Democratic Lawmakers Defend Citizens Election Program
by Christine Stuart | May 9, 2017 1:31pm
CHRISTINE STUART / CTNEWSJUNKIE
Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, was elected under the system in its maiden year.
HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut’s current budget crisis should not be used as an excuse to gut the Citizens Election Program, a group of Democratic lawmakers and good government advocates said Tuesday.
Republican legislative leaders eliminated the CEP in the budget proposal they released at the end of April. They are working on revisions to that budget as a result of plummeting revenues.
Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group, said he feels Republicans are playing games by trying to eliminate the program. But it wasn’t that long ago that Democratic legislative leaders were talking about suspending the program for 2016 to help close a $350 million budget deficit.
