Maine Shuts Down in Fiscal Crisis; Connecticut Threatens Same Move

Angry state workers in Maine rallied Monday outside the Capitol, demanding paychecks and a state budget, after the governor shut down all non-essential services in a fiscal showdown with the Legislature.

Connecticut’s governor threatened to follow Maine’s example.

“We want to be paid! We want a budget!” shouted some of the estimated 200 idled Maine workers, who were held back from the office of Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. by two police officers.

McKernan declared a state of civil emergency after the Legislature failed to meet the budget deadline.

Inside, while top aides and department heads huddled, McKernan met with reporters to reassert his opposition to taxes without reductions in business insurance costs.

About 2,000 state employees remained at work to protect public health and safety. These included prison guards and state police officers. But more than 10,000 other state workers were told to stay home.

In Connecticut, the Legislature began work on a huge tax increase--$1 billion or more--that will satisfy independent Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and avert a partial shutdown of state government.

Weicker originally threatened to shut down non-essential government services at midnight Sunday, but he gave the Legislature a 24-hour reprieve after vetoing a budget that was passed late Sunday.

That budget was similar to one Weicker vetoed in May--it attempted to solve the state’s fiscal crisis by expanding existing taxes rather than imposing a state income tax.

Weicker has argued since February that Connecticut must impose an income tax and cut taxes on businesses to solve the budget crisis and stimulate the state’s ailing economy.