Opinion: Gov. Malloy courts labor vote, looking for piece of the union money pie

Suzanne Bates is a writer living in South Windsor with her family. While traveling across the country as an Air Force spouse, she worked for news organizations including the Associated Press, the New Hampshire Union Leader, and Good Morning America Weekend. She recently completed a research fellowship at the Yankee Institute. Follow her on Twitter @suzebates.

It is difficult to understand why Gov. Dannel Malloy has spent the past three and a half years alienating the very people he will need this November if he wants to be re-elected. State employees and teachers, who, with their unions, came out for him in a big way in 2010, may not be as excited to be in his corner this year.

There are a number of reasons Malloy is now trying to rekindle his romance with the unions — and not just because he wants their votes. He also wants their money.

Although on paper the concessions he wrangled out of the public sector unions weren’t as severe as they could have been, you wouldn’t know that by the insults Malloy directed at state employees during the negotiations. And he’s been backpedaling ever since he said in 2012 that teachers have to just “show up for four years” to get tenure.

Maybe he figured they would forget how bad things got by the time the next election rolled around. Or perhaps he figured they had no place else to go, so it didn’t matter how he treated them.

Union leadership is clearly showing they will stand by Malloy, as he gathers their endorsements one by one. This week he picked up endorsements from AFT Connecticut and the AFL-CIO.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.