The Working Families Party is a grassroots political party that stands up for working-class and middle-class families — and wins. We’re not like any other party you’ve heard of.

When you vote on the Working Families Party ballot line, you’re standing with tens of thousands of Working Families voters, calling for an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy and well-connected, and a democracy in which politicians areaccountable to voters, not big-money donors.

That sounds nice, but how does it work?

Working Families Party members and leaders evaluate the records of all the candidates running, no matter what party they’re from. It’s a unique and democratic process that puts our issues front and center — issues like creating good jobs, making healthcare more affordable, and ensuring quality public schools and fair taxes.

WFP only supports the candidates who will fight — really fight — for hardworking families. When you vote on the Working Families Party line on your ballot, you know you’re voting your values, for candidates who’ve earned the WFP seal of approval. On your Connecticut ballot, you can find candidates like Chris Murphy for US Senate, and the Working Families Party legislative slate on Row C this year.

Does it work?

It sure does. When we stand together, we’re stronger. That’s how we’ve passed paid sick days legislation, helped elect Governor Dan Malloy, and much more.  It’s how we’ve stood up to privatization of Social Security and defended Medicare from the 1%.

Sounds good? Join us by voting on the Working Families Party ballot line.

“Double your pleasure, double your fun” might be the mantra for Connecticut candidates looking to maximize their chances of sucking in votes this November.

It worked for Dannel Malloy two years ago when he doubled down on the ballot: once as a Democrat and once for the Working Families Party. In fact, without the 26,308 votes he got on the WFP line, Malloy might have lost that election to Republican Tom Foley.

Now both sides of Connecticut’s hot U.S. Senate race are hoping for the same kind of ballot double-dipping. Democrat Chris Murphy is also getting the Working Families Party backing, and Republican Linda McMahon is working a similar scam, figuring to wind up on the both the GOP and Independent Party lines.

One official of Connecticut’s Independent Party says he’s looking at a wheelbarrow load of requests from state legislative candidates (most of them Republican) who want to get on that minor party’s line in November in addition to their own party designation.

Political geeks call it “fusion,” a sweet-sounding euphemism for cross-endorsement by two different parties, which allows a candidate to show up multiple times on a ballot as representing different political parties.

It makes lots of sense for the people running campaigns in this candidate-driven political system of ours. People who might not want to vote for you as a stinky old Democrat or slimy Republican might feel better if they could cast their ballot for you as some non-establishment-alternative-party rebel.

Connecticut is one of only seven states in the U.S. that allows cross-endorsements, and not all that do will let candidates appear multiple times on the ballot. Vermont is one of those that doesn’t.

Some third-party activists think cross-endorsement is a political honey-hole that can make them big-time players with a way to influence candidates who want their election-time support.

By cross-endorsing a major party candidate, a third party theoretically avoids the road to oblivion that involves people refusing to back a minor party candidate because they don’t want to “throw away their vote” on someone who can’t possibly win.

While candidates are clearly trying to use third party’s to score some extra votes, this political bargain isn’t a one-way street.

Mike Telesca, one of the founders of Connecticut’s Independent Party, believes cross-endorsing big-time candidates like McMahon can help his group expand and stay on the ballot.

McMahon, with some of the mega-bucks she made as the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, paid for people to collect enough voter signatures to help the Independent Party get on the U.S. Senate ballot in November. “She’s the one who gave us that line,” Telesca points out.

Assuming that McMahon pulls in 1 percent of the statewide vote on the Independent Party line in November, it insures the IP will automatically be on the ballot in the next U.S. Senate election.

“We don’t know what kind of politician she’ll turn out to be,” Telesca admits. “I have no reason to believe she will be any worse in office than the politicians that are in there now… And I hope she will be independent.”

The Connecticut Independent Party is currently involved in a leadership battle between Telesca, a Waterbury guy who believes the party should be non-partisan, and Robert Fand of Danbury. Telesca says Fand is pushing for lots of Republican candidates, while Fand has filed a court action challenging Telesca’s party leadership.

Then there are minor party types, like Green Party co-chairman Mike DeRosa, who see cross-endorsements of Republican or Democratic candidates as sleeping with the enemy.

