Norwich — Republican Barbara Crouch and incumbent Democratic state Sen. Cathy Osten sparred over the state's fiscal crisis Thursday at Norwich Free Academy in a 19th District debate, with Crouch putting the blame squarely on Democrats and Osten defending her record.

"We deserve a state that works for everyone," Crouch, a Sprague resident, said. "We deserve different representation."

But Osten, who is a two-term state senator and first selectman in Sprague, called herself a fiscal conservative and pointed out that the Democrat-controlled General Assembly during its last session made $1.5 billion in cuts.

"We have always looked line item to line item, and I think that's the way to go," Osten said. "Cutting $1.5 billion is a big deal. It is not ignoring a problem."

The one-hour debate, hosted by The Day and The Norwich Bulletin along with the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut and streamed live on theday.com, came as top Republicans in the state questioned a memo last month from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy that pointed to a possible revenue shortfall of $133 million.

This was on top of $79 million in emergency budget cuts Malloy already had ordered, and the memo came at the same time that the administration publicly had been reporting that finances were in line with expectations. Officials explained that the memo had made conservative revenue assumptions to prod department heads to save money and that the state still was officially on track financially.

But Crouch called for zero-based budgeting, meaning every expenditure would have to be re-examined each time a spending plan was considered. Osten said the legislature already takes that approach with its results-based accountability that requires analyses of whether spending approaches are working.

The debate included a few digs by Osten at Crouch's record of being terminated at town finance jobs in Griswold and Lebanon. Crouch said a judge and arbitrator had sided with her in the disputes, and said she had learned from her mistakes.

"I understand how the culture here is different," said Crouch, who was raised in Mississippi. "I think I tried to move too quickly."

Osten, under attack from Crouch for Connecticut's slow rate of returning jobs after the Great Recession, said a recent report from the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board had indicated about 25,000 new jobs were expected in the region over the next five years.

Osten defended state pensions and said Malloy had worked to address the issue while previous administrations had ignored it. But Crouch said pensions were not being adequately funded and said the General Assembly should vote on all new state union contracts.

Crouch said Malloy had waged war on business and the private sector while failing to rein in the state's financial problems while proposing the two largest tax increases in state history.

"He was going to fix it," Crouch said of the state's budget problems. "It's not fixed."

Osten, however, said state Republicans had proposed a budget with a $145 million deficit built in while including all of the revenue targets Democrats had used. She noted that Democrats and Republicans agreed on more than 85 percent of their votes.

"I don't think Democrats are the problem," she said.

l.howard@theday.com