Ned Lamont wants to focus on job creation and economic development as he prepares to assume Connecticut’s governorship.
He and Lieutenant Governor-elect Susan Bysiewicz convened legislators, municipal leaders, and policy makers at Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday to help the Lamont team assess important issues in its transition.
Those who attended were put into specific policy committees. They included subjects as diverse as agriculture, social services, and transportation. But in the end, the stakeholders at the summit were all given one directive from Governor-elect Lamont – develop opportunities for job creation and economic growth.
“I’m going to look like a laser beam in terms of how this impacts economic growth and what it’ll mean for a budget,” Lamont said. “I don’t want the next six months to be defined by a budget. I want it defined by what we can do as a state, where we go, how we make this state go forward, and [how we] make you believe in the state.”
All kinds of people attended the event including Democratic state Representative Tony Guerrera, Connecticut Business and Industry Association President Joe Brennan, and Erin Stewart, the Republican mayor of New Britain.
“It’s because you volunteered. You told Ned and I along the way that you wanted to help and maybe you’re a little surprised that we took you up on it,” said Lieutenant Governor-elect Susan Bysiewicz when she explained why each stakeholder scored an invite.
The team hopes that it can develop a plan of action in the next three weeks based on what the 15 policy groups discussed at the summit.
Lamont said that his transition team is actively working with the Office of Policy and Management to determine budgetary figures.
