JournalInquirer.com
We need a governor who does something
CT@Work
By Leo Canty
Published: Thursday, October 1, 2009 12:11 PM EDT

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” It’s an old adage of unknown origin which, when Googled, gets attributed to Alexander Hamilton, Ginger Rogers, Malcolm X, and Dr. Phil. I can’t quite find a connection among them but I do have a connection for us: We’ve been duped.

If you look at the polls most of the public really thinks Gov. Jodi Rell stands for something. She stands for smaller government. She stands for lower taxes. She looks out for those in need. The governor wants people to have jobs and health care, and kids to get a good education.
No wonder Rell’s so popular. She stands for all the right things.

But a closer look tells us that when all is said and done, the governor has said more and done less.

This year, as Connecticut stared down the barrel of a $9 billion deficit, Rell stood for balancing the budget without raising taxes. She knew she couldn’t do that. So she stood strong, all right — first with a fabricated budget that was a couple billion short, then with vetoes and blustery fights that mostly protected the suffering wealthy.

In September she huffed and puffed and allowed the long-delayed budget package to pass without her signature but with a sternly issued threat to wield her line-item veto pen. The line-item act was all bluster and bluffing.But it was classic Rell. She stands up for the elderly and the poor, then in that budget labels as “pork” programs that reduce the more than $100 million in costs associated with injuries suffered by the elderly and provide funding for a local food bank that spends every dime it gets in starvation prevention. “Pork?”

Here’s more classic Rell: Her strong stand this year against raising taxes was projected as if she had a philosophical commitment to the cause etched in her bones. Yet in 2007 she was the one who proposed the half- percent income tax increase across the board.Rell stands for smaller government as she attempts to reduce the rolls of public-service workers that grew under her watch and that of her mentor, John Rowland. Her proposal to lower the numbers fostered a retirement incentive that she knew would save a few bucks now but shift greater costs to the pension plan and actually expand the cost of government without elevating public services.

She stands for jobs and wants our state to grow and get people to work. Prior to the economic collapse, Connecticut already ranked near the bottom in job creation.The recently released economic development strategic plan is loaded with references about the necessity and desire to make our state a jobs magnet, but there’s nothing in the “how to” section to back up the “we stand for” claim.

Rell stood squarely in opposition to same-sex marriage. Then, when a bill was passed, she became the only governor to sign off on civil unions without a court order.

She’s a staunch advocate for early childhood education in a state that’s an early childhood laggard when compared to most others.

How about truck safety? Transportation? Smart growth? Property tax reform? The list is huge — and bereft of accomplishment.

There’s a pattern here: Our governor stands for everything and falls short on the doing part.

This technique is not new. It’s a page out of the cynical Rowland playbook: If you can fool most of the people most of the time your poll numbers stay high, no one asks questions, and you get re-elected. Rell may not be headed to jail like her predecessor, but you get the idea.

Rell’s Betty Crocker act worked for a while. But now, five years into her game, the poll numbers aren’t standing up as people are asking questions about her leadership and why Connecticut is falling further behind.Jobs, education, health care, our overall quality of life — all of it is suffering under the rudderless leadership of the Good Ship Jodi-pop.

Our economic future and our children’s lives are hanging in the balance. Maybe it’s time for a governor who actually stands for doing something.As the ever-quotable Dr. Phil would say, “It’s time to get real.”

Leo Canty is a labor and political activist. He lives in Windsor