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Politics & Government

Well-liked personally; wise on the issues

Curry says Lamont has succeeded by seeking consensus

Scott Benjamin, Community Contributor

Posted Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 1:35 pm ET

By Scott Benjamin

Bill Curry says the reason that the incumbent Democratic governor is defying the laws of political gravity isn’t primarily because he has enough money to buy the whole fleet at the Greenwich Boat & Yacht Club.

It also isn’t just because he has followed a fiscal restraint blueprint that looks like it was written by the centrist Democratic Leadership Council , circa 1993.

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Nor is it because his wardrobe is sometimes more business casual than dress-to-impress Zegna formal or Mick Jagger stylish.

Curry says it is because voters see him as wise, dependable and amiable; so much so that he could be shaking hands with Walt Wallet in “Gasoline Alley.”

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Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) has extended the olive branch to the point where he deserves a gold engraved medallion from Dale Carnegie.

Curry of Vernon, who was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1994 and 2002 and worked for two years in the Clinton White House, said of Lamont, who is seeking a third term in the November 3 election: “I think the way he conducts himself in office rather than the positions he has adopted are the keys to his popularity. It is not that he is revered or beloved, it is that he is liked. He is genuinely nice, humble even for a politician and a multimillionaire.”

Lamont lives in a Greenwich mansion and a library in a corner of Harvard Yard bears his family’s name.

A Morning Consult poll last July indicated that Lamont had a rating of 63 percent approval and 29 percent disapproval with eight percent of those polled indicating that they didn’t know or had no opinion.

Curry, a former columnist for the Hartford Courant, remarked, “There is no group that is deeply dissatisfied with Ned.”

“Executive jobs are the hard ones,” he commented. “Executives get fired all the time and even when they don’t get fired, they often wear out. It is very unusual for a governor near the end of a second term to be this well-liked.”

Curry added, “In a job where you have to disappoint so many people. He is not fostering division. His policies don’t invite crusades from the other side. He has a pleasant and respectful tone. People are not being pitted against each other in a competition or conflict.”

He said that Lamont’s fiscal centrism is “part of [his success]. However, I think the way he conducts himself in office rather than the policy positions he has adopted are the keys to his popularity.”

In a phone interview with Patch.com, Curry said Lamont is the “favorite” in the November 3 election. However, he isn’t a “prohibitive favorite” since there are candidates lining up to run.

State Rep. Josh Elliott (D-88) of Hamden formally entered the race for the Democratic nomination last July and there are three Republican contenders – state Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-36) of Greenwich, former New York state Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey of Greenwich and former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart. Former state Rep. Harry Arora of Greenwich, who was the Republican candidate for state treasurer in 2022, has formed an exploratory committee.

State Rep. Bob Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury, the deputy House Speaker Pro Tempore, commented, “Like most politicians, Ned is better in person than he is on television. In general, human interaction in person is better than through a medium. In person adds body language facial expressions, a twinkle in the eye, gestures that can be lost in a camera’s eye. In person can be more relaxed, more intimate, and communicating in any situation including a political one is more inclusive, more comprehensive more human.”

Godfrey added, “What astounds me is that he rarely has a written speech in front of him. When he comes to Danbury he is ad-libbing the whole thing. And he knows the numbers and he knows the talking points and he knows his audience. That’s not an easy thing.”

In 2025, state Sen, Eric Berthel (R-32) of Watertown said, “You can have a difference of opinion. You can call him out for things you don’t like. He remains likable and approachable. He wants to have conversations. He wants to at least listen to what people have to say.”

Curry commented, “When scandals do arise, people feel he responds appropriately.”

Konstantinos Diamantis - an attorney, former state representative and former top official in Lamont’s budget office - was convicted last year of “extorting private contractors for thousands of dollars in bribes as he oversaw large sums of state money for school construction projects.”

