Klarides insists Connecticut is still in crisis

By Scott Benjamin

EAST HAVEN –The initial narrative:

Wednesday, February 19, 2020: Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) holds a news conference to announce that he is pulling plug on his highway tolls plan to fund infrastructure improvements.

The two legislative bodies haven’t brought the controversial measure to a vote.

After a year of organized protests against the tolls plan and a wave of talk radio and social media criticism, Lamont’s first major legislative initiative has been thwarted.

October 2019: CT NewsJunkie columnist Susan Bigelow wrote that “the governor has done a lot to alienate people in his bumbling, pleasant way. Progressives have soured on him for not soaking the rich. Moderates and conservatives hate the taxes and the tolls proposal. He’s seemed inconsistent and wishy-washy.” She compares his 24 percent approval rating to being the equivalent of that for “raw sewage.”

September 2019: State Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury told Patch.com that Lamont is “a little naïve. He came into office not understanding how the relationship between the executive and legislative branches should work. We're not a corporate board of directors. That's his experience. . . He doesn't understand deadlines.”

The more recent narrative:

May 2021: Just under 56 percent approval rating. Sacred Heart Poll compiled by Great Blue Research.

May 2021: CT Mirror: reports that Lamont’s “political standing soared during the pandemic”

June 2021: The state finishes the fiscal year with a record $4.5 billion in the rainy day fund, a $470 million surplus and has enacted a budget with no tax increases after Lamont rejected the demands of what The Wall Street Journal has called “The Never Satisfied Caucus.”

July 2021: The Manchester Journal-Inquirer: State Sen. Stephen T. Cassano, D-Manchester, said he’s been impressed with how calm Lamont has appeared when making difficult decisions, noting that the governor is new to politics and is leading the state through unprecedented circumstances.

“He’s done a terrific job,” Cassano said. “Considering what we’re going through, I think Connecticut has done well.”

Two years ago, Sacred Heart University Government Department Chairman Gary Rose wrote a book on the 2018 gubernatorial campaign and the status of state public policy that was titled, “Connecticut In Crisis.”

Is Connecticut still in crisis?

“Absolutely,” said Themis Klarides, the former state House Republican Leader who is expected to seek the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nomination.

“It is one of the most expensive states to live in,” she said in an interview with Patch.com. “We have the second highest taxes in the country. We have high unemployment. We still have more people leaving than coming in. The people that are coming are concerned about the tax base. We have the ninth highest rate of COVID deaths in the country.”

In an e-mail statement to Patch.com, Rose wrote, “The policy issues I addressed in that book are still highly relevant as we get closer to the next gubernatorial election. Although his handling of the pandemic has elevated his poll numbers, Governor Lamont has yet to effectively confront the pressing issues of economic stagnation and meaningful tax reform.”

“Connecticut still lags behind other states with regard economic recovery and the fact that the latest census recorded a 1% growth in population in Connecticut suggests in no uncertain terms that Connecticut is not a desirable state in which to start a business, seek economic opportunities, or even raise a family,” he added. “Nor is Connecticut a state in which persons want to retire. So yes, Connecticut is still in crisis.”

Said Klarides, “The governor has done nothing with this [federal] COVID [stimulus] money to make it more affordable for people to live in this state.”

“We should have given people a break on property taxes as the governor said he would do when he ran,” she added.

How has the pandemic altered Connecticut’s economy?

“Businesses realize that there is another way to do this,” Klarides remarked. “A lot more people are working from home than we thought would be a year ago.”

“Commercial real estate probably is going to be the biggest hit in terms of economic impact,” she added.

In 2018, the initial array of candidates seeking the Republican nomination seemed longer than the Boston Red Sox’ spring training roster. Five of them qualified for the primary.

Approaching 2022, the attention is focused on the 2018 nominee, Madison financial executive Bob Stefanowski and Klarides, who after getting married moved from Derby to Madison.

Rose wrote, “I would suggest that if Bob Stefenowski decides not to run, then Klarides’s prospects of winning the Republican Party’s nomination are quite good. I'm certain that due to her years in public service Klarides has amassed considerable support among party insiders who of course are the ones who have much control over nominating conventions in Connecticut.. But should a well-funded outsider like Stefanowski seek the nomination again by bypassing the convention, as he did in 2018, then her nomination will be more problematical.”

