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Republican Gubernatorial Nominee's Anti-Worker Record Just Got Worse

While Governor Lamont stood with workers in Connecticut's building trades, signing Public Act 26-17, commonsense bipartisan legislation that strengthens enforcement of the state's prevailing wage laws and protects workers from contractors and subcontractors who break the law, Republican gubernatorial nominee Ryan Fazio chose to stand with the contractors who cheat them, voting against the new law.

He wasn't just on the wrong side, he was on the most extreme edge of his own party, one of only five Senate Republicans willing to side with wage-cheating contractors over Connecticut workers and taxpayers.

"Ryan Fazio had a simple choice: stand with Connecticut workers, or stand with the contractors who steal their wages. He chose the wage thieves," said Connecticut Democratic Party Spokesperson Ian Clarke. "This is the same Ryan Fazio who's tried to dismantle paid leave for sick and struggling families, the same Fazio who sides with corporate special interests every single time it counts. Connecticut workers should know exactly who they're dealing with, because Ryan Fazio has made it perfectly clear."

This is who Ryan Fazio is. It's not a one-off vote, it's a pattern. Fazio has spent his time in the legislature attacking the very protections Connecticut workers rely on. He went after the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave program, which has paid out more than $1 billion to workers caring for sick family members or recovering from illness, dismissing it as "an over-collection of taxes," and pushing a scheme that the program's own actuaries warned could leave it insolvent within five years. While working families lean on that safety net, Ryan Fazio has been working overtime to gut it.

Governor Lamont has spent his time in office fighting alongside labor by raising the minimum wage, delivering paid family and medical leave, expanding collective bargaining rights, and now cracking down on contractors who cheat their workers. Ryan Fazio has spent his time fighting against every one of those gains. As he asks Connecticut voters to make him governor, his record leaves no doubt about whose side he's really on -- and it isn't theirs.