By Matt Clyburn
ECONOMY/JOBS
Tom Foley:
* Make Connecticut a more attractive place for businesses to locate and hire people.
* Work to develop and market the ‘Knowledge Corridor’ from Enfield to New Haven as a unique national asset combining our well-educated and highly skilled workforce with some of the best academic institutions and infrastructure in the nation.
Dan Malloy:
* Engage local officials and business leaders in decisions that will make their communities stronger, and their local economies more competitive.
* Lower energy costs and health care costs by 10 percent or more, to make Connecticut significantly more business friendly and a favored destination for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
* Grow jobs and revitalize the infrastructure through investments in building more affordable housing, rehabilitating historic buildings in our downtown areas, improving our mass transit and transportation infrastructure, or enhancing our air and sea ports.
EDUCATION
Tom Foley:
* Charter schools can be used to improve regular public schools that are not performing well.
* End social promotion and should introduce performance pay for teachers.
* Parents and children who are not served by well-performing regular public schools must have other choices.
* Strive to be a leader in the ‘Race to the Top.’
Dan Malloy:
* Expand access to pre-Kindergarten programs across Connecticut, the goal being to make it universal within four years.
* Allow districts to self-fund new charter schools.
* Create a community college “grade 13” option for those not quite prepared for college level education.
* Expand access to alternative teaching programs and enhance teacher evaluation systems.
* Establish a parental involvement challenge grant to promote innovation and adoption of effective parental involvement strategies.
* Allow optional testing in high school to gauge college preparedness levels in math and English, and tailor senior year curriculum accordingly.
HEALTH CARE
Tom Foley:
* Reduce health care costs now; progress made will help reduce the cost of state government.
* Place Connecticut in a leadership role in lowering health care costs for everyone.
Dan Malloy:
* Change our fiscal focus from paying exorbitant costs of advanced preventable illness to prevention, early detection and treatment, thus saving lives as well as resources.
* Push for a comprehensive pooling bill to allow municipalities, small businesses and the self-employed access to better coverage at a lower cost.
* Form strategic partnerships with Connecticut’s community health centers, which play a vital role in our health care system by treating those who have been denied or cannot afford health insurance, or who don’t live in close proximity to a hospital.
* Expand Connecticut’s Primary Care Case Management (PCCM) system, HUSKY Primary Care, to 400,000 low income children and parents in the HUSKY program.
ENERGY
Tom Foley:
* Reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy by encouraging more energy efficiency and developing sources of alternative energy.
* Contribute to better air quality and stimulate job growth.
Dan Malloy:
* Lead a statewide energy efficiency drive among Connecticut residents with a goal of reducing our energy usage by 15% over the next two years, making Connecticut one of the most energy efficient states in the nation.
SPECIAL CAMPAIGN ISSUE
Tom Foley, Taxation and Hartford Reform:
* Order a top to bottom review of state tax policy to ensure the way we tax our citizens and our businesses is fair and equitable, doesn’t put us at a disadvantage versus other states, and supports strong economic growth and job creation.
* Compare our tax rates and tax policy to other states, aggressively reduce spending so that we can reduce taxes and still comply with our constitutional requirement to balance the state budget, increase transparency so that Connecticut taxpayers aren’t being hit with “stealth taxes” they can not see, such as the gross receipts tax on gas stations.
* Work with the legislature to agree on a bi-partisan, long term tax policy for Connecticut that is based on sound economic policy and fairness, and which puts an end to the old-world politics of pitting groups of citizens or regions of the state against each other.
* Will not accept a salary as Governor and will reduce the cost of the Governor’s office by 10 percent. Seek a stronger line item veto to protect spending reductions and block attempts by the legislature to raise taxes.
* Recommend that Connecticut immediately adopt Generally Accepting Accounting Principles (‘GAAP’) for its budgeting.
Dan Malloy, Energy Efficiency and the Environment:
* Work with environmental experts to find innovative ways to reduce the pollution, toxins and chemicals flowing into Long Island Sound.
* Invest in clean water projects such as sewage treatment plant upgrades, and engage municipalities in the fight against water pollution by incentivizing green infrastructure like permeable pavers, vegetated swales, and greening of public areas to prevent runoff from reaching the storm system.
* Push for advanced energy codes for new buildings, including requirements that new construction be “electric-vehicle ready.”
* Establish a state goal for “net-zero energy buildings,” or buildings that produce at least as much energy as they consume, and set current Energy Star guidelines as the minimum performance standard for televisions sold in the state.
* Add jobs to the solar industry by pushing for an increase in solar power usage.
* Build new rail connections from New Haven to Springfield and support local communities in building out parking at train stations.
* Work with our neighboring states to implement a Low Carbon Fuel Standard that reduces the carbon content of transportation fuels by 10% over the next decade, including taking the steps necessary to facilitate the roll out of electric vehicles.
