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A Feisty Malloy Says State Doing Better Than You Think

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By Bill Slocum
Contributing Editor

Governor Dannel Malloy speaks to the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association.
Governor Dannel Malloy speaks to the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association.

Despite what you may be reading or hearing, the state of Connecticut is “doing relatively well,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told a packed room at First Presbyterian Church in central Greenwich Wednesday morning.

While acknowledging a continued, protracted state budget impasse up in Hartford, Malloy nevertheless claimed Connecticut’s situation is markedly better than what he, a Democrat, inherited from his Republican predecessors.

“We need to cut a little spending out of the budget,” he said, describing the money in question as “less than $200 million” out of a total budget of $20 billion. “The dire consequences that everybody talks about are not in play. The difference that we have to make [up] in our expenditures is actually relatively small.”

The Greenwich Retired Men’s Association hosted Malloy as the latest installment in its weekly speaker series. It was the best attended event in recent RMA history, according to its president, Ralph Viggiano, who counted 297 in attendance.

Malloy was at times feisty, if not combative. “I know this crowd,” he said. “Most of you are Republicans.” He quizzed them at several points throughout his address about his record compared to that of his two most immediate gubernatorial predecessors, Republicans John Rowland and Jodi Rell.

“Which governor has had the smallest state workforce?” Malloy asked his audience. “Which has increased spending at a lower percentage, almost by 30 percent? Which governor has been in a position to close two prisons, have fewer people in prison, and had lower crime?” He paused after each question, until audience members finally responded “Malloy,” and then he added, “Right.”

Malloy argued today’s executive workforce in state government is leaner than it was when he took over from Rell in 2011, and that state pensions are better funded, despite claims by Republicans and others that the state’s present economic troubles spring from too much spending, especially around ample pension plans for state employees who negotiate contracts with legislators who depend on both their votes and financial support.

“Good news is a lot harder to explain than bad news, because we’re

inclined to believe only bad news,” Malloy said.

While Malloy’s reception was on the whole warm, he was questioned regarding some of his assertions. Asked whether he believed in climate change, Malloy answered in the affirmative.

He pointed to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 as well as other major storms in recent years as evidence in his favor. “I don’t know how much proof you need,” he said. “I don’t just believe human activity has contributed. I believe human activity has been the biggest contributor [to climate change.]”

He also spoke passionately in favor of accepting Syrian refugees into Connecticut. “The vast majority of the people who came from somewhere came here for a second chance,” he said. He argued that the screening process in place is adequate to protect residents from the threat of terror attacks.

“We can never do enough to prevent terrorism, but we can promise one another we aren’t going to change who we are and what we are because terrorism exists,” he said.

Malloy also discussed transportation, saying mass transit has been a focus of his administration following more than 20 years of statewide neglect. He called it an issue of special importance to Greenwich, where trains transport people slower on average than they did 10 or 15 years ago; and where the two major highways, the Merritt Parkway and Interstate-95, are beset by chronic congestion problems.

“In Connecticut, the way we treat our two major highways is, one is a museum and one is a parking lot,” he joked.

After the meeting, Malloy got into a brief, heated argument with a woman who said she was concerned about ISIS members coming into the state, calling it “scary.” Malloy responded by asking her where her own ancestors were from.

Don Conway, a Representative Town Meeting member from Cos Cob, stopped Malloy on his way out of the auditorium to ask the governor to reconsider shutting off a $750,000 service contract with Kids In Crisis, a non-for-profit agency based in Cos Cob. Kids In Crisis works with troubled teenagers across Fairfield County, and provides the only emergency-care shelter beds available south of New Haven. Malloy smiled and nodded noncommittally as he hustled past.

“I hope he thinks more about that,” said Conway, a Kids In Crisis volunteer himself. “That’s a lot of money. And it helps them get off the street and solve their problems, so they don’t go to jail later on. If we can reach them now, it’s worth all the money in the world.”

Malloy told the audience that while he himself was born and raised in Stamford, the city where he served as mayor for 12 years before becoming governor, four of his seven siblings were born in Greenwich, as his mother was a 1935 graduate of the Greenwich Hospital School of Nursing.

“I’m basically here because Jim Himes made me do it,” Malloy said at the start of his address, in reference to the U.S. House member and fellow Democrat who hails from Greenwich.

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