First layoff notices go out to state employeesHARTFORD — Marathon sessions last week in the state Senate and House of Representatives resulted in the swift passage of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed two-year 2011-13 budget, but details regarding specific spending cuts remained unclear this week as the governor negotiated givebacks from state employees.As expected, Malloy began issuing layoff notices to state employees Tuesday morning, in preparation for the possibility of a stalemate.“After more than two months of talks, I’m afraid that my administration and the state employee unions have not reached agreement,” Malloy said in a statement Tuesday. “Our talks have been respectful and forthright so far, and I remain willing to continue the discussions if the unions are willing to do so. However, we must all be willing to work toward a settlement that Connecticut taxpayers can afford in the long run.”The impasse follows a political victory for Malloy last week, as the state House and Senate quickly passed his proposed budget. Rejecting a succession of amendments from Republicans, the state Senate voted 19-17 and the House voted 83-67 in favor of the two-year, $40.1 billion package, which cuts many services, increases taxes and calls for $2 billion in concessions from state employees — an estimated $22,000 per worker — in the next two years.The operating budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins July 1, is $19.8 billion, including $1.54 billion in cuts. Fiscal year 2013 comes in at $20.3 billion, reflecting $1.8 billion in cuts. Malloy said he still needs another $1 billion in cuts for the upcoming fiscal year, and $1 billion more in the second year, to balance the budget. “I have directed OPM to begin issuing layoff notices in an orderly fashion to the first 4,742 state employees,” Malloy said. “Those layoffs will result in savings of approximately $455 million. I’ve also directed OPM to begin the process necessary to cut an additional $545 million in spending; those cuts, many of them programmatic, will be spread across state government, and will, in all likelihood, result in additional layoffs.”Connecticut’s sales tax increases from 6 to 6.35 percent, with higher taxes for corporations and on hotels, entertainment venues, cigarettes and alcohol. Income taxes will go up on families making $200,000 to $400,000 per year and the state’s highest earners will pay 6.7 percent, retroactive to Jan. 1. The approved budget raises $2.6 billion in taxes for the next two years and increases spending by 2.8 percent in the first year and 2.3 percent the next. Malloy quickly signed the budget into law last week, calling it “another important step toward much-needed fiscal stability,” but underscored the importance of negotiations with state employees. On Friday, Malloy released a “Plan B” budget, which calls for the layoffs mentioned this week. Cuts to municipal aid and other programs will take effect if negotiations with state employee unions do not result in an agreement on concessions.“I’m disappointed because I think we jumped the gun,” said state Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30) in an interview Monday. “I don’t think we should have taken up a budget before knowing what kind of agreement the governor was going to achieve with state employees. It’s putting the cart before the horse.”Roraback said last week that Connecticut residents will be taxed “from head to toe” under the approved budget and said he believes the hardest-hit residents will be middle-class citizens. “The irony wasn’t lost on me that big business supported this budget,” he said. “United Technologies said they liked the budget at the same time they were shifting jobs out of Connecticut. It’s hard to reconcile why big business signed off on the budget, but they did.”As far as concessions go, Roraback said he also feels for state employees who are being asked to make significant sacrifices. “I for one don’t think it’s fair to expect someone who is working for the Highway Department, maybe making $48,000 per year, to be expected to give up $20,000,” he said. “There are some top-level bureaucrats who are making $140,000 or $160,000 per year who should be asked to give back more.”State Rep. John Rigby (R-63) said he was disappointed with the budget and the way it was debated, with a lack of input from Republicans. “What we have is a massive tax increase and we still don’t know what’s to come,” he said. “Even the governor is not clear on what’s going to happen.”Rigby said Republicans put forth their own budget which would not have increased taxes. The zero-increase budget, along with all other Republican motions, was defeated by the Democratic majority.Criticism of the state budget did not just come from Republicans. Several Democrats broke ranks with the majority in both the House and Senate, noting the budget is $2 billion out of balance and requires what many see as unfair penalties to state workers.Supporters of the budget countered that families making $100,000 a year will only see their income taxes increase by about $20 this year, and that a balanced budget will make Connecticut a more attractive state for job creation. State Rep. Roberta Willis (D-64) said there were no easy decisions on the budget this year. Nobody wants increased taxes, she said, “but the decisions had to be made. We had to get our fiscal house in order.” Malloy talked a lot about shared sacrifice, Willis said, and tried to keep the budget as fair as possible. “Still,” she said, “the Legislature made some positive changes to the governor’s budget.” Those changes included reinstating a property tax credit in the amount of $300 a year, maintaining the earned income tax credit and keeping three additional cents off the gasoline tax. “When gas is between $4.19 to $4.33 a gallon, as I saw on the way to Hartford today,” Willis said, “and the public hears the state is putting three more cents on, that’s just a pebble in people’s shoes. We at least took away that constant reminder of increased taxes.”The governor said he would focus on negotiations with state employees ahead of a May 31 deadline to achieve concessions or submit his alternate budget.“Make no mistake,” the governor said. “Come July 1, Connecticut will have an honest, balanced budget in place.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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