“My view personally… is that cross-endorsement leads not to fusion but to confusion,” DeRosa argues. He calls the fusion system the “road to oblivion” for minor parties and says the Connecticut Greens’ bylaws right now forbid cross-endorsement of candidates for statewide offices.

In DeRosa’s view, the major parties and their candidates are now “trying to infiltrate” some minor parties to neutralize their effect on elections. He says minor parties risk “becoming secondary parties or ‘me-too’ parties” if all they ever do is cross-endorse with the Democrats or Republicans.

Republicans have long claimed that the Working Families Party is nothing more than a tool of Big Labor and little more than a flunky for the Democrats. WFP activists insist the reason they almost inevitably endorse only Democrats is that Republicans usually don’t endorse what is good for working families.

State House Republican Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr. shakes his head in admiration at what he sees as the act of “political genius” that created the Working Families Party.

The WFP originated in New York in the late 1990s as an effort by liberals and unions to stop what they saw as the Democratic Party’s slippage toward the right. From the beginning, both in New York and Connecticut, cross-endorsement was viewed as a major league political lever by WFP leaders.

“The WFP tells [candidates], ‘We’ve got this political tool that can help you or hurt you, so you gotta play ball with us,’” is Cafero’s view.

The idea is that the candidate can get the cross-endorsement if he or she agrees to support that particular third party’s agenda. But if the candidate refuses, that third party could always run its own candidate in the race and steal votes away.

According to Cafero, he and other GOP types have been musing about the WFP and wondering “what we can do to counter that.” He says one answer this year is for Republicans to try and jump on the Connecticut Independent Party line.

Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy’s top political advisor and one of the key Democratic operatives who helped Malloy win two years ago, sneers at claims the WFP is merely a Democratic subsidiary.

He admits that lots of Democrats are involved with the Working Families Party, and that Dems and WFPs often share the same liberal values. “But I don’t see it as an adjunct of the Democratic Party,” Occhiogrosso insists. “The WFP is real, it’s not some fringe group.”

According to Occhiogrosso, being on the WFP ballot line in 2010 “probably” helped Malloy but adds that most of the people who voted on that line would probably have voted on the Democratic line for Malloy if the WFP hadn’t been around.

Occhiogrosso concedes that having too many third-party cross-endorsements on a ballot “gets to be a little bit silly… But we’re not at that point in Connecticut yet.”

HARTFORD, Conn. — A minor political party has become a major player in Connecticut’s election season this year.

The Working Families Party, a liberal political organization created in 2002 with the backing of organized labor, directly or indirectly has a role in several key political battles currently being waged, including the closely watched race for the 5th Congressional District seat and a lawsuit filed against Secretary of the State Denise Merrill by the Connecticut Republican Party.

In both cases, the party’s ability to cross-endorse candidates, giving them two spots on the election ballot, is at issue.

In the 5th District, House Speaker Chris Donovan, who lost last week’s Democratic primary to former Rep. Elizabeth Esty, has yet to announce whether he plans to continue running for the open seat under the banner of the Working Families Party. The third party, with 171 registered members, cross-endorsed the Democrat this year.

The Working Families Party’s cross-endorsement of Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy back in 2010 is the impetus behind the state GOP’s recent lawsuit challenging the order of candidates on the November statewide election ballot. Republicans maintain that their candidates, not the Democrats, should appear on the top line even though a Democrat won the governor’s race. That’s because Malloy ultimately won that close race with the votes he garnered as a cross-endorsed Working Families Party candidate.

Republican Tom Foley received 560,874 votes, while Malloy won 540,970 as a Democrat and 26,308 as a Working Families Party candidate. Merrill’s office has said that the Working Families Party did not have minor party status in 2010, so the top line goes to Malloy’s party. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Sept. 12.

Lindsay Farrell, the party’s new executive director, said the ability to cross-endorse candidates is key to making sure the issues the group cares about, such as paid sick days for workers, affordable housing, access to health care and a higher minimum wage, are advocated by candidates.

By giving candidates an opportunity to have a second spot on the ballot, candidates have an incentive to be responsive to the party’s issues.

“It’s certainly a benefit,” Farrell said of the second line.