Lamont said he removed Diamantis from his position in the state Office of Policy Management in 2021 after he learned of the potential wrongdoing. Following Diamantis’ conviction, he called him a “rogue bad actor” and moved oversight for the school construction program to the Office of Administrative Services.

An independent report stated that Jonathan Dach, who served as Lamont’s chief of staff and later as a senior advisor, used a state care multiple times for personal use and in some instances drove at reckless speeds.

Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie wrote on his Daily Ructions blog that, “State employees in positions not as lofty Dach’s would have been fired long ago for committing the abuses the report confirms.”

Godfrey said you cannot condone Dach’s actions. But he added he doesn’t think too many voters “will sit around the kitchen table” and think that a reason to not elect Lamont to a third term.

Curry commented, “People who pay attention—a dwindling demographic to be sure—credit Lamont with facing Connecticut’s long term fiscal issues. This has the added benefit of nearly taking off the table a bread and butter GOP issue. His most public battles, such as those over fiscal guardrails, housing and the environment, have been with his own party and are, by today's standards, highly civil.”

Curry, an attorney, writes for Salon and other outlets, said,” The country is in a foul mood,” an apparent reference to Republican President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings. “People have a lot of resentments and legitimate concerns and anxiety. But it is not directed at Ned Lamont. There is so much happening at the federal level to leave them much energy and attention for state politics.”

Elliott and other members of the progressive caucus have lamented that Lamont has not altered the fiscal guardrails, which were approved in 2017 when Democrat Dannel Malloy was governor. Those guardrails direct a percentage of the surplus money toward the rainy-day fund. The progressives insist that more state money has to be placed in food assistance and Medicaid coverage following the federal funding reductions under Trump. Last year Lamont agreed to utilize $500 million in surplus money through the Emergency State Response Reserve.

Said Curry, “I think these progressives have some very legitimate points to make about spending. I think the guard-rail system is a mess.”

“But this has a feel almost like a group of progressives sat down and decided that this was the thing to do on principle as opposed to something based on outrage or crisis.,” he added.

“However This is a tough time to be formulating middle-class revolutions to throw off fiscal restraints,” Curry remarked, an apparent reference to the money Connecticut has saved in interest payments recently as it has paid down more of its longstanding pension debut.

The progressives also have disagreed with Lamont’s opposition to providing unemployment benefits to striking workers. However, they have applauded his support for paid family medical leave and expanded sick leave for companies with more than 50 employees.

Sacred Heart University Government Professor and Scholar-In-Residence Gary Rose stated, “Governor Lamont, as evident from his respectable public approval ratings, appears to have established himself as a highly competent governor who in several respects governs from the center of the political spectrum. Although the progressive wing of his party has issues with his centrism and his willingness to work with Republicans, he has skillfully and consciously maintained a strong base of support among moderate Democrats, Independents and a number of moderate Republicans.”

Seven years ago, Rose wrote a book on the 2018 gubernatorial election covering the campaign and state policies. It was published about six months after Lamont took office. The title was “Connecticut In Crisis,” a reference in part to the state’s high pension debt and slow rise in employment following the 2008 Great Recession.

Is Connecticut still in crisis?

Rose answered, “I have a difficult time continuing to describe Connecticut in a state of crisis (although the issues I addressed in my book are still relevant), That said, I think the crisis has passed. Governor Lamont, somewhat with the help of COVID funds but also as a result of reasoned and centrist leadership on several issues, seems to have placed the state on fairly sound and stable pattern of growth.”

He continued, “I know there are legitimate issues that the Republicans can raise [–such as Fazio on eliminating the public benefits charges on electric bills -] and I know that the U-Haul survey finds more people leaving than coming to Connecticut, yet the larger picture is one of a state on a generally solid and optimistic economic path.”

On a recent podcast, CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas said that Lamont had a “disastrous” first year, largely the result of a highway toll plan that prompted protest rallies and failed to garner sufficient support in either chamber of the Geneal Assembly. But he added that Lamont’s performance to steer the state in 2020 through the pandemic caused some voters to offer a positive re-evaluation of him.

