“The past was erased,
the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth” – George Orwell, 1984
The “constant sniping and cherry-picking bad news from the
good” has given Connecticut Speaker of the House of Representatives Brendan
Sharkey heart palpitations.
In a Hartford Courant column,
Mr. Sharkey writes:
“Rather than attempt to establish
themselves as credible participants in our state's democratic process, the
Republicans will say or do anything in an attempt to gain a political
advantage, no matter how harsh or misleading, and without regard to the
negative effects their behavior has on Connecticut's economy or its future.
“This constant drumbeat of
negativity from Republican politicians — even in the face of positive news to
the contrary — threatens to poison the well. When companies that would
otherwise be interested in our educated workforce, outstanding quality of life,
and investments in higher education and transportation, hear elected officials
regularly proclaim how terrible Connecticut is, they may start to believe it,
despite evidence to the contrary. Such negativity makes it that much harder to
attract business and industry home to Connecticut.”
Most Republicans in Connecticut -- invariably locked out of
budget negotiations by Governor Dannel Malloy, Mr. Sharkey and Democratic Pro
Tem of the Senate Martin Looney -- would be inclined to file Mr. Sharkey’s unlikely
bid for victimhood under the heading “Naked King Objects to Critics Who Call
Attention to Nakedness.”
It was Mr. Malloy and the two Democratic Leaders in the
General Assembly who had made it impossible for Republicans in the General
Assembly to participate AT ALL in budget negotiations. Having adamantly refused
to accept Republican Party views on any of the budgets affirmed by the
Democratic dominated General Assembly and signed by Mr. Malloy, Mr. Sharkey now
finds it politically convenient to accuse Republicans of having failed to “establish
themselves as credible participants in our state's democratic process.” Really,
Napoleon should have adopted this tactic after Waterloo and charged that his
defeat was owed entirely to his butler’s military miscalculations.
Then too, Mr. Sharkey has failed to notice that Republicans
are hardly alone in citing high taxes and excessive regulations as spurs that
have induced Connecticut companies to consider moving outside the state.
Consider: In September, 2009, two years before Mr. Malloy
was installed as Governor, Pratt & Whitney decided to move some Connecticut
jobs to Georgia, where the cost of labor represented a considerable saving for
the company. The state of Connecticut and unions offered cost reductions; not
enough, said parent company United Technologies (UTC).
At the time UTC moved jobs from Connecticut, then Speaker of
the House Chris Donovan, who later retired from the House after some members
of his campaign staff working on Mr.
Donovan’s bid for the U.S. Senate in the 5th District were indicted
for corruption, and President Pro Tem
of the Senate Donald Williams, who later accepted a position as Deputy
Director of Professional Policy, Practice, Research and Reform for the Connecticut
Education Association (CEA), were urging the Democratic controlled General
Assembly to raise corporation taxes by a whopping 30 percent. Some Connecticut commentators noted at the time that UTC may have felt
uncomfortable with increasing taxes and regulations. When Mr. Malloy assumed
office as governor, he piled on taxes – the largest tax increase in state
history -- and frequently was seen
marching in union picket lines.
In a meeting with
Wall Street financiers in March 2011, United Technologies chief financial
officer, Gregory Hayes told the group, “Anyplace outside of Connecticut is
low-cost.” Mr. Hayes’ remark echoed a previous statement made by President of
Sikorsky Aircraft Jeff Pino: “Even if work has to stay in the U.S., there are
opportunities to reduce cost by moving out of those high-cost locations.”
Earlier in February 2011, Aetna’s CEO, Mark Bertolini, told a business group at
a Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast, “We've done the analysis,
and, quite frankly, Connecticut falls very, very low on the list as an
environment to locate employees . . . in large part because of the tax
structure, the cost of living, which is now approaching, all in, the cost of
locating an employee in New York City.”
UTC recently put
Sikorsky on the auction block, after which the company was bought by Lockheed
Martin. Partly in response to profit reducing Obamacare regulations, large
Connecticut Insurance companies have now merged – Aetna with Humana and, late
in July, Anthem acquired Cigna. Monopolistic acquisition is a survivalist business response to
progressive regulation that diminishes profits, as Mr. Sharkey, himself a
businessman, well knows.
There are not enough
Pinocchio noses on hand to cover the stretchers told by Mr. Sharkey even in the
few lines quoted above. Ruling Democrats, not Republicans, are responsible for
the state of the state. The governor’s office, all the members of the U.S.
Congressional delegation and all the Constitutional offices in Connecticut are
held by Democrats; in addition, Democrats outnumber Republicans in the State’s
General Assembly by a ratio of 21 to 15 seats in the Senate; in the House, the
ratio is Democrats 87 to Republicans 64. Fixing blame on the minority party at this late date
because business representatives make rational decisions to put down roots
elsewhere in more profitable ground should strike any thoughtful politician or
political commentator worth his salt as a rank abdication of responsibility, a
“lie” of Orwellian dimensions.
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