Meet the other Ned Lamont

Just when I thought that the wily, battle-tested Democratic leaders of the House and Senate were playing Gov. Ned Lamont like a children’s piano, the new guy does something unlikely and off-script.

Lamont, who has come across as a milquetoasty, why-can’t-we-just-get-along, non-confrontational, opencollared, penny-loafered millionaire type, totally messed with the heads of his fellow Democrats the other day, offering a cleansing veto; you know, just a little something to warn the majority that there is another branch of government and they were about to waste half a day’s debate.

The move rattled the cage of Democrats who think they have wiggle room in their 91-60 and 22-14 majorities in the

House and

Senate to push around both Republicans and the rookie governor, who until then had seemed so malleable, so easy to talk to, so ... Gov. Dan Malloy, the one-man

Capitol wrecking crew who drove them crazy for eight years.

Lamont also gave Republicans a wink, and a possible path for cooperation, should a wider rift open up between the governor and his Democratic cousins if, say, an eventual majority budget gets a little too progressive when it comes to new taxes on that rarefied strata of Connecticut residents, like the Lamont family, with multi-million-dollar incomes.

Hey, it could happen! Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz and House Majority Leader Matt Ritter more than hinted at it the other day, while describing the gestating budget that will likely hatch in a few days.

Minutes before the Senate would begin a six-hour debate on a paid family-andmedical leave bill, the governor asked Capitol reporters into his second-floor lair. He had to be prompted to actually use the “V” word, but there it was. “I feel like you’re rushing us into this new $400-million program,” Lamont said in promising a veto if it reaches his desk. “We’re going to do it and do it right.”

As the new governor has made the rounds in favor of the one half of 1-percent payroll tax to fund a program to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for all workers — except those in public unions — Lamont has stressed the need for those in the business of administrating it in neighboring states, like insurance giants The Hartford and Travelers, to get a chance to do what they do best and bid on it.

Lamont described the proposed board of directors for the program in the Senate bill as unacceptably “top-heavy.” Republicans want to make the program optional, which makes it less workable in an insurance universe, where you need young, healthy members who don’t use the program to offset the older, lesshealthy participants.

“We have a problem because it is a mandatory payroll tax, with no chance of opting out, that will be insolvent in about two minutes,” said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides. Republicans propose pooling participants with programs in surrounding states.

“I’d like to see a smaller group of decision-making

Lamont, who has come across as a milquetoasty, why-can’t-we-just-get-along, non-confrontational, open-collared, penny-loafered millionaire type, totally messed with the heads of his fellow Democrats the other day.

authority that allows this thing to move forward,” Lamont said in his office. “I want it to be a process that gives the privates as well as the public — this is an honest transparent process, you have an honest opportunity to bid on this.”

Coming the day after a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders, it appears Lamont didn’t get his message across. “I was a little surprised that they’re running with the bill this quickly,” he said. “I think we needed another round of negotiations to make sure it’s done in a way that works. Right now I don’t think it’s going to work. I don’t want to be governor in three years saying we’re still working on paid family leave. Let’s get a process going where we can get this up and operating in a couple of years.”

The bill, as written and passed by the Senate, leaves the House leadership to decide whether they can afford to invest time on a bill that would have to be amended. It could survive a daylong debate from the slow-walking, 61-member Republican House minority, but then it would have to get kicked back upstairs to the Senate for final action. All for an initial piece of legislation, which would surely be changed in future years as the program rolls out.

Still, it was an important victory for progressives such as Sen. Julie Kushner of Danbury, the former regional head of the United Auto Workers, who learned how hard it is to get a bill across the finish line, even with a solid majority.