Beware private interests mixing with state resources
Two instances of the lines between state government and the world of private advocacy and action continue to blur in ways that ought to alarm people across our wide political spectrum.
The battle to authorize an unregulated state health insurance plan continues in and out of the shadows. The state’s health insurance companies, which employ thousands of state residents, launched a sustained media campaign weeks ago opposing the plan. A gaggle of health insurance company executives sent a letter to Governor Ned Lamont to remind him they are watching efforts that put the state in competition with a homegrown industry.
The state’s firefighters union sent its own pointed letter to legislative leaders opposing a taxpayer-guaranteed health insurance plan that will not be required to provide the same benefits they have negotiated with municipalities. A coalition of health insurance companies has hired a platoon of registered lobbyists to explain what it sees as the consequences the plan would have for the state’s economy.
Supporters of the plan continue to deploy their own instruments of legislative conflict. The chief proponent of the plan is State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, a third term Democrat. Lembo has his “an informal collection of organizations and lawmakers supporting health care reforms,” according to his spokesperson Tyler Van Buren.
Lembo’s coalition includes a website called the Connecticut Campaign for Affordable Health Care. It’s not clear from the site who runs the extensive site. Van Buren said in an email Wednesday that it is “currently owned and maintained by the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut.” The site has a couple of curious features. At the start of the week signing up for emails landed you on a page with a thank you from Lembo, his office’s address, and a link to his website.
The site was previously maintained by Lembo’s office for a previous campaign to authorize Lembo to create and run a state health insurance plan. The current site also provides a boost to the state’s Working Families Party (WFP). The page to write to your legislators includes a model letter and two opt-in boxes for additional contacts, one to received texts from Working Families, the other to have both Working Parties and the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut send updates.
The Lembo page on the murky campaign site was removed Thursday after an inquiry from this column. The effort is an unusual blending of private groups and a public office. Connecticut Campaign for Affordable Health Care is not registered as a lobbying entity with the state’s ethics agency. Its efforts are occurring as Lembo has been raising money for the Working Families Party. The Democrat ended a March appeal with this endorsement: “WFP is a grassroots party, a people’s party. They rely on small donors, not corporate benefactors. Become a member today for $10 and help elect candidates that will build cities and towns for the many, not the privileged and well-connected few.”
The implications of another melding of private interests and government resources this month did not receive the attention it deserved. Union members in some of the state’s privately-operated nursing homes were preparing earlier this month to strike over wages. The state pays for the care of many nursing home patients under the federal Medicaid program.
Nursing home workers remain high on the list of pandemic heroes. Many became ill, and some died, while caring for patients, The thousands of elderly nursing home residents who died created many empty beds in Connecticut. Privately owned and operated nursing homes have long been a lucrative business, many largely financed by state funds.
Labor disputes are part of business. When a nursing home strike occurred early in the 20th century, operators brought in thousands of out-of-state workers to replace those who’d walked out. Labor relations between those who have a lot of money and the people they pay little money often are contentious. A strike is one legitimate way to narrow the gap.
The governor did more than negotiate and offer money. The Greenwich Democrat called on the National Guard to prepare to enter nursing homes in the event of a strike.
A National Guard spokesman explained to Fox61 that members would be in nursing homes “to make sure there are enough linens, ensuring there are enough staff. … To insure all the residents are safe and will be taken care of.” The union accused Lamont of preparing the Guard to replace their membership.