Some of Connecticut’s top corporate chiefs are throwing their weight behind Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal, agreeing that the governor’s mix of spending cuts and tax increases are a fair way to deal with the state’s $3.2 billion deficit.
CEOs of Aetna, Cigna, The Hartford, and United Technologies, along with the president of Travelers, have sent a joint letter to top democratic and republican lawmakers urging them to work with Malloy to produce a “balanced budget which addresses both short-term deficits and long-term structural liabilities.”
Their support drew a stern rebuke from the state’s small-business lobby.
In the April 14 letter, the chief executives applauded Malloy’s proposal to reduce spending by $1.8 billion and, if those spending cuts are implemented, they recognize “that reasonable tax increases on businesses and individuals may also be required as part of a shared sacrifice to close the massive and unprecedented budget gap that confronts us.”
“As business leaders with long-standing commitments to Connecticut, we understand, appreciate and accept this in the context of a credible budget,” the letter said. “We applaud Governor Malloy’s leadership in commencing the budget process with a good-faith proposal that places Connecticut on a path to a more fiscally sound budget. The state can no longer rely on less-than-transparent accounting practices, unchecked borrowing or one-time handouts from the federal government to balance the budget.”
The endorsement by some of Connecticut’s top CEOs could be seen as a major victory for Malloy’s efforts to win legislative support for his two-year budget plan that calls for $1.5 billion in tax increases, $1 billion in union concessions, and other spending cuts.
“As every day goes by, more and more business leaders are supporting Governor Malloy’s budget — and it’s support he greatly appreciates,” Malloy senior adviser Roy Occhiogrosso said in a statement Monday. “What these business leaders are telling him is that they appreciate his tough, honest approach to getting the state’s fiscal house in order. They’re telling him that a stable fiscal climate will lead to a better business climate. And that a better business climate will lead to real job growth – which is a goal we can all agree on.”
But, while the heads of larger corporations in the state show support for the budget, small businesses and some individual companies still have major concerns.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Monday asserted the CEOs are betraying small businesses and taxpayers.
“They’re sacrificing small business to the volcano,” said NFIB state director Andrew Markowski in a statement late Monday. “And if things don’t work out they can always go to Washington and get a bailout.”
Among the CEOs who signed the letter: Mark Bertolini, CEO and president of Hartford health insurer Aetna; David Cordani, president and CEO of Philadelphia-based Cigna, which has major operations in Bloomfield; Liam McGee, chairman, president and CEO of The Hartford Financial Services Group; Louis R. Chenevert, chairman and CEO of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp.; and Brian MacLean, president and chief operating officer of Travelers, which is based in Minnesota but has major operations in Hartford.
