big deal" out of a proposal for "new legislation" before a Session began, "Aren't we supposed to cover when you guys actually DO something, as opposed to when politicians say they MIGHT do something" ?

Since our House Republican caucus will be announcing our caucus initiatives soon, I hope that you can take a look at what is being proposed for this year, do a little homework on what really happens, and draw some conclusions for yourself. You might decide that much of what happens in government is marketing, but sometimes, some things actually do get done. !

Please feel free to contact me with your concerns and issues. As your state representative, it is my job, and my priority to represent you and to make sure that your needs and concerns are addressed at the capitol.  You can write to me at Room 4200, Legislative Office Building, Hartford, CT 06106-1591, send me e-mail at John.Ryan@housegop.state.ct.us or call my office toll-free at 1-800-842-1423.