The 2nd Gubernatorial Debate between Ned Lamont and Bob Stefanowski will be held tonight (Monday 9/17/18) at 7:00pm at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven (televised on mytv9 [on Cox cable this is channel 9] and will be on wtnh.com).
What: Gubernatoriual candidate debate
When: Tonight 9/17/18 7pm
Televised: mytv9 and wtnh.com
Be certain to watch tonight’s gubernatorial debate. The candidates, Ned Lamont (D), and Bob Stefanowski (R) will be squaring off for their second debate. There are many reasons that this election should be important to all of us as state employees, including: the next administration will be negotiating our successor contract in 2021.
At the previous debate, the issue of state employees was raised. and each candidate made several comments regarding organized labor. Most notably, Stefanowksi said he would immediately call for a "Fiscal Emergency" if elected. Stefanowski accused Lamont of lying to state employees about future pension funding, while at the same time indicating his desire to force SEBAC to be re-opened and switching to a 401(k) system. Lamont, for his part, stated that he respects labor, and that there needs to be a pension funding discussion with business and labor at the table and further stated that Stefanowski wants to put all of the State's financial burden on state employees while at the same time cutting taxes.
To make an informed decision in the coming election this fall, all members should pay attention to this evening’s debate. Come January, and for four years after that, one of these two candidates will hold the governor’s office. This person, and their approach to governing, will have tremendous impact on the future of all state employees and their families. p>
in last week's Gubernatorial Debate, the question of State Employee benefits was raised:
The Question Was:
The contract for state unions providing for benefits and pensions is locked in through 2027, a provision the legislature provided in return for various concessions, as governor would you honor this contract or seek in some fashion to reopen this contract?
Bob Stefanowski:…in terms of the SEBAC agreement, we are not, this pension plan is $100 billion underfunded, it is almost $30K per man, women, child in the state of Connecticut. Mr Lamont claims to be a friend of the unions, by lying to the unions and telling them that that money is going to be there is not the answer. I don’t mean to be mean spirited about it, we need to protect people’s retirement, we need to give them good health care but the checks are going to start to bounce, it is classic of beaurocrats like Ned Lamont to do that and Dan Malloy has been doing that for 8 years. We need to sit down at the table, we have to have a fair compromise, and we need to give state employees the security that at least something will still be there, it is only fair to them to do it and it is not fair to avoid reality.
Ned Lamont:…Bob’s idea of fairness is to eliminate the income tax for himself, eliminate the inheritance tax for himself, put all the burden on State employees, and you will never get people to the table with that type of one-sided deal. I do have the respect of labor and I respect labor. I know that we entered into a contract with them many years ago and they have done nothing wrong, the fact that we had governors on both side of the aisle going back generations that didn’t put a dime in. What does that mean, that still means we get back to the table, that means business and labor will be at the table, that means I sit down and look people in the eye. I say we are going to have to make fundamental changes in the terms of how we change benefits going forward both on the healthcare side as well as the pension side. It’s absolutely true that we can no longer have our liabilities going up faster than our assets. We need somebody who has the credibility with labor to sit down at the table and say that we are doing this to protect the next generation of workers. What we can do on the asset side: put more assets in there, put the lottery into the teacher’s pension fund so the teachers have some confidence that the money will be there going forward. We have billions of dollars of real estate, what is Connecticut doing with 4,000 buildings? That ought to be under private management and put some of that into the state employee fund. On the other side, we are going to have to slow the rate of increase when it comes to pension obligations. Look, I would put things on the table, I would put double-dipping on the table, how long can we continue to do that, and our legislators how long are they going to be able to put car mileage into our pension obligations, I am willing to put everything on the table to get the job done.
Bob Stefanowski: So, there you go, a bunch of superficial ideas, the reality is we have a hundred billion dollar problem, we can't treat it prospectively, we probably need to look at the existing benefits to solve the problem. Again Mr Lamont, you say you are a friend of the unions, lying to people and telling them the money is going to be there when we both know it’s not gonna be there, there is money around the State, we should use it fund the pension plans, we should use it for a tax cut but I challenge you to find a $100 billion that we are gonna be able to use to fund that pension plan. It is not going to happen and we need to admit that and until we admit it, we can’t solve it.
Bob Stefanowski:: one of the issues with the State Employee pension plan is that it is a defined benefit plan, who has a defined benefit plan, we need to move to 401k plans.
Ned Lamont: Our retirements used to be our home, social security, and a pension, the pension is something that is at risk and that is something I am trying to shore up as prudently, thoughtfully and fiscally conscientiously as I can.