Posted on October 17, 2017
HARTFORD – Reacting to Gov. Malloy hasty efforts to contest a Republican plan to obtain hundreds of millions in state employee pension savings, House Republican Leader Themis Klarides today called the move a “desperate attempt’’ to undercut ongoing negotiations between GOP lawmakers and Democrats over the budget impasse.
“The Governor is now calling into question the initial actuarial analysis that his budget office undertook to assess the Republican budget proposal that was passed in a bipartisan manner,’’ Klarides said. “Now, in an attempt to inject himself into our negotiations he is trying to dispute the initial findings which show that hundreds of millions can be saved by making long-term structural changes in the state employee pension plan beginning in in 2027.’’
Klarides said it is clear the Governor is desperate to undermine the negotiations and that he will not entertain alternative budgets but his own to close the $3.5 billion budget gap that resulted from tax and spending plans that he signed.
Klarides said that the OPM analysis that was done supported the Republican plan to save $270 million in pension costs that were built into the Republican budget approved with Democratic support on Sept. 15. She noted that when questioned by reporters today as to why he did not seek an opinion from the Attorney General on the legality of the proposed changes starting in 2027, Gov. Malloy said he had done his own research.