Lawson dismisses state commission report on fiscal stability

By Scott Benjamin

NEW MILFORD – Democrat David Lawson, who is making a second bid to annex the state Senate seat in the sprawling 30^th District, said the report by the state Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Competitiveness was “fundamentally flawed” since “labor was not even represented” on the 14-member panel.

Lawson, who is chairman of the New Milford Board of Education, said in an interview that he also questions the “comparisons” that the commission made with Texas, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Lawson will again face state Sen. Craig Miner (R-Litchfield) in the November 6 election in the district, which extends from Brookfield to the Massachusetts border and includes four of the five largest towns in land-size in Connecticut – New Milford, Salisbury, Sharon and Litchfield.

Miner, who had been a state representative for 16 years before taking the seat, defeated Lawson 55.9 percent to 44.1 percent in 2016, capturing nine of the 14 municipalities.

The commission was formed by the General Assembly after it took nearly four months into the current fiscal year to adopt a budget. The commission members wrote in their 68-page report that between 2007 and 2016 Connecticut’s economy had contracted by eight percent while the national economy had expanded by 11 percent, according to CT Hearst.

Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Stamford) has said that Connecticut and Michigan are the only states with fewer jobs now than in 1989. Donald Klepper-Smith, the economist for Farmington Bank and the chairman of former Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s (R-Brookfield) economic team, has noted that Connecticut is only New England state that hasn’t recaptured all of the jobs lost during the 2008 recession.

On the components of the commission’s report, Lawson said he supports the recommendation for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

Lawson said he doesn’t believe it will hurt businesses. In fact, he contends that with more disposal income the people working at the minimum wage will boost Connecticut’s economy by purchasing more products and services

However, he opposes having the General Assembly set pension and health benefits for the state employee bargaining units rather than negotiating them as is the case under the current system.

“I don’t understand why they would want to reduce labor rights,” Lawson said. “its labor’s Bill of Rights.”

“When labor isn’t even represented on the commission this is what you’re going to get,” he added.

At least three of the contenders for the Republican gubernatorial nomination – Mike Handler of New Canaan, Bob Stefanowski of Madison and David Stemerman of Greenwich – have said that the payments to Connecticut’s pensions are so underfunded – CT News Junkie reported last year that they were only at 35.5 percent – that the money to pay for those benefits will not be there when many of the state employees retire.

“That is a governor issue,” Lawson said when asked if he agreed with the position of those Republican gubernatorial candidates.

He said he disagreed with Malloy’s efforts to place part of the cost for the teachers’ pensions on the municipalities after the state began funding those obligations in 1939.

“It’s not [the municipalities’] responsibility,” said Lawson.

He said he’s against the commission’s call to eliminate the estate and gift taxes, which some economists believe might retain more people in a state that has been losing population in recent years.

Connecticut Education Association President Donald Williams of Brooklyn, the former president pro-tempore of the state Senate, has told CT Hearst that the elimination of those taxes would not help grow Connecticut’s economy.

Lawson said that state “could take a look at” establishing a payroll tax on businesses, a recommendation by the commission that has raised concerns from officials at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, according to CT Hearst.

He expressed reservations about the commission’s call for reducing the top rate of the income tax from 6.99 percent to 5.75 percent and increasing the sales tax from 6.35 percent to 7.25 percent. He said the higher sales taxes, for example, might hurt small retail outlets.

Lawson said he could support the commission’s recommendation for the implementation of tolls to help pay for infrastructure improvements “as long as Connecticut residents get a big discount.”

He said he opposes the panel’s call for a seven cent a gallon increase in the gasoline tax.

“We don’t have a plan for any of this,” Lawson said regarding transportation improvements.

The committee chaired by former state Rep. Cameron Staples (D-New Haven) submitted a 30-year, $100 billion proposed transportation infrastructure package in 2015. The General Assembly has not acted on that report, perhaps because it is awaiting the assurance that there would be a lockbox for transportation funds.

The report from the Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Competitiveness has been endorsed by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the Connecticut State Realtors Association, Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn and CT Hearst business columnist Dan Haar, among others.

To develop “a robust economy,” Lawson said Connecticut “needs to invest in our people.”

He said the state should develop a program similar to the G.I. Bill, which made it possible for many people to afford college in the years following World War II.

“Tuition is cost prohibitive for a number of students and families,” said Lawson. “They have massive amounts of debt.”

He said the state should consider giving no-interest college loans if a student graduates from a state public college or university and then stays employed in Connecticut for many years following graduation.

