Ken Suzuki: Will Gov. Lamont support unemployment benefits for striking workers?
Gov. Ned Lamont came to New Haven on Thursday with a message for skeptics on his political left: “I’m a progressive that gets stuff done.”
During a meeting of the New Haven Democratic Town Committee (DTC), Lamont, who is running for a third term, touted what he described as his administration’s progressive policy wins alongside a record of fiscal responsibility.
Lamont also promised to “get something done” on increasing public school funding and creating protections for striking workers.
His pitch comes more than a month before the Democratic state convention, where around 2,000 delegates, including 74 from New Haven, will vote on whether to nominate Lamont or his progressive challenger, Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott, in the race for governor.
State Sen. Ryan Fazio, former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, and former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey are the Republican challengers in the race.
Elliott, a long-shot candidate, has criticized Lamont for not raising the marginal tax rate on millionaires, rejecting legislation to give striking workers access to unemployment benefits, and vetoing an affordable housing bill. (On the latter, the governor later signed a compromise version of the legislation.)
Lamont pointed to his record of legalizing marijuana, raising the minimum wage, and expanding access to early childhood education as evidence of his left-of-center record.
“It’s not where you’re from. It’s where you stand,” Lamont, a 72-year-old multimillionaire, told the committee.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who joined Lamont on Thursday, said those policy wins have been paired with steady fiscal management.
Every year that Lamont has been in office, the state has yielded a budget surplus, she said. (This fiscal year, however, might end with a small deficit of $6 million.) The governor also spearheaded efforts to pay down $10 billion in pension debt, saving the state $800 million per year.
The extra money “came in handy as President Trump has tried to take away money from Connecticut,” said Bysiewicz. When federal food assistance was cut off in November, she said the state surplus enabled Lamont to supplement benefit payments.
Looking ahead, Lamont and Bysiewicz, like many Democrats, centered their message around the cost of living. “We are laser-focused on affordability,” said Bysiewicz, pointing to Lamont’s proposal for free school breakfasts and efforts to expand healthcare access.
“You want to care about affordability? How about paying people a little bit better,” said Lamont, in reference to the state’s recently boosted minimum wage, amounting to nearly $17 an hour.
New Haven Democrats pressed Lamont to clarify his agenda for a potential third term. They peppered him with pointed questions about school funding and unemployment benefits for striking workers.
“I know we share a conviction to every child’s success. However, our current funding reality doesn’t reflect that shared value,” Beaver Hills Alder Gary Hogan told Lamont. “How will your next term prioritize” changing the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula to increase the state’s funding of public schools?
Hogan’s question reflects a growing movement of New Haven teachers, lawmakers, and community leaders calling for more funding from the state.
Lamont responded that Connecticut over the last seven years has doubled its funding for New Haven schools. “To your point though, that’s not enough. You gotta keep going more.”
Connecticut’s Emergency State Response Reserve, which represents $500 million of surplus funds, could be directed towards schools, he said.
Lamont initially proposed spending the reserve on $400 rebates for Connecticut families, but lawmakers, including New Haven State Sen. and President Pro Tem Martin Looney, suggested using the money on schools instead.
“And I think that’s what we’re going to end up doing,” said Lamont.
Looney told the Independent that he is “in favor of a significant increase in ECS spending.” He proposed boosting the formula’s per-student foundation amount and indexing the increased number to inflation.
To create a stable source of revenue for that spending, he is backing a proposal that would levy a 1.75 percent tax on the capital gains of millionaires. In the past, Lamont has opposed such tax schemes, saying they might prompt wealthy people to leave the state.
Later Thursday evening, Lamont faced questions about his labor policy.
Ken Suzuki, who is affiliated with UNITE HERE, asked the governor to support legislation allowing striking workers to collect unemployment benefits.
Lamont responded that he worries the law will push bigger companies to move their operations to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. “I’m trying hard to make sure I keep each and every one of those good-paying union jobs.”
He also praised UNITE HERE more broadly, telling the committee that he and Bysiewicz were “on the picket lines” outside of the Omni Hotel.
When asked again about unemployment benefits, Lamont said, “We’ll get something done in the legislature sometime soon.”
Passing legislation for striking workers is a priority this session, Looney told the Independent.
To address Lamont’s concerns, the legislature is considering compromises. One option would phase in strike protections by first applying them to smaller companies, which face higher barriers to relocating, he said.
After Lamont departed, delegates were left to reflect on his pitch.
“I think Lamont will have the majority of the votes at the convention because people believe in what he has done,” said New Haven DTC Chair Vincent Mauro, Jr. Still, his sense is that many delegates want to hear from Elliott before making their final decisions.
That rang true. Most delegates the Independent spoke to — including Westville Alder Adam Marchand, Westville’s Ward 25 Co-Chair Janis Underwood, and Fair Haven Alder Magda Natal — were open to voting for Lamont in May, but they wanted to hear more from their constituents and Elliott before making a final decision.
Hill Alder Angel Hubbard, by contrast, had already heard enough: “I stand behind Ned,” she told the Independent.
Lamont won Hubbard’s vote when he spent state surplus funds on covering the lapse of federal food benefits in November.
“You can do anything you want with that funding,” she said. “But [Lamont was] the voice for the voiceless. In that moment, he became my voice and my children’s voice.”
Sarah Locke, executive director of the Connecticut Democratic Party, is not a delegate and will not be voting in May. As a party leader, however, she has “no concerns” about Lamont.
Before the delegates cast their votes on May 16, Mauro said Elliott will present his pitch to the town committee.
Vincent Mauro, Jr.: “I think Lamont will have the majority of the votes at the convention because people believe in what he has done.”
A packed room listened closely to what Gov. Lamont had to offer.