CROMWELL - As blunt and as feisty as ever, former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker ripped the state Thursday for failing to tackle the state's fiscal problems by spending and borrowing too much money.
Weicker decried the practice - passed this year by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Democratic-controlled legislature - of borrowing money for operating expenses, which prompted a Wall Street agency to recently downgrade the state's bond rating. The legislature took the extremely rare step of borrowing money even before the fiscal year began, and the state would have had a projected deficit of about $1 billion for the year that starts July 1 if there had been no borrowing.
"All of this is insane fiscal practice,'' Weicker said Thursday. "If various elements of the Connecticut government are afraid to say so for one reason or another, I'm not. It should be said, and that's my purpose of being here today. ... Really where we are is there are no more easy alternatives. The trust funds have been run dry. The rainy day funds have been depleted. The bond ratings - my gosh - when I saw those reports from Fitch and others and the lowering of our rating. Do you understand what that costs the state of Connecticut? People moan and groan about taxes. That's a tax. Every step we go down means we have to pay more to borrow that money.''
In a rare public appearance, Weicker spoke to more than 100 mayors and first selectmen in front of the annual meeting of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities at a Cromwell hotel. About a dozen protestors greeted him outside the hotel, but he said that was far fewer than more than 40,000 citizens who stormed the Capitol lawn to protest the creation of the state income tax in 1991.
A former U.S. Senator for 18 years, Weicker is probably best known for creating the income tax soon after he became governor in 1991. He was both praised and trashed for that position, and his poll ratings plummeted as the recession continued in Connecticut in the early 1990s.
Now walking with a cane at the age of 79, Weicker remained seated for more than one hour in the hotel ballroom as he delivered a speech and then answered questions from mayors and reporters. He received three standing ovations from the mayors.
There is one overriding answer, Weicker said, to solve the state's budget deficit, which is projected at more than $3 billion for the 2012 fiscal year.
"Cut spending - and I mean big time,'' Weicker said. "The spending cuts have to come, and they've got to be huge. And we've got to stop bonding. And I mean just about bring it to an end. We've reached our limit. We're way past it. ... Lowering of spending has to be the major consideration at this point.''
"So let an old man - I'm 79 - and let a man who is out of politics - I'm not running for anything - assure you that it's going to be a very cold shower for a very drunk state,'' Weicker told the crowd. "And that is what is necessary, and you know it and I know it. We can't fake it any more.''
He added, "Well, I'm not saying that spending cuts are going to be pleasant. The problem is the bill has to be paid. Otherwise, the situation gets worse, not better. ... This is what we had to do back in 1991.''
After moving numerous times throughout Connecticut and Virginia, Weicker currently lives and votes in Old Lyme.
Rell's spokesman, Rich Harris, responded, "Former Governor Weicker may have moved out of Connecticut and been out of politics for a number of years now, but it's obvious he is still not shy to offer his opinion. Unfortunately, because he has been out of the state and out of the political game, he seems to be out of the loop. He has missed Governor Rell's persistent efforts over the last two years to cut state spending, fight tax increases and reduce borrowing. He has also missed the $700 million concession agreement she negotiated with state employee unions.''
Harris added, "The only thing the governor is truly disinterested in is uninformed opinions.''
Weicker is backing Democrat Ned Lamont for governor and held a fundraiser last Sunday on his behalf. Their relationship dates back before 1990 when Weicker was running for governor as an independent candidate and Lamont was running for the state Senate in Greenwich. Lamont faced off against the incumbent, Sen. Emil "Bennie'' Benvenuto, who lost the Republican nomination to then-Rep. William H. Nickerson and instead ran under the "A Connecticut Party'' banner with Weicker. When Benvenuto announced his support for Weicker that year, the Greenwich Republicans - including his longtime close friend, former Sen. Michael Morano - quickly turned against him and endorsed Nickerson. Lamont placed third in that three-way battle, and Nickerson went on to serve in the state Senate until recently.