Besides Malloy, a handful of state lawmakers in close races in 2010 ultimately won because of the votes cast for them as Working Families candidates. Farrell said some voters are frustrated with the two major parties and see the Working Families’ endorsement as an independent validation of a candidate, allowing them “to say something with their vote about their values.” She said others are familiar with the political party’s positions and therefore support their endorsed candidates.

The Working Families Party does not encourage its members to register to vote as party members. Rather, the organization has hundreds of dues-paying members, as well as ties with affiliated groups that also provide candidates with grassroots campaign help, such as phone calling and door-knocking. Farrell estimates 100,000 people can be mobilized. While the party typically cross-endorses Democrats, it has backed some Republicans over the years.

“It’s never really about running a candidate of our own just for the sake of doing it,” she said. “It’s about seeing victories on the issues that affect middle and working class people with the folks that end up governing.”

Farrell said Malloy’s support of the new law requiring certain employers to provide paid leave — an issue the party lobbied for at the state Capitol — is a key example of what it’s trying to accomplish with its cross-endorsements.

The party has been successful in running its own candidates locally in Connecticut. There are currently three Working Families Party members on the Hartford City Council and two on the city’s school board.

The party’s endorsement this year of Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy for the open U.S. Senate race has prompted RepublicanLinda McMahon to try and get on the ballot twice. McMahon spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the campaign has submitted its petitions to get McMahon listed as a candidate on the Independent Party line and is awaiting them to be verified. McMahon needs 7,500 signatures.

Her primary rival, former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, has criticized McMahon for trying to appear on two lines, saying it would ultimately hurt her fellow Republican candidates by diluting the vote.

“It says a lot that she’s pursuing that,” Farrell said. “She’s not alone. A lot of Republican candidates this year got the memo about getting your name on the second ballot.”

BRIDGEPORT – John Bagley, a former NBA player and Harding High School alumnus, is one of two candidates nominated by the Connecticut Working Families Party for open seats on the city school board.

The other Working Families candidate is Barbara Pouchet, who would have run for a school board seat last fall had not the city’s school board been replaced by a state-appointed board. The state Supreme Court has since invalidated the state-appointed board and ordered a special election to fill open four seats on the nine-member board. The special election takes place Sept. 4.

“Barbara Pouchet and John Bagley know firsthand what Bridgeport families deserve from our schools,” said Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Connecticut Working Families Party. She timed the announcement to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the surprise 6-to-3 vote by the former school board that led to the state takeover.

Pouchet and Bagley will face off against three candidates nominated by the Democratic town committee, all of whom are on the state-appointed board; three Republican candidates; and at least one independent candidate. Voters can selected any four candidates.

The election could very well be the last one if the public decides this fall to adopt a city charter change that would give the mayor control over who sits on the school board.

Bagley, who graduated from Harding in 1979, said he is hoping to use his experience and connections to bring remedies to some of the situations that confront the district. He attended Boston College, leaving after his junior year for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also played for the New Jersey Nets, Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks. After an 11-year career in the NBA, Bagley founded the Bagley-Walden Foundation, which uses sports and entertainment to empower young people. He said he has also been involved with the school system and has attended several board meetings.

He said he is confident the new board in September can move things forward and not dwell on the past.

“What other options do we have?” he asked.

Pouchet also graduated from Harding, growing up in the Father Panik Village housing project. She attended Virginia Tech and is a licensed insurance professional. As a parent of a Bridgeport public school student, she has frequently engaged the school board as a concerned parent and citizen.

Also on the ballot are Hernan Illingworth, Jacqueline Kelleher and Kenneth Moales Jr., all members of the state-appointed board on the Democratic slate; as well as former Republican Registrar of Voters Joseph Borges and a married couple, Evelyn and Wayne Hayes of Wilmot Avenue, on the Republican line. Karen Jackson, a local parent, has also submitted signatures to run as an independent candidate.

Working Families already has two members on the elected board who will return: Maria Pereira and Sauda Baraka. They, along with Democrat Bobby Simons voted against the takeover. Also slated to return are Leticia Colon and Thomas Mulligan, also Democrats.

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Bagley-Pouchet-tapped-for-school-board-race-3686846.php#ixzz1zr5ciG38

After last weekend’s storm and the slow response from utility companies, tomorrow’s elections haven’t been at the top of everyone’s mind. Most Hartford residents have their electricity back. But now it’s time to talk about having power.

