Connecticut has a fairness problem

The Connecticut state budget is out and it's not good.

First a disclaimer.
As Vice President of AFT Connecticut, I proud am to help represent 10,000 state employees among our 30,000 members.
Teachers, Nurses, Medical Technicians and Technologists, Researchers, food and safety inspectors, and many  more.
They are directly impacted by any state budget and I will not apologize for standing up with them.
They, along with state employees from other unions, not only perform the duties listed above, they also patrol our highways, protect our homes, service our veterans, care for the weakest of society, plow our streets and provide so many other services that we take for granted.
In 2011 they gave back in concession bargaining with the state because they live here and they love their state and they understand what "shared sacrifice" means.

So if it seems that I am standing up for them in this fight.......
I am.
And I will not apologize for it.
I am proud of them, proud of the good work they do, proud that they have already given for the good of others.

The fact of the matter is that while they have done their share, while all the working class people of Connecticut have done our share, the wealthy have not.

The top 1% of Connecticut's wealthy pay 5.3% of their income in various taxes.
The other 99% of us pay 9.9%!

Connecticut does not have a budget problem, it has a fairness problem.

This is a link to our newspaper ad