House Republican Minority Leader Themis Klarides (R–Derby) issued a statement June 26 on the heels of Gov. Ned Lamont signing the state’s two-year, $43 billion budget, calling it a sham. Klarides’ district includes parts of Orange.
“It’s unfortunate that today, Governor Lamont signed this budget to perpetuate a sham on the state of Connecticut. Since the budget has begun to see the light of day, we have seen issues such as unrealized union savings and artificially increased tax revenues in order to claim a balanced budget. This budget does not bring economic certainty to grow jobs and places more burdens on the hard-working men and women of Connecticut by raising taxes on more goods, services and imposes costly regulations. When the governor took office he pledged to pass a real budget without gimmicks, but yet again he sacrificed those principles in order to appease legislative democrats with earmarks and pet projects,” Klarides said.