Local elections aren’t glamorous. But tomorrow, Hartford residents have a chance to vote for the kind of change our city needs. Good jobs for Hartford residents. Quality schools for our kids. Safe and healthy neighborhoods.

The Working Families Party is supporting a slate of four experienced community activists for City Council who have the energy and the ideas to rebuild a city we can all be proud of: Luis Cotto, Cynthia Jennings, Joel Cruz and Larry Deutsch.

Look for the Working Families Party team on Row C. You can’t spell change without C.

We couldn’t be prouder of our slate. Luis Cotto is an activist who believes in Hartford, working to invest in the city’s arts and parks and improve opportunities for our kids to make our neighborhoods more vibrant. Larry Deutsch is a practicing physician, a PTO leader, and an activist for workers’ rights. Cynthia Jennings is a civil rights attorney. As a co-founder of Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, she has stood up to big polluters to make Hartford neighborhoods healthier. Joel Cruz is a former marine and a pastor who organized his church to stand up for healthcare for all.

And with four votes, you can help elect a team that has what it takes to bring real change to Hartford.

Here’s how you can help:

• Remember to vote tomorrow. If you’re not sure where to vote, look up your poll site here.
• Click here to spread the word on Facebook.
• Email this message to other Hartford residents to spread the word.

Finally, if you support the work we do and want to help, please make a contribution towards our get-out-the-vote efforts for Tuesday. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a difference. If you can contribute $15 right now, it will be a big help.

All the best,

-Jon Green
Executive Director
CT Working Families Party

Working Families is supporting Tom Bruenn because he’ll stand up for the needs of every day working families.

In every election, Working Families members evaluate the records of all the candidates, and only support the ones who will fight for working families — from making healthcare more affordable to creating good jobs to fair taxes for the middle class.

Especially with our struggling economy, we deserve a Senator who understands the difficult times ordinary working families are facing.

In a low turnout special election, every vote really matters.

So mark your calendar and set an alarm on your phone to remind you — go vote this Tuesday, February 22nd. Polls are open from 6AM – 8PM.

In Tuesday’s Senate race, Tom Bruenn is the clear choice for working families.

Tom Bruenn knows that to get our economy back on its feet, our elected leaders need to come together and work to create decent jobs. Tom is deeply committed to serving to our community, having spent 37 years as a high school teacher. Tom is committed to protecting and expanding affordable healthcare and improving our schools.

When you vote on Tuesday, you’ll see Tom Bruenn listed on the Democratic candidate on Row A, and also the Working Families candidate on Row C. Voting on the Working Families line counts the same to elect Tom, but also sends a message to all politicians that you’re counting on them to stand up for working families like yours.

Remember to vote this Tuesday. Find Tom Bruenn on the Working Families ballot line.

Help spread the word by sharing your support on Facebook.

Working Families is supporting Terry Gerratana, because we can count on her to put the needs of our community first.

In every election, Working Families members evaluate the records of all the candidates, and only support the ones who will fight for working families — from making healthcare more affordable to creating good jobs to fair taxes for the middle class.

Especially with our struggling economy, the residents of New Britain, Berlin and Farmington deserve a full-time Senator who believes public services means putting the needs of ordinary working people first.

In a low turnout special election, every vote really matters.

So mark your calendar and set an alarm on your phone to remind you — go vote this Tuesday, February 22nd. Polls are open from 6AM – 8PM.

In Tuesday’s Senate race, Terry Gerratana is the clear choice for working families.

Too many politicians seem like they’re just in it for personal or political gain. Not Terry.

Terry is a committed public servant with an impressive record of delivering for ordinary families. As a legislator, she stopped insurance companies from dropping cancer survivors, and led the fight for early screenings for cervical cancer, which save hundreds of lives.

When you vote on Tuesday, you’ll see Terry Gerratana listed on the Democratic candidate on Row A, and also the Working Families candidate on Row C. Voting on the Working Families line counts the same to elect Terry, but also sends a message to all politicians that you’re counting on them to stand up for working families like yours.

Remember to vote this Tuesday. Find Terry Gerratana on the Working Families ballot line.

Help spread the word by sharing your support for Terry Gerratana on Facebook.

