Indiana Strikes Back: State Takes Swipe at CT

By VINCENT SALZO (Patch Staff)

The state of Indiana has taken a swipe at Connecticut and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, possibly in retaliation for Malloy’s strong criticism of that state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act a few months ago.

Indiana took out a full-page ad in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, lending its support to Fairfield-based GE, along with fellow Connecticut companies Aetna and Travelers that criticized the state’s new business tax increases in the recently adopted budget.

The ad states that Indiana offers its support to those companies in the wake of the looming tax increases “because friends don’t let friends pay higher taxes.”

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt recently sent an email to the company’s Connecticut employees, notifying them that he has “assembled an exploratory team to look into the company’s options to relocate corporate HQ to another state with a more pro-business environment.”

Update:

Indiana Governor Michael R. Pence sent a letter to Immelt, along with Aetna’s Mark T. Bertolini and Jay S. Fishman of Travelers on Wednesday, personally inviting them to Indiana.

See the letter below the full-page ad.