Malloy: GE's Move to Boston 'Hurts'

GE announced Wednesday that it has decided to move its Fairfield headquarters to Boston after being based in the state for more than 40 years.

Gov. Dannel Malloy said that he was disappointed in GE’s decision to move its headquarters out of Connecticut.

Related: GE Issues Statement on Move to Boston

“You win some and you lose some and luckily we’ve won more than we’ve lost,” he said a Wednesday press conference. “but this hurts.”

GE moved into its Fairfield headquarters during the 1970’s. Since then, the demands of business and infrastructure have changed, he said. Transportation was a major issue for GE, especially easy access to an international airport, which will be practically right next door to them in Boston.

Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden) said it appears that GE was more concerned about rebranding as a high-tech company than taxes and Boston is known as a high-tech industry hub.

“GE’s decision to relocate across the border to downtown Boston is certainly disappointing, yet we remain a favored location for companies to thrive,” he said.

State Senate President Martin Looney said that GE’s decision to move some of its employees to Boston makes sense for their business strategy.

“It is clear that GE’s decision has nothing to do with taxes, or even business costs, and cannot fairly be viewed as a referendum on Connecticut’s growing economy,” he said.

However prominent state Republican lawmakers disagreed.

“The people of Connecticut deserve an apology,” said Senator Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven), “They deserve an apology from every Democrat lawmaker whose disrespectful comments mocked companies like GE when they raised legitimate concerns about the state budget.”

Fairfield State Sen. Tony Hwang said that the community is strong and that it will work hard to build back what it is losing.

“I know we will come together to support the employees losing their jobs, the local companies that will lose business, and the many nonprofits and community organizations that benefited from having GE’s headquarters as a major philanthropic force in our town,” he said.

Hwang added that Democratic leaders created a fire by ignoring negative impacts of its policy over the past five years.

“They stoked the flames this year when they passed the second largest tax increase in state history,” he said. “While some business tax changes were eventually made to the budget, it was like throwing a cup of water on a house fire.”

For many businesses proximity to an urban environment is important. Connecticut itself has seen that with the insurance industry in Hartford, financial services in Stamford and biotech in New Haven, Malloy said.

GE also has about 5,000 employees already in Massachusetts.

“It was apparent throughout our discussion that they were not intending to stay on that campus,” Malloy said.

On the bright side, GE plans to continue to use many of its Connecticut suppliers and it will continue to have many of its own employees in the state.

Malloy said it’s paramount that Connecticut continue to adapt its business climate. The state will continue to invest in its linchpin high-tech businesses such as bioscience, digital media, insurance and advanced manufacturing.

“Over the past five years, Connecticut has partnered with 1,945 companies to create more than 19,900 new jobs and retain an additional 75,000 jobs,” he said. “Now is the time to meet our challenges head on, work together, and find new innovative ways to meet them.”

It will also be important to businesses that the state to resolve the state’s pension situation. For the first time in a long time honest discussions about pensions are occurring, he said. Having sustainable and predictable state budgets is also important to business leaders in the state.

A transportation lockbox that would make sure taxpayer dollars earmarked for transportation are going to transportation initiatives is also important to the business climate.