Zimmerman exclaims child care centers need more state funding

By Scott Benjamin

NEW MILFORD –Democrat Eva Bermudez Zimmerman says since Connecticut's state coffers are flowing with revenue to a point that has not been seen since the late 1990s when rebate checks were being sent to taxpayers, there is money to resolve the child care crisis.

Zimmerman, the co-chairman of Child Care For Connecticut's Future, said that too often when it comes to increased child care funding, state legislators say, "No. No. No."

However, she said that she is at least encouraged by the recent commitment made to child care by the the General Assembly and Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) in approving a $24.2 billion revised state budget as the state boasts a $4.8 billion surplus, according to CT Mirror budget reporter Keith Phaneuf.

Zimmerman of New Milford said that through the lobbying efforts of Child Care For Connecticut's Future and "provider and parent testimonies a historic increase" of $150 million was approved.

She noted that the General Assembly's initial proposal earlier this year had no additional funding for child care centers.

Zimmerman, 34, a director with the Connecticut State Employee Association/Service Employees International Union, is running for the seat in the largest piece of real estate in the state Senate - the 30th District. - partly because she wants to boost funding for child care.

She will face state Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield, who also is 34, in a district with 18 municipalities - stretching from Brookfield to Salisbury - that hasn't elected a Democrat since Ella Grasso was governor.

Zimmerman said, “There is a lack of funding from the state level and the federal level. Only 20 percent of our child care in Connecticut is state funded or state subsidized"

" In every corner of this district it is largely not state-subsidized," she added in an interview with Patch.com.. "This is an opportunity for the people in the district."

However, wasn't the national child care panic addressed during the 1988 presidential campaign when it became an emblematic issue for George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis? The Washington Post reported that even departing President Ronald Reagan had endorsed H.W. Bush's plan for government-subsidized child care, a position that he previously opposed.

"The common perception is that child care centers are funded by public schools or by public education," Zimmerman added. "It is not. Most parents pay the full amount out of pocket or the the child care center subsidizes some portion of the costs."

She said 30 percent of child care centers in Connecticut had closed before the start of the pandemic in March 2020. She said that figure has jumped to nearly 40 percent.

"Women who want to get back into the work force can't because of [a lack of] child care," she exclaimed.

“There is no stability in the early education work force," Zimmerman remarked. "They can make two dollars or three dollars an hour more at Amazon or Fed Ex."

Harding said in a phone interview with Patch.com that he supports increased funding for child care education.

The fourth term state representative explained that he voted against the revised $24.2 billion state budget during the recent regular session because, "I didn't see investments that we need to make in areas like education, in areas like child care. . . We're funding studies to study airports and golf courses. We could have invested far better in the area of child care. We could have revised those areas which we have been underfunding for years, now that we have surpluses."

What about the child tax credit that state Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-98) of Guilford championed which was part of the recently revised state budget?

Zimmerman, a former member of the Newtown Legislative Council, remarked, "The tax credit is helpful, but it is not the be-all, end-all for working families in the state."

The Democrats have not captured the district since attorney Joe Ruggiero of Litchfield, who later ran for the party's nomination for attorney general, defeated Republican one-term incumbent John Gawrych, a Torrington attorney, in 1978.

The last four state senators from the district, all Republicans, were serving in the state House when they were elected - Dell Eads of Kent, Andrew Roraback of Goshen, Clark Chapin of New Milford and the current senator, Craig Miner of Litchfield, who announced this winter that he would not seek a fourth term.

Doesn't it usually work that way in other state Senate districts when one candidate is a state representative and her/his opponent is not? Republicans Jamie McLaughlin, then of Woodbury, in 1984 and Eric Berthel of Watertown in a 2017 special election moved from the state House to the state Senate in the 32nd District.

Then again, the voters in the 32nd state Senate District have not elected a Democrat since 1891.

Republican David Cappiello of Danbury in the 24th District in 1998 went from the state Senate after four years in the state House when he was opposed by a candidate who was not also in the state House.

Doesn't Harding have an advantage because he has been in the General Assembly for more than seven years?

30th District Democratic State Central Committee member Audrey Blondin of Litchfield disagreed, saying that Zimmerman has been working on issues “in conjunction with the Legislature. I think her knowledge is equal to what Rep. Harding would have.”

“It is 100 percent equal opportunity for both sides [in this election],” she commented. in a phone interview with Patch.com “Eva's credentials are very unique to what you would normally see in a candidate for the state Senate."

Most notably, Zimmerman, who grew up in Hartford, took a surprising 40 percent of the delegates in the convention balloting for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in May 2018. Reports indicated that members of organized labor were concerned that Lamont, who was about to be nominated at the state convention, had not selected a person of color as his running mate.

At that time, Daniela Altimari wrote in the Hartford Courant that, "To many Democrats, she [Zimmerman] stood out as a fresh face among familiar contenders, a Latina in a political culture dominated by white people and a millennial among baby boomers and Gen Xers."

Following Zimmerman's loss in the August 2018 primary for the party's lieutenant gubernatorial nomination to current Lieutenant governor Susan Bysiewicz - the former longtime Secretary of the State - of Middletown, CT News Junkie columnist Susan Bigelow wrote: "This is a map I’ve never seen before" regarding Zimmerman's performance.

