Landslide Lamont Offers Mayors A Deal

Lamont also vowed to press for a $15 hourly minimum wage in Connecticut and pay equity for women. In contrast to Republican candidates blaming state unions for the fiscal crisis, in some cases calling for abrogating agreements, Lamont promised to honor collective bargaining and to treat labor with "respect."

Slick Dan Malloy said the same thing and Look what happen.God help you state workers.Public Sector and Teachers.Bend over you got one coming.

Are there really that many votes in the cities that Lamont can openly campaign against suburbanites? I wasn't feeling so good about Stefanowski, but if Lamont wants to campaign against suburbanites in a suburban state, well, in the words of GWB, bring it on.

Lamont pushes regionalization!!! Never happen. The suburbs will never give up their power of the purse to contribute to the big cities. Ct will never go to the county government type system because cities like New Haven blow large sums of money on things like a $50,000 trip to China by the Mayor, a cop driving the Mayor, and a bloated educational system that doesn't educate very well. All that Lamont wants to do is put all of the tax money in CT in one bank account for the cities to use. I am essentially simplifying what he is going to try, but the small well run towns will never let him get away with ruining them. It is a last ditch effort to keep the cities out of bankruptcy without correcting the spending problems that got them in trouble in the first place.
On the other side, Stefanowski vows to eliminate the income tax. Good luck with that one. He is smoking real good stuff if he really believes that the legislature would support turning the money faucet off. They would actually be forced to stop spending of every lost cost that there is. The legislature blew the windfall money generated by the casinos and the lottery. Remember before the income tax, we paid the bills, and were going to use the lottery money strictly for education and property tax reduction. The legislature and the governor can not be trusted to do what they say they will do while campaigning. UNITE HERE Local 35 President Bob Proto is hugging the hand of Lamont, because it is the new hand that will feed him. New Haven Mayor Toni Harp is waiting for her turn at the money machine that Lamont wants to create also. Unfortunately, the voters will line up like sheep in November to support these people who are either fools or lying through their teeth. The income tax is here forever, and the small towns and cities will never give money to the big cities.

@1644- what makes you think that the Lamont campaign is against suburbia? I mean, can any governor afford to let our major cities collapse? That will drag the whole state down . Does suburbia want to share the wealth of low-income projects, methadone clinics, homeless shelters. The cities would be glad to spread some of that wealth around. Short of eliminating the poor , elderly, ill, and otherwise needy folks; what would suburbia like to do with them?

Having said that, I don't think I can support Lamont, whose ideas obviously include taxes,taxes, and more taxes. Do you believe that over 1/2 the state's revenue now comes from the income tax?!?! How did we live before the income tax?

Of course , New Haven will support any candidate that they can get a handout from. Now that NH delivered the city to Lamont. they will be knockin' in his door for money if he wins.
I am hoping for a Republican win. Democrats have had their chance for 8 years with Malloy and a Dem-dominated legislature. Let the Republicans have a chance!

Payoff Notes:

1644, regionalization is not anti-suburban and can promote efficiencies. To give one frequently cited example, CT has well over 100 public safety answering points (centers that dispatch responses to 911 calls). Counties across the country with populations the size of CT have one or two centers. Politically, the regionalization of schools or police departments is not in the cards. But there is no reason for each town to have its own purchasing or IT department.

Every state, except CT and RI, uses counties to provide services that towns in CT provide. These 48 states vary widely in their politics. But suburbanites form a plurality, if not a majority, of these states' populations.

I thought that pic was of Bob Proto. The next pic would be of Proto kissing Lamont's ring. Unions are sold to the democrats 100% but I fear they will be disappointed when The Dems dismantle the unions and pensions and benefits. Unions and cities are the apparent enemy du jour and both parties will not rest till they are destroyed. We are headed back to the future--- work till you die ; no pension; no retirement;poor health care. Maybe it will be good that life expectancy is dropping. The future does not seem so pleasant to live for.

It's not Proto who would be kissing Lamont's ring - it's Lamont who is already kissing Proto's ass along with every other union big in this state.

This faux argument that the Lamont campaign is ignoring the more rural areas of the state in support of cities is absurd. Moreover, to suggest that the suburban wealth is subsidizing the cities is too absurd.

When cities subsidize the needs of those who are stricken with opioid addiction, who flock from the suburbs to the cities for care, should the cities ignore their cry for help? Addicts from these rural towns are looked upon with disdain; and the people just want them sent away. And it's the cities that provide the safety nets by which to catch these unfortunate persons. So yes, more money should be sent to the cities statewide.

In my view, it is prudent for Mayor Harp to establish a relationship with the next governor. How dumb would that be for her not to?

