Regardless of the question Monday, the answer was virtually always the same: we must work with labor.<\/p>\n
Six gubernatorial candidates who spoke in front of the state AFL-CIO’s top leaders Monday in Hartford repeatedly said they would seek labor’s help to solve the state’s fiscal problems.<\/p>\n
The AFL-CIO has not made any endorsements in the governor’s race, but some of the candidates were clearly seeking the support of the union members. While the union federation does not endorse candidates in every race, the group endorsed New Haven Mayor John DeStefano over Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy in the August 2006 gubernatorial primary.<\/p>\n
Four years later, Malloy is running again and he told the group at the Hartford Hilton that there would be a new tone if he reaches the governor’s office.<\/p>\n
“We have had governors in this state who have attacked you,” Malloy said to about 250 union leaders. “That is going to change. … Together, with the people in this room, we’re going to build a new Connecticut.”<\/p>\n
The Democratic frontrunner – Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont – said he does not tailor his responses to labor audiences, but instead says the same thing to both business and labor groups.<\/p>\n
“I may not be the best business candidate. I may not be the best labor candidate,” Lamont said in an interview. “But I think I can bring them together.”<\/p>\n
When he ran in 2006 for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Joe Lieberman, Lamont said, “I didn’t get invited to one chamber [of commerce] four years ago,” Lamont said.<\/p>\n
The only Republican who addressed the group was Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, a former schoolteacher and union member who is the son of a Teamster. When Boughton answered a question on whether he supports raising the minimum wage, he did not get a positive response.<\/p>\n
“Right now, as we speak, no, not right now,” Boughton said on the minimum wage hike.<\/p>\n
“Boo!” someone shouted from the back of the room.<\/p>\n
“I know that’s not something you want to hear, but it’s something you need to hear,” Boughton said.<\/p>\n
Later in the forum, Boughton said, “Today, you’ve heard about how terrible Republican governors have been.”<\/p>\n
Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman and Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi both said they support raising the minimum wage. Several speakers criticized the high-ranking executives at Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., who said recently in New York City that anywhere is less expensive for them to operate than in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
Former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden said the state cannot have a situation where a top executive at UTC goes to New York City “and disrespects the taxpayers of this state.”<\/p>\n
While politics was clearly on the minds of those present, longtime state AFL-CIO president John Olsen – a former state Democratic chairman and former Greenwich Democrat Town Committee chairman – said his union is diverse. He noted that 50 to 55 percent of AFL-CIO members are Democrats, 12 percent are Republicans, and the rest are unaffiliated.<\/p>\n
Olsen, who noted that state Democratic chairwoman Nancy DiNardo was in the back of the ballroom, said he had reached out to state Republican chairman Chris Healy.<\/p>\n
“We’ve always welcomed everyone to this table,” Olsen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Regardless of the question Monday, the answer was virtually always the same: we must work with labor. Six gubernatorial candidates who spoke in front of the state AFL-CIO’s top leaders Monday in Hartford repeatedly said they would seek labor’s help to solve the state’s fiscal problems. The AFL-CIO has not made any endorsements in the governor’s race, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4001,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}