Lamont Gathers New Team
Governor-Elect Begins His Transition
HARTFORD — In his first major announcement as governor-elect, Democrat Ned Lamont named four co-chairs and an executive director to his transition team Thursday as he prepares to take office in January.
Less than 48 hours after being elected to the state’s top post, Lamont took the first steps toward forming a new governmental team with a mix of public and private-sector appointments.
“We have hit the ground running,’’ Lamont told reporters outside the state Capitol. “We’re going to be ready to go on day one, and right now, I’m surrounded by folks that I trust and I believe can help us get the job done.”
As an outsider who has never held statewide office, Lamont said he would reach
into his own personal network for out-of-the-box appointments in order to bring change to Hartford.
“I’m going to be bringing in folks that I know through the business world … and the not-forprofit world who bring a very fresh perspective in terms of what we’ve got to do,’’ Lamont said. “I’ll team them with folks who know the inside, and that’s how we make the change.”
The most well known of the transition co-chairs is state Attorney General George Jepsen, a longtime friend of Lamont who played a key role in his 2006 campaign for U.S. Senate by giving Lamont a high-profile endorsement when the candidate had little name recognition across the state.
Jepsen will be joined by Rep. Toni Walker, a New Haven Democrat who is among the most influential state legislators as cochairwoman of the budget-writing appropriations committee.
The other co-chairs are Dr. Elsa Nunez, the president of Eastern Connecticut State University, and Greenwich resident Garrett Moran, a longtime personal friend of Lamont who now works in the nonprofit world after serving as chief operating officer of the private equity group at Blackstone, a Wall Street investment powerhouse.
The transition’s executive director will be Ryan Drajewicz, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd who has taken a leave of absence from Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. Lamont said he hopes that Drajewicz will remain beyond the two months of the transition.
Lamont then made an introduction of one of his closest advisers who stood nearby.
“She’s not an official member of our transition team, but somebody who I talk to first thing every morning and at the end of every day — and that’s Annie Lamont,’’ he said as he introduced his wife, a multimillionaire venture capitalist. Ned and Annie Lamont had lunch at the governor’s mansion in Hartford with outgoing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and first lady Cathy Malloy on Thursday, before the press conference on the transition. Lamont expects to receive transition memos from the current state commissioners detailing their priorities and how their departments are being run.
“The governor has thought long and hard about the transition. I’m not sure that’s always happened in previous transitions,’’ Lamont said of Malloy.
Lamont remarked on the grandeur of the governor’s mansion, which prompted a question about whether he will live there full-time or commute from his home in Greenwich.
“I certainly plan to be at the executive residence a lot — most of the time,” Lamont said. “It’s a nice place.”
Lamont’s team also reiterated his pledge that he will not take a salary in his new role.
The transition leaders will be gathering resumes and searching through the talent pool in order to find the best commissioners possible.
“I have a lot of in-depth knowledge of people who work in and outside of government and what their skill sets are and how they might be of help,” Jepsen told reporters. “We’re going to be bringing in a lot more people who have expertise in a whole range of areas, whether it’s human services, environment, consumer protection, highway infrastructure.”
Two of the most important positions in state government, which were not filled Thursday, are chief of staff and budget director. The budget chief, known formally as the secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, will be tackling a projected deficit of $4.6 billion over two years on an overall budget spending plan of more than $40 billion.