Debate continued Thursday between the Democratic Malloy administration and Republican legislative minority over the validity and verifiability of the administration's claims that the concession agreement now being voted on by state employee unions will save $1.6 billion over two years and won't result in tax increases above those already enacted.
On Thursday, Malloy budget chief Ben Barnes sent a letter to Republican Sen. Andrew Roraback, who had written to Barnes Wednesday to press questions raised a day earlier by House Republican Leader Lawrence Cafero of Norwalk.
Cafero's questions on Tuesday had centered around the fact that the legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis has said it can only verify about half of the claimed $1.6 billion in savings. The questions sparked an all-day battle of words between Cafero and the governor's director of communications Colleen Flanagan.
The text of Barnes Thursday letter to Roraback is below. But first, if you want to read Roraback's Wednesday letter, to understand what Barnes was replying to, click ere.
If you would like to read a Capitol Watch item that gives a full account of Tuesday's battle between Cafero and Flanagan on the issue, and thereby gain a better understanding of the background for the exchange of letters between Roraback and Barnes, click here.
Now, here is Barnes' letter, minus its 31 pages of attachments:
S T A T E O F C O N N E C T I C U T
OFFICE OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY