In an ongoing battle of endorsements, former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy was endorsed Tuesday by a large association of nursing home owners.
The board of directors of the East Hartford-based Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities is unanimously supporting both Malloy and state comptroller Nancy Wyman, his running mate in the August 10 Democratic primary.
The trade association represents 110 nursing homes that care for nearly 14,000 residents, and the association's longtime members cannot remember any time when the 81-year-old organization had endorsed any candidate in a primary.
"The CAHCF board of directors believes that Dan Malloy and Nancy Wyman have distinguished themselves in the campaign as the only candidate in either party to articulate a clear understanding of Connecticut's long-term care system and the needs of nursing homes and their residents in the continuum of care," said Matthew V. Barrett, the group's executive vice president. "Dan Malloy and Nancy Wyman have made senior care issues a centerpiece of their campaign---yes from the central perspective of the residents and their families, but also from the angle of the operators and the employees."
In an interview, Barrett said the endorsement was "one of the few examples'' where the nursing home owners and the unionized nursing home employees have agreed on an issue. The union workers in District 1199 previously endorsed Lamont this year.
"Usually, the industry is going in a different direction than the employees,'' Barrett told Capitol Watch.
Regarding Malloy, Barrett said, "This candidate has put senior care issues in the forefront of his campaign. He addressed the board of directors, and he came again and talked to our executive committee.''
Malloy said in a statement: "It's no secret that the relationship between Connecticut's health care facility operators and the people they employ has been contentious. It doesn't have to be this way, because the truth is both sides have been let down in recent years by administrations that have refused to properly fund the cost of providing care, and have refused to make the necessary reforms and adjustments to support our seniors and the people who care for them. Connecticut can do better, and under my administration - it will."
Lamont said Tuesday night that he and Malloy do not have the same positions on nursing home funding.
"There's no question we have to adequately fund our nursing homes, and we haven't been doing that,'' Lamont said in a telephone town hall with voters. "I have a slight difference with Dan on this. I'm less likely to throw money at the existing system. ... I support more home healthcare options. ... As I look around the country, I look at Oregon. I look at Florida. ... It saves those states a fortune in tax dollars.''