Boughton said the budget proposal he plans to present Tuesday is based on getting the same state aid that the city received last year -- as outlined in Gov. M. Jodi Rell's budget proposal released in February.

If state funding was reduced, he said, it would impact the city's ability to deliver services and result in layoffs.

"I will not saddle the taxpayers with a large increase," he said. "(If state funding was reduced) we would have to do layoffs and eliminate positions. Right now, we are proposing no layoffs."

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell's budget office is predicting that the state budget deficit for the next two fiscal years will be nearly $7.4 billion, about one billion higher than first projected.

[...]

In February, Rell proposed a two-year, $38.4 billion budget that assumed a $6 billion deficit for the two fiscal years beginning July 1.

But Democrats in the Legislature criticized Rell for using that figure when the Office of Fiscal Analysis had predicted an $8.6 billion deficit.

As for the budget, presentations sound great but as with anything, the proof is in th details. Democratic minority leader Tom Saadi was quick to touch on this point last night.

Democratic caucus leader Tom Saadi said he and fellow Democrats will evaluate the budget in detail over the next month, but he fears the final numbers will change if the Gov. M. Jodi Rell's proposed budget is not passed.

"This budget relies on the governor's funds. While that reliance may be 80 or 90 percent right, we are going to have to make up the difference," Saadi said.

The Senate Democrats called for a wholesale rewriting of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's $17.5 billion budget proposal Wednesday, saying they oppose virtually all of her tax proposals and significant parts of her spending plan.

Following their first detailed caucus since Rell announced her proposal last month, the Democrats emerged Wednesday afternoon to say that closer scrutiny of the governor's budget has revealed a series of flaws.

"It turns out that there's a lot less than what meets the eye," said Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, the highest-ranking senator. "This is going to be a very difficult budget year. ... This budget has a lot of flaws that did not reveal themselves immediately."

Standing next to Williams at a press conference at the state Capitol, the co-chairwoman of the legislature's tax-writing committee, Sen. Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, said Rell's tax plans are "a real gut-punch to the middle class and to the poor."

The Democrats "just couldn't sanction" Rell's 10 percent, across-the-board increase in the state income tax, the repeal of the estate tax, and the phase-out of the popular $500 property tax credit, Daily said. She also cited opposition to the elimination of the personal property tax on cars, and using annual revenues from the casinos to help pay for the car-tax elimination.

Who: Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, State Representatives Joseph Taborsak(D-Danbury), Chris Lyddy(D-Newtown), Bob Godfrey(D-Danbury), Jason Bartlett(D-Bethel), Business Leaders from Danbury area.

What: Secretary of the State & State Representatives to lead roundtable discussion with entrepreneurs focusing on reducing health care costs for small businesses and non-profit organizations across Connecticut.

Where: Danbury Public Library Program Room, 170 Main Street Danbury.

When: Monday April 6, 2009 10:30 a.m.

A man opened fire in a building where services are provided to immigrants in the New York town of Binghamton on Friday, killing a number of people and taking up to 40 hostages, local media reported.

Several media reports said four people were dead. The news director of WNBF radio told CNN up to 13 people may have been killed, citing police and other unnamed sources. WBNG television news said police confirmed 12 casualties but did not specify whether they were wounded or dead.

Ten area immigrants have again been successful in pursuing their 2007 civil rights lawsuit against city and federal officials.

Chief Judge Robert Chatigny of the U.S. District Court of Connecticut last month denied the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's motion to dismiss the lawsuit against its agents.

"We are happy that Judge Chatigny has decided that all law enforcement officers -- even immigration agents -- are bound by the Constitution," Yale Law School student Elizabeth Simpson said.

[...]

The denial of ICE's motion to dismiss is the third time in nine months the 10 plaintiffs have won moves against their case.

In December 2008, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Donna Martinez ruled Danbury officials and federal agents named in the lawsuit must give depositions immediately, even though the motion to dismiss was pending.

Simpson said some of those depositions have begun. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and Police Chief Al Baker, who are named in the lawsuit, will also be deposed.

The discovery phase of the lawsuit, including the depositions, will continue for about a year.

Amendment

To: Raised Bill 899

Offered by Sen. McLachlan (JUD)

AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE GUARANTEE OF EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE FOR SAME SEX COUPLES.

Strike section 17 and insert the following in lieu thereof:

Section 17: Section 46a-81r of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof: (Effective from passage)

Sec. 46a-81r. Sexual orientation discrimination: Construction of statutes.

Nothing in sections 4a-60a, 45a-726a, 46a-51, 46a-54, 46a-56, 46a-63, 46a-64b, 46a- 65, 46a-67, 46a-68b and 46a-81a to 46a-81q, inclusive, subsection (e) of section 46a-82, subsection (a) of section 46a-83, and sections 46a-86, 46a-89, 46a-90a, 46a- 98, 46a-98a and 46a-99 shall be deemed or construed (1) to mean the state of Connecticut condones homosexuality or bisexuality or any equivalent lifestyle, (2) to authorize the promotion of homosexuality or bisexuality in educational institutions or require the teaching in educational institutions of homosexuality or bisexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, (3) to authorize or permit the use of numerical goals or quotas, or other types of affirmative action programs, with respect to homosexuality or bisexuality in the administration or enforcement of the provisions of sections 4a~60a, 45a-726a, 46a-51, 46a-54, 46a-56, 46a-63, 46a- 64b, 46a-65, 46a-67, 46a-68b and 46a-81a to 46a-81q, inclusive, subsection (e) of section 46a-82, subsection (a) of section 46a-83, and sections 46a-86, 46a-89, 46a- 90a, 46a-98, 46a-98a and 46a-99,[ (4) to authorize the recognition of or the right of marriage between persons of the same sex, or (5)] or (4) to establish sexual orientation as a specific and separate cultural classification in society.

Connecticut voters support 52 - 39 percent, with 9 percent undecided, the State Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Given three choices, 43 percent of voters say same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, while 39 percent say they should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry and 12 percent say there should be no legal recognition of same-sex unions, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Connecticut voters oppose 61 - 33 percent amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Republicans support such an amendment 49 - 46 percent, while Democrats oppose it 73 - 23 percent and independent voters oppose it 58 - 34 percent. Men oppose an amendment to ban same-sex marriage 56 - 38 percent while women oppose it 66 - 28 percent.

Q: The State Supreme Court decision to legalize gay "marriage" was a devastating blow. Is there anything we can do?

McLachlan: I am opposed to gay marriage. The majority of the state legislature may have agreed with the decision of the Supreme Court, but the majority of the people in our state do not.

I don't believe in the polls, and I don't think we have lost the battle. I do believe that God Almighty has a plan that we don't see. I don't think gay marriage is the plan.

I believe that there are some technicalities in the Kerrigan decision that are yet to be discovered. There are some pretty good lawyers looking at all of this. And it is never too late to consider a constitutional amendment. There are being passed all over the country. Who would have ever believed in a million years that California would have passed one?

McLachlan is a real prick. Seriously, a homophobic, hate-pedaling dick. Does he really think that it is in the best interest of the citizens to try to codify hate?

Maybe LMF [Love Makes a Family] should reconsider and stay active as long as there are backwards, scared little boys and girls in the legislature.

[...]

His bill is disgusting.....Maclachlan ought to be confronted for his homophobia