"Usually there are patterns to voting, different coalitions and interest groups have certain kinds of geographies," she stated. " But this is new. This is people of color in cities and inner-ring suburbs, but it’s also affluent and/or well-educated rural and suburban whites, especially those in progressive enclaves like West Hartford and the towns surrounding the University of Connecticut.. . This coalition could become the driving force in Democratic politics, and the party’s leaders would be foolish to ignore its potential."

Kent Democratic Town Committee Chairman Patricia Oris, who headed the nominating committee for the party in the state Senate District., said Zimmerman "will bring a lot of new voters to the polls."

“There are people who will come out because she is energetic, which will get some Democrats out who haven’t been voting," she said in a phone interview with Patch.com. "She also will capture some votes from the younger people, Hispanics and the working class.”

Blondin, who also serves as the Secretary for the Democratic State Central Committee, commented that the voting patterns in the Northwest Corner of Litchfield County have changed over the last generation.

“It started after 9/11 and has accelerated with the COVID,” she explained.

For example, the 64th state House District, once a Republican stronghold, is now represented by Democrat Maria Horn, a Salisbury attorney, and has been in Democratic hands for 20 of the last 22 years.

However, in a phone interview with Patch.com, longtime Republican State Central Committee member John Morris of Litchfield said, “The upper part of the district has become more Democratic, but the lower part of the district still runs the show.”

“New Milford and Brookfield [in the southern portion] do make up a good chunk of the district," he remarked. "When you take in New Fairfield and Sherman, you see that the southern part of the district is very important. Anyone who can win that 2-1 is going to be very hard to defeat. I think Steve [Harding] is going to do incredibly well there. He has been crisscrossing the district since the day he announced.”

Morris said Zimmerman's positions are too progressive and won't resonate with a majority of voters in the district, and that since she has only lived in the district for two years she is not well-acquainted with the voters.

But Blondin declared that the Republicans in the General Assembly have become too ideological.

"This is not the Republican Party of Dell Eads. She worked across the aisle," she said of the former state senator from the district who served over 20 years, including stints as president pro-tempore and minority leader.

Harding countered: "If you asked my Democratic colleagues, they would tell you that we work together. I don't think that either party has a dominance on good ideas. I think in my seven years there has been a lot of bipartisanship from both sides."

He added that he has worked, for example, in conjunction with state Rep. Ken Gucker (D-138) of Danbury and state Rep. David Arconti (D-109) of Danbury on improving Candlewood Lake

Since formally entering the race, Zimmerman has held Sunday night virtual Zoom meetings that include guest experts on a variety of topics.

“I meet some new faces every week,” she said regarding the participants.

Zimmerman said "a hot topic" in the 30th District is state land-use quotas that could change the character of the community.

The district includes three of the four largest municipalities in the state in land - New Milford, Sharon and Salisbury.

For example, Zimmerman said in Kent and Salisbury she has heard concern that the town will "not meet the 10 percent quota" for affordable housing, which means under the 1989 state housing appeals act, a developer could circumvent municipal zoning regulations.

She said voters have said, “We don’t have land available. Or we don’t have infrastructure or sewers. We don’t need any more affordable housing. We don’t need any more condo complexes"

Zimmerman added, "Every town in the district wants to keep its identity.”

“There is a lot of fear that these changes are going to happen overnight,” she said. "But I think we can find a solution together.”

Economist Donald Klepper-Smith of Data Core Partners, who headed former Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-Brookfield's) fiscal team, said recently that, "Connecticut has the second highest state and local taxes of any state in the U.S. at 15.4 percent, behind only New York."

Should those taxes be lowered?

“I don’t think that’s the route right now,” said Zimmerman. “What businesses have been expressing to me is that we need grants, we need solar energy. Businesses are looking for a helping hand. They are looking for reinforcement and making their businesses stronger.”

On another topic, Zimmerman said she would have supported the recent contract agreement with the state employees.

CT Mirror reported that the contract that was signed by Lamont has "a four-year package of raises for state employees" that "includes a 2.5% general wage increase, as well as a step hike for all but the most senior workers. In addition, full-time workers would receive a $2,500 bonus in mid-May and another $1,000 bonus in mid-July. Part-timers would be eligible for prorated bonuses."

Zimmerman commented, “I think we have to give our workers some relief when it comes to the wages. The workers in that agreement have not had a raise in four years."

However, CT Mirror reported that state Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-36) of Greenwich has said, “This proposed contract is a raw deal for the working people of this state,” noting that state workers, on average, would receive more than $10,000 in total added compensation over four years.

Regarding the district's share of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package, Zimmerman said that in addition to wanting to repair the "horrible" condition of the state roads - which were rated the worst in the nation in a 2017 engineering study - many voters have expressed the need for "the availability of broadband." She said that she hopes that broadband committees throughout the 30th District will contact Lamont, who will be primarily responsible for distributing the federal funds.

Wall Street Journal columnist Joseph C. Sternberg wrote in his 2019 book, "The Theft Of A Decade" (Public Affairs, 288 pages) that millennials are more likely than their parents or grandparents to tell pollsters that they are registering unaffiliated. Harvard pollster John Della Volpe wrote in a recent New York Times column that, "Less than one in 10 Americans between 18 and 29 years old describe ours as a 'healthy democracy.' "

Do young voters have less enthusiasm for the political system? Is that the case with voters in general?

Zimmerman remarked, "I'm picking up that people are more apolitical. They're looking for something different."

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