During Lamont’s first year in office there were occasions when Godfrey criticized his legislative outreach and attention to detail.

Now, he says he would give him an ‘A,’ particularly for his stewardship through the 2020 pandemic and addressing the current reduction in federal aid under Republican President Donald Trump.

“He’s very intelligent,” commented Godfrey. “He connects the dots.

Commented Curry, “Lamont is not wearing a target on his back. The debate on fiscal restraint he has won pretty handily.”

“One of the hard things for the Republican challenging Lamont is that he has accomplished so much of what they used to say they wanted to accomplish,” he remarked.

Eight years ago the Commission on Fiscal Stability & Economic Competitiveness reported that the state employee pensions were only 29 percent funded. Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn, a Democrat and a former vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase, has said the bond rating agencies have said that public employee pensions should be at least 80 percent funded.

CT Mirror Budget Reporter Keith Phaneuf told an audience in Wilton in 2019 that the pensions for the state employees and the public-school teachers were structurally underfunded each year from 1939 through 2010.

Last December CT News Junkie reporter Karla Ciaglo reported that the state employee pensions were 59.6 percent funded and the teacher pensions 63.7 percent funded.

In 2023, Lamont signed income tax reductions, taking the rate for the lower class down from three percent to two percent and for the middle class from five to 4.5 percent.

Commented Curry, “The cuts are more progressive than any Republican package I can recall, so they're likely to please many Democrats as well.”

However, Patch.com reported last July that Stewart asked, “What happened to the debt diet?” a reference to Lamont’s call during his first weeks in office to “curb borrowing where possible.”

In a chart provided by Rob Blanchard, Lamont’s director of communications, debt service in 2018, the last year that Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Essex, Lamont’s immediate predecessor, was in office, was $2.30 billion. It was slightly less than that in each of Lamont’s first three years: $2.25 billion in 2019, $2.28 billion in 2020 and $2.28 billion in 2021. It has never exceeded $2.76 billion since Lamont took office and it is estimated to be at $2.50 billion in 2026.

In an e-mail statement to Patch.com, Blanchard wrote, “Debt service costs (plus or minus) lag behind policy changes. For example, post-COVID, state government and items such as school construction have not been immune to the inflationary pressures that we are seeing in the economy.”

When Curry faced Republican incumbent John Rowland in 2002, Rowland said that part of his ambition for seeking a third term was to revitalize Connecticut’s large cities.

Does Lamont have a signature issue platform for a third term?

“No,” said Curry.

He remarked, “His platform for the third term is, in effect, he will continue to seek consensus. He will continue to be as wise as he can be on the issues that come across his desk each day and he will continue to execute well. In a very real sense, they are a platform.”

Curry added, “What he largely is running on is: I’ll give you and honest government that works pretty well and doesn’t cost as much as it used to. I won’t create a lot of arguments with people just because they don’t agree with me. I will treat everybody well. I’ll listen to everyone and make the best decisions.”

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan has said that presidents, governors should do two or three sweeping things with bipartisan support.

Two of Lamont’s major goals – highway tolls and putting many more electric vehicles on the roads didn’t have sufficient support and didn’t garner Republican votes.

Curry commented, “I’m not sure that they were that sweeping. I don’t think Ned does sweeping. That’s not what it says on Ned’s business card. He does incremental. He does consensus. It is a different bird.”

He explained, “When I was with Bill Clinton and he was running against Bob Dole [in 1996], one of the things that we kept hearing was that Dole didn’t have vision and that Clinton has a more sweeping vision. In our meetings we felt that if Dole just had the good sense to say, ‘That’s not what a presidency is all about. It is not about visions, most of which come a cropper pretty early on. It is about how you handle the problems that are on your desk each day.”

Curry remarked, “Every governor and president has a vision. Most of the time administrations fail or succeed on the decisions they make on issues that they never anticipated, and the execution of those decisions.”

