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CBIA: The Garbles Voice Of Business

By Bill Collins

Businessmen have come to town,

Here to change our laws around;

If you help them make their gain,

They may help with your campaign.

CBIA is a familiar acronym at the state capitol, though it may not be on the

tips of tongues elsewhere. It stands for Connecticut Business and Industry

Association, a sort of statewide chamber of commerce. Its highest visibility,

outside of legislative hearing rooms, comes in state election years. Then it

erects incomprehensible billboards along our highways, touting its convoluted

message.

CBIA's dilemma is the classic one facing most business groups - how to put a

respectable face on avarice. This year, as at the start of every legislative

session, it has offered humble advice to lawmakers. Cut spending and taxes, it

says. Especially business taxes. And improve education and transportation

while you're at it.

Some might view these as conflicting goals, but this is not a line of work for

those with hang-ups about consistency. One way they suggest to cut spending

without doing harm is to privatize some state services. CBIA members could

then contract to do plenty of that work cheaper, notably because they often

pay lower wages and benefits.

Another mixed message this year concerns electricity. Unlike many of its

members, who are drooling for competition to undercut Northeast Utilities,

CBIA urges caution. It also recommends that Northeast Utilities be relieved of

its responsibility to buy up the extra power produced by local self-suppliers.

Coincidentally, CBIA's new chairman is Bernard M. Fox, president of that same

Northeast Utilities. Given Northeast's dismal record of speaking openly about

its nuclear plants, Mr Fox's elevation adds one more layer of tarnish to

CBIA's image. It's like electing Al D'Amato or Bill Clinton to chair the

Ethics Committee.

But the state Department of Social Services has chosen to overlook any such

conflicts of interest. Perceiving some hidden goodwill lurking behind these

character lapses, it has awarded CBIA $1.6 million to figure out how to get

small businesses to hire welfare recipients. That $1.6 million should help

markedly with the association's annual budget. And dare we hazard a guess as

to the result of the research? Maybe, just maybe, it will recommend

subsidizing businesses.

The award of this tasty contract, and the deference CBIA receives at the

capitol, might make you wonder where it gets all that clout. Surely not from

its opaque billboards or its transparent advice. No, its clout comes from

money. Its members contribute generously to political campaigns, and it pays

plenty for a stable of experienced lobbyists.

You can almost feel sorry for those lobbyists. They work hard, faithfully

representing Connecticut's richest special interests. But behind their backs

is always the snickering. Capitol insiders love to deride CBIA's embarrassing

attempts to feign concern for the state's general welfare.

But contrasting with CBIA's advice to cut state spending, there are compelling

reasons to spend more. One is the expected costs of implementing Sheff v

O'Neill. Another is the revelation that 19 percent of Connecticut kids live in

poverty. A third is the terrible neglect of our state parks.

Meanwhile CBIA-member Aetna gives Zoe Baird, age 44, a tidy departure package

of $3.5 million, and Lawrence Fish, head of the Citizens Bank conglomerate,

gets a bonus of $3.2 million. Under the circumstances, CBIA might gain maximum

respect by simply having the decency to shut up.

(Bill Collins, a former mayor of Norwalk, is a syndicated columnist.)