The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Democratic hopefuls back tolls at forum
NEW HAVEN — The six Democratic gubernatorial candidates are on board for implementing tolls in the state and backing a casino in Bridgeport, but break that unanimity over approving subpoena power for police civilian review boards.
They answered questions Sunday at a forum at the Career High School in New Haven, the city with the largest number of delegates to the nominating convention in May and consistently the biggest Democratic plurality in general elections.
They had good things to say about the current state leader, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, for his infusion of money into the pension system, his justice reforms, his support of gun control and boosting affordable housing, but to a person they said they would present a different style of governing that was more collegial.
“Not my way or the highway,” said Jonathan Harris, the former commissioner of the Consumer Protection Agency, a sentiment the others echoed.
Also on stage was Ned Lamont, former Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate; Susan Bysiewicz, former secretary of the state; Sean Connolly, former head of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Guy Smith, a Greenwich businessman and Joe Gamin, mayor of Bridgeport.
Getting the economy on track, supporting investment in the state’s transportation system as well as praising the value of unions were the common themes across the candidates.
There were a few rounds where the response was supposed to be yes or no and the candidates passed the microphone to each other like a wonder ball.
They all said yes on the casino question, but as Bysiewicz started to bring up the concerns of the Mohegan and Foxwood casinos, she was cut off. Connolly said “yes, but,” while the rest said yes.
The candidates, in a followup related question — also posed as a yes or no inquiry — were asked if “gambling in casinos is a regressive tax on the poor?”
Harris, Bysiewicz and Connolly said it was, while Ganim, Smith and Lamont said no.
The last yes and no question was about taxes.
“Do you agree that rich hedge fund managers should pay the same tax rate as the rest of us working folks?” they were asked.
That also brought a unanimous yes. On both the casino and tax questions, the New Haven audience clapped to show its approval.
The six were asked how they would define adequate funding for public schools to assure an equitable and excellent education, particularly in light of the underfunding of PILOT.
These are payments in lieu of taxes to municipalities, such as New Haven, where 52 percent of its grand list is not taxable by state law due to the colleges, hospitals and state property within its borders.
Bysiewicz said as governor she would work to fully fund the Educational Cost Sharing grant and would love the state to take over special education funding. “We should be fully funding PILOT,” she added.
She said it was also important to invest in early childhood programs “as that is probably our best chance to reduce the achievement gap and make sure all of our students across the state get the best education possible.”
Connolly said the state now is underfunding the educational system by over $300 million. He said the state has to be more efficient to find the money to fully fund the ECS formula and it should also incentivize the towns to cooperate regionally.
Ganim said he disagrees with any judge who says equitable funding is not a constitutional right.
“I don’t like the term poor. We are a rich mosaic of diversity . ... I take offense at that and I take offense at anyone who calls our cities a mess..,” he said.
Smith took a big-picture view, saying he has proposed a first-time homebuyer credit to get more families to move back to Connecticut to boost property tax revenues. He said the distribution of education funding right now is a “mess ... it is not fair” and has to be adjusted.
Long-term, Smith said, Connecticut has to look at its entire taxing system, particularly the property tax, which is “centuries old” and not sustainable.
Lamont told the crowd: “I want to be your education governor. Education is the most important investment we can make as a state.”
He said he can talk to the business community. “If we do not fund K-12 education ... If we do not train people for the next generation of work, we are going to fall behind and continue to fall behind. We have continued to do that for too long and I’m not going to let that happen,” he said.
Lamont said student loans should be forgiven for teachers who go into the most needy schools.