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A lot of state employees have been whining and crying that their boss, Governor Malloy hasn’t touched base since he wrote that nice email the first day he took office back in January.
Apparently the complaint is they are frustrated and scared because the Malloy Administration hasn’t provided any information about how the proposed $2 billion cut to state employee salaries and benefits will be achieved.
Personally, I don’t know what all the yelping is about. It’s not like it’s the boss’ job to hold every employee’s hand every time things get a little tough.
The fact is, as Malloy’s chief advisor said just the other day in the Stamford Advocate “There is a road map to get there…the $2 billion is realistic".
It’s not like the new Administration doesn’t want to make the “road map” public, they can’t say more because the Administration and the state employee union leadership have agreed not to negotiate through the media.
Think back, the whole reason the Secret Plan to Bomb Cambodia during the Vietnam War was secret. If we told the enemy that we were going to bomb them then it wouldn’t be a secret would it?
I mean face it, that’s just the way things work. Did you expect us to tell Moammar Gadhafi the other day that we were going to fire off 120 ($1 million a piece) tomahawk missiles in the first few hours of our effort to bring him down? Of course not!
So the state employees and their families are a bit out of line demanding some memo or letter from Malloy laying out his plan for concessions.
That said, considering some of my best friends are state employees and I do feel their pain, I’m going to provide them with a version of the note that they would have received had the Governor been able to take the time to write it himself.
It might go something like this...
State Capitol, Hartford
To: Connecticut’s State Employees
From: [this is where it would say Governor Dannel Malloy]
First let me take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Monday and I know I speak for many in our great state when I tell you that I appreciate the fact that you get up and go to work.
I know some of you are angry that I haven’t written but you need to understand that I am very busy.
I am the Governor and I inherited this terrible budget deficit. The 49% of Connecticut who elected me, including most of you, did so because you knew I had the courage and conviction to make the tough choices. If you didn’t want a governor like that, well, you shouldn’t have voted for me.
Now I want to be clear. My budget is the best option out there. Deviating from my plan in any way will only makes things worse. We need to get this done and we don’t have the luxury of having some protracted debate about getting the rich to pay their fair share. This is the budget and the legislature needs to pass it as is and go home and blame any bad news on me.
We are not here to talk about more taxes and more spending. We need to find enough cuts to balance this budget and I am 100% committed to the notion of shared sacrifice.
