House Republican Press Release

 

 

 

June 21, 2006

Press Office: 860-240-8700

 

Rep. Miller to U. S. Senators, Members of Congress: Don’t Bash Sikorsky; Make CT More Competitive

 

Sending Work Out of State Results from CT’s High Taxes, Hostile Business Climate; Not Strike                                             

Instead of questioning the motives behind a recent Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. move to build 76 helicopters at its plant in Pennsylvania, Connecticut’s two U. S. Senators and three members of its Congressional delegation should intensify their efforts to help improve the state’s business climate, state Representative Lawrence G. Miller said today.

In a recent letter to Sikorsky executives, U. S. Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman, and U. S. Representatives, Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, John Larson, D-1st District, and Christopher Shays, R-4th District, demanded that the company “reconsider this decision to outsource Sikorsky’s commercial work and clarify for us whether the decision was related to the strike, or whether the move is part of a broader effort to take work out of Connecticut.”

“Considering the fact that Connecticut residents bear either the highest or second-highest tax burden in the country when it comes to state and local taxes, according to two recent studies, and that the state is widely regarded as hostile to employers because of the high taxes and regulatory red tape it imposes on businesses, it strikes me as more than a little presumptuous of our two U. S. senators and three of our five U. S. representatives to assume that a rational business decision by Sikorsky is simply payback for the strike and a signal that more of the work now performed by its unionized employees will be shipped out of state,” said Representative Miller, R-122nd District.

“All five of these individuals showed up during the strike and paid homage to the Teamsters’ Union and its boss James Hoffa in a transparent attempt to curry favor with Big Labor in an election year and get favorable nationwide news coverage,” Representative Miller said. “The Sikorsky strike was costly to the company, the strikers and their families and the Town of Stratford. The only ones who gained from this strike were the politicians who dropped by to declare their solidarity with the union - and then headed for the next wine and cheese party.”

“Although I am concerned about Sikorsky’s decision to move some of its work to its Pennsylvania facility and its potential impact on the families who depend directly and indirectly on the plant for their livelihoods, I am just as worried about what it may say about Connecticut’s reputation as one of the country’s least business-friendly states,” Representative Miller said.

“While Connecticut’s two senators and three of our members of congress may have gotten some political mileage out of their appearances during the strike and their letter to Sikorsky, talk is cheap and easy but does little or nothing to improve the state’s business climate and create more jobs,” Representative Miller said. “On the other hand, easing the regulatory burden on employers and reducing taxes on businesses, families and individuals requires political courage and sacrifice – qualities that appear to be lacking in all five of these individuals. In the long run, those are the kinds of hard choices we will have to make if we are serious about strengthening Connecticut’s economy, encouraging more companies to move here and providing the thousands of quality jobs our citizens need.”

“Instead of wringing their hands and cursing Sikorsky for its decision to build a few helicopters in business-friendly Pennsylvania, Senators Dodd and Lieberman, Congressmen Larson and Shays and Congresswoman DeLauro could be spending their time more productively in the nation’s capitol by doing whatever they can to make Connecticut as business-friendly as Pennsylvania and creating the conditions that will keep Sikorsky in Stratford for generations to come,” Representative Miller said.