In defense of the lonely governor

Gov. Ned Lamont joked at a recent meeting with opinion writers and publishers that he can feel lonely at the state Capitol because “I’m the guy who doesn’t want to raise taxes.” He may not be popular with the progressives in his party these days, but we at Hearst Connecticut Media Group commend him for looking out for the entire state’s welfare by resisting income and sales tax hikes.

“I don’t want to raise taxes just to raise taxes and punish people,” the governor told the newspaper group. Agreed.

This is a bad moment for the Democrats who control the General Assembly to make Connecticut even more expensive (and to punish success). Just when our suburbs are getting cool again, we don’t want to scare away the well-to-do coming to us from New York City for our yards, schools and slightly lower taxes.

People do flee high-tax states, according to data from moving companies. To lose many more of Connecticut’s high earners and their income-tax revenue would clearly backfire. This state is just starting to climb out of the deep economic hole it dug for itself over decades. Please don’t kick the ladder out from under Connecticut, Democrats.

Plus, more tax money simply isn’t needed right now: Connecticut has the largest rainy-day fund in history. The state is putting “close to a billion dollars into the pension fund this year,” the governor says. There are billions of dollars in federal aid coming our way. We have more money coming in than going out.

Mr. Lamont, a moderate Democrat, is a member of an endangered political breed that deserves protection for its unusual combination of brain and heart. He notes that the state’s many tax hikes over the last three decades haven’t solved its financial problems.

But we like him for more than just this. He was brave to roll out vaccinations by age, in defiance of federal guidelines and to the dismay of those who worried that the medically vulnerable would be left behind. They included our editorial board. We said at the time that the governor’s risky plan would “put lives at risk.” But Connecticut became the first state in the nation to vaccinate half of its adults. The state may have saved more lives with the quicker rollout.

The governor also averted a strike at two dozen nursing homes recently with a generous state package that will increase worker pay. If anybody deserves more pay and gratitude, it’s the workers who braved COVID-19 at nursing homes.

It takes guts to lead a state through a terrifying pandemic that killed more than 8,000 of our loved ones. It takes guts to stand up to your party. We commend Gov. Lamont for his courage. He shouldn’t feel so lonely in that building in Hartford. A lot of us are cheering him on.

This state is just starting to climb out of the deep economic hole it dug for itself over decades. Please don’t kick the ladder out from under Connecticut, Democrats.