Bhargava Wants To Change Connecticut's Business Profile

By Scott Benjamin

NORWALK -- Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Dita Bhargava says the Land of Steady Habits needs to add pieces to its economic pie.

She said the three major defense contractors, the 18 insurance companies with a presence in the metro Hartford area and the Stamford/Greenwich financial services and hedge fund sectors will remain viable, but can’t be relied upon to revive the only New England state that hasn’t recaptured all of the jobs loss from the 2008 recession.

Nationally, Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Stamford) has said that Connecticut and Michigan are the only states with fewer jobs now than in 1989.

The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Connecticut had only recaptured 20 percent of the jobs in insurance and financial services that it had lost in the fiscal crisis. The newspaper stated that Massachusetts had recovered 77 percent of those positions. It took Malloy, who is not seeking a third term next year, and the General Assembly until late October – four months into the fiscal year – to approve a $41.2 billion two-year budget, and weeks later it was already $207.8 million in deficit.

Bhargava, a native of Canada who has served as vice chairman of the Connecticut state Democratic Party, said to supplement the long-standing economic behemoths, the Nutmeg State needs more financial technology, organic farming, bio-technology and electric motor manufacturing and other renewable energy sources. She added that Connecticut should establish public-private partnerships to spur development.

In fact, she believes Connecticut should find a private sector partner to expand Eugene Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks so it could accommodate even more trade in what the Hartford Courant has called “an export-dependent” state.

“A diverse portfolio performs better,” Bhargava said during an interview in Norwalk. “If one area falters, there are other options that will boost the economy.”

Bhargava, 45, who lives in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, spent 20 years in financial services with investment banks and hedge funds. She said Connecticut’s recent 1.2 percent annual gross domestic product growth has been a percentage point behind the national average.

She noted that Stamford would be ideal for a financial technology hub. CNBC has stated that financial technology “is reimagining the traditional role of financial services.”

Bhargava - who lost in the 2016 election in the 151^st state House District in Greenwich, which has been held continuously by Republicans for about a century – indicated that the rural areas would be good sites for organic farming, which she said “is becoming a big industry.”

She said that she agrees with Farmington Bank economist Donald Klepper-Smith, who headed former Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s) (R-Brookfield) economic team, that Connecticut could become a hub for upscale manufacturing. She noted that some countries have set deadlines of 2030 for getting all-electric cars on the road, and that manufacturers here could be making those engines.

Bhargava said she also is encouraged about University of Connecticut economist Fred Carstensen’s proposal for the state flagship university to establish an aerospace engineering center to train students who would likely work at Igor Sikorsky in Stratford or Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney in East Hartford, which, respectively, have recently gotten sizable contracts to make military helicopters and airplanes.

She said the small business innovation centers that have opened in Hartford and Danbury will boost start-up businesses in Connecticut.

The Boston Globe reported last year that Connecticut’s suburban geography – which helped attract Boehringer Ingelheim to Ridgefield in the 1970s and UBS to Stamford in the 1990s – is no longer an asset since many younger workers live in big-city innovation hubs. Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg of New Haven wrote in his 2015 book, “America Ascendant” that two-thirds of the college-aged mellenials live in the country’s 51^st largest cities, none of which are in Connecticut.

State Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury said last year that, “Big businesses are not looking for suburban campuses anymore. The people they want [such as the mellenials] to hire live in Boston” and other innovation hubs where there are more mass transit options and plenty of entertainment attractions.

Bhargava said the state has proven it can attract high technology companies with many millennials in the work force – such as Indeed – the largest online job site in the world, which is based in Austin, Texas but has an office in Stamford that is expected to grow in the coming years from the current 700 employees to at least 1,200.

She said she has a plan to bring similar companies to the state.

One of her primary goals is to stem the exodus of “people leaving the state between ages 25 and 35.”

Bhargava is developing a five-year pilot public-private partnership in which tax credits would be provided to Connecticut businesses if they hire a Connecticut public college graduate and agree to pay the student’s higher education loan debt after they have stayed with the company for at least five years. She said she is still working on developing a cap for the payments.

She said many voters were enthused about the concept while she was going door-to-door to nearly 4,0000 homes during her 2016 state House campaign in Greenwich, since it would provide a capable state work force and address escalating student loan debt. Former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has said that the next Great Recession will result from college graduates who aren’t able to pay back the loans.

Bhargava also said she is a “big proponent” of increased online offerings, because they make college more accessible.

Regarding economic development, Bhargava noted that General Electric, which recently moved part of its operations out of Fairfield to Boston, didn’t add one parking space at the new location since inner-city transit is readily available. She said that she wants to establish a “transit-oriented development” in Connecticut that would include more affordable housing units.

However, she said that she supports “the recent changes to the [state] appeals process that give municipalities a bit more protection from development that could impact the character or density of the towns.”

Bhargava said “people who need affordable housing often rely on public transit” so this approach “could be a win-win” situation.

New York Times columnist David Brooks has stated that having fleets of buses that get workers to the areas with higher-paying jobs could help alleviate chronic middle-class wage stagnation.

Bhargava said the inner-city transit and other infrastructure improvements could be paid in part through border tolls, which she believes would generate an estimated $1 billion a year in a state with some of the most heavily-traveled roads in the nation.

“We have shamelessly left so much money on the table that could have been used,” she said, noting that neighboring states collect tolls.

However, CT Mirror has reported that the state Department of Transportation (DOT) has said it would take at least six years to install toll plazas and that by 2024 they could generate $700 million per year. The DOT has stated that to keep the state’s special transportation fund solvent for the next five years, the gasoline tax must be increased by 14 cents a gallon.

Bhargava said she opposes any tax increases.

The Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce has estimated that 40 percent of the shoppers at the Danbury Fair Mall are from out of state and border tolls would deter some of them.

“We have to be cognizant of that,” Bhargava said. “We should focus on where the out-of-state trucks come from.”

She said a study should be done on how much tolls would generate and what the impact would be on Connecticut retailers.

On another topic, Bhargava said she is against Malloy’s First Five/Next Five program, which has provided financial incentives to such corporate giants as ESPN in Bristol and the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund in Westport if they remained in Connecticut and hired additional workers in the coming years.

“I don’t think financial incentives are the make or break for these institutions,” she said.

“We need to do so much more than throw money at them,” Bhargava added in an apparent reference to the need for mass transit and a skilled work force.

However, she said, if elected, she would continue Malloy’s efforts to put larger amounts of money in the state employees’ pension fund. State Comptroller Kevin Lembo (D-Guilford) has said Malloy is the first governor in a generation to properly address the shortfall. CTNewsJunkie reported earlier this year that the pensions were only 35.5 percent funded.

The other Democrats that are in the race or who have at least made phone calls to gauge possible support are former West Hartford Mayor Jonathan Harris, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, former state Veterans’ Affairs Commissioner Sean Connolly of Hebron, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, former U.S. Senate nominee Ned Lamont of Greenwich and former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown.

Bhargava said she would make a decision “soon” on whether she will transition from the exploratory to the formal candidate stage.

The state convention is slated for May and the ultimate nominee will probably be determined in an August primary.