Gov. Dannel Malloy is declaring victory.
With a smile on his face, Malloy finally has reached a ratified savings and concession deal with 45,000 unionized state employees that will help define his four-year term in office. Since the parameters of an administration often are set during the first year, Malloy is now positioning himself as the governor who respected the unions and came out ahead.
The unions were high-profile supporters of Malloy's election campaign last year; many believe the unions were the difference as Malloy defeated Republican Tom Foley by about one half of 1 percent. Now, those workers have a guarantee of four years of no layoffs in return for two years of wage freezes and changes in their health care and pension benefits.
"If you asked a public-service worker, would you rather be in Connecticut with Dan Malloy as your governor or would you rather be in New Jersey or Wisconsin, I think they would tell you they would want this guy," said Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy's chief political adviser. "We still face huge budget challenges. The economy is nowhere near where he would like to see it. The last couple of days have been good days, but we need a lot more good days.''
But some Republicans say Malloy's accomplishment is somewhat hollow -- they estimate that at least $600 million of the $1.6 billion in savings and concessions is a smoke-and-mirrors deal designed to balance the two-year state budget. Even the legislature's nonpartisan fiscal office says it cannot verify some of the savings assumptions, though Malloy and his budget chief say they are confident they will reach the projected savings.
House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk said the recent ratification of the four-year, no-layoff agreement was not a great day for taxpayers.
"This is a great day for the governor politically because he believes that this issue finally, after almost eight months of getting the budget done the way he wanted it done, is done,'' Cafero said. "I'm not so sure it's a great day for the state of Connecticut, as much as, in his mind, it's a great day for him politically.''