Malloy Defends Progressive Legacy

Hartford—The most unpopular governor in the nation offered an impassioned defense of his administration’s efforts to raise the minimum wage and protect vulnerable populations from discrimination, receiving multiple standing ovations from party stalwarts who helped keep him in office.

On Friday evening, Dannel P. Malloy gave his final address as governor to over 1,000 delegates gathered at the state Democratic Party nominating convention at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. Malloy, who was dubbed by one poll as the least popular governor in the nation in February with a 21 percent approval rating, spoke to the crowded room of his administration’s myriad accomplishments during his eight years in office.

In particular, Malloy zeroed in on the substance of what it means to serve as a ​“progressive” head of state, avoiding the buzzword that has become all too popular among Democratic candidates appealing to a left-of-center base. Instead, he spoke to what his two terms in office have actually accomplished toward a redistribution of power, wealth and influence in the direction of the state’s most vulnerable populations.

Nancy Wyman, who has served as Malloy’s lieutenant governor since they both came into office in 2010, preceded Malloy on stage by reminding the crowd that Democrats stand for opportunity and equality. She said that the Democratic Party is the voice of hard working families, the voice for equal pay and equal rights, for good jobs and unions.

“True politics is about the people,” she said.

She introduced Malloy by calling him a man who is not always appreciated as much as he should be, but who has always given his experience, his loyalty and his heart to Connecticut.

“He always did what his mother told him,” she said. And that was: leave the world a better place than when you entered it.

Malloy began his speech by saying that the obligation to tell the truth is fundamental to a democracy.

Referencing the mass shooting earlier in the day at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, which Malloy called the 16th mass shooting since one in Parkland, Fla in February, he said, ​“We know we can make American safer because we’ve done it in our own state.”

In April 2013, just a few months after the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, the state passed some of the strongest gun control legislation in the country, banning the sale of gun magazines with capacities of more than 10 rounds and requiring background checks for private gun sales, including at gun shows.

Malloy also succeeded in pushing criminal justice reforms in 2015 through his ​“Second Chance Society” initiatives which sought to prevent mass incarceration and ease reentry for recently released prisoners. That legislation made drug possession a misdemeanor instead of a felony and eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.

“Gun reform and criminal justice reform make for a safer Connecticut,” Malloy proclaimed to a wave of applause from the convention center.

Malloy pointed out that Connecticut was the first state in the nation to raise the minimum wage above $10, pushing through a law in 2014 that raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in 2017. He said that Connecticut under his leadership also took the lead on passing paid sick leave laws back in 2011.

“We should raise the minimum wage again and again and again” in future administrations, he said to cheers.

He celebrated Connecticut’s DREAM Act from 2011, which allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Connecticut colleges and universities. He also celebrated the recent update to the DREAM Act, giving undocumented immigrants access to student-generated finanical aid.

“We have much work to do on pay equity,” he said. ​“But in our state, we’ve passed laws to make sure that women are treated fairly.” He celebrated a new law that will prevent employers from asking about candidates prior salaries, as that all too often results in sustained low wages for female employees.

“Let no Republican divide us,” he said. ​“We know who we are. We know what we are.”

“Do not let them take credit for what you did,” he continued. ​“Do not let them run on our successes. … We have not been perfect, but you cannot deny that we have moved the ball forward.”

After the nominating convention had adjourned for the day, Wooster Square Alder Aaron Greenberg and Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen, Jr. reflected on the energy they saw in the convention hall during Malloy’s and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s speeches.

“He wanted to make sure his accomplishments were known,” Brackeen said of Malloy. ​“And he did.”

Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch Malloy’s full speech.