Herbst wants to renegotiate pensions, establish Inspector General

By Scott Benjamin

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Tim Herbst says the $100 billion in long-term fringe benefits for state employees will have to be renegotiated with the bargaining units, and if they’re unwilling to take that step, since Connecticut’s budget is in distress he would even pursue legal options.

The state Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Competitiveness reported this winter that the pensions for the state employees are funded at just 29 percent even though Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Stamford) has been lauded for being the first chief executive in a generation to fully fund them annually.

However, unlike cities, state governments cannot avail themselves of bankruptcy claims to break contracts and force employees and even retirees to accept a reduction in benefits, according to CT Mirror.

Herbst, an attorney who was first selectman of Trumbull from 2009 to 2017, said he knows the drill. When he took office the municipal employee pensions were only 27 percent funded and through negotiations all employees were placed in a defined contribution benefit plan and by the end of his tenure the pensions were fully funded.

The current state employee benefit package was extended last year until 2027. However, Herbst, who is known for his forceful personality, and some other candidates seeking the GOP gubernatorial endorsement have said over the long term the money will not be available to pay for the pensions and health care benefits.

Eva Bermudez Zimmerman of Newtown, a union organizer who is seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, has said those contentions are just “opinions.”

Herbst, who almost was elected in 2014 as state treasurer, said he is against Malloy’s proposal to have the municipalities pay one-third of the teacher pensions, which have been fully funded by the state since 1939. Reports indicate there will be surge in costs over the next 15 years.

He said, among other things, the municipalities already have had to endure less state assistance over the last two years.

He also objects to the contract clause with the state employees that exempts them from layoffs for four years, extending to June 2021.

“The no-layoff clause is not constitutional,” Herbst said in a phone interview.

The leaders of the state bargaining units have said the concessions package negotiated last year will save taxpayers $24 billion over 20 years.

Herbst, who placed second to Danbury Mayor Mark Bouhgton at the GOP state convention last month, also will likely face Westport businessman Steve Obsitnik, former GE and UBS executive Bob Stefanowski of Madison and former hedge fund manager David Stemerman of Greenwich in the August 14 primary.

Taking a page from former state Senate Republican Leader John McKinney of Fairfield, who was the runner-up in the 2014 Republican gubernatorial primary, Herbst wants to establish an Office of Inspector General.

He said it would control waste, fraud and inefficiencies in state government. McKinney, who has endorsed Herbst, first proposed the plan in 2003.

Herbst said the office would probably consist of 10 to 20 forensic auditing specialists who would have “subpoena” power, which the two state auditors of public accounts do not have. Although, he believes that the auditor positions would likely be retained.

“You have to be willing to spend money to save money,” Herbst said. "The Inspector General's office would be making changes and would be willing to be unpopular."

McKinney stated in 2009 that the federal government has an inspector general in all executive departments. He added that collectively the year before, the 57 federal inspector general offices, with a budget of $1.9 billion, saved the federal government $9.9 billion from audit reviews and $6.8 billion in investigative recoveries.

On education, Herbst, whose parents are both educators, said he supports Malloy’s policy of trying to fund more public seats in charter schools. He said it can address the state’s learning achievement gap, which is one of the largest in the country.

Trumbull established full-day kindergarten while he was first selectman.

He said he thinks “every day” about Jerry McDougall, his football coach at Trumbull High School and the fourth winningest in Connecticut history.

“My work ethic comes from him,” said Herbst of McDougall, who died in 2011. “I was not the strongest or the fastest player on the team but I worked the hardest. I learned from him that no challenge was insurmountable.”

Herbst has noted that if elected he would become the first graduate of Trinity College in Hartford to serve as governor since Republican Thomas Meskill of New Britain, who took office in 1971 and served for one term.

However, famed sportswriter Rick Reilly wrote in Sports Illustrated in 1986 that 14-time national sportswriter of the year Jim Murray of The Los Angeles Times and a Trinity graduate, was “cranking out the best written sports column this side (some say that side) of Red Smith.”

Murray won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 and later former President Ronald Reagan did 10 minutes of standup at an awards dinner honoring him.

Thus, even if Herbst is elected governor and resolves the pension crisis and establishes the Office of Inspector General, it is not clear that he would become the most famous Trinity graduate that side – or even this side – of Jim Murray.

And that’s not even considering that George Will graduated from the Frog Hollow campus.