Clinton camp does damage control over Malloy’s layoffs

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton celebrates on stage after winning the New York state primary Tuesday, April 19, 2016, in New York. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton celebrates on stage after winning the New York state primary Tuesday, April 19, 2016, in New York. Photo: Kathy Willens Photo: Kathy Willens Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Clinton camp does damage control over Malloy’s layoffs 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Could the pink slips handed out by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy cost Hillary Clinton at the ballot box in Connecticut?

While the Clintons crisscrossed the state Thursday as part of final push for the upcoming primary, Hillary Clinton’s national campaign chairman, John Podesta, quietly met with leaders of three major state employee and teacher unions in New Haven to try to settle tensions, Hearst Connecticut Media has learned.

The unions are fuming over 643 layoffs and budget cuts by the state under Malloy, a loyal Clinton surrogate who has campaigned in New Hampshire and Iowa for the former secretary of state.

Clinton’s campaign may have cause for concern over the strength of its support from labor, which played a key role in some of Clinton’s victories over Bernie Sanders in other states such as Nevada.

Turnout for three union-organized canvasses for Clinton this weekend in Hartford and New Haven has slumped, said a person close to the situation who asked not to be identified. Connecticut holds its primary Tuesday.

“I think (Malloy’s) unpopularity is really rubbing off on Hillary right now,” the source said. “People just started dropping off like crazy.”

Clinton’s campaign confirmed the sit-down with Podesta, who served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

“As we have throughout this campaign, we were happy to meet with leaders from SEIU, AFSCME and AFT this week who have been and continue to be some of our strongest allies,” said Mahen Gunaratna, a Connecticut spokesman for the Clinton campaign.

Malloy’s office, which is eyeing as many as 2,000 layoffs to close a billion-dollar budget deficit, declined to comment on the matter.

Canvassing slowdown

The labor trio of the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the American Federation of Teachers represent about 100,000 workers in the state.

The plan this weekend was for union members to fan out through the cities to knock on doors and hand out literature for Clinton, according to an organizer, who said that in some cases just paid union staff would be doing the canvassing.

John Olsen, the former head of both the Connecticut AFL-CIO and state Democratic Party, downplayed the potential impact on Tuesday’s primary between Sanders and Clinton, who he is supporting.

“If this race is that close, I guess you could make the argument, but I don’t think it’s going to be that close,” Olsen said. “I think the momentum is here for Secretary Clinton.”

Olsen said it’s only natural for Clinton’s campaign to try to shore up its labor base in the state, where a recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Clinton with a 9-point advantage over Sanders.

“Listen, obviously the people who are working on Clinton’s behalf in Connecticut will have concerns,” Olsen said.

Sanders’ campaign, which has criticized Clinton for being to slow to embrace a $15 hourly minimum wage, did not respond to a request for comment.

Olsen said it makes sense that the unions would take the opportunity to air their grievances with Clinton’s campaign.

“I think everybody always uses every leverage,” Olsen said. “My guess is they probably would have liked to meet with (Clinton), but Podesta is a high-level person.”

Primary importance

Clinton isn’t the only one with a lot riding on Tuesday’s primary. The vote is also important for Malloy, whose named has been bandied about for a potential job in a Clinton administration.

“As the wife of a longtime governor of a state, Hillary probably understands the challenges that the governor is facing,” said Ronald Schurin, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. “I think she would not hold this too much against Governor Malloy.”

The fiscal strife reared its head during a town hall on gun violence for Clinton Thursday in Hartford, where Malloy was in attendance. Nelba Marquez-Greene, who lost her daughter, Ana Grace, in the Newtown school shooting, publicly called on Malloy to restore funding for social and mental health services.

“I’m concerned about our mental health programs and the devastating cuts that are happening right now, as we speak,” Marquez-Greene said.

Downstate, Bill Clinton fundraised Thursday at the Westport home of hedge fund manager Marc Lasry ,after stopping for pizza at the famed Neapolitan pie-maker Pepe’s in New Haven. The Clintons met as Yale Law students in the Elm City, site of Thursday’s union conclave with Podesta.

Olsen said Connecticut’s fiscal problems are much bigger than one person.

“It’s not like John Podesta walks in with a magic wand and solves the problem,” he said.