DEMS WILL USE RELL FOR COVER

Make no mistake; Democrats in the state legislature are upset the Republicans walked away from any budget deal. They needed bipartisanship for the fall elections. So as they slap themselves on the back, offering congratulations for a balanced budget, that uses every gimmick in the book - some which would land the private sector in jail - they are drawing battle lines for the November elections.

"It doesn't play into a partisan narrative, that they (GOP) have been trying to portray that Hartford is broken, that there would be gridlock, that there would be no resolution of the deficits, that nothing would get done. That narrative has been blown out of the water. They have to find a new narrative because Democrats in the legislature worked with a Republican governor..." said Senate President Donald E. Williams, Jr., who apparently is in love with taxes and narratives.

In reality, there is no gridlock in Hartford, but there is partisanship. That's why the Democrats need Gov. Rell to sell the public that the Republicans are a part of this catastrophe. The Democrats dominate the legislature and have increased spending and added hidden taxes in this latest bill, all to balance a budget, which will fall under its own weight in due course, while handing a new governor massive deficits. But the Democrats' strategy is obvious; unable to find the bipartisan support they needed in the General Assembly, they will use Gov. Rell, a Republican In Name Only, as their cover.

The real story is how upset Republicans in the legislature are with Gov. Rell. In public and in private, they have expressed annoyance at her dismissal of GOP budgetary objectives in her negotiations with Democrats. That's why House and Senate Republicans walked out of the talks. Leadership believed Rell, not seeking reelection, had the perfect chance to take a stand against the tax and spend Democrats, especially in an election year. Instead, she has once again left her own party in the lurch. As Connecticut sinks under its unsustainable spending policies, legislative Republicans will be happy to say good riddance to a governor from their own party.