Hayes endorses Stop Act to prohibit campaign phone solicitations

By Scott Benjamin

Jahana Hayes says if she’s elected to represent the Fifth Congressional District, she will be among the tiny number of co-sponsors for the proposed Stop Act, which would prohibit federal legislators from making phone calls to solicit campaign contributions.

“We shouldn’t spend so much time raising money,” said the 2016 national teacher of the year, who faces former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, the convention-endorsed candidate, in the August 14 Democratic primary in the 41-municipality district, which stretches from Newtown to Salisbury and includes part of the metro Danbury area and most of Litchfield County and the Farmington Valley.

The seat is being vacated by three-term Democrat Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire, who has been criticized for her handling of a sexual harassment complaint against her former chief of staff.

“We shouldn’t have to spend 30 hours a week” making phone calls for contributions,” Hayes declared.

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.) and former U.S. Rep. David Jolley (R-Fla.), the principal sponsors of The Stop Act, have complained that the national congressional committees have suggested that congressmen raise as much as $18,000 day through phone calls to prospective contributors.

CT Hearst reported that through July Hayes had raised $461,000, just slightly ahead of the $457,000 that Glassman had collected.

The Stop Act, which was profiled in 2016 on CBS’s “60 Minutes” has only a tiny number of co-sponsors. Under the bill, congressmen could still attend campaign fund-raising events. Campaign aides and consultants would have to make any phone calls for contributions.

U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wrote in his recent book, “The Right Answer,” that shortly after he took office in early 2013 a senior Democratic House member said during an orientation at the Democratic National Committee headquarters: “Don’t come in here thinking you’re going to do any big legislation. You should be spending thirty to thirty-five hours a week raising money and doing things you need to do to get reelected.”

However, Hayes, who lives in Wolcott and is currently an education coordinator in Waterbury, said she disagrees with Delaney that congressmen should be spending more time in Washington and fewer days in their districts.

Delaney stated in his book that, “We have persuaded our constituencies that they should expect us to function like mayors, going to one event after another, shaking hands, giving speeches and cutting ribbons. But that ought to be the province of local government officials.”

“Would you rather have your U.S. representative spend time shaking hands at the country fair or working in Washington to gain grants for community colleges and secure funding for improving highways?” Delaney added. “These days our time is so limited that all we can do is pop in and out of meetings.”

Hayes said she objects to returning to the schedule of a generation ago, when there were more weeks when members of the U.S. House were in session from Monday at 9 a.m. until Friday at 5 p.m.

“We should be spending a lot of time with the people in our districts to understand their needs,” Hayes said in a phone interview.

Regarding the economy of the district, Hayes said to address the unemployment in Waterbury, where she grew up and which is the largest of the five cities in the district, she would seek acquire more manufacturing opportunities.

The Brass City’s 7.0 percent unemployment rate is about 2.6 points higher than the state average.

Regarding manufacturing, Hayes said the district “should be focusing on the digital age and not turning the clock back 50 years.”

She said she would support programs to provide more opportunities for the state technical high schools and community colleges to offer more manufacturing programs. She added that instruction in robotics should start in the seventh and eighth grades to better prepare students for STEM education.

“We should be producing more clean energy,” said Hayes.

U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1) of East Hartford has said fuel cell technology will become Connecticut’s biggest export since it has a number of companies in the field, including Doosan in South Windsor, which is in his district. Before that, South Windsor was home to Fuel Cell Energy, which was considered to be the leader in research in the field since from 1966 to 2010 it had the contract for NASA.

The Fifth Congressional District has Fuel Cell Energy with an administrative office in Danbury and a manufacturing plant in Torrington, which went to three shifts for the first time about five years ago. Over the recent years it has annexed contracts with the state, the city of Bridgeport and the U.S. Navy.

Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Stamford) and the General Assembly approved $292 million in incentives in 2011 to bring Jackson Labs, a bioscience company based in Maine, to establish operations in Farmington near the University of Connecticut Health Center.

When asked about the potential for Jackson Labs spurring a bioscience innovation hub in the Farmington area, Hayes said, “I don’t know enough about that.”

