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Dalio Educational 'Partnership For Connecticut' Disbands After One Year

Amy Harris
/
Invision/AP
Ray Dalio, Connnecticut hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist, speaks at Summit LA18 in Downtown Los Angeles in 2018.

Governor Ned Lamont has disbanded Connecticut’s controversial public-private educational partnership with hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio. This comes after disciplinary action against its newly hired CEO was leaked to the media.

Lamont had championed the partnership. But he says he pulled the plug after Barbara Dalio, who runs the Dalio Philanthropies and co-chairs the Partnership for Connecticut, expressed concern about a leaked personnel issue that was supposed to be handled confidentially by the board.

“Due to a breach in trust, we both decided that it’s time to disband the partnership. And we are going to make that recommendation to the partnership board.”

In a written statement, Dalio blamed two House Republicans on the board, Themis Klarides and Vincent Candelora. She accused them of sabotaging the partnership by wanting to fight in the media rather than debate and resolve issues within the board.

House Minority Leader Klarides defends her position. She says the public-private partnership was plagued by a lack of transparency from the beginning.

“We get sworn in to maintain that public trust. To fulfill Freedom of Information Laws and ethics laws. And they tried to erase all of that. And that is not something that gets elected to public office can do because people may disagree with your policies or your politics, but the one thing they must have is your trust.”

Meanwhile, Dalio Philanthropies will continue with its $100 million commitment to support public education in Connecticut. And what’s left of the state’s $100 million commitment will go back to the general fund. 

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.
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