With two weeks left in the legislative session, this is what the Democratic led majority thinks is important?

From the Courant:

In a major power play at the state Capitol not seen in 13 years, the Democrat-controlled legislature Tuesday overrode Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s veto of a bill that will now increase the General Assembly’s authority regarding social-service funding.

The rare override was the first in Connecticut since 1994, when lawmakers overrode several bills that had been vetoed by then-Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., an independent who had no major political party behind him.

Tuesday’s votes in the state House and Senate will now grant authority to the legislature to reject or modify waiver requests made by Rell’s administration to the federal government for the state Department of Social Services.

Waivers of federal Medicaid rules are made on a regular basis as Connecticut tries to gain exemptions that permit the federal government to pay for certain services that it would not otherwise, such as personal care assistance for the elderly and people with traumatic brain injuries. The federal government provides more than $2 billion annually to the social services department, which has an overall budget of $4.7 billion.

Rell’s spokesman, Christopher Cooper, said Rell was “disappointed” about a bill that “adds an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy” to the system.

With the significant problems facing Connecticut and its flawed budgeting process, insert statement about adopting GAAP here, and the extremely flawed ECS funding, insert statement about ECS debacle here, the Democratic legislature decided that this was the bill to override? I am still in shock.

But House Speaker James Amann, a Milford Democrat, said Tuesday’s vote was simply an exercise in democracy.

“We have veto [override] power under our constitution, and we used it today,” Amann said. “It is simple. It is Government 101. It’s exactly how our forefathers meant it to be, and we move on.”

The House needed 101 votes for an override, and the final vote was 102-47. With Tuesday night’s 24-12 vote in the Senate, two of the past four governors have had a bill overridden. Both William A. O’Neill and John G. Rowland never had a veto overridden in 10 legislative sessions each.

Three Democratic representatives – William R. Dyson of New Haven, Shawn Johnston of Thompson and Peter Panaroni of Branford – broke with their caucus and voted with the Republicans. Dyson did not speak during the debate, but instead stood in the back of the chamber for part of the time with his arms folded.

Like Johnston and Panaroni, Dyson opposed both the original bill and the override.

“I didn’t see the need why we should be altering the process,” Dyson said in an interview. “Can anyone demonstrate that they didn’t work before?”

House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan said Democrats counted votes multiple times before the final one to ensure that they had the number to override.

source: The Courant, Spinning The Override: Parties Debate Democrats’ Motivation And The Merits Of Undoing Rell’s Veto, By CHRISTOPHER KEATING, May 23, 2007