Godfrey praises Connecticut's commitment to gun responsibility

By Scott Benjamin

DANBURY – State Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-110) says he “started the ball rolling in his first term” and now 30 years later – through six different governors – Connecticut has gun responsibility laws that are being recognized at nationally-televised presidential debates.

Godfrey of Danbury said his “passion” began as a freshman legislator when former Gov. William O’Neill (D-East Hampton) signed the “Kids And Guns Act.”

The state representative said in an interview that it was “the first gun responsibility law since World War II” approved in Connecticut.

During the 2019 session Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) signed bills strengthening negligent storage of firearms in homes and motor vehicles and prohibiting possession of “Ghost Guns” that are dangerously untraceable.

In between, Godfrey said Govs. Lowell Weicker (ACP-Essex), John Rowland (R-Middlebury), M. Jodi Rell (R-Brookfield) and Dannel Malloy (D-Essex) “were supportive” of gun responsibility legislation.

He said the net result is that “we’ve filled in the loopholes” and there isn’t much left to be done in Connecticut.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, praised Connecticut at the first candidates’ debate in June for lowering its murder rate due to stricter gun laws.

Godfrey said, “I’m happy to work with federal officials in Connecticut. If every state did this we would be a much safer country.”

He said that he spoke in August with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich), who was “optimistic” that federal further action would be taken on gun responsibility with the increase in public support after the recent shootings in Ohio and Texas.

However, Godfrey said it is doubtful that Congress will enact more stringent laws considering Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) opposition.

“It’s time they did something, because they haven’t done something in a really long time,” said Godfrey, who is the deputy speaker pro tempore of the state House.

On another topic, Godfrey, who has the fourth longest tenure among current members of the General Assembly, said he is disappointed in Lamont’s rapport with legislators and his management skills.

“I think he’s a little naïve,” the state representative said of Lamont, who comes from a wealthy family and owned a cable television installation company for about 30 years that largely serviced college campuses.

“He came into office not understanding how the relationship between the executive branches should work,” said Godfrey. “We’re not a corporate board of directors. That’s his experience.”

“He doesn’t understand deadlines,” the state representative said.

“He’s a little bit cavalier,” said Godfrey. “He’s had no one in his office – until recently with the addition of [former state senator, West Hartford Mayor and gubernatorial candidate] Jonathan Harris – who understood the legislative process and that hurt him during the session.”

“You just can’t talk to two or three leaders, he added. “It’s not the least bit true. It hasn’t been true for decades. You have to go one on one with every member.”

“Bill O’Neill was brilliant with that,” Godfrey said. “Jodi Rell was pretty good with that. John Rowland sometimes was good at that. Lowell Weicker, who had no [major] political party, sent people out. Dannel Malloy had people we dealt with. We haven’t seen that. We haven’t seen in his office the caliber of people with government experiences that we’ve had in the past. He’s had a lot young people that are more like a congressional office than a state gubernatorial office, and I think that has hurt him. I get a little perturbed that the relationship just isn’t understood.”

Earlier this year, Godfrey had offered similar criticism of Malloy, who had just left office after eight years.

“He didn’t understand the legislative process, but he did know how to be a government executive,” he said of Malloy, who had previously been the mayor of Stamford for 14 years. “That’s the difference.”

“[Lamont] thinks out loud in public,” Godfrey said. “And that makes him appear to people that he’s flip-flopped on issues.”

“Politicians fall down when they feel entitled and they grow out of touch,” Godfrey said. “I don’t think [Lamont] was in-touch to begin with.”

“He needs to work on his communication skills,” the state representative said.

Godfrey said he could learn from Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D-Middletown), who was noted for public outreach during her 12 years as secretary of the state and has maintained an ambitious schedule of meetings since she became Lamont’s running mate last year.

“No one is every going to say that Susan isn’t in touch with people,” he said.

Godfrey, whose district includes part of downtown Danbury, said Lamont recently over-ruled state Department of Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell by calling on her to release vaccination data.

“Didn’t she ask him before she went public?” said Godfrey, over Coleman-Mitchell’s decision not to release the data.

“Is the communication that dysfunctional?” Godfrey declared.

However, the last three Democratic governors encountered turbulence during their first year in office.

During her initial year, Ella Grasso (D-Windsor Locks), who served from 1975 to 1980, failed to eliminate a pay increment for the state employees or get them to agree to increase their work week from 35 to 40 hours. Her actions led to protests outside the State Capitol

The Hartford Courant reported in 1982 as O’Neill reached his one year anniversary that an unnamed Democratic legislator had said that any freshman state representative could have done as well as O’Neill’s performance to date as the state’s chief executive.

