Two prominent Democratic candidates for governor – Dannel Malloy and Mary Glassman – both sharply criticized the state’s practice of borrowing money for operating expenses that is part of the Democratic-written budget that Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell would not sign.
Malloy and Glassman rejected the practice known as “securitization” during a gubernatorial forum Wednesday at the University of Connecticut’s law school in Hartford’s West End. Four Democratic candidates appeared separately from seven Republican candidates in back-to-back debates in front of about 200 UConn students, alumni, and officials on the law school’s 21-acre campus.
Malloy, who served as Stamford’s mayor for 14 years, said that securitization is “really bad public policy.”
In the budget for the 2011 fiscal year, the state legislature filled a hole of $1.3 billion by promising to borrow money that would be paid off with money from various state revenue streams. Those revenue streams are not specified under state law, and Rell and the legislators are currently debating over exactly how the hole should be filled.
At the Capitol, each side has blamed the other recently over securitization as no one wants to claim authorship of the idea.
Rell originally called for using money generated from legalizing the keno gambling game, but Democrats have sharply rejected that idea. Instead, they have called for using fees paid by customers of Connecticut Light & Power Co., which has prompted a campaign of radio commercials and newspaper advertisements that strongly criticize the idea.
“Securitization – really what it means is stealing,” Glassman said during the forum. “We stole those monies.”
In an interview after the debate, Glassman said, “We cannot keep stealing from the future to pay for the past. We cannot keep doing it.”
Malloy and Glassman were runningmates during the 2006 Democratic primary before Malloy lost the race against New Haven Mayor John DeStefano. Glassman, however, won her primary for lieutenant governor and then became DeStefano’s runningmate in the eventual race against Rell.
The two Democrats were joined on stage by Rudy Marconi, who has served as Ridgefield’s first selectman for the past 11 years, and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa, who is taking a leave of absence from a universal health care foundation to run for governor.
The Democratic frontrunner in the polls – Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont – did not attend because of a scheduling conflict. His spokeswoman, Justine Sessions, declined to detail the nature of the conflict or say where Lamont was on Wednesday. Lamont, she said, has already participated in more than 15 multi-candidate forums over the past several months and will be attending another one at 2 p.m. Saturday at Shepaug Valley High School in the Litchfield County town of Washington.
“If I had anything to do with Ned not showing up, I apologize,” Malloy said in his opening remarks to the crowd.
The Democratic debate followed a forum by seven Republicans who are seeking the party’s nomination at the convention on Saturday, May 22 in Hartford.
The Republican front-runner in the polls, Tom Foley of Greenwich, and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford both said they would first push for cutting spending instead of raising taxes.
“Revenue is not the answer. That’s the easy cop-out,” Fedele said.
When some candidates said the state does not have a revenue problem, longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury said the state in fact does have a revenue problem because 100,000 unemployed citizens are not paying income taxes and sales taxes at the levels that they have in the past.
Former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis, who has served as a state senator and university president during his long career, noted that the candidates have not unveiled precise, line-by-line plans that would fill the state’s projected $3.8 billion deficit for the 2012 fiscal year.
“No one has a satisfactory answer. I don’t,” DeNardis told the crowd. “This will be the most difficult year in Connecticut history.”
When the candidates were asked how to keep higher education affordable, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton was the sixth person to speak.
“I’m not sure if I heard an answer,” Boughton said to the crowd.
A crucial way to hold down college costs at UConn and the Connecticut State University system, he said, is to moderate the lucrative pensions and benefits of the employees of the public universities. Boughton is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Boughton said after the forum. “That’s one of the drivers of the budget. … Some of the salaries tend to butt up against the absurd.”
The candidates were introduced by UConn president Michael Hogan, who mispronounced the names of Boughton, Griebel, and journalist Keith Phaneuf, who was one of the questioners at both debates.