Gronbach supports Lamont's large tractor trailer tolls package

By Scott Benjamin

The last time the voters of the 30th state Senate District sent a Democrat to the third floor at the State Capitol, Ned Lamont was a graduate student at Yale, New Milford elected its first selectman every other May and there were tolls on the Wilbur Cross and the Schuyler Merritt turnpikes.

As a result of a Banish All Tolls protest group and fatal vehicle crashes, toll plazas were abolished about a decade later - when Lamont, a Democrat, was serving on the Greenwich Board of Selectmen and was making it affordable for college students to watch ESPN. But a gantry – 12 of them in all - may be erected in your neighborhood in the near future.

Since he began occupying the coveted office on the second floor of the State Capitol 13 months ago, Lamont, Connecticut’ 89th governor, has been trying to get electronic tolls installed to replenish the special transportation fund, repave the worst road network of any state in the nation and address the choke points that have congested the interstates to the point where the cars move at the same speed as they did a generation ago when they slowed to pay a toll to the booth attendant and “transponder” was not part of the vernacular.

Former New Milford Mayor David Gronbach, who is now seeking the Democratic nomination in the sprawling 30th state Senate District, said Lamont has the right tolls program but went about selling it the wrong way.

Gronbach, who served as mayor from 2015 to 2017, said he supports the current proposal for tolls on tractor trailer trucks, but thinks that Lamont should have rolled it out shortly after the 2018 election and then promptly held a series of public hearings.

“We might be in a different place right now,” he said in a phone interview. “People would probably be a bit more comfortable with his plans.”

The late Richard Neustadt, the presidential scholar at Harvard – where Lamont got his undergraduate degree and where there is a building named after his family – said when a chief executive is courting legislators that the essence of his persuasive task is to convince them “that what [the chief executive] wants of them is what they ought to do for their sake and on their authority.”

Jonathan Wharton, a Political Science professor at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, recently wrote that Lamont has done just the opposite.

He stated in a CTNewsJunkie column that the governor has “made himself the Charlie Brown of political punting as his messaging has wavered.”

Lamont has not been able to harness one Republican vote for any of his tolls programs in either the state House or Senate and hasn’t been able to persuade at least 18 of the 22 Democratic senators to endorse a plan to that it could get to an 18-18 vote and have Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D-Middletown) cast the deciding ballot.

“I don’t think that the toll issue has been sold to the public in an effective way,” Sacred Heart University Government Department Chairman Gary Rose recently told Patch.com “There has not been an open discussion with the public.”

“You associate the Lamont governorship with his policy on tolls,” said the professor, who in 2019 wrote, “Connecticut In Crisis” (Academica Press, 302 Pages), on the state’s fiscal obstacles and the 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

“My colleagues are uncomfortable because every time you turn around it’s a different proposal,” state Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury, who was initially elected to the state House in 1988 and currently serves as deputy speaker pro tempore, told Patch.com in December.

Lamont told Patch.com in February 2018, about five weeks after he formally launched his gubernatorial campaign, that he supported tolls for all vehicles. During the primary and general election campaign of 2018 he said he supported tolls only for commercial trucks.

He announced in a CT Hearst column in February 2019 that he would seek tolls for all vehicles. When that plan didn’t get to a vote by the regular session of the General Assembly in June 2019 he and his staff conferred with federal officials about getting low-interest loans.

In the fall, Lamont proposed installing 14 gantries for all vehicles, but was rebuffed by the Democratic state Senate caucus, which indicated it couldn’t provide sufficient support. That package also included plans for the low-interest federal loans.

On the other side, there apparently has been limited support for GOP proposals to bond for the improvements, utilize money from the rainy day fund or, in the case of 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski, a call to slash one percent from the budget across the board and use the funds to pay for the transportation package.

Since late Fall, Lamont has sought tolls only for commercial trucks – eventually limiting the tolls only to the tractor trailer trucks.

In 2015, former Gov. Dannel Malloy appointed an ad-hoc panel chaired by former state Rep. Cameron Staples (D-New Haven) that called for a 30-year program which would cost $100 billion. Malloy discussed the options of tolls at Connecticut’s borders and congestion pricing and garnered little support.

