House speaker has conflict of interest on family leave bill

Concerning the proposed Family and Medical Leave program now on the front burner of our state legislature, nowhere in Hearst Connecticut Media’s newspapers do I see a mention of the fact that in addition to his part-time job as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Joe Aresimowicz is also employed by AFSCME, the state’s largest union representing state and municipal workers. His compensation package at AFSCME was last reported as $108,428.

More than ever, this becomes an obvious conflict because the House will play an important role in determining whether the AFSCME-dominated Department of Labor or private insurance companies will oversee and manage this program, which is estimated to cost $5 million per year.

At the very least, Speaker Aresimowicz should recuse himself from any and all participation in any bill involving this Family and Medical Leave Act. And the Hearst Connecticut Media newspapers should be pointing out this highly conflicted situation and calling for Aresimowicz’s recusal. The fact that they haven’t done this seriously detracts from their credibility. Grant Monsarrat Easton