News + Press

Hearst Review Picks Apart Fazio’s Misleading Convention Speech

Just after becoming the GOP’s nominee for governor, Ryan Fazio’s campaign message is already colliding with an inconvenient hurdle: basic facts.

Hearst Media put Fazio’s convention speech under the fact check microscope, and the results were not flattering:

LEGISLATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS – Fazio claimed he “passed over half a dozen laws” by “finding common ground to do the right thing.” This is misleading, as Hearst points out that “lawmakers vote on hundreds of bills and resolutions every year and many end up with bipartisan support.”

• The reality? “Of the nine bills introduced by Fazio during the recent session, none of them got out of the committee process.”

• Meanwhile, Governor Lamont just passed another balanced budget with bipartisan support, but Fazio remained a hardliner hold-out – attacking the process at every turn.

TAXES – Fazio claimed, as he often has, that Connecticut has “the third-highest taxes in the nation.”

• The reality? “A recent study by the General Assembly’s nonpartisan Office of Legislative Research found that Connecticut is about in the median compared to other Northeast states and California.”

• Meanwhile, Governor Lamont and Democratic lawmakers delivered the largest income tax cut in state history, expanded Connecticut’s Earned Income Tax Credit, and provided critical budget relief to municipalities to help prevent local tax spikes – all while passing eight consecutive balanced budgets.

CONNECTICUT’S ECONOMY – Fazio called Connecticut’s economy the “fourth weakest” in the nation.

• The reality? Hearst points out that this claim appears to be taken directly from ALEC, a special interest-backed policy mill whose job is using GOP state legislators to pass corporate wish lists into state law. For example, ALEC penalizes states for having a high minimum wage and rewards states for having anti-union “right-to-work” laws. Multiple objective, nonpartisan metrics immediately debunk Fazio’s claim.

• Meanwhile, the Lamont administration has stabilized Connecticut’s credit rating, built one of the strongest rainy day funds in the nation, paid down billions in unfunded pension debt liability, prioritized workforce development to keep our state competitive, and created tens of thousands of jobs.

Statement from CT Dems spokesperson Ian Clarke:

“One week into his gubernatorial campaign, Ryan Fazio is already proving he has nothing new to offer--just the same MAGA-fueled Republican formula of misleading statistics, grievance politics, and attacks on policies that put Connecticut families ahead of insiders and corporate special interests.”

Meanwhile, Governor Lamont and Democratic candidates across Connecticut will continue to campaign on a record of progress that can stand up to a Google search.”