Newtown attorney Monte Frank, who is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket headed by Oz Griebel of Simsbury, the former executive director of the Metro Alliance, has said a number of companies in the state are doing research through Jackson Labs.

On another topic, Hayes said Republican President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion, 10-year tax cut should be “repealed.” She said a “disproportionate” amount of the benefits have gone to the wealthy.

However, it may be difficult to repeal the package. For example, then-U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota complained about the $1.35 trillion tax cut that former Republican President George W. Bush signed in 2001. However, Daschle acknowledged on NBC’s Meet The Press in 2002 that the Democrats didn’t have enough votes to overturn the tax cut.

Trump has hailed the package as one of the reasons for the 4.1 percent growth in the American economy during the second quarter of this year.

U.S. Jim Himes (D-4) of Greenwich has said the plan is already “exploding” the federal budget deficit. The Congressional Budget Office has reported the projected annual deficits for the next 10 years would collectively amount to $12.4 trillion.

Hayes said she also opposes the president’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum.

“It’s dangerous,” she said. “It’s hurting American workers” she added regarding the retaliation from foreign countries.

On another subject, Hayes said she agrees with former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, that the next great recession will result from college student loan debt.

CT Mirror reported last month that according to Hayes’ federal financial disclosure statement, she has two student loan debts totaling between $115,000 and $300,000.

Hayes said the federal government should make more affordable loan rates available. She also said that she supports increased online education to make college more accessible, particularly for non-traditional students.

On education, Hayes said she opposes the proposal from Mick Mulvaney, the director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, to merge the cabinet departments of Labor and Education.

“They’re doing the same thing,” Mulvaney has said, according to Fox News. “Why not put them in the same place?”

“Absolutely not,” Hayes said when she was asked about her support for the merger of the two cabinet departments.

“They are in different fields,” she said. “I’m not sure that anyone could manage a department that size.”

Until late 1979, the Education Department had been part of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter signed the legislation to make Education a separate department.

Just months before the change, Joseph Califano, the secretary of HEW, said its budget was the third largest in the world after the national budgets of the United States and the Soviet Union. Califano lived in Roxbury from 1992 to 2007 and currently lives in Westport.

Former Connecticut Gov. and U.S. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, who grew up in New Britain and later lived in Cornwall Bridge, was the secretary of HEW from 1961 to late 1962. He reportedly said the department at the time was unmanageable because of its size and that education was the area that too often got scant attention. He has said that in 1963, the first bill that he submitted as a U.S. senator was to create a separate federal Department of Education.

On a related topic, Hayes said she opposes former Democratic President Barack Obama’s call in 2010 for a 197-day academic year.

She said she agrees with the former president that the United States has fewer academic days than some other developed nations.

“But it doesn’t come down to just the number of days,” said Hayes. “It’s the opportunities that are out there for well-rounded students.”

Each of the last three federal Education secretaries – Arne Duncan and John King under Obama and now Betsy DeVos under Trump – have advocated more public support for charter schools. In fact, King had started a charter school near Boston in 1999.

Hayes, who has been endorsed by the National Education Association and the Connecticut Education Association, said she disagrees with that approach.

“I prefer public education and not diverting public money to the charter schools,” she said. “We need to make more options available in the public schools.”

Hayes said she also opposes the 2012 proposal by Malloy to increase the minimum cumulative grade point average from 2.67 to 3.3 to enter student teaching.

“Some college students might make excellent teachers but struggle in a subject or have some disability,” she said. “They might actually be the best teacher because they can translate material well to students.”

The Republican primary on August 14 pits convention nominee Manny Santos, the former mayor of Meriden, against former college psychology professor Ruby Corby O’Neill of Southbury and Watertown businessman Rich DuPont.

Brookfield Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn has endorsed Hayes, and says even though she hasn’t served in government, she will make a swift transition to being a successful congressman.

“People said the same thing about me three years ago,” said Dunn, who had been a vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase before being elected. “I never had been involved in politics. I had never run a town. I think I’ve done a pretty good job. You can learn on the job if you have the core skills you need. The ability to communicate effectively and the ability to evaluate situations. She will be up to speed in three months.”