In This Together CT

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GUBERNATORIAL FORUM

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING
January 21, 2010

Two candidates for governor said Wednesday that the state employee unions should be asked for more givebacks in order to close the state’s growing budget deficit.

The remarks by state Sen. Gary LeBeau, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, a Republican, came on a day when the governor’s office increased its projected estimated deficit to $500 million because tax collections are worse than expected. The state’s fiscal health has been weak for more than one year, but some lawmakers had hoped that the problem could be solved with last year’s plan to raise the cigarette tax by $1 per pack and increasing the state income tax on the state’s wealthiest citizens.

Now, however, the tax collections are still weak and the deficit has grown.

In a gubernatorial forum at a Cromwell hotel, LeBeau was asked by the moderator on how the state should deal with the public-employees unions.

“There are going to have to be cuts in state employee numbers unless we can get concessions,” LeBeau said.

LeBeau, who acknowledged that state employees “do a great job,” voted in favor of the Democratic-written budget that Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell allowed to become law without her signature. He said, however, that Rell did not drive a hard bargain with the unions on wage and benefit concessions.

“This year’s bargaining was somewhat of a joke in terms of how much was requested and how much was received,” said LeBeau, a retired teacher. “I think we need to bargain harder.”

LeBeau later added, “Given the enormity of the problem we were facing, we needed more help from the state-employee unions.”

Fedele essentially agreed with LeBeau, saying, “We cannot continue on the path we are going with our state employees.” He added that the state must continue to work with the unions “as a partnership.”

The candidates’ remarks were made at the forum in which seven gubernatorial candidates participated. Rell, who is not running for re-election, did not attend. The forum was sponsored by the Council of Small Towns, which represents mayors and first selectmen of the state’s smaller municipalities.

Catherine Osten, the union president of the Connecticut State Employees Association, SEIU Local 2001, attended the forum because she also serves as the first selectman of Sprague in New London County. Without the savings from the unions that came from increased prescription drug co-pays, a wage freeze, and other concessions, she said, both the state and towns “would be in even worse shape” than they are currently.

“State workers were one of the first groups to contribute in such a meaningful way toward solving our deficit problem,” Osten said later in a statement. “Now that these candidates are running for governor, they should be offering real solutions, not looking for scapegoats.”

Campaign Finance

The candidates clashed on campaign finance reforms and campaign spending.

Tom Foley, a Greenwich Republican who has pledged to spend millions of his own money on the campaign, said, “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that government should pay for people’s political campaigns.”

Former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, mentioned Foley and Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont by name and challenged them to “just live with the same limitations that other people are living with.” He said Foley and Lamont have the right to self-fund their campaigns but should limit their spending to the same level as other candidates.

Foley scoffed at that idea later, saying that his ability to communicate with voters should not be restricted. Besides contributing $2 million of his own money so far, Foley is raising funds with maximum limits for individuals of $3,500 for the primary and another $3,500 for the general election. He taped footage for a TV commercial Saturday, and the commercial should be on the airwaves in an advertising blitz within the next 10 days.

Speaking of Malloy’s proposal, Foley said, “If he can cut off resources to his opponents, that would be to his advantage.”

Lamont, a cable TV entrepreneur, said: “It only works if everybody is in the public financing plan. Given the fact that not everybody is in it, I’m reserving the right to opt out.”

So far, Lamont said he has not contributed any of his own money to the current campaign and is instead raising money from contributors.

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

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