Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “TV/Radio”

60% of Budget Increase is Going to State Employees — Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: You’ve written a column “12 ways Lamont Fails to Grasp the Impact of Giving State Employees a 33% Raise.” And I know we've been talking about this a lot. But here's what I wanted to do today. I have a set of dice, Red,. I'm going to roll the dice and whatever number comes up, we'll talk about that particular issue in your column. How's that sound?

Red Jahncke: That's that's great. All right.

Lee Elci: Here we go. The dice are out and the number is six. I would like you to talk to me about number six, Lamont saying, “Remember, we've had a pretty good inflation in the last six years.” Well, inflation over that period was 2.5%. Take it away, Red,

Red Jahncke: First, just a little bit of context. Labor cost, is the largest single expense that the state has.

But, I'll go to number six. Yes, 33% for state employees under Ned Lamont. Six years inflation over the period, 25%. The average private sector worker in the nation 23%. State employees are 10% ahead of their compatriots in the private sector. Just not fair, just not sustainable. I mean, the private sector is what generates the economic activity that supports the government expenditures we make. If the private sector is lagging, we can't sustain a 10% premium for public sector workers.

Continue Reading:

What’s Limiting the Spending that CT Democrats Want to Unleash? — Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: That's right, I forgot your regular reminder that Connecticut state employees have received a 33% wage increase under Governor Lamont compared to a 23% increase for private sector workers. So how about a little more details for those of the listeners that are joining us for the first time?

Red Jahncke: I think the key here is the the misunderstanding and the dysfunction at Hartford, that surrounds this whole issue. So Governor Lamont, in his budget proposal issued in February, laid out all the evidence any would one would need to appreciate the calamitous impact of these wage increases and benefit increases for state employees.

So let me roll out a couple of a numbers from the Office of Fiscal Analysis. The governor put $500 million in what's called the Reserve for Salary Adjustments. That is an account where money is put for future wage increases for state employees. And the fringe benefit increase under the governor's budget. That is $740 million. Together, that's $1.2 billion going to state employees.

Also the required calculation of the constitutional spending cap: only $2.2 billion of an increase in allowable spending. So you have $1.2 billion going to state employees [out] of the $2.2 billion. Very little left over to spend on services for citizens.

Continue Reading:

Contrasting CT Gov Ned Lamont and His Predecessor, Democrat Dannel Malloy— Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: I was going to start this, the ghost of Malloy, fiscal discipline, and a haunting legacy. So in your columns, you've contrasted that, Governor Lamont's lavish 33% wage hikes, again, with the former governor's imposition of three wage freezes as a rare act of fiscal courage. Where where are we with that now?

Red Jahncke: If we went back in a time machine -- seven, eight, nine years now? The concept that you and I would be praising Dannel Malloy, an arch Democrat, would, would seem as if we were Rip Van Winkle coming back from 20 years sleep with no idea what was going on. But the fact is Malloy took the action that was required at the time. Lamont is ducking and dodging and bobbing and weaving and will not take responsibility. Lamont is taking one item after another off budget, which is a violation not only of the fiscal guardrails, but it's a violation of good budgeting practice. I mean, what's the point of a budget if every time you want to spend more, you just go off budget and spend it off budget?

Continue Reading:

CT’s Largest Operating Cost is State Employee Compensation (Now Over $10 Billion), Yet Gov Lamont is Clueless About Its Drivers and Its Impact – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: All right. Where did you want to start today?

Red Jahncke: With what I call the 12 point indictment of our governor. As you know, I've been writing about state employee compensation for over six months now. Calling for a two year wage freeze.

All been going on, you might say, somewhat in a vacuum. Everybody knows that Lamont has been negotiating a new contract with the state employees. He has not released it yet. Since the contract has not been announced, there hasn't been a news event around which to query the governor about the 33% wage increase he's already given state employees over the six years that are in the books.

There hasn't been any real focal point for this issue until last week, when he granted an interview to the CT Examiner. The Examiner asked him point blank “After a 33% wage increase, would you consider a wage freeze such as your predecessor, Democrat Daniel Malloy, imposed?” when confronted directly with the question, Lamont revealed himself to be completely unprepared and had no answer. He revealed his ignorance in what I have classed a 12 point indictment. State employee compensation is the largest cost in state operations. It's over ten billion dollars a year. How can anyone be ignorant in his position of the largest cost of operation?

Continue Reading:

Lamont’s Stealth Hiring Freeze — Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: Your recent column discusses Governor Lamont’s quiet implementation of a hiring freeze on state employees. You describe this as a stealth move. Why is he doing this silently?

Red Jahncke: Well, I think he's been caught off guard. State employee compensation has skyrocketed, consuming a large portion of the budget and squeezing out other spending. The question becomes: What do you cut? Lamont is under significant pressure from progressives in his party, so he halted hiring within the state workforce for the remainder of March, April, May, and June to remain within the budget—at least temporarily. However, this is just a preview of a much larger impending problem.

Lee Elci: You have to admit, this seems like a small victory. You've been addressing the 33% wage increase over the last five or six years. This hiring freeze appears to be a win.

Red Jahncke: Yes. Labor costs are determined by two factors: the pay rate and the size of the workforce. We've criticized the state for both significantly increasing pay rates (a 33% raise) and simultaneously expanding the workforce. That's the classic double whammy. Over the past two years, the cost of the unionized workforce has risen by 18%. Many people are confused about fiscal guardrails, particularly the volatility cap. However, the key issue here isn't the fiscal guardrails themselves but rather the excessive compensation of state employees crowding out other spending.

