HARTFORD (May 3) – “Today’s surprise vote to increase pay for state lawmakers is not just an affront to principles of responsive and responsible governance – it’s a sad moment for state taxpayers and for the General Assembly as an institution.
Connecticut’s senators and representatives have a proud tradition of maximizing input both from individual lawmakers and the public. While legislative pay was the subject of a committee hearing in March, there was never any discussion of a proposal for that pay to rise automatically, or of a pay increase for statewide elected officials. These concepts were first made public literally minutes before the House voted them into law.
This is both a bad way to make laws and a good way to raise public suspicion that politicians in Hartford are putting their own interests before the public’s.”
Statement attributable to Carol Platt Liebau, President of Yankee Institute.