In his first speech before the General Assembly, Malloy expanded on the themes he sounded in his brief inaugural address.
He once again called for sacrifice -- "sacrifice with a purpose...the kind of sacrifice I think my mother was talking about that will leave the world a better place for us having been here."
One of Malloy's first acts, completed just minutes after he was sworn in as governor, was to sign an executive order stipulating that the state adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Practices, or GAAP, which would provide a more accurate picture of the state's financial condition.
Malloy called for an end to "gimmicks and one-time solutions'' to the state's budget crisis. "We must instead adopt a responsible tell-it-like-it-is approach to balancing and managing our budget, and treat it just like any company treats a budget, with generally accepted accounting principles,'' he said.
In his speech, delivered in the Hall of the House, Malloy invoked Connecticut's great heritage. He invoked the names of Prudence Crandall, Harriett Beecher Stowe and PT Barnum. He noted that Connecticut gave the world the the cotton gin, the Frisbee, the first nuclear submarine and the nation's first female governor elected on her own.
"As I have traveled around the state for many years, meeting amazing people in churches and diners and town picnics - one of their consistent messages was this feeling that maybe our best days are behind us. That economic security - let alone prosperity - is a thing of the past,'' Malloy said.
"And even while they were sending me that message, there was a context to it,'' Malloy said. "They were asking me to help them do something about it. And that tells me the true grit that is Connecticut, the can-do spirit of innovation, is still alive and ready - to engage in the fight for a better future for everyone."