Your Representation In Action

Say hello to the fine members of the Connecticut Legislature. They're all so busy working on the people's business. In fact, they were supposed to be discussing the state budget, which is a financial black hole complete with a multibillion dollar deficit:

The bill was approved, largely along party lines, by 22 to 13 shortly before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Sen. Joan Hartley of Waterbury was the only Democrat who voted against the budget - joining all 12 Republicans. Sen. Andrew Maynard of Stonington was traveling out of the country and missed the vote.

Republicans complained that the two-year, $37 billion budget would increase spending by more than $800 million over two years, while Democrats said they had cut $3.1 billion from the "current services'' budget that counts lower-than-expected increases as cuts. Those spending cuts represent 35 percent of the state's projected $8.5 billion deficit, according to the legislature's nonpartisan fiscal office. Despite those figures, Republicans said that the budget had "no real cuts'' and simply had accounting maneuvers and money transfers.

One shots and sleight of hand to get a balanced budget? Connecticut has learned those lessons from Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey, where it is taken to high art. Of course, the solution will come soon enough in the form of higher taxes and fees, because reducing spending is not on the agenda.

That said, there's probably one reason why the solitaire and tv was streaming on those laptops - the vote was most likely already assured and everyone knew that this was simply window dressing. It is nice, however, that someone noticed the "work" going on in the Connecticut legislature.

UPDATE 9/2/2009:
Michelle Malkin notes the Connecticut Democrats in action, and gets a response that essentially boils down to what I noted above:

Our members have discussed and debated the state budget for seven months, culminating in yesterday’s marathon, 13 hour budget session. With little new ground being broken, and the results of the upcoming vote a reasonable certainty, a momentary diversion is understandable. Both representatives insist there was no intent to disrespect the minority leader during his presentation.

Regards,
Doug Whiting
Communications Director
Connecticut House Democrats

Classy. Then again, I regularly saw members in the New York legislature playing crosswords and reading newspapers during session, mostly because all the hard work was done behind closed doors where members were told how they would vote on items. It appears that little changes depending on the setting.