Creating an Atmosphere for Job Creation vs Creating Actual Jobs

The Malloy Campaign has released two fact sheets entitled "Lamont Job Facts" and "Malloy Job Facts" that compare the two candidates in the "job creation" category.

From the "Malloy job facts: sheet"

DAN MALLOY AND JOB CREATION

• Joseph J. McGee, Vice President for Public Policy and Programs at the Business Council of Fairfield County, said that Malloy's job claims are, if anything, understated. In regard to the UBS and RBS deals that brought thousands of jobs to Stamford, McGee said Dan Malloy was “very involved in making it work” and that “those two companies alone are 7,000 jobs. That's indisputable." SOURCE

• In addition to the thousands of jobs created at RBS and UBS, many other companies brought jobs to Stamford. Companies like Purdue Pharma, Bank of Ireland, Jeffries, Thomson Reuters, Fuji, NBC, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Carol Lee, Aon Insurance, Greenwich Associates, Lloyds of London, NBC, Rockefeller & Co., Unilever, Columbus Circle Investors, Burlington Coat Factory, Modells, Hampton Inn, Rochdale Securities, Gartner Group, and more. As a result, small and medium sized businesses across the city flourished from the increase in people working in Stamford. Everything from restaurants and small shops to convenience stores, dry cleaners, parking garages, building maintenance and landscaping.

• To be clear (as Dan has always been), jobs were created in Stamford, and yes, jobs were lost. Every day in every city in every state across the country jobs are created and lost. Dan has always been very clear about what he says: he helped create an environment that resulted in almost 5,000 new jobs being created. And as experts like Joe McGee attest, that number might actually be higher. But is Stamford subject to the same basic principles of economic activity that impact economies in other cities and states? Of course. The fact is that through ups and downs, good economic times and bad, Dan Malloy went out and actively recruited thousands of new jobs into Stamford.

and from the "Lamont job facts" sheet:

Ned Lamont’s Business Record

FACT: Ned Lamont has reduced the workforce at Lamont Digital from a high of 125 employees (SOURCE) to only three dozen (SOURCE), a decrease of more than 70 percent.

FACT: Only 8 of the remaining three dozen employees actually work in Connecticut. (SOURCE)

FACT: Despite reducing the size of his workforce, Lamont has paid himself a salary of more than half a million dollars as CEO (SOURCE).

FACT: Although his company never had more than 125 employees and has shrunk to a few dozen, Ned Lamont has repeatedly and purposefully embellished his record as CEO:

The Malloy campaign is pointing out that Malloy has experience in creating an environment to encourage job creation while Lamont has the experience of creating a small number of jobs. This takes nothing away from Lamont's accomplishment of building a successful business but notes that there is a difference between creating jobs and creating an atmosphere to encourage others to create jobs, whether it is recruiting new companies to the state or providing the climate that permit existing business to expand their business.

The Democratic Voter on August 10, 2010 will have to decide which leader is right for Connecticut.