According to a tweet from the Democratic Governors Association this week, “CT's Dem Governor is Fighting to Bring an ‪#NHL Team Back to CT.” While it’s unclear why the DGA capitalized the first letter of every word in that tweet, it is a clear that Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy's priorities are quite skewed.
You may recall that Gov. Malloy made headlines with his FY 2012 budget, his first as governor, due to the fact that it included two dozen tax hikes totaling $2 billion, the largest tax increase in the state’s history. Malloy decided to soak taxpayers instead of fixing the state's real problem: overspending. Not surprisingly, despite those record breaking tax increases, Connecticut now faces another $2 billion deficit over the next two fiscal years. Expect calls for further tax hikes from Malloy's office.
Instead of righting the Nutmeg State's fiscal ship and addressing the state's massive unfunded pension liability, one of the worst in the nation, Malloy is focused on, as Malloy’s own DGA put it, fighting to bring a hockey team back to Hartford. Really? That tells you all you need to know about the prospects for recovery in Connecticut, at least while Malloy is governor. Maybe if Malloy fought as hard for taxpayers as he currently is for a hockey team Connecticut residents wouldn't have to work until September, longer than taxpayers of any other state, to pay for the cost of their government.
Folks in need of a good laugh should check out the DGA's Twitter feed, which is a non-stop source of unintentional hilarity.