Devastating: Connecticut’s Economy Contracted by 4.7% in 2nd Quarter. Only Wyoming Worse at 4.8%. State Last in Personal Income Growth. Ned Lamont’s Narrative Damaged as Election Draws Near.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics dropped some terrible news on the people of Connecticut and Governor Ned Lamont on Friday. The state’s economy contracted by 4.7% in the second quarter of the year. It was the second worst state decline. Only energy market-dependent Wyoming had a bigger fall at 4.8%.The national economy declined by 0.6%, according to the report featured in the Hartford Business Journal.

Connecticut was last in personal income growth at 2.2%, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association pointed out Friday. CBIA calls the figure “a key economic indicator of economic competitiveness.” It said the two statistics highlight “the fragile nature of the state’s recovery and growth prospects.”

The double-barreled bad news comes as Lamont, a Democrat seeking a second term. seeks to portray the state on a dramatic upswing after eight years under his surly predecessor, Dannel P. Malloy.

The chilly dose of reality may force Lamont to give a rest to his happy talk campaign and drives a hole through his upbeat narrative. The Democrat may need to shift his odd fixation on the state having the best pizza to explaining the failure of the state’s economy to continue to lag far behind the rest of the nation–and the region–in economic growth. The Greenwich aristocrat has one streak of unbroken luck: He faces Republican Bob Stefanowski on November 8th, a rematch of their 2018 contest. Saudi Bob has been mired in cultural issues, a choice he appears to have made as his campaign falls further behind Lamont in public and private polls.

Stefanowski has put at least $10 million into his campaign, a he pledged to do when he launched it early this year. He may have added more since his summer campaign finance report. The payday lender executive who appears to have had a lucrative second career in the Desert Kingdom as a consultant to senior managers made more than $36 million between 2019 and 2021. He may find that fortune is not as big as it looks when confronted with the fourth generation wealth amassed by Governor and Mrs. Lamont, who have spent more than $50 million in four statewide campaigns, including this year’s, since 2006.

Published September 30, 2022.