Connecticut conservatives sue to block budget

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut conservatives said Friday that they planned to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the newly adopted state budget, alleging spending exceeds revenue in violation of the state's 1992 balanced budget amendment.

The plaintiffs said they would file the lawsuit by the end of the day in Hartford Superior Court, seeking to overturn this week's approval of the two-year, $40.1 billion budget by Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Democrat-controlled legislature. A Malloy spokesman denied the allegations.

The lawsuit will claim the budget violates the state constitution's balanced budget amendment, because it includes a $2 billion shortfall that the Malloy administration hopes to fill with labor savings, including worker concessions. GOP officials say because administration talks with labor unions are pending, the budget isn't balanced.

Tom Scott, a former Republican state senator and conservative activist, said the Milford-based Roger Sherman Liberty Center conservative think-tank he co-founded is a plaintiff, along with Republican state Rep. Christopher Coutu, GOP state Sen. Len Suzio and Litchfield businessman and former congressional candidate Mark Greenberg. Coutu, Suzio and Greenberg joined Scott at Friday's announcement at the Hartford courthouse.

"They have to be stopped and their reckless behavior needs to be reined in by a judge," Scott said, referring to state Democratic leaders.

Scott noted that state voters approved the balanced budget amendment after the state income tax was created following a bitter political fight.

"Even those that voted for the income tax recognized that the people of Connecticut expected some protections against reckless spending, wildly out-of-balance budgets and massive tax increases with no thought to the economy and the rights of voters," Scott said. "This constitutional provision was designed to protect the taxpayers against the very thing that happened this week."

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