If local businesspeople gave a polite reception on the surface to the man that embodies their main problems with state government, some may have been channeling their inner frustrations though the finger Joe McGee repeatedly jabbed at Rep. Chris Donovan, speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives.
Donovan emerged apparently unscathed from his appearance at a legislative breakfast in Stamford sponsored by the Business Council of Fairfield County, at which moderator McGee grilled the speaker and Sen. Donald Williams, a fellow Democrat who is president of the state senate.
Near the close of March, Donovan and Williams pushed through a budget proposal that has $373 million more in spending than the budget Gov. M. Jodi Rell is pushing for, but which also factors in additional revenue from sources such as a proposed hospital tax that the Connecticut Hospital Association is fighting.
Rell and Williams have engaged in a war of words throughout the budget process, but he struck a more conciliatory tone at the Business Council of Fairfield County, at one point smiling as he took credit for a proposed tax on executive bonuses awarded at banks that received federal bailout money, a proposal that has received jeers from Republicans.
“We can complain about how we got here,” Williams said at the Business Council of Fairfield County panel. “We can talk about what happened on Wall Street, what has happened in the national economy ”¦ Unfortunately, the bottom line is, there is a mess to clean up at this point.”
The panel was balanced by Republican state Sen. Scott Frantz of Greenwich and Rep. Larry Cafero of Norwalk.
“We are the least business-friendly legislature in the United States of America,” Cafero proclaimed in an opening monologue. “I learned the other day that there are several states in the south that have a hit list in terms of recruitment. Connecticut is No. 1 on the list.”
In response, Donovan rattled off a list of policy stances that he said were pro-business, and lectured Cafero for poisoning the atmosphere further.
“What”™s the opposite of a cheerleader? A bad cheerleader?” Donovan said. “I want to work with businesses and create jobs.”
Frantz used his time to detail the state”™s ballooning budget deficits ”“ and what that entails for short-term goals like economic development ”“ and long term obligations in meeting its promised commitments on pensions and health care for retiring state workers.
“I spent 15 years cheerleading to the state of Connecticut at the CDA,” Frantz said, referring to his previous career at the Connecticut Development Authority. “Why would you want to move your business to a state that has a fiscal crisis of this magnitude?”
Nearly an hour later, the deficit remained the overriding topic, prompting McGee to berate Donovan for not committing to sufficient spending cuts to balance the budget.
Donovan responded that business owners need to be careful on what they wish for.
“When we are talking about cutting the budget, we need to be careful about where we cut,” he said.
Asked after the event if he felt he had descended into the lion”™s den, Donovan cheerfully responded he did not; and reiterated what he said was his commitment to working with businesses.
