by Kevin Rennie

New York is far ahead of Boston in the competition for Hartford-based Aetna’s new headquarters, Daily Ructions can report. After 164 years in Hartford, the insurance giant invited proposals from Boston and New York. The city that never sleeps is soon expected to win a public acknowledgement of its victory.

The move from Hartford will initially involve several hundred top corporate jobs moving to a new home base in Manhattan. The decision has involved many factors. One is the cultural shift to large urban regions favored by young talent. Another obstacle for Hartford has been dynamic Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini’s famously frosty relationship with surly Governor Dannel P. Malloy. Senator Richard Blumenthal’s opposition to Aetna’s merger with Humana confirmed Connecticut’s top political leadership’s hostility to a company trying to grow in an industry facing urgent challenges in and out of the marketplace.

Aetna executives and representative have begun to inform public officials that the headquarters search process is close to a conclusion. The announcement should provoke a searching examination of the policies that have caused Aetna–on the heels of GE–to leave Connecticut.