Last Election Day, millions of voters nationwide frustrated with the current administration in Washington voted Republican.

But not in Connecticut.

Here in The Land of Steady Habits, the Grand Old Party failed to pick up a single seat in Congress and fared almost as poorly in state elections. Former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, buoyed by a surge of late votes in Bridgeport and New Haven, became the state’s first Democratic governor in a generation. His margin — a slim 6,700 votes.

What made the difference? Like most close elections, political observers were eager to cite various factors. In the gubernatorial race there was an unprecedented mobilization by union members, an increased voter turnout in the cities and what might have been the deciding factor — the showing at the polls of the state’s Working Families Party.

An independent, grassroots  political party the WFP and its ballot line attracted 26,000 votes for Malloy — a much larger total than his actual margin of victory.

Jon Green, executive director for Working Families, wasn’t bashful about discussing his party’s impact.

“Working Families endorses candidates who support policies that make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people,” said Green. “Things like ensuring that workers can earn paid sick days, closing corporate tax loopholes and making health care more affordable.”

Green added that “now more than ever, we need our elected leaders to be more responsive to the needs of hard-working families.”

During his campaign Malloy had been vocal in his support of paid sick days legislation — a top priority for the Working Families Party.

According to a poll conducted before the election by Suffolk University, most Working Family voters are independents. Party leaders boast that the WFP knocked on more than 50,000 doors this year to reach out to these voters.

In discussing results of the mid-term election, Republican Justin Bernier said the state GOP could learn from groups like WFP in terms of mobilizing voters and listening to their concerns.

“Voters we spoke to this year are frustrated with the difficult economy,” said Green. “They’re concerned that neither party seems like they’re putting the needs of ordinary families first, ahead of the demands of high-powered lobbyists and special interests.”

Southington and Berlin could be a case study on how the Working Families Party can make a difference in close elections. The party cross-endorsed Democratic state Reps. Joe Aresimowicz and Zeke Zalaski — two legislators who, WFP leaders say, have been forceful advocates for working class families.

State Rep. Corky Mazurek, D-Southington and Wolcott, — a “conservative” Democrat who had opposed legislation on paid w days and a bill to stop the outsourcing of good jobs — was not cross-endorsed by WFP. Mazurek lost by 45 votes, while Aresimowicz and Zalaski received 345 and 176 votes, respectively on the Working Families ballot line.

“Some issues I and Working Families support aren’t exactly popular with lobbyists and political heavy hitters, but they’re the right thing to do,” said Aresimowicz. “Having a group that actually gets out and knocks on doors in support of certain issues makes it easier for legislators to stand strong for them.”

This election year, the Working Families Party endorsed 93 candidates in the state — mostly Democrats. However, the occasional Republican and independent also received the party’s nod. In total, 73 WFP candidates were victorious, including four who — like Malloy — would have lost their race without the votes cast on the Working Families line.

Steve Cassano won a state Senate race in Manchester by 73 votes after a recount — with nearly 1,000 of his votes on the Working Families ballot line. Jim Crawford of Westbrook was elected to the state House by a margin of 22 votes — 235 of his votes came from the WFP ballot line.

“The lesson here is that when you speak up for what you believe in and for what matters to [working] people, voters will reward you for it,” said Green. “After this recent election, I hope Democrats and Republicans will work on getting the economy back on track for the middle class.”

Working Families hasn’t closed up shop since Election Day.

“We’ll be knocking on doors all year round, talking to voters, working hard to make sure our politicians deliver for ordinary people, rather than special interests,” Green vowed.

Dan Malloy’s election as governor was a double victory for the Working Families Party: Its cross endorsement was crucial to his narrow win, and Malloy unequivocally supports its top issue, a bill requiring private employers to offer paid sick days.

But the drive to make Connecticut the first state to mandate paid sick time also lost ground on Election Day as Republicans unseated 10 House members and one state senator who have voted for the measure in past sessions.

“It’s going to be a fight,” said Jon Green, the executive director of the Working Families Party.

The issue could be a high-profile, first-year battle for Malloy and the Working Families, a minor party that practices a brand of fusion politics primarily aimed at drawing left-leaning voters to sympathetic Democrats.

