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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 2 0 2 0 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 27 What Can We Do For You? 860.871.1111 www.nemsi.com 166 Tunnel Road, Vernon, CT 06066 Choose an Award-Winning Partner For Over 50 Years, Clients Have Counted On NEMSI For: • HVAC, Plumbing and Process Piping • Design-Build Construction • Energy Management Systems • LEED Certification Programs • Electrical Services • Comprehensive Preventive Maintenance Programs • 24/7/365 Emergency Response Recent Awards Include: » ABC Platinum Safety Award » ABC Accredited Quality Contractor (ABC-AQC) » ABC Excellence in Construction Award » ABC Specialty Contractor of the Year » Contracting Business First Place Design/Build Award License #s: E1-104939 • S1- 302974 P1- 203519 • F1- 10498 • SM1-192 • MC-1134 Offices in: New London | Trumbull | Pawtucket, RI | Palmer, MA | Manchester, NH | Albany, NY Offi ces in: New London | Trumbull | Pawtucket, RI Palmer, MA | Manchester, NH | Albany, NY Choose an Award-Winning Partner For Over 50 Years, Clients Have Counted On NEMSI For: • HVAC, Plumbing and Process Piping • Design-Build Construction • Energy Management Systems • LEED Certifi cation Programs • Electrical Services • Comprehensive Preventive Maintenance Programs • 24/7/365 Emergency Response License #s: E1-104939 • S1- 302974 P1- 203519 • F1- 10498 • SM1-192 • MC-1134 What Can We Do For You? 860.871.1111 www.nemsi.com 166 Tunnel Road, Vernon, CT 06066 Recent Awards Include: » ABC Platinum Safety Award » ABC Accredited Quality Contractor (ABC-AQC) » ABC Excellence in Construction Award » ABC Specialty Contractor of the Year » Contracting Business First Place Design/Build Award PARTNERSHIP FOR CT guided by the Program Committee, whose members include Clemons, Dalio, Sheena Graham, a teacher at Bridgeport's Harding High School, and teachers union head Hochadel. e committee will make recom- mendations to the full board for who gets the money. How that gang of four will decide who to green-light for funding was not discussed Dec. 16. Neither was the extent to which those delibera- tions will be conducted in the public. "I've had an issue with this from the beginning," says Klarides. "ere's public trust involved. ere's public money involved. So the public needs to be aware of what's going on." It was Klarides who in July asked state Attorney General William Tong for an opinion regarding the apparent contradiction of public officials serving on a private board. "I said how can we — the four elected leaders and the governor — sit on a board where we are subject to ethics laws and FOI laws — but in our capacity on this board we are not?" says Klarides. So while legislators and Lamont last spring exempted the Partner- ship from Freedom of Information requirements, Tong in August ruled that the five public officials (the governor and four lawmakers) serving on the Partnership's board were not themselves exempt. Following the Tong ruling, the Partnership's Dec. 16 meeting was conducted entirely in open session. Klarides further questions the wisdom of state government — which already funds public educa- tion — pledging another $100 mil- lion in taxpayer dollars that it can scarcely afford to a public-private Partnership whose expenditures and decisions it does not control. "e charge of this organization is great," Klarides says. "But we [state government] are already in that [public education] business — we have billions of dollars that go to education. And that's great. But now we're in this side business, this side hustle, with other people. "at's a conflict," adds Klarides, who represents Derby, Orange and Woodbridge in the House. "If I vote against funding [the Partnership] next year, that's clearly against the best interests of that organization. But, If my No. 1 job is the oath I took as a legislator, then that's definitely in the best interests of the people of Connecticut. Because we don't have that money." Clemons defends both the dollars, the process — and above all the Partnership's mission. "I want to be clear that there is no hiding anything," he says. "It is important that we can actually have really courageous conversations about an organization that's going to do great work and create a huge impact. It was never about some clandestine operation that's going to harm or experiment on black and brown kids." n Barbara Dalio and her husband, hedge- fund billionaire Ray Dalio, staked $100 million to create the Partnership.

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