Candidates need to step up with genuine plans

C onnecticut’s next governor could learn a valuable lesson about policy leadership from studying the platform of failed Republican hopeful Mike Handler.

Yet Handler, the chief finance officer for the city of Stamford, barely made a ripple at the state GOP nominating convention May 12 at Foxwoods. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton won the prize. Among the field of eight candidates, Handler received 4.06 percent of the votes, eliminating him in the first round.

Which is unfortunate, because Handler, among the gaggle of Republicans, Democrats and one independent who are vying to be the next Connecticut governor, is the only one who laid out a clear rationale for seeking the job during the nominating process. It appears that actually having specific ideas doesn’t carry much weight when it comes to winning a party’s nomination, which helps explain what’s wrong with our political system.

This newspaper believes Connecticut is at a crossroads of tremendous opportunity and existential threat. The opportunity lies in the expanding military industrial manufacturing, biotech businesses, and clean energy of fuel cells and wind power. The threat comes from a tax structure and state government that is too costly and outmoded.

Simply put, Connecticut government is not up to the task of delivering the infrastructure, education, transportation and other government services necessary to provide its citizens a sustainable quality of life. Connecticut residents are voting with their feet. They are fleeing the state to escape high taxes and government paralysis. We, the people living in the Land of Steady Habits, are woefully unprepared for the potentially better future quickly coming our way.

The Day is framing this year’s gubernatorial and legislative election cycle around three issues; financial stability, economic growth and tax reform.

To that end, The Day audited the websites of gubernatorial office seekers. Mike Handler stood out as having the only cohesive plan to address Connecticut’s chronic financial malaise.

Handler’s prescription called for very strong medicine. He advocates re-opening the union contracts of state employees to achieve a host of concessions including replacing defined pension benefits with 401 (k) plans. He vows to decrease state spending by reducing the state workforce, privatizing many services and slashing regulations.

Handler would divert dollars saved from cost reductions into overhauling the tax structure. He would eliminate the estate tax and state income tax on pensions and Social Security and reduce the state income tax rate from its current 6.9 percent.

On the investment side, Handler advocates establishing a multi-billion infrastructure bank with public and private capital to oversee bridge, rail, airport, water and road infrastructure improvements.

The Day is not ready to endorse all these proposals, but applauds Handler for committing to specific, detailed solutions. That’s what political leadership and courage are all about.

And, that, sadly, is what’s lacking in the websites of the other gubernatorial candidates. Particularly disheartening are the websites of the two party-endorsed nominees, Boughton for the Republicans, and Ned Lamont for the Democrats.

Boughton’s big issue is a phased elimination of the state income tax in its entirety. Boughton assures us he has a “bold plan” to remake state government, reduce costs, curb pension obligation expense and make this all work. But, try finding any hint of that bold plan on the Boughton for Governor web site. Nothing there.

Lamont’s website fails to acknowledge that Connecticut has a financial problem. He advocates support for organized labor, a $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave and equal pay. Laudable goals, perhaps, but secondary to getting Connecticut’s financial house in order.

Tim Herbst, a Republican who won the right to primary and poses a serious threat to Boughton, would eliminate the state income tax for people making less than $75,000. How Herbst will run the state without those tax revenues remains a mystery.

Oz Griebel, the former head of the MetroHartford Alliance of business leaders, is running as an independent. He sets a goal of adding 200,000 more Connecticut jobs by 2028. Griebel vows to study transportation issues and produce a plan. He pledges to form partnerships to improve education. As is the case with his major-party counterparts, however, specifics are lacking.

OK, the campaign is just starting. We understand the major-party candidates, facing primaries, want to avoid offending their bases. But as the process continues, The Day will demand more of the candidates and so should voters.

Connecticut needs someone who will lead on the strength and veracity of his ideas, not someone who arrives in office on a fragile scaffolding of unachievable promises.