Guv Hopeful Redefines ​“Progressive”

Gina Raimondo is the governor of Rhode Island. A pro-business Democrat who came out of the private equity industry, she tackled a budget crisis like Connecticut’s in her own state, getting through changes that included pension givebacks that were anathema to her party’s labor base.

Dita Bhargava (pictured above) wants to become the next governor of Connecticut. A ​“pro-business” Democrat who came out of the private equity industry, she vows that she can tackle Connecticut’s malaise by preserving progressive values without sticking to failed traditional ways of doing business.

That’s what Raimondo did in Rhode Island, Bhargava said. That’s what she promises to do in Connecticut.

“She is a model for me,” Bhargava said during an interview on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. ​“Absolutely. She is a progressive. She also focused in on the business community. When GE decided to leave Connecticut she was in their offices. Wanted the whole thing to come to Rhode Island. She got a piece of the digital. She estimates 1,000 jobs in the next five to ten years.”

Bhargava has formed an exploratory committee for a gubernatorial run. Assuming she proceeds with an official run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2018, Bhargava will have to sell the party’s faithful — especially labor-allied left-leaning primary voters — on her definition of progressive. That means engaging in a broader debate within the national Democratic Party, basically between the more centrist Hillary Clinton wing and the ​“Resistance” wing led by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Bhargava said her personal background as well as her policy agenda reflect a smart, ​“mathematical” approach to creating jobs, making college affordable, and righting the state’s porous fiscal ship.

She grew up in Canada, raised in tough financial circumstances by an immigrant single mother of three.

“We struggled. She struggled to provide us with basic necessities. She taught us three things every day of our life: Educate ourselves; only a good education would bring us economic liberty. Always strive to realize your full potential. And never to forget where we came from in our humble roots.”

“I want to preserve our progressive values. I think the way to do that is through economic growth, because I’m also a mathematician,” said Bhargava, who earned an engineering degree in McMaster University’s male-dominated electrical engineering department before becoming a trader and hedge fund manager on male-dominated Wall Street.

Beyond welcoming the Gina Raimondo comparison, Bhargava — a former six-month vice-chair of the state Democratic Party who otherwise has never held elected office — resists labels. Such as being a ​“Clinton” versus a ​“Sanders-Warren” Democrat.

She supports public financing of campaigns. She embraces single-payer health care, saying she saw it work well in Canada. She also said Connecticut would need to phase it in; she’d like to start with lowering the eligibility age for Medicare to 50. She’d finance it with a ​“small” payroll deduction similar to those covering social security and Medicare. 

She embraces instituting tolls on interstates, with variable pricing charging more for out-of-state trucks and for peak-hour driving. She’s open to legalizing recreational use of marijuana, but is more excited about promoting the hemp-growing industry in the state as an alternative to cotton. She opposes spending more on charter schools, saying she wants to focus instead on strengthening traditional public schools.

Meanwhile, she rejects the call by some Democrats to raise marginal tax rates on the wealthy, arguing that it would end up producing less revenue as more millionaires and billionaires leave the state. And she said she would have liked the recent concessions deal struck with state unions to not have extended so far in the future.

Paid Leave & Forgiven College Loans

Bhargava said two policy proposals best capture her approach.

One would institute mandatory paid family leave in Connecticut at all private and public employers, regardless of size. She said she’d aim at 12 weeks of paid coverage, though might settle for six.

Even if that means not being able to run on a ​“no new taxes” platform.

“If you want to call it a tax, fine. But it’s only for employees,” she said.

She called paid family leave ​“not just the right thing” but ​“absolutely the smart thing to do. Those organizations like CBIA [Connecticut Business & Industry Association] that say it’s a cost — it’s not a cost. That cost is so much greater if we don’t empower women and men to stay in the workforce.” She cited a U.S. Labor Department study showing that increasing the percentage of women in the workforce to levels found in Canada or Germany would add $500 billion in annual economic output.

Bhargava’s other proposal would ​“entice” employers, through tax breaks, to pay for forgiving the college loans for all young employees who agree to live in Connecticut and work here for five years after graduation.

Following is an excerpt from the WNHH interview covering this subject:

Bhargava : What small and large business have told me, one of their biggest chalenges, is the pipeline of talent. The biggest exodus out of Connecticut is from age 25 to 35. For their long-term viability, they need to rely on their strongest asset, which is workforce….

If we can keep those graduates for five years, they will end up establishing roots and becoming a permanent taxpayer.

WNHH: How would you pay for that?

Bhargava : Businesses pay for that. We would give incentives to businesses through tax credits and other incentives. They would actually pay off that loan. So it’s an investment they’re making in their pipeline. But it solves their pipeline issue. It alleviates a big burden on our students that money can otherwise be used for downpayment on a home or in our economy.

So that’s gonna cost us if we give them incentives.

Bhargava : If we are keeping those businesses here, we’re making new permanent taxpayers, and we’re building our tax base. The math is going to add up.

That’s the math the Republicans use for the [newly passed federal] tax [overhaul]: Even though it costs money to give a company a break or less taxes, because it will create more economic growth, that will create more tax [revenue].

Bhargava : This actually is a specific pipeline into college students. The two things I really believe that everybody should have access to is education and health care. College graduates are graduating with these big fat loans …

But instead of saying ​“free college for all” — which we can’t afford at this point — we can’t guarantee that after a free college degree that they’re not going to leave and another state will benefit.

So to me this is a good investment, because we’re investing in education. And we’re investing in our businesses that are investing in their pipeline. These are the kind of partnerships I would like to create.

How much will this cost?

Bhargava : We’re still studying out the cost of it. But again, to me the math will be such that it will add up to a net benefit to the government.

Click on or download the above audio file or the Facebook Live video below for the full interview with Dita Bhargava on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”

WNHH interviews with other gubernatorial candidates:

Click on or download the above audio file or on the Facebook Live video to below to hear the full interview with GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Handler on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. Click here for a story about that interview.

Click on or download the above audio file or the Facebook Live video below to hear the full interview with GOP gubernatorial candidate Prasad Srinivasan on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven.” Click here to read a story about that interview.

Click on the above audio file or the Facebook Live video below to hear a previous WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven“interview with GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Obsitnik. Click here to read a story about that interview.

Click on or download the above audio file to hear a previous WNHH FM ​“Dateline New Haven” interview with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Ganim. Click here for a story about that interview.

Click on or download the above audio file to a previous WNHH ​“Dateline New Haven” interview with GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program; and click here to read a story about that interview.

Click on or download the above audio file to hear a previous WNHH ​“Dateline New Haven” interview with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Drew; and click here to read a story about the interview.