Gronbach, an attorney, said that “large trucks only” is a fair way to go” and he supports the program.

The former mayor, who served from 2015 to 2017, said he opposes tolling all vehicles and that there should be “specific language” in the legislation to prohibit the governor or the General Assembly from doing that in the future.

However, it appears that if the tolls proposal is approved during an anticipated vote during the week of February 10, it may have limited impact on the state’s infrastructure.

It would only generate $129 million to $304 million, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the General Assembly’s budget arm.

Rose wrote in his book that then-state Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redecker said in 2018 that an all-vehicles toll plan would eventually generate $600 million to $800 million annually.

He recently told Patch.com, “I see little opportunity for new and bold infrastructure projects given the governor’s compromised toll plan. The amount of money projected from his trucks only proposal does not seem sufficient in my view to truly improve the dire condition of CT’s roads and bridges.”

Lamont has indicated with only the large trucks paying tolls, the revenue would be about $180 million per year.

Lamont reached an agreement with Democratic legislative leaders in December on the trucks-only package. The plan was for a vote in January. Then in late January it appeared it would happen during the first week of February, a day or two before the regular session convened on February 5.

Then in an apparent attempt to ensure that enough legislators would be present to get a package approved, they announced the vote would be during the week of February 10.

The governor argued in February 2019 that trucks-only tolling would be insufficient and therefore he was now endorsing tolls on all vehicles with discounts for state residents.

“This would provide at least some revenue to maintain our system though not enough to upgrade it,” Lamont wrote in his column for CT Hearst regarding the trucks-only tolls.

Yet, that is now the plan that he wants to implement.

Gronbach said he has “no concerns. “about the possibility that the trucks-only tolling might be deemed illegal because of a federal lawsuit not pending in Rhode Island on a similar program.

“Lots of issues get litigated in court,” he said.

“So long as the attorney general stands by the legislation, the threat of litigation should not be a deterrent,” Gronbach said, referring to a legal opinion delivered by state Attorney Gen. William Tong (D-Stamford).

For decades, elected officials have said that most major transportation projects are funded through federal money. For example, about 80 percent of the $105 million, 2.1-mile Route 7 bypass in Brookfield was paid for through federal transportation funds.

It’s just not that Connecticut needs to add lanes to address congestion choke points.

In his book, Rose wrote that a 2017 report from the American Society of Engineers found that 57 percent of Connecticut’s roads were in poor condition, the highest percentage of any state.

“You drive on the roads in Connecticut and then cross over to another state and you see that their roads are better maintained,” Gronbach said.

Regarding Lamont’s performance over the last 13 months, the former mayor said that it has “been rocky at times” but that he “can’t criticize him” since he has some accomplishments.

“I wrote letters on his behalf” during the campaign, he said. “I thought that he was head and shoulders above Bob Stefanowski.”

For example, in general, the former mayor supports Lamont’s debt diet since it will get the state a better credit rating. The governor has sought to slash about $700 million per year from the previous annual bond appropriations. However, it appears that number may become smaller as a result of negotiations for approval of the trucks-only toll package.

Gronbach and his wife, Vanessa, also an attorney, have a firm that primarily handles litigation, civil matters, employment issues and regulatory issues.

He said that after “rebuilding his private practice” and “rebuilding our finances” after his two years as mayor, he was in position to take the plunge in a 14-municipality configuration, which is the largest in land among the 36 state Senate districts. It extends from Salisbury to Brookfield.

“I liked working in government and I wanted to stay involved,” explained Gronbach.

His family formerly owned the Bank Street Book Nook in downtown New Milford, which he said “was a lot of fun and al lot of work.”

“I benefitted from it, because I got a better perspective on issues related to a small business,” Gronbach said.

He said that he and his family initially took an interest government policy when the New Milford Board of Education began deliberations in 2014 on closing the John Pettibone School, which for nearly 60 years had been, at first, a middle school and then an elementary school.

The Board of Education voted in 2014 by a 5-4 margin to close the school, partly because of declining enrollment.

“No, I don’t,” Gronbach said when asked if six years later it was the best decision.

He said the school should have remained open and been used to also house the Board of Education offices.

