Going Down. Otis Employees Leaving Connecticut for Florida.

In an unsettling development for Connecticut’s fragile economy, more than 100 executives and other high-paid corporate employees in the new UTC BIS subsidiary that merged iconic elevator maker Otis and air conditioning giant Carrier, both based in Farmington, are leaving for Florida, Daily Ructions has learned.

The business unit that controls North and South American operations for the Otis brand is breaking camp for West Palm Beach in a blow to the administration of Governor Dannel P. Malloy. The news will be an unwelcome development for the struggling incumbent Democrat less than four months before voters render their verdict on his first term record.

Connecticut residents will wonder what they are getting in exchange for $400 million in tax credits to United Technologies Corporation given to the Hartford-headquartered company this spring.  The highly publicized deal was meant to calm anxieties about the intentions of state’s largest corporation.