Consider the last 30 years: Rowland of Middlebury faced the shock of the 9/11 attacks on the economy, which led to an economic slowdown that resulted to hikes in taxes and fees in 2003. Republican M. Jodi Rell of Brookfield had to overcome the Great Recession. Malloy encountered Super Storm Sandy and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and a prolonged contraction of Connecticut’s economy. Lamont: The pandemic and addressing federal spending reductions from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

Curry commented, “Lamont is not a reformer. And to Elliott and some of the other progressives it is not a very satisfactory approach. But the public in this case wisely values the quality of the decision-making and the quality of the execution.”

However, he said Lamont’s platform should include property tax reform, structural change in health care coverage and more green energy production.

Godfrey said that Lamont “hasn’t proposed much in the way of government reorganization.” He noted that there hasn’t been a major restructuring of the state agencies since 1977 when Democrat Ella Grasso of Windsor Locks was governor.

Godfrey, who was a committee aide at the State Capitol in the 1970s, said of the seven governors that he has been associated with, Grasso and Malloy had the best “management skills.” He said Lamont is not in that category.

Curry praised Lamont for boosting the state’s minimum wage, which has increased from $10.10 per hour to $16.94 per hour since he took office and is now indexed for inflation.

In 2024, state Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield commented, “That was changed when I was in the House, and that is one of the reasons I voted against the increase at the time, because it would go up without any legislative approval.”

Curry commented, “We can’t raise people’s incomes the way they’ve been raised in a couple of historic periods in the post-World War II period. Globalization is too great. Technological change is too great. The pressure on families that face inflation on the necessities of life has been overwhelming. Both parties were blind to it. This is a problem that is more than a generation old and it is as though politicians just woke up to it.”

“This is the first middle class since the invention of the modern middle class coming out of World War II that doesn’t have disposable income,” he added.

Curry related, “There used to be other ways of raising wages. Strong unions. They’re a little stronger now that they were five years ago but not nearly as strong as they were 25 years ago. We had other forms of market wages. The destruction of unions and the globalization of markets have destroyed the three-legged stool. Two of those are gone now.”

“I always find that the minimum wage critics are wrong,” he exclaimed. “It is one of the things that impacts [the rate of] employment least. Its overall effect on wage income flowing into the working middle class is a big net positive.”

In 2024, Harding called for a two-year freeze on the wages of state employees, saying that during the first six years of the Lamont Administration through salary increases and bonuses their pay had escalated by 33 percent, far more than the increases for employees in Connecticut’s private sector.

Financial investor-columnist Red Jahncke of Greenwich has stated that Malloy froze state employee wages three times during his eight-year tenure.

Curry countered, “Adjusted for inflation, total state employee compensation has declined over the last 15 years, reflecting a shrinking work force. The median state salary is equivalent to $30 an hour.”

“I always wonder when people complain about state salaries if they have looked into how much state employees are paid,” Curry explained. “I tell them if they think a $30 an hour average is too high, they should say what they think it should be, keeping in mind, Connecticut is an expensive place to live.”

Resources:

Phone interview with Bill Curry, Patch.com, Friday, January 30, 2026.

E-mail interview with Bill Curry, Patch.com, Saturday, January 31, 2026.

E-mail interview with Bill Curry, Patch.com, Monday, February 2, 2026.

E-mail interview with Bill Curry, Patch.com, Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Interview with Bob Godfrey, Patch.com, Saturday, January 31, 2026.

E-mail interview, Bob Godfrey, Patch.com, Friday, February 6, 2026.

E-mail interview with Gary Rose, Patch.com, Thursday, February 5, 2026.

https://www.ctinsider.com/politics/article/ned-lamont-approval-rating-governors-reelection-20775320.php

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/connecticut-s-conservative-slice

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/voters-tell-harding-affordability-their-chief-concern

https://patch.com/connecticut/...