Harding wants next governor to restructure unsustainable benefits

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD -- State Rep. Steve Harding (R-107) of Brookfield says the first thing the next governor should do is meet with the leaders of the state employee collective bargaining units to restructure a system of pension and health care benefits that is currently unsustainable.

“We have placed ourselves in a contract that we cannot afford,” he said of the recent contract extension through 2027 on the fringe benefits for the state employees.

“I think the rank and file of the collective bargaining units understand the fiscal woes of our state,” said Harding, 30, who was initially elected in 2015 and formerly served on the Brookfield Board of Education.

He said in an interview that Gov. Dannel Malloy’s (D-Stamford) biggest error since taking office in 2011 was not getting more concessions from the state employee bargaining units during last year’s contract negotiations.

Greenwich hedge fund manager David Stemerman, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, has said the state employee pensions are less than 30 percent funded and the teachers pension plan is only 54 percent funded. Additionally, he has said that only about one to two percent of the health care benefits for state employees are funded.

The leaders of the bargaining units contend that the contract concessions will save the state $24 billion over the next 20 years.

Malloy, who is not seeking a third term this year, has said he has lowered the number of full-time state work force by12.6 percent since taking office in 2011 and has reduced the executive branch work force by 13 percent, making it smaller at any point since the late Gov. Ella Grasso (D-Windsor Locks) took office in 1975.

Harding - who represents Brookfield, the Stony Hill section of Bethel and a slice of northern Danbury - said he was disappointed that the revised budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 did not include Republican-sponsored provisions that would have given the General Assembly control negotiations on fringe benefits, removed overtime from calculating pension benefits and eliminating cost of living adjustments for state employees who became vested after 2017.

CT Mirror has reported that there is a projected $2 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year that starts a year from July.

However, Harding said he supported the budget revisions since they increased money for health care and for municipal assistance.

On another topic, Harding said he opposes the report that was presented this winter by the state Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Competitiveness. He complained that the report was too focused on increasing revenue instead of slashing spending.

In particular, he said he opposes the recommendation to install tolls to help pay for infrastructure improvements. He views it as a tax, which, in particular would hurt sales at the Danbury Fair Mall, where reportedly 40 percent of the customers are from out of state. Danbury ranks first in Connecticut in sales tax revenue.

Harding said he also objects to the call by the commission for a payroll tax on businesses, which he insists would deter some hiring.

The report has received the support of the state realtors group, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn.

The proposals also include allowing municipalities more opportunities to collect sales tax revenue and a boost in the state minimum wage to $15 an hour.

On a separate subject, Harding said he has not taken a position on the state Board of Regents plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges.

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges announced last month that it could not endorse an immediate consolidation but might be able to consider a long-range plan to help the system, which reportedly is on the verge of having a $28 million shortfall.

Board of Regents President Mark Ojakian, the former chief of staff to Malloy, has said he is developing revised plans, which might result in the 12 schools being placed in three different regional structures.

Harding supported the Transform 2020 plan that the Regents devised four years ago to reform the 17 schools in the system, said that package, which would have promoted more online learning and made the curriculums more consistent between the two-year and four-year schools. The plan was strongly opposed by the faculty, who held several votes of no confidence in Board of Regents President Gregory Gray, which led to his departure.

“It is very hypothetical,” said Harding. “But it is very possible that you would not now be in this situation” with the lack of budget reserves for the community colleges if Transform 2020 had been approved.

Additionally, he said he supports the Fiscal Stability Commission’s recommendation for a STEM campus to be built in a major city, although he acknowledged with a fiscal crisis in the state’s public higher education system, it might make more sense to build it on an existing campus.

“I think STEM is the wave of the future,” said Harding.

On another issue, he said he is pleased with the state Senate vote to reject the nomination of state Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald, who Malloy nominated for the position of chief justice.

Harding, an attorney, voted against the nomination. He said he objected to McDonald, a political ally of Malloy’s, helping craft a bill on the death penalty in 2011 when he was the governor’s legal counsel and then as a Supreme Court justice taking action to strike down part of it years later.

“There were too many conflicts of interest,” he said.

Harding acknowledged that McDonald was easily confirmed to serve on the state Supreme Court, but noted that there is a different criteria when you are nominated to be the chief justice.

“The chief justice is not only the chief justice of the Supreme Court, but the leader of the Connecticut judicial branch,” said the state representative.

Harding said he is pleased with the confirmation of Justice Richard Robinson of Stamford as chief justice following the rejection of McDonald.

“I think he’s going to be a smart, intelligent chief justice,” he said.

Harding said he believes part of the reason that Morning Consult has rated Malloy as the least popular governor in the country is due to is lack of interpersonal relationships with legislators.

“The social skills are lacking in bringing legislators together or private and public organizations together,” the state representative said. “He’s really struggled with that.”

On a different subject, Harding, who is the ranking Republican House member on the Environment Committee, said he has been able to put “a shining light” on Candlewood Lake, which is the largest lake in Connecticut and borders Danbury, Sherman, New Fairfield, New Milford and Brookfield.

“We’ve been able to show what needs to be done to provide resources for that lake and other lakes in Connecticut,” he said.

Harding said that Candlewood Lake is an economic engine for the metro Danbury area, noting, for example, the activity each summer at the Down The Hatch restaurant on Candlewood Lake Road in Brookfield.

Harding said that as of May 10, he had not decided on how he would vote on the proposed $67.4 million Brookfield municipal budget, indicating that he had not had time to study it as the General Assembly’s regular session had just concluded a day earlier. A referendum will be held on May 15.

On another topic, he said he was “shocked” over U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s (D-5) handling of a sexual harassment case involving her former chief of staff.

Esty of Cheshire announced last month that she would not seek a fourth term following news reports of the incident and intense criticism from some elected officials.

“Frankly, she should have resigned,” Harding said.

Harding initially captured the seat in the 107^th District in a February 2015 special election over former Brookfield Democratic Selectman Howard Lasser. He ran unopposed in 2016, but earlier this month Brookfield Democrat Daniel Pearson, who works for a non-profit agency in Norwalk, announced he would seek his party’s nomination in the district. The general election is scheduled for November 6.

“It doesn’t change our strategy,” said Harding. “Regardless, I enjoy going door to door to meet people and win their support.”