The Board of Regents – which represents the four state universities, the 12 community college campuses and the Charter Oak online division - has been stymied, mostly by faculty, in its recent efforts to restructure their program and lower tuition costs.

In 2014, Gregory Gray, then the president of the Board of Regents, noted that there would be only a 2 percent increase in tuition for the next fiscal year and he was hopeful that would continue if the board’s Transform 2020 program was approved.

Patch.com reported in April 2014 that Gray had said that legislators had told him that the percentage of the budget for higher education would continue to decline because of the state’s fiscal distress. He said that there was no other viable path than to reform the way that the 17 campuses operated.

The plan – which resulted from a $1.83 million study by the Boston Consulting Group – featured more online offerings, a path for students to go from a community college to a state four-year public college without losing any credits and a focus on what programs each campus should market to attract more students.

Lawson said online learning “has its place,” but only in a limited way.

“Would you want a surgeon learning online?” he said.

By Spring 2015 several faculty units had approved votes of no confidence Gray, who resigned a short time later and Transform 2020 was not pursued by the Board of Regents.

Recently, Mark Ojakian, Gray’s successor as president of the Board of Regents, had sought to address a projected $28 million shortfall for the community colleges by moving the functions of their individual presidents into the central office in Hartford.

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges rejected implementing the program.

Ojakian initially said the board would have to consider tuition hikes and closing campuses, but has more recently indicated that he wants to submit a revised plan that would establish regional units of governance at the community colleges.

Lawson said he opposed the consolidation of the community colleges.

“It’s a rather simplistic plan,” he said. “To put something together that quickly was unreasonable.”

Faculty have protested Ojakian’s efforts to the point that the Faculty Senate at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain supported a resolution for him to resign.

Retired Webster Bank economist Nick Perna of Ridgefield told CT Mirror last year that Connecticut has a “boatload” of public campuses and suggested that some of them should close.

Lawson disagreed, saying that, “We have to be supportive. If there is a cycle of cutting then students don’t get the opportunity to reach their potential.”

On another topic, Lawson, who took the Democratic nomination earlier this month at a convention in Litchfield, said he wants to help sure more state funding in the district for the school systems, since several, particularly in the Northwest Corner, face far higher transportation costs than in Connecticut’s urban areas.

Lawson, who was endorsed two years ago by the Connecticut League of Conservation voters, said he wants to get more support from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to protect the waterways in the district.

He also wants to take steps to ensure the financial viability of the three hospitals – New Milford Hospital, Charlotte Hungerford in Torrington and Sharon Hospital.

Regarding the gubernatorial race, Lawson said he is enthused about Greenwich businessman and teacher Ned Lamont being at the top of the Democratic ticket.

“He has recognized the role of labor and of higher education,” he explained. “He has the vison and the leadership skills.”

Lawson announced his support for Malloy over Lamont and the other Democratic contenders at a news conference in Torrington in February 2010, about three months before those two candidates faced off at the state convention and then later in a primary that Malloy won handily on the way to victory in the first of his two terms in office.

He declined last week to speak in detail about Malloy’s performance, saying that his tenure as governor will be history by next January when he would be taking office in the state Senate if he wins in November. Malloy announced in April of last year that he would not seek a third term.

Lawson did briefly praise Malloy for increasing the state’s minimum wage, ensuring the workers would get sick days and putting more money annually into the state employees’ pension fund.

Does he want the next governor to continue Malloy’s efforts to pare the full-time state work force, which Malloy has said has been reduced by 12.6 percent since he took office in 2011?

“I’d have to look,” said Lawson. “I don’t know what positions he’s talking about. That needs to be examined a little bit more.”

Two years ago, CT Mirror listed the 30^th state Senate District campaign as one of “Nine Races To Watch” even though the Democrats have not captured the district since 1978 when Litchfield attorney Joseph Ruggiero was elected for what would be one term.

In recent elections Democrats had not been able to get to 40 percent in New Milford against town native Clark Chapin, a Republican, who won the 2012 and 2014 races after serving in the state House for 12 years.

Lawson lost in New Milford where he has lived for 30 years – 7,045 votes to 6,169 – to Miner, who was the first selectman of Litchfield before he became a legislator.

Lawson won in Canaan, Cornwall, Salisbury, Kent and Sharon in 2016 – Northwest Corner towns that have been more supportive of Democratic contenders over the last dozen years.

Lawson, who already has qualified for the state Citizens Election Program funding, said one advantage over two years ago is that now that he has retired as a high school teacher, he is able to campaign full time.