Gov. Dannel P. Malloy didn’t take the bait this morning on MSNBC’s “The Morning Joe” when he was shown a clip of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was saying he’ll be “waiting at the border to take Connecticut’s jobs” when Malloy raises taxes.
Click here to watch the taping.
“He’s gotta read the governor’s owner manual before he does something like that,” said Christie, who probably saw Malloy’s comments a few weeks ago in the New York Times, regarding Christie’s approach to government.
“Listen, you know I think Chris Christie has to do what he thinks is right for his state, and I have to do what I think is best for my state,” Malloy told Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. “We’re taking a different path. It’s a Connecticut path.”
Confronted with a graphic showing Connecticut ranking 47th in a list of states with the worst business climate, Malloy said he doesn’t believe those numbers which he said are based on Connecticut’s wealth.
“That particular number is really a false number,” Malloy said.
He said Connecticut is like many other states that have lost jobs over the past few decades. But he thinks Connecticut is in the top five or six in terms of business friendliness when wealth is factored out of the equation.
Malloy also defended his proposed income tax increases, saying the top rate of 6.7 percent was benchmarked against New York and Massachusetts.
And while he has asked for $2 billion in union concessions over the next two years, Malloy took Scarborough to task for “demonizing” unions in his earlier comments on the show. Scarborough defended himself saying that’s not what he meant.
At the same time, Malloy did say he will exercise the right to lay people off if it comes to that, but right now the two sides are talking and trying to come up with an agreement.
“I was hired to straighten out this state,” Malloy told the morning personalities.
At the end of the 12-minute segment, Malloy reminded the two hosts that he will co-host a fundraiser in April with them for the Hartford Public Library.
