Saturday, April 29, 2006

Rell on Losing Side of Budget Compromise

Governor's Tax Repeals Scrapped

Gov. Rell and the Democratic legislature today reached a tentative agreement on the budget which leaves out most of the governor's plans:
Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Democratic legislative leaders agreed Saturday to a one-year budget that abandoned a plan to abolish Connecticut's car tax, a centerpiece of the Republican governor's proposed budget.

Rell also lost out on her proposal to phase out the state inheritance tax.

But the nearly $16.1 billion tax and spending plan, which takes effect July 1, axed some key initiatives the majority Democrats wanted, such as a $500 tax credit for low-income taxpayers and a new earned income tax credit program, Democratic leaders said.(AP)
So the governor lost two of the major proposals she unveiled in her state of the state speech, while the Democrats lost two tax credits.

Wait a minute. Did the Democrats just come out ahead of the governor on something?

See for yourselves. The budget increases the property tax credit, puts more money into the rainy day fund and the teachers' retirement fund, gives aid to cities and towns, and provides more funding for nursing homes.

Aside from the re-stocking of the rainy day fund and possibly the property tax credit increase, these are Democratic issues. The governor couldn't really get any of the things she wanted done. I don't see how this is good for her at all.

What's interesting about this is that in the past, Rell has been able to make compromises break her way. Stem cells, civil unions, public funding of campaigns and even the recent transportation bill have somehow ended up making the governor look good. She seems to dart around the edge of the General Assembly, pitching compromises at them, while fretting and fuming when they're too slow to react. This time, it seems like the Democrats actually caught up with her, and struck a deal more favorable to them.

Perhaps the Democratic leadership is finally starting to pull it together. Maybe Rell's standing with the legislature has been hurt by the Zarella scandal. Whatever the cause, it seems clear that Rell's influence over this legislature is starting to erode.

Source

"Budget deal kills Rell's prized car tax elimination plan." Associated Press 29 April, 2006.

5 comments:

ctkeith said...

GC Wrote,
What's interesting about this is that in the past, Rell has been able to make compromises break her way. Stem cells, civil unions, public funding of campaigns and even the recent transportation bill have somehow ended up making the governor look good.


Can you tell me which one of those issues made REPUBLICANS happy?

Genghis Conn said...

To Republican partisans and social conservatives? None of them. In fact, most of the Republicans in the legislature didn't support those initiatives.

Legislative Republicans are irrelevant, and Rell doesn't really care what social conservatives think. This leaves her trying to pass her own agenda all by herself. She may be most effective when she's proposing compromises to Democratic plans.

Genghis Conn said...

Chris,

You're right about the Dem leadership: they're getting a lot better at handling and anticipating Rell's moves. The car tax, for instance, was DOA. I don't think it was ever really on the table.

Malloy in particular has been very good at shadow governing--that is, responding with his own ideas and the actions he would take whenever Rell does something. DeStefano has also done this, but it's seemed like he's a step behind Malloy.

ctkeith said...

GC,

You must feel horribly betrated by Rell.You were literally the first person in Ct to write something in strong support of Rells car tax elimination proposal and She abandoned it wothout even a teeny tiny fight.

You think maybe it wasn't a serious proposal in the first place?
Could it have been a gimmick to help spread the Jodi the taxcutter Meme?
You think the fact that not one Executive of any of the Cities or towns in the state supported it Helped Rell make up her mind to cave on it?

Genghis Conn said...

Rell is pragmatic. She is willing to abandon fruitless policy positions in order to move forward. While it's frustrating at times, it's better than digging in for a pointless fight.

I still think there was some merit to the car tax plan, but the way she wanted to pay for it doomed it.