When beautiful Spring weather develops normal folks in Connecticut head outdoors for biking, hiking, boating, and picnics. They get their lawns in shape and plant flowers and vegetable gardens. They watch their kids play Little League baseball or soccer. Lawmakers? They think it’s time to hibernate.

Though the State Capitol grounds are a beautiful sight (as you can see in the photograph), lawmakers won’t be seeing much of it the next several weeks as they try to wrap up the important business of the 2007 General Assembly session before the constitutional adjournment date June 6th.

Legislative leaders and co-chairs of the money committees, Finance and Appropriations, will hunker down with Republican Gov. Jodi Rell’s budget czar Robert Genuario and his staff trying to find a compromise state budget and tax package. Democrats have a veto-proof majority in the House and Senate, but Rell has certain fiscal powers that can be exercised if she feels a budget plan would be bad for the state.

For reporters, lobbyists, and other Capitol hangers-on, waiting for behind-closed-doors budget negotiations to produce a result is like looking to see if it’s black or white smoke coming out of the Vatican chimney when it’s time to choose a pope.

Apparently it isn’t much fun inside the talks either. Former lieutenant governor Kevin Sullivan told me recently that when he was the top Democratic leader in the State Senate he used justifiable chicanery to kick some life into deadlocked negotiations. Sullivan said when he felt nitpicking lawmakers and budget wonks were spending too much time arguing some petty point, he’d whisper into the ear of Republican Senate leader Louis DeLuca and say: “Lou, it’s time for you and me to have a fight!”

Sullivan said the ensuing dust-up that followed either cleared the room or so startled the other negotiators, everyone was able to get off the dime and get back to meaningful discussions.

While the budget palavering goes on, the House and Senate will be meeting to handle the annual logjam of controversial bills, technical bills, and other measures that pile up at this time of year despite high hopes of an orderly process. That often means long days and nights of floor action.

In recent years, House Republicans have proposed formal rules to prevent House debate after midnight, except in special circumstances. Democrats who run the House have brushed those proposals aside. When you have the keys to the gymnasium, you don’t let the other team tell you how to play the game. However, Democratic House Speaker James Amann says he has tried to limit debates past midnight because he agrees legislating in the wee hours discourages quality product.

You might ask why lawmakers and state officials put themselves through this agony every year. Why not pass the all-important state budget early, limit the number of bills introduced, and intelligently debate and vote on bills in the winter when most people want to be inside anyway?

Budgets are very political documents. Democrats and Republicans express their philosophies through the spending they authorize and the taxes they employ to pay for it all. That means jockeying for position for a few months. Beyond that, the pols prefer to delay any budget deal until after the tax deadline in April to see if revenues are trickling in or really flowing well. This year it appears revenues are very healthy.

As for all other legislation, lawmakers are procrastinators preferring to put off tough decisions on thorny or complex issues until the very end. That’s just human nature. Besides, stalling allows leaders to quietly sink bills that prove too difficult. “We tried to get to it, but there just wasn’t enough time to debate it in the closing days of the legislative session,” the leaders will say.

Bottom line? The only lawmakers who will spend much time outdoors in the next three weeks will be the smokers who must walk outside the Capitol to have a cigarette. That’s not exactly taking time out to smell the roses!


 

Posted 5/16/07

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