Anti-business bias in the House?

 

When Meriden labor activist Chris Donovan was elevated to Connecticut”™s speaker of the house this year, some fretted over the Democrat”™s selection to replace former Speaker James Amann, who was considered friendly to business.

As the Connecticut General Assembly finalizes the budget that will be sent to Gov. M. Jodi Rell for consideration, at least a few in the business community are already fed up with the least-powerful representatives in Hartford.

In a newsletter to members earlier this month, the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association stated it perceives an anti-business bias in the House of Representatives, where Democrats hold enough votes to override any gubernatorial veto, which Rell has promised if a budget compromise cannot be reached.

The assembly convened in January, just as anger deepened nationally over what many considered to be a laissez-faire attitude toward corporate regulation resulting in the Wall Street collapse and credit crisis.

By far the largest issue looming in Connecticut stems from budget deficits estimated in excess of $8 billion over the next few years, and both sides of the aisle have stated they want to balance the books without jeopardizing jobs. Last week, Rell told reporters a budget deal is unlikely to be worked out before the June 3 deadline for the current legislative session, which if the case would require a special session this summer.

“Everywhere we turn this year, mostly in the House, it is hard to find friends among the members of the Democratic majority,” the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association stated in its newsletter. “This year”™s freshman class, along with a number of second-term members, has a decidedly different attitude towards retailers and business in general.”

The state Democratic Party did not have an immediate response to the charge as of deadline.

Through a spokeswoman, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association”™s government-affairs chief Bonnie Stewart said she has not noticed any anti-business bias on the part of rookie Democrats in the Connecticut General Assembly. CBIA publicly is questioning the content and tenor of the debate in Hartford, however, taking exception to a lengthy debate on how Connecticut should cast its votes in future presidential elections even as the state budget crisis worsens and some businesses are pushed to the brink.

There are 19 first-term members in the state House of Representatives this year, 15 of them Democrats including Auden Grogins and Ezequiel Santiago, both of Bridgeport, Christopher Lyddy of Newtown and Patricia Billie Miller of Stamford. Combined with 17 sophomore representatives ”“ just one a Republican ”“ recently elected legislators hold more than a fifth of the seats in the House of Representatives.

The lone freshman Republican representatives in Fairfield County are Fred Camillo of Greenwich and Tony Hwang, who represents parts of Fairfield and Trumbull.

The Connecticut Retail Merchants Association stated it has found a friendlier reception among Democrats in the Senate. This year”™s freshman class in the Senate includes Democrat Anthony Musto, a tax attorney who represents Trumbull and sections of Bridgeport and Monroe.

Freshman Republicans in the Senate include Scott Frantz, representing Greenwich and parts of New Canaan and Stamford, and Republican Michael McLachlan, whose constituents include residents of Bethel, Danbury, New Fairfield and Sherman. McLachlan previously was chief of staff for Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, and before that was a vice president in charge of equipment leasing in Connecticut for First Union National Bank.

For his part, Frantz hit Hartford with significant statewide clout, thanks to his previous roles as chairman of Bradley International Airport, the Connecticut Development Authority and the Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority.

Another freshman senator brings years of legislative experience in the state House of Representatives: Sen. Toni Boucher, whose jurisdiction covers a swath of central Fairfield County towns including Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton.