Lumaj Wants To Ax Taxes, Trim Spending To Revive Connecticut's Economy

By Scott Benjamin

WOLCOTT – Potential Republican gubernatorial contender Peter Lumaj says he agrees with Gov. Dannel Malloy that the major areas for future job growth in Connecticut are bio-tech, bio-med, nanno-tech and fuel cell technology.

However, he said those areas have not expanded under Malloy, - the former Democratic mayor of Stamford who became governor in 2011 and will not seek a third term in 2018 - because he has “ruined” the state by imposing record tax increases in 2011 and 2015.

Lumaj noted that even with those tax hikes, the state faces a projected $5.1 billion shortfall for the current two-year budget cycle.

The governor said in 2009 as he was running for the office that Connecticut and Michigan were the only states with fewer jobs than in 1989.

Unlike neighboring Massachusetts, Connecticut has not regained all of the jobs lost during the 2008 recession. Economist Donald Klepper-Smith of DataCore Partners in New Haven believes there probably will be another recession before the state recaptures all of those lost positions.

Lumaj, who lives in Fairfield, said the Nutmeg State’s role model should be former Republican President Ronald Reagan who reduced government spending and promoted job growth. Reagan cut taxes across the board by a cumulative 25 percent over three years within seven months of taking office in 1981.

However, the 2017 C-SPAN presidential poll of scholars and journalists rated former Democratic President Barack Obama, who signed a stimulus package and health care reform, eighth among the 44 presidents in economic management. Reagan ranked 16^th.

Obama brought the unemployment rate under 5 percent before he left office, lower than it ever was under Reagan.

Lumaj, who has had support from Tea Party activists in his run for the 2012 GOP U.S. Senate nomination and 2014 Secretary of the State campaign, said Connecticut also should also follow in the footsteps of Republican President Donald Trump.

“The message from Washington is: We’re open for business,” he declared. “We’re open to create jobs.”

He applauded the president’s attempts to reduce “regulations and mandates.”

Lumaj says he objects to Malloy’s policy of providing government assistance to keep companies in Connecticut, such as the outlays to maintain operations at Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney in East Hartford, which makes military plane engines, and the Lockheed Martin operation at Igor Sikorsky in Stratford, which manufactures military helicopters.

“If you have to buy companies to stay here, it’s always a bad sign,” he declared.

However, Malloy has noted, for example, that the financial incentives to keep Bridgewater Associates of Westport, which is the largest hedge fund in the world, in Connecticut came after it had received offers from New Jersey and New York City. He also has said Massachusetts provided assistance to lure General Electric’s headquarters from Fairfield.

Regarding spending, Lumaj said he supports the state Republican Senate proposal to triple the contributions by state employee to their pensions, suspend binding arbitration and change overtime charges to compensatory time provisions.

He said nothing can be done to alter the pension and health care benefits for the state employee retirees, but the current employees and future hires should be placed into the less expensive defined contribution pension plan instead of a defined benefit package. He said the current system is not fiscally sustainable.

On the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported this month that although the national unemployment rate is down to 4.3 percent – the lowest rate in 16 years - wages remain “mysteriously” stagnant.

Lumaj said that is partly due to a job market where many of the long-term unemployed are now seeking to return to the work force.

The candidate, an attorney who came to the United States as a refugee from Albania, is currently exploring a run for statewide office and said he will likely decide by October whether it will be for governor or another position.

Lumaj lost by about 41,000 votes to Democratic Secretary of the State Denise Merrill of Mansfield in the 2014 race. There were roughly 1 million votes cast in that election.

As of the end of last month he had raised an impressive $281,130 since last September, with $74,425 of it coming over the last quarter.

However, CT Mirror reported that a major portion has come from out of state donors, meaning that Lumaj has done little to qualify for the state Citizens Election Program, which requires that at least $250,000 be raised in contributions of $5 to $100, with 90 percent of the donors being Connecticut residents.

Lumaj, who practices law in New York City, said in an interview that many friends and members of Albanian-American community in New York City have contributed to his campaign over the recent months.

On another topic, he said if he becomes governor he would continue Malloy’s policy of providing additional funding for public seats in charter schools.

Lumaj said there should be money for a child to “go to any school” in the district. “The money follows the child.”

However, he disagrees with Malloy’s 2012 plan to raise teacher standards. Among the proposed provisions was an increase in the minimum cumulative grade point average from B-minus to B-plus for a starting teacher.

Lumaj said kindergarten through 12^th grade teachers face too many burdens from the state.

“Teachers today have to push more paperwork and regulations,” he explained.

In April, retired Webster Bank economist Nick Perna of Ridgefield, told CT Mirror said Connecticut is plagued by having “a boatload” of public colleges.

However, Lumaj said none of them have to close. He said if he was elected governor he would trim costs by reducing the number of administrators and middle managers.

He said he is not sure what, if any, alterations he would make to the state Board of Regents, which was established during Malloy’s first year in office.

The state universities, the community colleges and the online division – 17 campuses – were brought under the same umbrella, in part, to reduce administrative costs in the central office.

Some have criticized the plan because the campuses have different missions, saying that the state universities and community colleges should again have separate boards of trustees. Other elected officials have called for site-based management in which each of the 17 campuses would have their own governing board, noting that the presidents at each of the colleges are capable administrators who earn high salaries, yet they have to report to the president of the Board of Regents.

However, Lumaj said the campuses should offer more online classes.

He explained, “We should make education more accessible.”

The other potential Republican gubernatorial contenders are former congressional candidate Steve Obsitnik of Westport, Danbury Mayor Mark Bouhgton, state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan of Glastonbury, Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, former West Hartford Town Council member Joe Visconti and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker of Bridgeport.

The state convention will be held in May. The nomination will probably be determined in an August primary.