Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy released a plan on Monday that he says will create jobs and improve the state’s economy if he wins a second term. The Democrat is running for reelection in November.
The plan includes helping minority contractors, Malloy said. It would invest $100 million over the next two years to expand the state’s small business express program, he said. That would create an additional 10,000 jobs.
“In three and a half years in one program alone the small business express program, which didn’t exist previously, we’ve made investments in and loans to 1200 small businesses in the state of Connecticut,” Malloy said
His goal is to make sure every Connecticut worker who needs a good paying job with good benefits has one, he said.
Malloy’s Republican opponent Tom Foley dismissed the plan.
“I’m disappointed that the governor has not come up something more than saying he’ll keep doing what he’s been doing,” said Foley, criticizing Connecticut’s slow recovery from the recession under Malloy’s stewardship.
The Greenwich businessman has proposed cutting the state sales tax by half a percent, and eliminating some business taxes. That would do more to create jobs and stimulate the state’s economy, Foley said.
Connecticut’s unemployment rate was 9.3 percent when Malloy took office three and half years ago. It’s now 6.6 percent, still higher than the national average which is now 6.2 percent.