No, New Haven isn't the best city in the country criminally and or economically. But it's far better than it use to be, and far better than many other cities in our great nation.

The BOE is turning the corner by hiring a visionary, under the new chief of police, there seems to be the retooling in establishing genuine community relationships and building permits are on a huge rise. These things don't occur under bad leadership and or inept government. Quite the contrary, they occur when tough decisions are made by a healthy BOA, and a strong city hall.

Sad that once again, union special interests are dominating our election process. There were about 212,000 votes cast in the democratic primary which unions typically gravitate towards. Connecticut has 187,000 public employees (all highly motivated to vote for the union endorsed candidate. Even if only a quarter of those people show up on election day, that's 20 percent of votes cast...an outsized influence for one narrow financially interested group.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/14/us/elections/results-connecticut-primary-elections.html

http://jonathanpelto.com/2011/01/21/wait-what-connecticut-has-more-public-employees-than-most-states/

Kevin: First, there is some regionalization. Branford shares animal control and sewers with North Branford. However, even tax sensitive East Haven and North Branford rejected using Branford's 911 dispatch system, which has extra capacity, and which would have saved those towns millions. Part was union/employee pressure, but townspeople also did not want to give up control. Easties know that if their 911 messes up, they can hold Joe accountable. Could they hold Jamie accountable? Or some bureaucratic board? No, certainly not in the same way. As far as schools, lots of smaller towns have long been parts of regional school districts.
Perhaps more funding from the state would encourage more regionalization, but where would that money come from? The state is facing a five billion dollar shortfall in its next budget. There is no money for regionalization.

I voted for Lamont yesterday since Ganim was clearly unacceptable. Regionalism is a non-starter though, and I'll be voting for Griebel in November.

I moved from deep red America and like living in CT. The problem in CT is that the R's are divorced from reality and the D's are in the pocket of the unions.

A Stemmerman/Stewart ticket could have been a winner for the R's, but they blew it yesterday.

observer: Agree with all but that the towns will never give money to the cities. The towns have been giving money to the cities for decades. Half of New Haven's budget comes from taxes levied primarily on suburbanites. What doe New Haven do with the money? It hires a finance director who cannot explain present value, sends a host of elected and unelected officials to China, pads its payrolls with political supporters, diverts police from fighting crime to driving its mayor, etc. New Haven and Hartford need bankruptcy to shed debt and reduce wasteful spending.

Regionalization will never happen because the Cities and their union bosses will never want to give up any control to the suburbs.

The reality is the suburbs politicians and voters are not afraid of the unions, even though most of the city union bosses live in the suburbs. They wouldn't tolerate the mass overspending on stupidity that places like New Haven engage in under Mayors like Harp. They wouldn't tolerate police and fire departments spending more than double their overtime budgets.

Smart play by Lamont though. Put forward an idea that seems reasonable knowing that people like Harp who've spent the state and city into near bankruptcy would never want their incompetence exposed by having to open their books.

Probably the same reason Harp doesn't want to have the MARB involved in New Haven.

Smart play by Lamont. He may be better than expected.

New Haven will never cede any control to a suburban board or run service. Those departments though would be better run - the politicians are smarter and since those towns are smaller - they also know everybody and everybody knows them. Their voters are more engaged and knowledgeable - vs ignorance and laise fare here.

1644, thanks. Years ago, I helped develop the financing mechanism for the PSAPs. I and the legislators I was working with thought we provided an adequate incentive to encourage regionalization of the call centers. We were mistaken.

There is also a statutory incentive to encourage regionalization of schools. But it is so small as to be meaningless.

To THREEFIFTHS and all the other anti union folks out there...if it weren't for UNIONS we would not have won the 8-hour day at Haymarket Square in Chicago (since then that right has been stolen from us) - the event that began the real "May Day" worldwide!!!!!

If it weren't for UNIONS you would not get Social Security (and if you don't want it because UNIONS won this for you - you don't have to accept it), you would not have unemployment benefits, you would not have Medicare. You are not forced to accept unemployment or Medicare (those two evil benefits) either!

In short, THREEFIFTHS - you would be in the poor house. Unions not only fight for the $15 minimum wage they must also fight for a LIVING WAGE. In 2014 the cost of living in New Haven was around $20/hr. Using the term "minimum wage" is the white man in power's snow job term for what we earn.

Unions are gaining power again, and when unions have the REAL power then, that's when the criticism of unions will stop because the anti union folks will be sitting on their rockers enjoying their union fought for benefits that keep them and their families alive.

Get over it! Unions are on the MOVE again!