Gronbach said the argument of closing the school and significantly reducing taxes was ”flimsy at best.”

He added that he is pleased that the building was not razed and the 16.4 acres sold to a private developer, as some New Milford Town Council members had suggested at the time.

Gronbach said that he is “proud” that during his administration it became the home for the Parks & Recreation office and other municipal departments.

The former mayor said he also is concerned about commercial sprawl along Route 7, an issue that he tried to address while serving as mayor.

“You need to have effective zoning regulations that reflect the community’s vision,” Gronbach said. “Not only for a year or two but for 10 and 20 years,”

He said without that vision the result has been a “hodge podge [of commercial development on Route 7.”

Gronbach’s victory in 2015 marked the first time in 14 years that a Democrat in New Milford had won the town’s top elected position.

He was defeated by Republican Town Council member Pete Bass in 2017, who was elected to a second term last November.

Since New Milford moved from a first selectman to mayoral government in 1987 and began holding its municipal elections in September instead of May, no Democratic mayor has served for more than two terms.

The Democrats have not won a race in the 30th state Senate District, which travels through 14 municipalities from Salisbury to Brookfield since 1978 when Litchfield attorney Joseph Ruggiero prevailed. He served for one term. Harold Hansen of New Milford had captured the seat in 1974 and served for one term.

Since 1980, such Republicans as former Senate President Pro Tempore M. Adela Eads of Kent, former congressional nominee and current state Judge Andrew Roraback of Goshen and Clark Chapin of New Milford, the son of a former first selectman and husband of a former mayor, have held the seat.

New Milford Town Council member and former Board of Education Chairman David Lawson was the Democratic nominee in 2016 and 2018, losing both times to Litchfield Republican Craig Minor, who is the former first selectman of that town and also a former state representative who served there until he was elected to the upper chamber four years ago.

CT Mirror rated the district as one of the nine to watch in 2016, partly because New Milford is one of the larger municipalities and there might be more of a chance for a Democratic victory since Republican Chapin would no longer be on the ballot.

Rose has said the demographics have been changing in suburbs across Connecticut, as suburban women are voting more Democratic.

For example, despite having served as the state senator for 12 years, Roraback lost in Salisbury and Kent to Democrat Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire when the Fifth Congressional District was an open seat in 2012.

Gronbach said that he has found during his travels in the district that “politics are usually local.”

On another issue, he said that he opposes the recent efforts by Lamont and, before that, Malloy to have the municipalities pay for part of the teacher pension costs, which the state has fully funded since 1939.

“The towns and cities can’t shoulder any more of the costs,” Gronbach said, citing his experience as mayor.

“The Board of Education costs are sometimes considered the root of all evil with tax increases, the towns and cities can’t be taking on those costs,” he added.

On another issue, some Democratic legislators have said they want to address prescription drug costs during this year’s regular session.

Patch.com has reported that Godfrey has said he hopes that state agencies can help reduce costs by importing the prescriptions from Canada, where they are cheaper.

He said the cost of insulin has been “shooting through the roof.”

Gronbach said he supports those efforts, but calls it “a piece in the puzzle” in what should be a program to “address health insurance in general.”

CT Mirror has reported that in January Lamont signed an “executive order to direct the state’s Office of Health Strategy to come up with annual benchmarks for the growing cost of health care – and require providers, insurers and others in the industry to report yearly price increases.”

Gronbach said, “That’s a nice first step.”

Regarding budget considerations, Malloy trimmed the full-time state work force by 13.1 percent over eight

CT Realtors President Dan Keune told Patch.com in 2019 that there are a number of state employees that are due for retirement in the next three years. Some observers have said Lamont will have to make a difficult decision on filling some of those vacancies, due to the state’s legacy of debt.

Patch.com has reported that CT Mirror budget reporter Keith Phanueuf told a League of Women’s Voters audience in Wilton last April that the pension benefits for the state employees and for the public school teachers were structurally under-funded every year from 1939 through 2010.

“I think when you’re seeking to have attrition, you have to be careful because the work force is at its lowest level in decades,” said Gronbach. “You wouldn’t want to imperil areas, such as public safety.”

He added, “You have to have priorities and fund those priorities.”