Both the House and the Senate have passed versions of a sick-leave bill in recent years, but not during the same session and not by a tally large enough to withstand an anticipated veto by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Overriding a veto would require 24 votes in the 36-member Senate and 101 in the 151-member House

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said Malloy’s election changes the math.

“Now, you need 18 votes in the Senate and 76 in the House,” Looney said.

A tie vote of 18 to 18 in the Senate would be broken by the presiding officer, Malloy’s running mate, Nancy Wyman.

Looney said he now believes the Senate also will debate an earned-income tax credit for low-income residents, another idea endorsed by Malloy.

For the first time, the Working Families can lay claim to helping elect a statewide office holder with a cross endorsement that put Malloy’s name on the ballot twice, as a Democrat and a Working Families candidate.

Counting only the votes cast for Malloy on the Democratic line, he lost to Republican Tom Foley by 19,904 votes. But add the 26,308 votes for Malloy on the WFP line, the deficit turned into a 6,404-vote win.

Of course, voters cannot vote more than once for a candidate, but polling shows that the cross-endorsement draws support from voters who might be unwilling to cast a vote on a major-party line.

The Working Families say their cross-endorsements allow voters to cast “a protest vote that counts.”

Two Democrats also won state Senate seats with help from their cross-endorsements.

In the 4th Senatorial District, Steve Cassano of Manchester lost by 923 votes on the Democratic line. With his 996 WFP votes, he was able to eke out a 73-vote win for the seat left open by the retirement of Sen. Mary Anne Handley, D-Manchester.

Without her 1,081 votes from her Working Families cross endorsement, Sen. Edith G. Prague, D-Columbia, lost by 279 votes. As the co-chairwoman of the labor committee, Prague is a key ally for the minor party.

But Green soft-pedals being able to claim his party provided the margin of victory for a new governor.

Ask him what it means that Malloy got so many votes on the WFP line, he replies, “It means Malloy’s the governor, as opposed to someone else.”

The important result on Election Day was that an ally won, not that his margin fell within his Working Families vote total, Green said.

“I don’t mean to be too cute, but let’s not forget,” he said. “That’s what it actually means.”

Malloy was the only major-party candidate to strongly and unequivocally back paid sick days. Others questioned if any mandate on business was wise in a tough economy – especially one not adopted by any other state.

The version of the legislation proposed in Connecticut in 2009 applied only to companies with 50 or more employees.

It would have required up to five paid sick days, based on hours worked. Employees would have accrued one hour of leave for every 40 hours worked.

Companies that already offer paid time off would have been deemed in compliance.

It passed the House, 88 to 58, but it did not come to a vote in the Senate. In 2008, the Senate passed a different version, 20 to 16.

The margins would be tighter in both chambers.

Ten of the 88 House members who voted for the bill lost to Republicans this year, shrinking the ranks of the supporters to 78. With all members in attendance, passage of a bill in the House requires 76 votes.

Green has not performed a new headcount, but at least one Democratic opponent of the bill was succeeded by a more supportive Democrat, off-setting some of the losses, Green said.

In the Senate, two supporters of the bill will not be returning. Thomas Colapietro, D-Bristol, lost his seat to a Republican and Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, did not seek re-election.

Harris will be succeeded by Beth Bye, a Democrat who voted against the bill in the House last year and was endorsed by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the leading opponent of paid sick days.

A sitting governor can help round up waffling legislators. He also can carry the public-relations debate in a way that individual legislators cannot.

“That helps a lot,” Green said.

Kia Murrell, a lobbyist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said the strongest argument against paid sick days is that it would be a risky move in a bad economy for a state with a reputation for a hostile business climate.

“The economy, that still tells a very compelling story this year, as it did last year,” she said. “A paid sick leave mandate is simply a bad idea right now. The fact it’s been stalled on the federal level is very telling.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District, has been unable to advance a federal version. With Republicans about to take over the majority in the U.S. House, the issue is dead in Congress for at least the next two years.

Washington D.C. and San Francisco have municipal ordinances requiring paid sick days. In San Francisco, some business associations report that the requirement has been less burdensome than feared.

But the best argument against the bill in CBIA’s view is that Connecticut would be the first state to require the benefit, an unwanted distinction when the state is trying to improve its business climate.

“This is not the trophy we want to bring home,” Murrell said.