Fasano denounces Senate Democrats for rejecting call for special session to address ‘outrageous’ UConn raises

July 7, 2016

Journal Inquirer
HARTFORD — Senate Minority Leader Leonard A. Fasano, R-North Haven, on Friday denounced Senate Democrats for rejecting his proposal to call a special session to address the “outrageous” raises doled out by University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst in the midst of the state’s economic struggles, massive layoffs, and rising tuition at the university.

A day earlier, Fasano sent at letter to Democratic leaders — Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven and House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey of Hamden — asking for a special session to establish state oversight of UConn salaries and to prohibit a mileage tax pilot program where motorists could be charged a fee for miles driven on state roads.

In his letter, Fasano wrote that legislators needed to “immediately enter into a special session so that we can eliminate the University of Connecticut’s exemptions from the State Personnel Act, which have allowed the university to abuse the freedoms granted to them.”
He wrote that the “exorbitant raises” show that UConn has abused these freedoms.

Fasano said when he sent the letter on Thursday to Looney and Sharkey he didn’t make it public at that time because it was “meant to bring us together.”

But the letter didn’t have the effect on Senate Democrats that Fasano hoped for. Senate Democrats have rejected his call for a special session.
Adam Joseph, communications director for the Senate Democratic Caucus, on Thursday released a statement in response to Fasano’s letter that read, in part, “We will not stick Connecticut taxpayers with the cost of a formal, special legislative session. Sen. Fasano is seeking to make Connecticut another Washington, D.C. where every issue is ruthlessly polarized and politicized.”

The statement also said that Senate Democrats have been “strongly opposed” to a mileage tax.

“Any such proposal would be dead on arrival and would never be brought up for a vote in the Senate — as Sen. Fasano well knows,” the statement said. “Sen. Fasano’s fake hysteria is nothing more than another lame attempt by the Republicans to frighten Connecticut residents, score political points, and change the subject after once again getting called out for his rhetorical nonsense.”

On Friday, Fasano responded to the Senate Democrats’ refusal to call a special session.

“Wow, did I hit a nerve!’ Fasano said in a statement. “I guess the Democrats had no intention of actually doing anything legislatively to address the tone-deaf decision of UConn to hand out raises to their top staff during these tough times.

“Democrats are long on words, but short on action. At the Capitol, Democrats do an awful lot of talking about issues but they never address the problems legislatively,” he continued. “Clearly, the Democrats would rather use babbling rhetoric than actually go in and do something. They appear to be fine with college students continuing to face huge tuition hikes while raises get handed out without any real challenge.”

On the topic of the mileage tax, Fasano accused Democrats of not having read the pilot program proposal “because without legislative action to stop it, the mileage tax pilot will be started in the state of Connecticut. Their silence is tantamount to acquiescence. That’s why we need a special session to stop it now.

“I urge all Democrat lawmakers to review the state’s application for grant money for the mileage tax pilot program very closely. This is a project with a timeline, with money invested and with identified deliverables. It’s happening and Republicans intend to stop it,” he said.
State legislative leaders last week lambasted Herbst’s decision to approve multiyear salary increases for four senior staffers in the midst of the state’s dire economic climate.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, however, said that he was confident the university’s leaders are “doing their best to live within their means.”

“Really? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Looney said on June 23 after learning of the raises.

“At a time when painful reductions are being imposed throughout state government, UConn should not see itself as an isolated and privileged exception,” Looney said. “I urge President Herbst to reconsider and rescind these untimely raises.”

“Handing out exorbitant raises to their highest paid staffers while at the same time increasing tuition for hard-working families is the height of arrogance,” Sharkey said last week.

It was comments by Looney, Sharkey, and others that led Fasano to believe legislators could come together for a special session to do something about the raises.

“Based on your comments in the press, I believe that we are in agreement that UConn’s raises are outrageous and inappropriate at this time, especially as tuition skyrockets at the university,” Fasano wrote in the letter he sent to Looney and Sharkey on Thursday. “I hope you also believe that we must do more to protect students and taxpayers from this complete disregard for the state of Connecticut’s finances.”

Herbst reportedly received a $29,500 raise in January, a $230,000 bonus in May, and will receive another $40,000 bonus this summer.
She also approved pay increases beginning in 2014, which included a $55,000 salary increase and annual bonus of $25,000 for the university’s general counsel whose annual salary will increase to $275,000, and a $58,000 increase for the university’s chief architect whose annual salary will now be $283,000.

Herbst’s deputy chief of staff and athletic staff also received increases.