Hartford Courant: DeStefano Slams Wal-Mart

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Hartford Courant: DeStefano Slams Wal-Mart

The Hartford Courant June 26, 2006

TV Ads Attack Retailer For Lack Of Health Care Coverage.

By Mark Pazniokas

On the eve of asking the AFL-CIO to endorse him for governor, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. is airing a commercial attacking one of labor's least favorite employers: Wal-Mart.

A TV ad debuting today touts DeStefano's universal health care plan and jabs at the nation's largest retailer for relying on state-subsidized insurance for hundreds of its Connecticut workers.

"Connecticut taxpayers pay over $5 million a year to provide health care to Wal-Mart workers, because the company won't pay for it themselves," DeStefano says in the 30-second commercial.

The commercial is DeStefano's second in a week to address universal health care, signaling a shift in emphasis from Connecticut's lagging performance in creating jobs under Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and her predecessor, John G. Rowland.

DeStefano and Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, his opponent in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, are to address the AFL-CIO convention Tuesday in New Haven.

With DeStefano already endorsed by the AFL-CIO's executive board and dozens of unions, he is the favorite to win the two-thirds vote necessary for the broader convention endorsement.

In an interview Sunday, DeStefano said the timing of the new ad was coincidental. The ad was less an appeal to organized labor than a message to working families struggling to afford health care, he said.

"I am going to stand with families who don't have access to health care, whether or not they are families at Wal-Mart," DeStefano said. "I will take their side against big corporations."

His previous ad began a week ago and promoted universal health care and his working-class roots as the son of a New Haven police officer. Malloy has yet to go on television, though he has the budget for a television blitz likely to begin after the July 4th holiday, when television audiences might be larger.

"We're proud of the fact that Dan was the first candidate in the race to lay out a vision on health care, first with a plan for children," said Roy Occhiogrosso, a consultant advising Malloy.

DeStefano and Malloy each have called for universal health care, differing on how to pay for their plans. Malloy would increase the cigarette tax by 95 cents to $2.46 per pack, while DeStefano would make employers pay by closing corporate income tax loopholes.

"As governor, my universal health care plan closes corporate loopholes and uses the money to provide affordable health care for everyone," DeStefano says in the new ad. "And if Wal-Mart won't cover their workers - we will. And we'll send Wal-Mart the bill."

DeStefano would eliminate exemptions that allow many companies to pay only $250 in corporate income taxes, but he also would allow employers to avoid half of the increase by providing health benefits.

According to the Connecticut Health Policy Project, 824 Wal-Mart employees and twice as many dependents rely on the state-subsidized HUSKY program for health coverage at an annual cost in 2004 of $5.6 million.

The problem of uninsured workers is far larger: an estimated 356,000 Connecticut residents, most of whom are employed, are without health coverage.

"I see universal health care as part of any job-creation strategy, just as I see transportation policy and health policy as part of economic growth," DeStefano said.
"They're all related."

But DeStefano said that his emphasis has shifted to health care.

"I've heard it from small business. I've heard it from workers and I've heard it from [health care] providers," DeStefano said. "It is across geography and interest groups, and it's creating a greater sense of urgency about the issue in my mind."