“The Republican party in Connecticut has increasingly supported outsiders, not insiders, as the party's gubernatorial candidate,” he added. “So much of this depends on Stefanowski's decision. He is right now the most visible figure among the Republican rank-and-file and his base is conservative. The Republican party in Connecticut has become a more right of center party over the years.”

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who placed second in the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary, has told Patch.com that by starting his television advertising in January, seven months before the primary, Stefanowski was able to jump past the other contenders, even though he was not even nominated at the convention and had to collect petition signatures to get on the ballot.

Republican consultant Chris Lancia of Milford, who managed Margaret Streicker’s campaign last year in the Third Congressional District, said in phone interview with Patch.com that if there is a race between Stefanowski and Klarides for the nomination, he would encourage each of them to have considerable television and digital advertising starting months before the primary.

“I would be doing advertising already,” he said. “The more you get that message out there early, the better your chances of winning.”

In 2018 the Republicans lost in a year that appeared to have “change” written all over it as departing Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Essex) had some of the lowest approval ratings in the country. Can the GOP win in 2022 when some voters think that Lamont is the hottest thing this side of Vladimir Guerrero?

Rose wrote, “If the election was held today, the governor would be re-elected in a landslide. And quite frankly as long as the pandemic is the main issue and that the governor is perceived by voters as an effective manager of the pandemic, then his chances of winning reelection are very good. But if his Republican opponent, whomever that may be, is able to present an exciting pro-growth economic agenda to voters, along with creative proposals related to tax reform, then such campaign issues I believe could climb in importance and compete side-by-side with the pandemic -- and not to the governor's advantage. A Republican candidate can win the next gubernatorial election by elevating the importance of bread and butter issues. Those issues can unite the Republican base and draw the support of unaffiliated voters, of which there are thousands.”

In a phone interview with Patch.com, state Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield said, “Right now I think it would be an uphill climb for the party’s gubernatorial candidate. But I think as we move closer to the election and when the pandemic subsides, people are going to focus on what Ned Lamont could get done if he is given another four years. His poll numbers before the pandemic were very low.”

It is expected that the Republicans will point to his failed tolls program.

Klarides said that, among other things, Lamont’s proposal was a “piece-meal” approach.

“Let’s just tax people and then we’ll figure out a solution,” she declared.

Klarides, who served in the General Assembly for 22 years, noted that the GOP legislators have sought to increase bond appropriations to help address the roads, which according to a 2017 engineering report are the worst of any state in the country.

“A decent number of roads are in disrepair,” she said. “How can you possibly think of repairing new ones?”

Klarides said that she has not determined yet how much Connecticut might benefit from the proposed $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure program that was recently approved with bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate.

On fiscal issues, the top two finishers in the Connecticut Republican gubernatorial primary in 2018 – Stefanowski and Boughton - both pledged to abolish the state income tax over time.

Is Klarides willing to make that sane commitment?

“They clarified that that was more an aspiration,” she said, indicating that she would not make a similar pledge.

Klarides said the income tax amounts to about “$10 billion” in revenue. “Where are you going to find that?” she exclaimed.

She said there should a “holistic” approach to tax reform.

“Which taxes make Connecticut the most affordable,” she explained.

Harding said Klarides “was instrumental in getting collaboration” on the 2017 bipartisan state budget, which included spending and volatility caps.

“I think those provisions in that budget agreement are largely the reason the state’s finances have improved over the last four years,” he remarked.

In a November 2020 editorial, The Wall Street Journal reported that Fitch Ratings had indicated that Connecticut had the second worst funded pension system for state employees in the country.

Klarides said Malloy missed “a golden opportunity” in 2017 when he could have negotiated greater concessions from the collective bargaining units.

However, CT Hearst political reporter Ken Dixon has stated that the agreement did put new employees under a less-expensive hybrid pension system.

The collective bargaining units have pointed to a report from a consultant to the state Office of Policy & Management – the governor’s budget arm – that stated they will make $24 billion in concessions between 2017 and 2037.

“I agree that the state employees gave back,” said Klarides.

“I think the more creative we are the better,” she said when asked how she would address the unfunded liabilities. “Every action possible should be discussed.”

However, Klarides said she would not seek to reduce benefits to retirees. There was a reduction in Cost Of Living Adjustments for state retirees in Rhode Island in 2014 under former Gov. Lincoln Chafee and then-state Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who succeeded Chafee as governor.

“If we promised people something we have to keep our word,” Klarides explained.

