UConn/Yale to host a "Mouse Factory," instead of earning grants to do research, LOL

[Kathleen]

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-rennie-corporate-1009-20111009,0,2508701.column

Connecticut On Corporate Welfare Trip

Department of Social Services Commissioner Roderick Bremby told WFSB's
Dennis House on "Face the State" last Sunday that he might consider
drug testing for welfare recipients. He was referring to the needy who
receive thousands in state assistance in any year they are eligible
for benefits.

Where is the test for those upon whom the state heaps hundreds of
millions in corporate welfare? The people who concocted the plan to
clear a wide swath of working-class homes in New London must have been
on something.

You may recall the discreditable scheme that allowed a local
development authority to take private homes for the benefit of a
private developer who was committed to building a paradise of offices
and hotels to serve Pfizer. It would bring excellent jobs, jobs, jobs
to the region. State and local governments spent $78 million on the
fantasy and upended hundreds of lives. The developer abandoned the
project and Pfizer has been reducing its workforce in the region. The
site became a dump for debris from Tropical Storm Irene in August.

* Kevin Rennie
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What blinding substance must the pooh-bahs who run international
financial giant UBS ingest? The bank's Stamford operation squeezed $20
million from state government this past summer in exchange for a
promise to keep 2,000 of its 3,500 jobs in Connecticut for the next
five years. Last month, a rogue trader in UBS's London office was
arrested for making $2 billion in complicated bad deals, laying waste
to the company's recovery. They had to have that $20 million from
Connecticut taxpayers but they couldn't keep an eye on the 31-year-old
alleged offender in London. The consequences will be felt in Stamford.
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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy mustered some fanfare a week ago with the
announcement that Jackson Laboratory, which conducts biomedical
research using "genetically defined experimental animals," is moving
to the University of Connecticut Health Center campus in affluent
Farmington. Optimistic economists have consulted their augurs and
predict the $1.1 billion project, which will employ about 660 people,
will bring thousands of jobs to the area. It's a big subsidy per job
at the mouse factory.

The Maine nonprofit has plenty of money. According to the most recent
tax return available, in 2009 Jackson enjoyed net assets of $256
million, with $74.5 million in savings and temporary cash investments.
President and CEO Richard Woychik, Ph.D., made $539,800 that year.
Nevertheless, everyone in Connecticut must make a contribution to its
growth. Taxpayers will pony up nearly $300 million for the prosperous
operation. Jackson Laboratory ought to be able to go to a bank that is
not named Citizens of Connecticut to finance its expansion.

Sometimes these gambits succeed, but often they are expensive,
wounding failures. One policy that works well for Connecticut is free
trade. Many companies here produce products and services the world
needs. If Malloy wants the state's economy to thrive, the opinionated
governor should support policies that knock down trade barriers.
Connecticut can compete.

U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District, does not agree. He was
criticized by Toronto newspaper columnist Tim Harper for sponsoring
legislation that would erect barriers to free trade in President
Barack Obama's most recent public works spending proposal. Since
American companies enjoy billions in contracts for Canadian
infrastructure projects, Canada thinks it ought to be able to bid on
American ones.

That seems reasonable. The Canadian government claims its trade with
Connecticut sustains 100,100 jobs in this state. Ponder for a moment
the billions in corporate welfare we would have to spread around to
underwrite that many jobs if a trade war of the sort that Murphy's
proposal threatens to spark began to escalate.

We depend on Canadian trade for vast amounts of energy. It is by many
lengths our largest supplier of oil. It's integrated into our
electricity grid and supplies us with more natural gas than any other
nation. Connecticut exports to Canada average $12 million a day,
according to Canadian officials.

Murphy, who must contend with the leftward lurch of Democratic Senate
competitor Susan Bysiewicz in their nomination race, tweeted a snarky
comment about making Canadians unhappy. If Malloy wants to protect
Connecticut jobs, he ought to issue one of his trademark rebukes to
Murphy. Those are free.

Kevin Rennie is a lawyer and a former Republican state legislator. He
can be reached at kfre...@yahoo.com.