When the General Assembly is sworn in today amid the pomp and ceremony at the state Capitol, nine Democratic lawmakers who won election in November will not be present.
The large exodus of veteran legislators represents a major draining of talent and experience from the legislature at a time when the state is facing a projected deficit of $3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Six of the legislators will be taking jobs in the new administration of Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy, while others will take high-paid, fulltime jobs that provide far more money and potential pensions than the $28,000 base salary for legislators.
At least nine special elections will be held for the departing lawmakers, and they could take place on Tuesday, March 1. Those who are leaving include Sen. Andrew McDonald of Stamford and Sen. Donald DeFronzo of New Britain, who will both be working for Malloy. A third Democratic senator, Thomas Gaffey of Meriden, is expected to plead guilty today to multiple larceny charges in connection with double-billing the state and his own political action committee for trips that he took around the country.
In the House, state Rep. Deborah Heinrich was named Tuesday by Malloy to a newly created position to oversee the vast nonprofit industry that provides services to the state through everything from nursing homes to group homes for the mentally ill. In a surprise, state Rep. Christopher Caruso was named in the late afternoon to a post as an urban policy advisor in the Department of Economic and Community Development. One of the most outspoken members of the legislature, Caruso was a strong ally of former House Speaker James Amann and served as the co-chairman of the legislative committee that oversees ethics and elections.
Heinrich and Caruso will join state legislators Michael P. Lawlor and David McCluskey in key positions in the new administration. Many of the appointees were strong supporters of Malloy in the general election and during the primary against Greenwich cable TV executive Ned Lamont.
Malloy acknowledged the departure of substantial institutional memory from the General Assembly, where Democrats currently hold advantages of 100 to 51 in the House and 23 to 13 in the Senate.
"I am losing some veteran talent in the legislature, and it's my hope that others will step up,'' Malloy said Tuesday.