The state’s fiscal problems were so dire that early his second year in office, O’Neill proposed, and eventually signed, an unincorporated business tax.

However, O’Neill went on to serve for 10 years – the longest tenure of any Connecticut governor in 210 years – since Jonathan Trumbull, who died in office in 1809.

O’Neill was praised for his efforts on infrastructure improvements and signing of the Education Enhancement Act, which boosted teaches salaries and improved standards in the kindergarten through 12^th grades.

Malloy didn’t get a budget approved until mid-August of his first year – about a month and a half after the start of the fiscal year - and that was after he threatened to lay off up to 7,500 state employees to help balance the budget.

When he left office he was credited as the first Connecticut governor since 1939 to adequately fund the pensions for the state employees and the teachers in the kindergarten through 12^th grade schools.

Godfrey did say that Lamont’s “more relaxed personality” is a “refreshing” change from Malloy, who was criticized by some legislators for being uninviting.

Sacred Heart University Government Department Chairman Gary Rose, who recently wrote a book on the 2018 gubernatorial campaign and issues facing the state, has categorized Lamont as an active-positive in the personality characteristics outlined in the late Duke professor James David Barber’s 1972 book, “The Presidential Character.”

According to Barber, those leaders are usually the most successful because they are adaptive.

Godfrey said despite Lamont’s poor rapport with legislators, the General Assembly did approve a $43.8 billion budget on schedule – a package that he believes is the best he’s seen in a decade.

Brookfield Patch reported in April that Keith Phaneuf, the budget reporter for CT Mirror, said at a Wilton League of Women Voters forum that the proposed $43.8 billion package from Lamont was different from any he had seen in his more than 20 years of covering state government.

“There is a lot of pain in this budget,” he said.

Godfrey said, “I think we’ve gotten better at taking care of people who need state services.”

Additionally, he said that he is “really happy” with the approval of Paid Family Medical Leave legislation and a gradual increase in the state’s minimum wage, both of which were priorities of the Progressive Caucus, which has 46 members, just over half of the Democrats in the lower chamber. Godfrey is a member of the Progressive Caucus.

“Those are two big steps in the right direction,” added Godfrey.

CT Mirror has stated that the Paid Family Medical Leave will be funded by a payroll tax of one half of one percent. Benefits would be cut if the revenue proves insufficient to meet demand.

CT Mirror has reported that Paid Family Medical leave is considered to have “some of the strongest benefits and job protections for workers who take extended time off for personal illness or to care for a child, siblings and other loved ones.”

Godfrey said that the adoption of a gradual increase in the current $10.10 minimum wage to $15 an hour over four and half years “sends a signal” that the state is trying “to deal” with the disparity in wages.

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), the state’s largest business lobby, recently stated that a study of its members indicate that 77 percent of them believe that the Paid Family Medical Leave will “harm their companies” since it provides an incentive for workers to leave for up to 12 weeks.

The study also indicated that 53 percent of the companies polled indicated they have a similar reaction to the increased minimum wage, which might force them to hire fewer employees.

“I don’t represent the CBIA,” Godfrey replied.

“I don’t support the ‘You give us more services and tax us less mindset at all,” he added.

Godfrey explained that one recent study indicated that Connecticut has the fourth lowest business tax rate in the country.

On another subject, Godfrey said he objects to Lamont’s debt diet.

He described it as “ill-conceived.”

The governor has only called two Bond Commission meetings since taking office in January. The sessions typically had been held monthly.

Lamont has scheduled a third meeting for later this month with an agenda calling for $400 million, mostly for school and road projects, state facilities maintenance, job development and clean water programs. There is scant funding on the agenda for community-based projects in legislators’ districts, according to CT Mirror.

Danbury Patch reported in April that Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton had said he supports Lamont’s approach.

“In general, I think the era of bonding for pet projects for legislators and mayors and first selectman is over,” said the mayor, who ran three times for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

“The idea that we don’t need to build schools,” said Godfrey in reference to the state reimbursement funding that can pay for up to 32 percent of a project.

“The amount of money that was given to school construction is down significantly in the last couple of years,” he declared. “We need to make sure that infrastructure throughout the state – which bonding is for – continues.”

“Danbury needs at least one elementary school and maybe a middle school,” he said the growing school enrollment. “In cities, including Danbury, school populations are rising very fast.”

However, Brookfield Patch has reported that Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn has said that he is optimistic that in December the state Department of Administrative Services will approve his town’s request for partial reimbursement for the $78.1 million new Huckleberry Hill Elementary School, which would replace the existing school and Center Elementary School.