WU,

I'll bet it really feels that way for you but here are some inconvenient truth. Basically Americans have rejected them. Nationally, unions have fallen from a peak of about 35% participation in the mid-1950s, to about 11% today and the majority of those are in the public sector because, as we've seen locally, its easy for them to dig in and game politics. (In CT, most union participation is in the public sector and that's unionized to the tune of something like 90%).

I acknowledge that prior to WWII, unions did many great things to combat exploitation. However, its not quite true that they were the economic engine of the post-war era. Coming out of WWII, petroleum trade had been dollarized, giving the US almost unlimited capacity to issue debt, most of Europe was deeply indebted to the US, and there was zero international manufacturing competition for many years. In other words, the post-WWII era was an anomaly and US prosperity was a wave that unions rode, not created.

P.S. FDR gave us Social Security very much reacting to the Depression in the preceding decade, but having precedent in military pensions and other civic charitable arrangements going back to the middle ages.

posted by: wesunidad on August 16, 2018 7:12am

To THREEFIFTHS and all the other anti union folks out there

You must be New.to the NHI.Any one will tell you I am pro union.In fact you need to read my post when it comes to unions.

posted by: robn on August 16, 2018 8:25am

WU,

I'll bet it really feels that way for you but here are some inconvenient truth. Basically Americans have rejected them.

Those are the Americans in right to work state.Also not unions in the public sector like I was in rejected them.

Look at what just happen in Missouri

Missouri voters just blocked the right-to-work law Republicans passed to weaken labor unions
It's the first time voters have overturned right-to-work laws through a ballot referendum in recent years.

But workers and union leaders in Missouri put up a fight. They gathered about 300,000 signatures — more than double the number needed — to freeze the law and put it on the ballot for voters to decide. On Tuesday, voters rejected the bill.Tuesday's election marks the first time voters have overturned a right-to-work law through a ballot referendum since Ohio did something similar in 2011. No other state has even tried to in recent years. It's also a major victory for the US labor movement at a time when Republican leaders, big businesses, and the courts have doubled down on their attempts to weaken the influence of labor unions and the workers they represent. And after the US Supreme Court's June ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, which mandated right-to-work rules for all government unions, Missouri's vote is a sign that unions are far from dead. They might even see a revival..

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/7/17655690/missouri-election-proposition-a-right-to-work

@robn

It would be disingenuous to say that unions were responsible for the post-war wave of economic prosperity, but it's ridiculous to dismiss the fact that they were largely responsible for seeing that prosperity shared more equitably than it would have been otherwise.
Union decline lowers wages of nonunion workers: https://www.epi.org/publication/union-decline-lowers-wages-of-nonunion-workers-the-overlooked-reason-why-wages-are-stuck-and-inequality-is-growing/
Falling Union Membership and Rising Wage Inequality: What's the Connection?: http://www.nber.org/papers/w6520
*Fresh Proof That Strong Unions Help Reduce Income Inequality: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/business/labor-unions-income-inequality.html

And it's unfair to say that Americans have "rejected" unions, as though they were given a fair and honest choice. Legislation, legal maneuvering, and other tactics have been employed to kneecap the private sector labor movement. From wikipedia:

"From 1960 to 2000 the percentage of workers in the United States belonging to a labor union fell from 30% to 13% … This is despite an increase in workers expressing an interest in belonging to unions since the early 1980s. (In 2005, more than half of unionized private-sector workers said they wanted a union in their workplace, up from around 30% in 1984.) …

"A change in the political climate in Washington DC starting in the late 1970s 'sidelined' the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Much more aggressive and effective business lobbying meant 'few real limits on … vigorous antiunion activities. …'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the_United_States#Post-1960s

If unions organizing around pro-labor candidates is considered "gaming politics," then so is big business lobbying courts and congress to make it easier to bust unions.

CUNNINGHAM,

Whats disingenuous is to equate lower US income with lower union participation. The fact of the matter is that over the past few decades, a billion and a half Chinese people have decided that they would like to lift themselves out of poverty and are willing to compete with us economically to do so. And another billion and a half Indians haven't even hit a stride yet.

PS Locally the proof is in the pudding. A union super majority has controlled the Board of Alders for the past six years, got Mayor Harp elected and together they've brought us to financial catastrophe.

Thanks to Robnn, NHPLEB...and THREEFIFTHS...Sorry, I did not see any evidence in your remarks (although thoughtful) about you're being "pro union". NHPLEB you said, that "unions were sold to the democrats 100%. That may be your opinion and you are entitled to that, however, what is your proof that unions are 100% sold to the democrats? Funny, I was in a huge union for close to 15 years and saw no evidence of that. Perhaps, you are just jealous because you had to work without one? Not clear to me.

