Republicans on deficit: “Something doesn’t smell right.”

House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, joined other Republican on Monday calling for an informational forum on the growing state budget deficit. House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, joined other Republican on Monday calling for an informational forum on the growing state budget deficit. Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Republicans on deficit: “Something doesn’t smell right.” 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

HARTFORD — A discrepancy in revenue estimates prompted Republican lawmakers Monday to request that Democrats call for a public forum on what had been a $200,000 surplus — and is now a projected $133-million deficit.

Malloy and majority Democrats called the request politically motivated just weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

If Democrats, who control the House 87-64 and the Senate 21-15, don’t agree to the hearing, they will stage one themselves, said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, and Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven.

“We would like to do it bipartisanly,” Fasano said in a noontime news conference.

He and Klarides said the projected deficit ballooned to $133 million over a matter of days last month. “We need an honest report.”

“We’re seeing a a pattern of not being truthful,” Klarides told reporters in the Capitol complex. “Something doesn’t smell right here.”

“There’s about $29 million in unexplained revenue loss,” Fasano said, charging that Democrats tried to “hide” the shortfall from the public last month. “We have to find out why these revenue figures are not in sync.”

While of the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis projected a $104 million deficit, the Office of Policy and Management pegged the red ink at $133 million for the fiscal year that runs through June 30.

The Republicans want Benjamin Barnes, OPM secretary, along with State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, to join the Office of Fiscal Analysis for the hearing in front of lawmakers.

In reaction, Chris McClure, spokesman for Malloy, said the Republicans were hyperbolic and displayed “alarming ignorance” on the state budget.

“While we appreciate Sen. Fasano and Rep. Klarides’ attempts to make news and alter the political landscape for their Trump-immolated party, the truth is that writing, passing, and keeping a budget balanced throughout the year requires a lot of hard work and hard decisions,” McClure said.

Lembo, in a statement Monday afternoon, noted the close proximity of the election.

“The timing of this discussion is certainly interesting, and probably not the most productive three weeks before an election,” He noted that some financial-reporting policies have been in effect for a quarter century. “However, I am always open to an in-depth conversation about how the state prepares its financial reports.”

Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, called the GOP claims “typical Republican rhetoric.”

kdixon@ctpost.com;