Through the recent years the Republican members on the Bond Commission have complained about needless items being approved and Brookfield Patch reported in 2017 that then-Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, who was then running for the Republican nomination for governor, had said no governor had held the line on bond appropriations since Weicker, who left office in early 1995.

“We’ve been much more careful on what we have authorized funding for,” said Godfrey.

“In the long term, you’re going to have to address projects and when you put them off they’re more expensive,” he said regarding Lamont’s approach.

“We’ve missed an entire season of road improvements because we didn’t do the bond bill,” he said regarding the money that is usually available for summer road paving. “In Danbury, it’s pothole city.”

Do you think that Lamont is trying to get leverage to force the General Assembly to approve a transportation infrastructure upgrade?

“I think he’s doing it to make sure we don’t raise taxes on billionaires,” the state representative said.

Godfrey said in relative terms the wealthy are not the ones leaving the state.

He said Connecticut has gone from 11 to 17 billionaires in the last eight years and over that same span the number of millionaires in the Nutmeg State has increased by 20 percent.

“Who is leaving: Working people because we overtax them and we are under-taxing rich people,” Godfrey said. “It’s time we switched that around.”

Rose has called for reductions in the sales tax and the income tax.

“I agree that the sales tax needs to return to six percent,” Godfrey said. That levy is currently 6.35 percent.

“The income tax needs to be adjusted to make it more progressive,” the state representative added, noting that a billionaire in Connecticut pays about seven percent of his income in state and municipal tax where the typical middle class taxpayer contributes 15 to 17 percent of their wages through those two taxes.

Godfrey said under former Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1993 federal tax program, the wealthy paid more taxes and “the economy boomed. We saw the best economy in the world.”

In 1998, following efforts toward deficit reduction and welfare reform, the federal government had its first budget surplus in 29 years. It had surpluses in the three succeeding years, but not since 2001.

Regarding the November 5 Danbury mayoral rematch between Boughton, a Republican who was initially elected by just 127 more votes in 2001 than Danbury Democrat Chris Setaro, Godfrey called it “probably the most interesting election in Connecticut this fall.”

“An 18-year incumbent being seriously challenged,” he said. “You’re not seeing that anywhere else in the state.”

In contrast, Godfrey said the winners of the September 10 primaries in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford would likely be elected mayor in those cities in November. He expects Danbury will have a horse race through the homestretch.

“I think the major issue is the overcrowding in our school system,” said Godfrey. “They don’t have the resources that they need. They don’t have the space that they need.”

Danbury High School recently added a new section devoted to the freshman class, but there are questions about whether more elementary and middle school space will be required.

Godfrey said the city doesn’t need to build additional luxury apartments.

The United Way reported a year ago that 31,000 households, about half of those in Danbury were just above the poverty line or at some point below that measure.

In January, Godfrey said he was “shocked” by those findings.

“The silence from everybody is deafening,” said Godfrey in September in an apparent reference to the lack of response from elected officials.

State Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield, whose district includes a slice of northern Danbury, said the Hat City has an odd economic dynamic since it also ranks first in the state in sales tax revenue, is first in Connecticut, per capita, in restaurants and has a coveted AAA bond rating.

“The rich get richer and the poor don’t,” said Godfrey, apparently implying that there is deep divide in incomes in Danbury.

On another topic, in a New York Times review in July of last year of Obama Administration communications director Dan Pfeiffer’s book, “Yes, We Still Can,” Matthew Garrahan, the global media editor of The Financial Times, wrote that, “[Republican President Donald] Trump’s win by a comfortable margin in the electoral vote . . . showed that a large number of Americans had no questions about voting for someone who had made misogynistic and racist comments.”

“The unsayable is now regularly said, and often by the commander in chief himself,” Garrahan stated. “None of the books I’ve read since the [2016] election have considered what this means or says about American in 2018.”

Godfrey said he hadn’t considered that question, but offered that he finds the president’s public statements to be disconcerting: “I’ve even stopped listening to NPR,” he declared. When I hear the nonsense today, it gets me upset. I constrict my reading to press clippings from The News-Times [of Danbury] and The New York Times on weekends.”

He declared, “The Fascists in the United States like Trump.”

Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Herbert Hoover Institution at Stanford University, delivered a different perspective in his recent book, “The Case for Trump.”

“Everyone agreed that Donald Trump could become crude,” Hanson wrote. “A third of his supporters after the election expressed a personal dislike for Trump. But few could agree on whether his crudity was unprecedented in presidential history, whether it was a symptom of a crass society, or an electronically wired world in which presidential burps became internet headlines, or whether it was overdue retaliation. The debates framed questions about whether Trump the messenger was separate from Trump’s message, and whether Trump was new crude or just a newer version of the old crude.”