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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 41 then that's not going to change based on arguments that we or oth- er [business] advocates might make. at's the real challenge that we face. If this were Arizona or Missouri, for instance, the state's largest business group would exercise a lot more leverage — not just with lawmakers, but with the public, too. A lot of that's cultural, and it's not easy to overcome. e encouraging thing for me is that business leaders at all levels are getting more active in policy matters than they've been in a long time. We always struggle to get our message out to the general public, and not just to policy-mak- ers. We do feel that the public is generally supportive [of the business agenda]. e challenge is electing people who understand those positions that we take and agree with them. at's why we've gotten a little more active politically over the last few years in trying to elect more people who have economic competi- tiveness and economic growth as top priorities when they go to Hartford. Isn't it time to take the leap and start endorsing candidates? Well, we do. We have histori- cally endorsed candidates for the legislature — this year we endorsed candidates in about 100 out of 187 legislative races. I mean for statewide office. Some [CBIA board members] get nervous about even doing that [en- dorsements for General Assembly races]. ey think we should just be policy-oriented and not political- ly-oriented. A lot of people [coming into the legislature], their ideology does not lend itself to our argu- ment. So we have become a little more active politically in trying to elect people who are more open to our ideas. It doesn't help that media in Connecticut hardly covers business or business issues any more. We've got to find a way to tell the story of 'business' in a different way. When you think of the word 'busi- ness,' what image comes to mind? The Monopoly guy with the $100 bills spilling out of his pockets. Right. But when people say 'business' to me, I think of the hundreds and thousands of people I've met over the years by going to their companies, walking around, talking to their employees, seeing what they do every day. And seeing the passion — not only for the prod- uct they make, or the service they deliver, but for their employees, and how much pride they have in their own business. e people that I've met are among the finest people I have ever met in any walk of life. Sometimes I regret that we don't do a better job of getting the average person to understand that 'business' is not just this monolithic thing out there that just has to be tolerated because you need the jobs being provided, but how important they are to the fabric of Connecticut. We need to do a better job communi- cating how lucky we are to have the companies that we have. n Voice in the Wilderness Continued from Page 7

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