Rowland: “We’re knocking ourselves out of competition”

“So any deal that comes down the pike, if it’s union construction jobs, it’s, ‘Eureka,’” said former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland at a Yankee Institute luncheon May 25. “That’s the new Connecticut.”

Rowland, co-host of “Church and State” on WTIC AM weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m., talked about the battle to create jobs in Connecticut in the first part of his address.

“We’re buying into the UConn Health Center, which was going to be $350 million. We all thought that was a lot of money. No, no, it’s not enough. Now it’s going to be $900 million,” Rowland said. “By the way, no federal money. How do we get to $900 million, like this. There’s a magic wand that appears.”

“All of our hospitals – 34 – are suffering. They’re in trouble. They’re being taxed. They’re economic engines in all of our neighborhoods,” he said. “And now, out of nowhere, we’re going to build a $900 million tower, medical center, beds, in the middle of the state.”

“We are better off going to the union halls and handing $100,000 checks to all the union contractors,” he said. “We would save millions.”

“They’re pandering to the state employee unions and they’re pandering to the construction unions,” Rowland said. “It’s good politics.”

With the passage of tax increases and mandatory paid sick leave, Rowland said Connecticut is getting less business-friendly.

“We’re going out of our way, obnoxiously out of our way, to insult businesses,” he said.

Rowland said no one knows how much the union concession package is really worth.

“All you have to know is one thing,” he said. “Do you hear the state employees screaming bloody murder? Do you hear them screaming?”

Rowland said when he pushed for smaller concession packages, the reaction was much more extreme.

“People dressed up as rats. They sued me,” he said.

Rowland said the new battlegrounds for jobs are Smithfield and East Greenwich, R.I.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Armonk, N.Y.

“The point is we’re losing now to the people that we made fun of, our neighbors. You know we made fun of Taxachusetts,” he said. “The truth is we’re knocking ourselves out of competition.”

“So many people are going to Florida for six months and one day,” Rowland said. “Wealth can move. It’s not really complicated.”

“We are slowly but surely helping people make those decisions,” he said. “What are the chances of our children and our grandchildren living and working in this beautiful state? That’s the real issue. That’s what’s really, really at stake.”

“And the question becomes: are you willing to incur more economic responsibility to hire more people. The answer is, ‘No way. Ain’t happening. I can make do,’” Rowland explained.

He said the perception of Connecticut now is that “we’re a public works agency and that we’re going to take away the rights and the freedoms of people that want to provide jobs to our neighbors and to our kids and to our grandkids.”

Part 1: “We’re doing battle with 49 other states”

Part 3: Legislature spends money ‘like after-dinner mints’