Greenwich hedge fund manager David Stemerman, who placed third in the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary, proposed what CT Mirror described as a “radical” plan that would have included buyouts to state employees and, if needed, legal action to address the unfunded obligations. He told Patch.com in 2018 that he feared Connecticut at some point would be racing to invoke the 11th Amendment of the federal Constitution to alter the pension liabilities.

Klarides, who is an attorney, said, “This is my personal opinion: I do not think that legal action would be approved based on the research that I have done. I would not close off doing it if it was something that I believed would help Connecticut.”

Boughton told Patch.com in 2018 that in his three campaigns for governor that he spoke with hundreds of state employees that understood the ramifications regarding the unfunded pensions. The 2018 report from the state Commission on Fiscal Stability & Economic Competitiveness indicated that the state employee pensions were only 29 percent funded.

Klarides said she has had similar conversations.

“I think the rank and file have a completely different perspective on this,” she said regarding stance that the leaders of the collective bargaining units have taken on the unfunded liabilities.

Regarding Connecticut’s largest higher education system, Klarides said there is “no silver bullet” to resolving the fiscal challenges facing the Board of Regents, which was established 10 years ago to oversee the 12 community colleges, the four state universities and Charter Oak College.

She acknowledged that as the faculty and the Board of Regents have collided over the recent years regarding reform proposals and contracts, the administrators have consistently told the faculty that financially the system cannot continue to operate the way it has through the years as college enrollments have declined and that state has not been able to provide the same amount of assistance to help offset tuition costs.

Klarides said she supports the state Board of Regents efforts to reduce administrative costs among the 12 community colleges.

“They’re all on top of each other,” she said of the community colleges. “There need to be efficiencies made. There is a lot of repetition. There is a lot of waste.”

Do campuses or portions of campuses need to close with enrollment declining?

“I think it needs to be looked at,” she said. “It is not a popular opinion. Nobody wants for a school to close.”

Klarides said the state should consider the option offered by Hugh Hewitt, the Sinclair Radio talk show host and NBC News contributor, who has called on colleges to put technology companies on their campuses to fill empty spaces, generate revenue and offer internships to students.

Former Board of Regents President Gregory Gray, who left the system in 2015 after two years, had called for turning online learning into a transformative piece. Southern New Hampshire University embraced that concept in 2009 and now recruits students through national cable television commercials and has had a tuition freeze for the last 10 years. Did the state make an error in not following that path?

Said Klarides, “I think it is an opportunity that we could have taken further advantage of.”

She said more high school students should consider vocational schools, and exposure to vocational training should be introduced to them at an earlier age.

Klarides and Stefanowski each wrote columns for CT Hearst this summer on what they termed a crime wave in Connecticut.

In the interview, Klarides criticized the 2020 state police reform which ended qualified immunity for law enforcement personnel.

She said officers have told her that when they respond they too often “just sit and wait” and are “not taking the initiative” to address potential criminal actions.

In a Wall Street Journal column last December, former Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and GOP consultant Alex Castellano stated that often voters “don’t make big decisions in our lives with a calculator” . . . and when they go to the polls they vote “with our hearts and our heads.”

If Klarides runs for governor will she reach voters’ hearts and heads?

Said Harding, “She definitely will. Themis makes a good impression. She knows how to mingle with people and make them feel important as she works a room. She also is very adept at a range of policy issues.”

Patch.com has reported that Godfrey, the Democratic state representative, has been critical of Lamont and, to a lesser extent, Malloy in their outreach to legislators.

Former state Sen. Joe Markley (R-16) of Southington, who was the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor three years ago, has told Patch.com that in the 1980s there were legislative liaison staff attached to former Gov. William O’Neill (D-East Hampton) who met with him regularly and understood his position on various issues.

Klarides said, “For me it would be a huge part. I know how important it is for the executive branch and the legislative branch to have someone who is responsive. If you don’t have a good relationship between the governor’s office and the legislative branch, if that doesn’t happen, you are off to a bad start.”

“You need to have responsiveness, you need to have legislative liaisons who know their stuff, and if they don’t know an answer to a question they will get that answer and get back to you.” she continued. “Those liaisons should have personal meetings with the legislators and provide their contact information. It is frustrating feel that no one cares about me because they won’t get back to me.”

“We’ve said that we’re not Washington,” said Klarides in an apparent reference to the rancor that has stifled legislative action in the federal government.

She declared, “We would be embarrassed to be like that.”