Also, Robn you are one voice, thankfully, that knows something about history. However, FDR gave us nothing. To me that's like saying LBJ gave African American voting rights. Really? FDR? Wasn't he the guy who put Japanese Americans in internment "camps" and screwed around on his wife for most of their marriage? Yes, his wife, Eleanor, did a lot of great things and he did a few good things, but FDR like every other President succumbed to pressure from grass roots organizing because he did not want the rich white guys to forget about him. And, wasn't he another rich white guy like Ned Lamont?

Everything we have won as a people was won by struggle. Nothing was ever given to us.

Suggestion: Read "The People's History" by Howard Zinn.

posted by: wesunidad on August 16, 2018 6:45pm

Thanks to Robnn, NHPLEB…and THREEFIFTHS…Sorry, I did not see any evidence in your remarks although thoughtful about you're being "pro union".

Again read my post.

Unions Rally Against Janus

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/labor_rights_rally/

"I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence."
― Eugene V. Debs
posted by: THREEFIFTHS on April 10, 2018 8:22am
posted by: robn on April 9, 2018 10:14pm
Extortion=give us what we want or we'll scare off the students.

How is that.They have the right under the law to hand out flyers.

Yale "agents" ushering at the theater rushed outside and snatched the flyers out of recipients' hands, Simons said.Yale's ushers were rude to our members and attempted to stifle our free speech," Simons (pictured) wrote in a letter to the editor sent to the Independent."In an ever more shocking display of undemocratic and borderline assaultive behavior, a female Yale usher forcibly wedged herself between a parent and our member in an attempt to prevent the member from handing a union leaflet to a parent.

Taken from the play book of the 1892 Homestead Strike which used Pinkerton Security to assault union workers on strike.

Confessions of a Union Buster

https://youtu.be/a-0gxca-VxM

Challenger Defeats 4-Term Union Prez

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/challenge_slate_defeats_four-term_union_prez/

Any one the knows me know I am Pro Union.

Everything we have won as a people was won by struggle. Nothing was ever given to us.

Suggestion: Read "The People's History" by Howard Zinn.

I have pictures with Howard Zinn when He spoke at the New school in the Village.

Suggestion: Read.They're Bankrupting Us!" An

WESDUNIDAD,

I suggest that you don't use FDR's character flaws to divert from the very clear historical fact that he delivered Social Security to the United States.

Also, and more to the point (the one you also avoided), you've had your union supermajority and their handpicked mayor running NHV for 6 years and they've made a complete mess of the city. Nothing else really matters.

Hi Robyn,

And, thank you, again, for your comments.

Capitalism needs to be dismantled and replaced. The mostly, rich white guys have stolen almost everything now with tax cu and if they haven't they will get that done soon. But, not to worry, we outnumber them (they know this) and we will fight and win a system that is fair to EVERYONE not just rich people.

The inconvenient truth is that capitalism is working well for the (mostly) white rich people, but needs to be dismantled and replaced for the working people who built this country picking cotton, building bridges and roads and creating unions (many died doing this) so that some of us could have a few crumbs/benefits like unemployment, social security and medicare and pensions (if you could call what they get a pension!

I understand Roosevelt's flaws and of course, they had no affect on U.S. policy at the time. I think it is disrespectful for those who fought (and some died) fighting for Social Security to say that FDR GAVE us Social Security. FDR gave us nothing. Power concedes nothing without a demand. Read a few history books like the "People's History" - that should give you a clearer picture of what actually happened in this country.

We need economic democracy like the Danes have. Why is it they Danes are more likely to have jobs than Americans trying to exist under capitalism do? And, why do their jobs pay more? They have and WANT a big government because from that BIG government EVERYONE gets so many more benefits than Americans do? Why don't Americans mind begin screwed by capitalism?

The Cato Institute says that "Denmark has a free market economy. They have an economy where the ravages of capitalism (unemployment, homelessness, lack of free medical care and education, etc.) are mitigated by higher taxes. But, then, 45 prefers to do his job and to make sure the capitalists get huge tax breaks so they can live the life of luxury.

45 and the others understand capitalism very well.

WU,

As many people ion this forum have pointed out, the New Haven Board of Alders is not run by rich white guys. Our mayor is a black women and many alders are women and POC. They've led us into financial disaster. Your constant chattering about national policy is a diversion because that's not our problem. Our problems are these two
1) Over 50% of our property is nontaxable (something we have no control over and can't do anything about without a landmark Equal protection lawsuit that will last years if not decades.)
2) We spend more money than we have. We can do something about this; but clearly not with this mayor and BOA.

Mayor and BOA resign now!