Dan Malloy’s Conn. renaissance
Today, we’re going to talk about American history, the Jan. 6 coup attempt, former Gov. Dannel Malloy and unfunded pension liabilities.
Whoa, don’t leave so soon. I’m aware anything is a hard sell when it includes the phrase “unfunded pension liabilities.” I could have led with “Sex, drugs, Netflix and unfunded pension liabilities” and still lost you.
But have another cuppa Joe and stick around.
I chugged some java the other day when Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, unexpectedly mentioned former Gov. Dannel Malloy during a session with members of the Hearst Connecticut Media Editorial Board. About the only time you hear Malloy’s name these days is when faculty members cast no-confidence votes for his performance as chancellor of the University of Maine System.
“I think former Gov. Malloy deserves great credit ...” Looney said.
Wait, did I hear that right? Let me drink some more coffee. I can’t recall “Malloy” and “credit” appearing together in too many sentences, even though he was elected to a second term as Connecticut’s governor in 2014.
Looney went on to explain how it was Malloy who finally ended Connecticut’s kamikaze (my word, not his) approach to pension management in 2011.
And this was in Looney’s opening statement. Now it was state Sen. Bob Duff ’s turn to sing the Democrats’ greatest hits of the recently completed legislative session and celebrate Connecticut’s pivot to a shiny financial future.
“First and foremost was making sure we actually paid those pensions that we hadn’t paid before Gov. Malloy came in. It put us on a path to fiscal stability.”
Gulp. Welcome to the Dan Malloy Drinking Game.
At about the six-minute mark, it was state Sen. Cathy Osten’s turn.
“We started working on this back in 2011 under the Malloy administration when he insisted we pay the actuarial amount ...”
I’m getting very caffeinated. Did I miss an announcement that they’re letting Malloy back in the state to run again? What I’m not hearing is the name “Ned Lamont.” You know, the Democrat who actually is seeking reelection.
Osten calls it “cake and ice cream” that Connecticut was able to pay $63 million into the unfunded liability fund two years ago, $1.6 billion in 2021 and $3.58 billion this year.
Some kid born when Connecticut started amassing this crippling $40 billion debt 70 years ago is now at an age that the issue finally matters in daily life.
Since it’s an election year, the three Dems take swipes at Connecticut’s last two Republican governors — Jodi Rell and John Rowland — for ignoring the mounting pension debt. I find a clip from 2002, when state Treasurer Denise Nappier complained that Rowland refused to heed her advice to use surplus funds to start filling the pension chasm. Looney reaches back further, to 1998 when Rowland rejected a chance to apply surplus funds to pension relief, opting instead to use it for $50 tax rebates during that election year.
As a reward for pointing out that the sky over Connecticut really was falling, Malloy got blamed for it. Four years ago, I wrote an editorial while what seemed like 40 billion candidates were seeking the Republican nomination for governor. In it, I compared Connecticut’s financial crisis to a key scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” when the devious Mr. Potter nearly seizes the Bailey Building & Loan by offering shareholders 50 cents on the dollar.
Protagonist George Bailey saved his family business by persuading shareholders to be patient and consider the bigger picture.
In 2018, Republicans took the Potter position that Nutmeggers with pensions should accept that something is better than nothing because the fund was unsustainable.
But Malloy was committed to fulfilling the state’s promise. He looked into the future. To 2032 to be specific, a time when he felt the debt could be closed if the right steps were taken.
I ask Looney, Duff and Osten if the next problem is that Connecticut’s pension lesson is lost on younger colleagues who were not serving in 2018, let alone 2011.
“We do have to remind them of the history of the problem,” Looney acknowledges.
If you’re still not convinced pension debt matters as much as anything, here’s one final history lesson.
Back in 1777, a U.S. general opposed pensions for Revolutionary War soldiers, arguing they could “sink the Colonies.”
George Washington was right: They nearly did.
Officers asked the Continental Congress for a pension of half pay for life for all officers who served throughout the war.
The Continental Congress was even less effective than its modern counterpart. The issue boiled over in 1783 during a gathering in Newburgh, N.Y., when soldiers threatened a march on Philadelphia unless their pay and pension demands were met (Congress wasn’t meeting payroll obligations). This was six months before the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The mutineers envisioned a shift to a military government.
Washington quelled the tide of rebellion with a speech of his own writing.
“Let me conjure you, in the name of our Common Country ... to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man who wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn the liberties of our country,” Washington said.
With that plea to patriotism, George Washington thwarted a national coup. Arguably, America would not come that close to one again until Jan. 6, 2021.