State speaker: Coming weeks ‘critical’ for COVID
GREENWICH — A week after the start of a new legislative session in Hartford, the new speaker of the House spoke before the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich via Zoom about some of the state’s biggest issues, including making the COVID-19 vaccine available for more residents.
“We are doing really well in Connecticut (with vaccinations), but the next couple of weeks are going to be really, really critical,” Matthew Ritter said in the Wednesday talk. “The Biden administration and the current administration are going to be releasing the backup doses, the second doses. We have been told by the (federal) health and human services secretary that Connecticut is getting tens of thousands in additional vaccines. We’re one of two states to get that because we have been successful.”
A Democratic representative from Hartford, Ritter said he was also waiting for results, expected on Jan. 21, on the vaccine under development by Johnson & Johnson. That vaccine would require only one dose, not the two needed for Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines. Also, it could be stored at room temperature, allowing for easier distribution.
If those results can be delivered, he said it could do toward “vastly accelerating” the vaccination process.
“That is the one we’re keeping our fingers crossed over because it could be the game-changer,” Ritter said.
Ritter, whose father, Thomas, served as speaker from 1993 to 1999, and whose grandfather also served in the legislature, also spoke about the state budget and preached patience.
One of his challenges as a new
leader, he said, is that everyone expects he “will have every answer right away.” When he was elected speaker in November, Ritter said legislators immediately asked him about the budget.
“I told them calm down, just relax,” Ritter said. “That’s not an answer a lot of people want. They want you to come in with your 42-point plan and say you’re going to do this and going to do that. The thing that I really preach to my caucus in particular is that months
in politics is a very long time and the worst thing we can do is try to assume things or base legislation and ideas upon facts that we don’t know if they’re going to exist.”
The state budget is “a great example of that,” he said. When the pandemic hit last March, estimates had the state “staring at a $1 (billion) to $2 billion deficit in fiscal year 20-21.” But as of Friday, the state’s nonpartisan staff will announce that that projected deficit “has all but been erased at this
point in time,” Ritter said.
He also spoke about the national mood after the rioting last week at he Capitol in Washington D.C.
“I am so disappointed and saddened, like many of you are — Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever your affiliation — as to what we’re seeing in this country,” Ritter said. “But I do want to give you some good news. It’s not like that in Connecticut in our General Assembly.”
Ritter said he talks every day to state Rep. Vincent Candelora, who is the Republican minority leader in the House. And while there are some in both caucuses who are “a little more extreme in their views,” Ritter said that in the 151-member state House, “the vast majority of individuals work very well together.”
“I understand it is my job as speaker to make sure the rhetoric and the tone stay at a good level,” he said. “In Connecticut, if we find ourselves like Washington, D.C., that’s on my watch and that’s my failure.”
When it came to questions from the RMA members, the issue of using federal funds to pay for infrastructure improvements was raised.
“I think we’re excited to see what the Biden administration does on infrastructure,” Ritter said. “I suspect they will take the lead, so we’re going to step back. We’re going to see what Congress comes up with . ... The next shoe to drop on infrastructure is going to be what is the Biden administration going to do and what do they expect states to do to make their match for these projects.”
State Rep. Stephen Meskers introduced Ritter, describing him as “an incredibly gifted leader.” Ritter noted that Meskers was the first Democrat to win a state representative seat in Greenwich in more than 100 years when he won the seat in the 150th District in 2018.
“We all are well aware that Rep. Meskers was the first to win his seat in some 100 years,” Ritter said. “I’m sure he has a sign in his office that states that. The whole Connecticut General Assembly is well aware of what Steve accomplished and he reminds us from time to time as well.”