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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power in Politics. We continue our conversation with Ben Proto and Jimmy Tickey. Thank you both so much again. kind of cut you off Jimmy the the last go around here. So once you pick up where you left off, it's OK we were talking about the fiscal health that Connecticut is in and look, there was a time where Connecticut was not in good fiscal health. We really kicked the can down the road for about 70, 75 years, but what's important to know is that under this governor and working with the legislature, we have invested over $10 billion into the pensions which has paid down our pension debt. We had such a huge pension debt and that really straddled all of our bills. Like maxing out a credit card, getting another, maxing that out, getting another. This has allowed us to have the wherewithal to be responsive in this Trump era to programs that are being cut to make investments in infrastructure and early childcare and education. And then we also have a rainy day fund for those very efforts approaching $5 billion in the rainy day fund. So fiscal health is not something we were always able to tout here in Connecticut, but we are on a much solid place where we are able to make these investments and have paid down so much of our debt in Connecticut under this governor's term. Well, Jimmy's right. We've put $10 billion into our pension liability, but we've only reduced it by $3 billion which begs the question, where did the other $7 billion go? And the answer is Governor Lamont and the Democrats have given state employees a 35% pay raise since the governor took office in 2019. So if you were making $100,000 as a state employee in January of 2019, today you're making $135,000. The average salary in the state of Connecticut is about $66,000. The average salary for a state employee is about $96,000. So yeah, we put $10 billion in but only paid it down by $3 billion. Why? Because people forget when you give 35% pay raises to state employees, what happens your pension liability goes up, your healthcare costs for your your your employees and your retirees go up. So yeah, we, we did that. We just didn't get the result we wanted to because the fiscal management wasn't there on the other side of that coin and. We put $5 billion into the rainy day fund. That $5 billion belongs to you and I and Jimmy as taxpayers. We've never even considered giving it back any of it back to the taxpayers who could actually use it to pay the higher prices that the Lamont administration has imposed in so many different areas in the state of Connecticut. Well, we know that the next legislative session is coming up here next month. Uh, Jimmy, tell me about um. What do you think Democrats did well this last go around and what will we look forward to in 206? Sure, well, let's go around in 2022, we did pass a middle class tax cut in Connecticut with some of those rainy day funds, and I think as we look to this legislative session, it's a couple of things. It is what is happening at the federal level to see how can we be responsive. You know, Republicans in Congress let the Affordable Care Act subsidies expire and people got those notices last October. Those bills were due in January and people are seeing their health care prices double. Or triple. So Connecticut made a $70 million investment just to bend down some of those costs so that people do not see those healthcare prices increase. So I think there'll be a very close tracking of what is happening nationally with the funds that we do have available to us to see where can we be helpful to make sure that if the Trump administration does cancel the next set of programs or things that really hurt working people, that Connecticut can be responsive. There's bipartisan talk around the ECS funding, that's the educational cost sharing, to see what more. Can be done to help towns. You know, Education is increasingly a large part of the municipal budget. And so how can the state be helpful to really make sure that these are fair equations and making sure that towns and cities are getting money from the state to really help with the education of youngsters. There's also some conversations that maybe around looking at DCF. There's been some situations in Connecticut with some of the home schooling and how that connects to people who may have fallen through the cracks, and we want to make sure no one falls through the cracks that if you're having interactions with the police or DCF that there can be. Some sort of maybe regular check in or some opportunity to talk with families that we don't see some of the cases that happened last year that we really never see that again in Connecticut and no one falls through the cracks. Ben, what did the state Republicans get right and what do they want to do here next month? I think what they got right was really being the impetus behind the veto of the original housing bill, um, the 5002 bill, which was just a really bad piece of legislation. Um, I think they were pushing, uh, on a lot of, uh, reducing costs, uh, and trying to keep the, the governmental costs under control to reduce the, uh, cost to taxpayers, uh, and, and to consumers in Connecticut. Um, I think when we look at where we're at, I think one of the things we're going to see a lot of coming out of the Republicans this year is addressing the corruption that's in the Obama administration. Between the school funding, the school construction funding issue, the state pier, um, the utter abomination that occurred at Pura where Governor Lamont continued to double down on Marissa Gillette, who actually perjured herself, unfortunately, two attorneys in that have been sent for grievances because of what happened there. Uh, we see, uh, Jonathan Steinberg decides not to run again because of what happened there. So there was a. Real problem there we see, you know, some of his staff that, you know, we're not properly accounting for their time and their mileage, um, so these are all, these are all issues that, um, you know, we're not quite at Tim Wall's Minnesota level yet, but we're working our way there in this administration and the level of corruption. So I think you're gonna see the Republicans, uh, address the corruption scandal and trying to put more things in place to reduce. Eliminate the corruption and go after the people who steal from the taxpayers and cause us problems. I think you're also going to see the Republicans really talk about bringing taxes down and reducing the burden on the less minute we have left. How do you respond to that? How do I respond? The Democrats are working together and we are unified with Governor Lamont, with the Democratic legislature, and we are working on making life better for people through policies to make sure that the Trump administration doesn't continue. to harm Connecticut families that we represent our Connecticut values, and we'll fight every day for that. There are a lot of Republicans running for governor, but Democrats are unified with our team, with our slate, which includes all of the constitutional officers as well, including Treasurer Eric Russell, who's done a terrific job with baby bonds, really helping. We want to talk about affordability. What are you going to do about affordability? So you have to have the policies that actually help people. Jimmy and Ben, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. People's ability to live in this town cannot wait 2 years. The election for Fairfield first selectperson is just weeks away. We hear from the candidates making their case for the first time.

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The two major candidates for first select person in Fairfield, shared a stage this week trying to convince a packed house who should get their vote between now and February 3rd. News 12 Connecticut's Greg Thompson shows us how it went. Just like they do before every election for first selectman in Fairfield, the town's Rotary Club hosted a forum with the two major candidates. I'm very concerned about the additional housing and apartment complexes going up. I'm hoping to hear more about the property reevaluation. Their ability to lead, I think, is really important. All topics covered by State Senator Tony Huang, a Republican who got enough signatures on a petition to force a special. All I'm asking is to compare and contrast my experience, my achievement, and the ability to lead us moving forward. And Democrat Christine Vitale, who's had the position since Bill Gerber passed away in July. I have a unique understanding of what's going on in our local government in a way I think the senator just doesn't because he's been up in Hartford with questions pre-submitted and screened and without chances for rebuttals. Both candidates shared concern over increased costs. Cost of living. I want to be able this town to be a place where people can can come regardless of how much they earn and where they are in their life. People's ability to live in this town cannot wait 2 years. With Vitale welcoming more development as long as it's on the right terms. It's not necessarily new development. Our housing stock and our commercial stock in parts of town are aging. That provides a huge opportunity. Fairfield has the challenge. Of either remaining as a town. Or turning itself into a city and Huang taking issue with how some things have gone in the six months that Vitale's been on the job. Our police chief and our fire chief that have been in office for nearly since September still do not have a contract. That is an important risk. The fire chief currently has a contract. Police chief, I want everyone in this room, everyone, we're working on those, and they are absolutely amazing partners in Fairfield, Greg Thompson, he's 12, Connecticut. And we will have the 2 Fairfield candidates on next week. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudall. Thanks for watching.

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On this week's Power & Politics, News 12's Mark Sudol is joined by State Republican Chair Ben Proto and State Democratic Vice Chair Jimmy Tickey. The three discuss the start of the new legislative session and key campaigns for this fall's midterm elections, including a new candidate for governor.

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