Getting to the point
“I”™m here to talk about America”™s choice in this election, so let me get right to the point,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in addressing the Democratic National Convention earlier this month. “Mitt Romney has said that if he was president and Paul Ryan”™s budget passed, he would sign it into law. That”™s what he said, so let”™s talk about what it would mean.”
For Malloy, it means the end of guaranteed Medicare health coverage for millions of senior citizens; jeopardized Medicaid coverage for millions of children and people with disabilities; education slashed 20 percent; and a litany of other social woes.
“All these cuts are being done so Romney can give a tax cut of $265,000 to your average millionaire and continue billions of dollars in subsidies for Big Oil,” Malloy told the convention. “We Democrats have nothing against people who”™ve earned their wealth. We salute their hard work and good fortune. But slashing what we invest in schools, in roads, in research and development, in clean energy and in the things that protect our most vulnerable just to cut taxes for those at the top is ridiculous.”
We”™ll get to the point as well: how those words ever worked their way out of Malloy”™s mouth into a microphone ”“ on the heels of his awarding the mega-rich Bridgewater Associates L.P. $115 million in state support to build a new headquarters in Stamford, and other instances of corporate welfare on his watch ”“ is frankly a little ridiculous as well.
Malloy correctly justifies the Bridgewater tax breaks on the years of economic activity and state revenue that it will generate, and by extension support for things like schools and infrastructure; in fact, Romney justifies his own tax incentives for the wealthy on economic grounds, arguing it will spur investment and so jobs.
Perhaps it was only a coincidence that ESL Investments moved its headquarters from Greenwich to Miami the year after Malloy raised taxes. But it was Malloy”™s own revenue commissioner who suggested this month that there is a definite correlation between Connecticut”™s estate and gift taxes ”“ also stiffened by Malloy ”“ and wealthy taxpayers moving their primary residence from Connecticut.
We happen to believe Malloy has been a responsible steward for the state budget and an energetic promoter of Connecticut as a place to grow a business. Yes, he raised spending and taxes, but he gave a solid justification and we have yet to see evidence it has had any discernible, detrimental effect on the local economy. If we have lost ESL and a few other companies, we have gained others. And Malloy has made a dent in the “unfunded mandates” Connecticut faces years down the road, if he has a lot more work on that front left in his years in office.
When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stated in his Republican National Convention keynote speech that “our leaders of today have decided it”™s more important to be popular, to say and do what”™s easy, and say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required” ”“ he was not referring to Malloy, who accurately described himself this month saying, “Oh hell, I bang heads with everybody.”
We understand it”™s the time of year when Democrats bang heads with Republicans, and vice versa. Just a little advice for the governor ”“ ridiculing tax breaks for the wealthy from a perch from which you disburse such breaks yourself essentially sets up your own opponent in two years”™ time to ridicule you.