Lee Elci: Lamont has a Yale background he often references. Still, he didn't seem to anticipate the combined impact of pay rates and workforce size on labor costs. What does this suggest about his fiscal acumen?

Continue Reading:

Lamont Wants to Coddle Federal Workers Too! — Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: All right, so I have a question for you. You were mentioned at the Yankee Institute for adding to the massive body of evidence of favoritism by Connecticut Democrats toward government employees and unions. Could you elaborate on some key pieces of evidence from that body that you found most compelling?

Red Jahncke: Well, I think what you're referring to is noteworthy. A couple of weeks ago, this issue of state employee compensation and how extraordinarily generous it is broke into the news cycle. I'm happy that last week, Hearst newspapers ran two editorials of their own suggesting that state employee compensation should be reviewed and a wage freeze considered.

To answer your specific question, this began back in the 1930s and '40s when Franklin Delano Roosevelt went on the record saying that unions had no place in government. The function of a union is to negotiate across the table from an employer, which works in the private sector but not in the public sector, where both sides are on the same side of the table.

Lee Elci: All right. Red Jahncke is with us, and we're chatting again. He's been a major driving force behind conversations about employee wages, Governor Lamont, and everything associated with that. So let me ask you this. One of the editorials in Hearst was about Governor Lamont’s decision to offer special treatment to employees affected by DOGE reductions. What's your take on this?

Continue Reading:

CT State Employee Health Care Benefits — Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

The Cost of State Employee Compensation

Lee Elci: What’s the simplest answer as to why Governor Lamont has rewarded state employees with six consecutive annual wage increases?

Red Jahncke: I think he doesn’t care. He sees it as a distant problem. If he even pays attention, he has this wonderful little mantra: “I have to pay our state employees these wages and benefits so I can hire the best and the brightest.” Well, does that mean the other 49 states are hiring only dim bulbs and deadbeats?

The real issue is that state employee compensation is by far the largest component of the budget—over $10 billion a year. You can have an enormous impact simply by holding the line on state employee pay. If you institute a two-year wage freeze, you free up money that the governor claims he doesn’t have.

This isn’t just an accounting problem—it’s a political one. The administration is making a deliberate choice to prioritize public-sector raises over fiscal responsibility.

Continue Reading:

The News Side of the Media is Asking Lamont About a State Wage Freeze – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: All right. What are you focusing on again today?

Red Jahncke: Well, I think it's noteworthy that last week, the news media—not the commentary segment, such as yours and mine, right?—the news media asked Ned Lamont about unfair wage increases for state employees. So we have punched through. We are in the news cycle. Ned can no longer ignore this issue, which has always been his preferred approach.

Lee Elci: So, and he's hiding away right now. He's MIA.

Red Jahncke: Isn't he? Yes, he is. He's M.I.A. We are not. Down here in lower Fairfield County, I understand the Greenwich RTC discussed this very issue in its meeting last night. I was invited to Kent, Connecticut, over the weekend to speak about it to the Kent RTC at their Lincoln Dinner. You had Ben Proto on Monday. Ben tells me he discussed it with you. We're beginning to raise the consciousness of the public.

Continue Reading:

Lamont Busts the Fiscal Guardrails — Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: All right welcome! Every Wednesday, we bring on Red Jahncke.

You ready to rock and roll today.

Red Jahncke: I'm ready to rock and roll.

Lee Elci: All right. So, Governor Lamont once called Connecticut's Fiscal Guardrail “sacrosanct.” How significant is his decision to modify the Volatility Cap! And do you think this sets a dangerous precedent.

Red Jahncke: Yes, I do. There are a couple of income tax revenue streams that are capped at a certain level, above which all revenue is redirected into the state employee pension fund. He has raised the cap. So, $300 million less is going to go into the pensions. That's the 1st violation of the fiscal guardrails.

The budget normally takes the surplus from the prior year and transfers it into the next year's budget. That's about $300 million. If he let the $300 million into the budget, plus the $300M extra from raising the level of Volatility Cap, that $600M would send spending over the Spending Cap.

So what's he doing with that year-end surplus from last year that should go into this year’s [budget]. He's intercepting it and creating an off-budget spending program. That's violation number 2.

That's just a violation of good budget practice. If you're going to have a budget, you should have everything in it. What's the point of having discipline within the budget, if every time you want to spend more money, you just go off-budget?

Watch & Read:

A Double-Whammy: Lamont’s 33% Wage Hike for State Employees Means $1.1 Billion In Higher Annual Payroll Cost AND $9 Billion In Extra Pension Liabilities – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM


Lee Elci:
We're doing okay. So up on your website, is your latest piece. Lamont is paying state employees a billion more than Malloy, and we talked a little bit about this last week, but you want to jump back into it again.

Red Jahncke: I want to jump right back in. I will repeat my mantra, which is Lamont has awarded state employees a 33% wage increase. That means some employee making 100,000 when he took office at his first inaugural is now making $133,000. That is unfair and unsustainable. Those wages are far in excess of what's being paid in the private sector. It is unsustainable for the State. This state is not growing. Real economic growth is less than 1%. You can't sustain that kind of pay for State employees with the anemic economy that we have.

There's this debate in Hartford, right? The nonprofits are beating the drum that they are 450 million dollars behind, because their funding has been squeezed over the last decade, and they've lost ground. Workers in the nonprofits who provide many of the social services that the State extends to the needy are vastly underpaid compared to State employees. So they want that 450 million put in the budget this year so that they can catch up. What they don't understand is: in going after the fiscal guardrails, they're going after the wrong problem.

Lee Elci: All right. Well, what's the right problem?

Red Jahncke: Well, the right problem is when you increase wages by 33%, wage costs skyrocket. When…

Watch & Read: