It was standing room only on Tuesday when the House Republicans unveiled the details of their version of the state budget. "We're looking for solutions," said House Minority Leader Larry Cafero. Cafero presented a PowerPoint presentation on what the House Republicans called the "NO Tax Increase Budget." He explained that, "With a $600 million surplus, our constituents want to know why we are raising our taxes. We believe the state can meet the needs of its citizens within existing revenues."

Cafero went on to break down the differences between their budget, the Governor's budget, and the recently released Democratic budget:

For total spending in the first year alone, the Governor's budget spends $17.5 billion, Dems' budget comes to $17.8 billion, and the House Republicans' budget allocates $17.3 billion.

In terms of exceeding the spending cap in the first year, the Governor's budget goes through by $521 million, the Dems are over by $853 million, and the Republicans are over by $390 million. Cafero explained that the Republicans regretted going through the spending cap at all, but had to work off the budget presented to them by the Governor and the Dems.

The Republicans' crowning moment was comparing tax increases. The Governor proposes to raise taxes by $625 million in FY08 and by $669 million in FY09. The Dems will raise taxes by $863 million in FY08 and $806 million in FY09. The Republicans' budget would not raise taxes at all. In fact, the "NO Tax Increase Budget" proposes to cut taxes. These cuts include a sales tax exemption on energy-related products, the elimination of electricity sales tax on businesses, eliminating the business entity tax, and a phase out of the estate tax.

Cafero explained that by analyzing data from the past 14 years, a pattern of significantly underestimating revenues when planning the budget appears. As a result, taxpayers have paid "over 5 billion dollars unnecessarily." Cafero maintained that in the House Republicans' budget, no program is cut from current spending levels, vital areas such as energy and health care are still prioritized, yet an increase in taxes is not necessary.

The House Republicans presented their budget to the Senate Republicans this week and Senate Minority Leader Lou DeLuca is also on board with the plan. In the halls of the LOB, some argued that it's easy to create a budget that appears to make everyone happy when the party is not in the majority. That may be, but the Dems will still have to respond to the Republicans' proposal and still keep trying to explain to the taxpayers why tax increases are necessary in the time of perceived plenty.

With only 27 days remaining in the session and every major initiative, including the budget, still a "work in progress," there will be plenty of burning the midnight oil at the Capitol in May and the first week of June!

Congressman Chris Murphy (D) has been in office merely 6 months and already a well known Republican State Senator, David Cappiello (R- Danbury) has thrown his hat into the ring for the next election. The campaigns of both men are expected to be spirited and they will pit two rising stars against one another. You may wonder what this has to do with the 2007 legislative session in CT. You can bet that the Senate chamber will become a soap box for the challenger's ideas on hot topics like healthcare, energy, taxes and more. Cappiello has already begun to align the policies of the Democrats in Washington with the Democrats here in Connecticut.

As the ranking member of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, Cappiello has been one of the most outspoken legislators against the current Democratic budget plan. He has raised serious doubts to the Democrats' claim that the budget would cut taxes for 90 percent of taxpayers and raise taxes only for the wealthiest 10 percent. Cappiello, who has long been known as being an independent legislator, has linked the Democrats "excessive" taxing strategies here in CT to those in Washington, D.C. The independent voice even went so far as to dismiss the Republicans' budgeting abilities before the Democrats took power in the last election.

Cappiello's past and current voting record has many around the Capitol comparing him to the current Congressman from the 4th District, Christopher Shays (R). Shays is known throughout the U.S. as "The Independent Voice" in Congress, and he has the record to prove it. Cappiello was one of the first to criticize former Governor Rowland over what was then referred to as "rumors by my enemies" and has never been known as a party line voter. Similarly, Shays has proven that being an independent Republican who appeals to moderate voters in both parties and can win elections no matter how tough the competition. Former challenger Diane Farrell can attest to that.

It is clear that lines will be redrawn in the General Assembly by Cappiello with the goal of making those lines stick within the 5th Congressional District in the upcoming election. The 5th Congressional District is expansive in sheer geography. During redistricting, it was shaped towards the heavy Republican voters in the Northwest hills. A progressive Republican candidate can fare very well in the 5th and the statistics show that the best time to beat an incumbent is after their first term. Murphy and Cappiello, the 5th Congressional District, and the General Assembly will all be on alert as this race gets framed. With only six months in office under his belt, Congressman Murphy has 19 months of Cappiello looking over his shoulder in hopes of catching him asleep or on the wrong side of the voters in his district. Trying to balance local constituent needs and the demanding schedule of a freshman legislator in Washington D.C. will provide some interesting challenges for the freshman from the 5th district.