Democrats refuse to let 'Gov. Scrooge' slash jobs

State Rep. Frank Nicastro, a Bristol Democrat, said tonight that when the legislature goes into session Tuesday, it's not going to go along with Gov. Jodi Rell's budget reduction ideas.
"We are not going to accept the governor's plan," Nicastro said.
He said that Rell's proposal would cost at least 4,000 people their jobs.
"Just what people need: 'Merry Christmas, you lost your job,'" the 79th District representative said.
He said the legislature will meet Tuesday as Rell insisted, but it won't do much.
"We're going to reject her plan" and then call for another session "right away to submit our plan," Nicastro said.

He said the Democratic plan will cut more than $100 million without layoffs.

Nicastro said the General Assembly will likely meet early next week, but it could be sooner. It will definitely approve something before Christmas, he said.
"It's not that we're going to proscratinate. We're going to come up with our plan," Nicastro said.
"We will not cut any more dollars from municipalities. That $84 million in cuts to municipalities will not happen," he said.
The municipalities "have been hurt enough" already, he said. Nicastro is a former mayor of Bristol.
The Democrats said that Rell is not pushing for hundreds of millions in federal stimulus cash. That's available, he said, if she goes after it aggressively.
"We lay off 5,000 more workers, that means 5,000 more on unemployment" who won't be spending or buying, Nicastro said.
"There's already been a large reduction in state workers," Nicastro said, and adding to the toll now makes no sense.
State workforce is already down 10 percent through early retirements and leaving vacant positions, he said.
Rell wanted to cut $87 million from hospitals. That would ax more than 2,000 jobs, he said, according to the Connecticut Hospital Association.
The governor's cuts would lead to more than $38 million in federal cuts because of reduced health care reimbursements, Nicastro said.
She wants to whack adult day care centers and other critically needed social service providers.
"What we're trying to do is create jobs," Nicastro said.
"She's failed to balance the budget in other ways," he said, so she has had to seek more cuts. Even the GOP opposes her plan, Nicastro said.
"We have an obligation to balance the budget," Nicastro said, but the state can't add to unemployment rolls and undermining Connecticut's hospitals.
"Laying off another 5,000 people isnt' the answer," Nicastro said. "We know we have a responsibility and we're going to do it. But we're going to do the right way."
"We're going to go after those federal funds big time," Nicastro said.
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