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Lamont is Paying State Employees $1 Billion More Than Malloy – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

By Red Jahncke on January 14, 2025
Lamont is Paying State Employees $1 Billion More Than Malloy – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

Lee Elci: Welcome back. I’ve been talking about this all day—since January 6th was on Monday. There are still reports of people being held without trial. What’s your take on this situation?

Red Jahncke: Anyone held without charges is a clear violation of the Constitution—it’s entirely unjust. They should be released immediately. As for the broader situation, I think many innocent people got caught up in something they never intended to participate in. Things just spiraled out of control. I’m sure President-elect Trump will pardon some of them. However, those who led or planned the attack on the Capitol shouldn’t be pardoned or released. That’s my stance.

Lee Elci: Fair enough. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Let’s switch gears—today marks the opening of the legislative session. I figured you’d be out there waving a flag that says, “Lower State Employee Pay.” Were you?

Red Jahncke: You know the mantra by now, right? Can you repeat it?

Lee Elci: You go ahead—give it to us.

Red Jahncke: Thirty-three percent.

Lee Elci: Oh, yes.

Red Jahncke: State employees, under Governor Ned Lamont, have received a 33% wage increase, which amounts to an additional billion dollars across the workforce. And that’s just within the executive branch—not everyone on the state payroll. To put it in perspective, state wages have risen from $3.4 billion in 2018 to $4.5 billion for fiscal year 2024. Calling this unsustainable is an understatement.

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Medical Debt and Interest Rates – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FM

By Red Jahncke on December 20, 2024
Medical Debt and Interest Rates – Talking with Lee Elci on News Now, 94.9FMMedical Debt and Interest rates preview image

Lee Elci: Alright! I want to ask you before we get into some of the things I'm sure you want to get into. I wanted to quickly ask you, we have a guest coming up who's done extensive research again. But the idea is this, 30 million dollars forgiveness of medical debt. What's your thoughts on that here by the governor.

Red Jahncke: This a function of the combination of immigration non-enforcement, and the national policy, that, if someone appears in the emergency room, you can't deny them if they can't pay. This is what's called non-compensated care. It piles up at the hospitals. Hospitals have to eat it. It sits on their books. They load that debt onto all their other charges in order to recover it. So, the governor is transferring that to a nonprofit [Undue Medical Debt, aka Medical Debt Resolution Inc.] that will officially forgive the debt. It's $30 million that's leaving the books of the hospitals. But what the hospitals are actually getting for that. Maybe you know the figure, but it's nowhere near 30 million. In essence, we [Connecticut citizens] are going to pay for that. People who have medical insurance, are responsible enough to have some kind of coverage. Our bills are going to go up. The nonprofit involved here is not taking on this debt dollar-for-dollar. It's $30 million face amount. They're probably giving the hospitals $2 million [actually, the norm is 1 cent on the dollar].

Lee Elci: Okay? Alright! Yeah. I'll find that number out when we come back. Switching from that, Red, to interest rates. They're going to drop the interest rates again here, thoughts on the drop of our interest rates.

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Opposite Day in Hartford: The Myth of “Pension Progress” – Talking With Lee Elci, News Now Radio, 94.9

By Red Jahncke on December 6, 2024
Opposite Day in Hartford: The Myth of “Pension Progress” – Talking With Lee Elci, News Now Radio, 94.9Red Jahncke - Lee Elci preview imagge

Lee Elci: A lot of glad-handing and patting each other on the back the other day up in Hartford, right?

Red Jahncke: Yeah, it was quite a session—making a mountain out of a molehill.

Lee Elci: All right.

Red Jahncke: They had the Governor, the Comptroller, and the Treasurer all patting themselves on the back for the improvement in the State Employee Pension Fund, which inched up from 52% funded to 55% funded. Only in Connecticut do you pop the corks on the champagne bottles to celebrate a 3% improvement.

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Paying Illegal Immigrants to Go to College

By Red Jahncke on November 29, 2024
Paying Illegal Immigrants to Go to College

So, what's going on now in this state is an effort, in the community college system, to pay illegal immigrants to go to college. In an era when we have a nationwide and legitimate outcry about the cost of college and the burden of student loans, we're now looking to pay illegal immigrants to go to college.

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Gov. Lamont’s 33% Wage Increase for State Workers – Talking with Joe Markley on WTIC 1080 Newstalk Radio, Aug. 13, 2024

By Red Jahncke on August 19, 2024
Gov. Lamont’s 33% Wage Increase for State Workers – Talking with Joe Markley on WTIC 1080 Newstalk Radio, Aug. 13, 2024

Segment One. Segment Two. Segment Three. Segment Four. Segment Five. Segment Six. Red JahnckeRed Jahncke is a nationally recognized columnist, who writes about politics and policy. His columns appear in numerous national publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Hill, Issues & Insights and National Review as well as many Connecticut newspapers. Like This Column

Gov. Lamont’s 33% Wage Increase for State Workers – Talking with Lee Elci, News Now Radio 94.9 FM, April 17, 2024

By Red Jahncke on April 17, 2024
Gov. Lamont’s 33% Wage Increase for State Workers – Talking with Lee Elci, News Now Radio 94.9 FM, April 17, 2024

Red JahnckeRed Jahncke is a nationally recognized columnist, who writes about politics and policy. His columns appear in numerous national publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Hill, Issues & Insights and National Review as well as many Connecticut newspapers. Like This Column

Talking about CT State Worker Compensation & Unfunded Benefits With Lee Elci on News Now Radio 94.9 FM — January 31, 2024

By Red Jahncke on February 15, 2024
Talking about CT State Worker Compensation & Unfunded Benefits With Lee Elci on News Now Radio 94.9 FM — January 31, 2024

Red JahnckeRed Jahncke is a nationally recognized columnist, who writes about politics and policy. His columns appear in numerous national publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Hill, Issues & Insights and National Review as well as many Connecticut newspapers. Like This Column

Connecticut’s Jobs Crisis – On Fox TV

By Red Jahncke on August 2, 2021
Connecticut’s Jobs Crisis – On Fox TV

Connecticut is in a full-blown jobs crisis.

The state workforce has shrunk by about 160,000, or 8.2%, from its pre-pandemic level of 1.93 million in February 2020, the worst decline in the nation. Only three other states have experienced drops of more than 5%.

Of Connecticut’s remaining workforce, about 140,000, or 7.9%, are unemployed - the highest unemployment rate of the 50 states.

Combined, 300,000 people, or 15.5% of the pre-pandemic workforce, have dropped out or are currently unemployed. The next worst level is 10.9% in Hawaii.

Being last is something that Connecticut is accustomed to, but to trail 49th place by such a huge margin is alarming.

Yet, the Democrats who control the state seem clueless. Governor Lamont was mum about last week’s report of just 3,500 jobs gained in June. The gains occurred entirely in the public sector. Private sector jobs declined.

The state’s Congressional delegation is oblivious as well. Congressman Jim Himes (D, 4th District) sent an email to constituents last week trumpeting that “the strong June [national] jobs report surpassed expectations by adding 850,000 new jobs.” He included graphs of the national trends. He made no mention -- and, likely, had no knowledge -- of the dismal conditions in Connecticut.

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