In the days of backwards-assed Republican governors cutting budgets to the bone and targeting teachers and state workers, one governor has been taking a different approach.
Instead of all cuts, all the time the governor of Connecticut figured that if other state leaders were going to act like stupid morons, he would take advantage of that by luring their smart, talented people to his state. So, he decided to spend some money.
The Bioscience Connecticut Initiative was passed last summer with the goal of making Connecticut a bioscience hub - creating immediate jobs in construction while making Connecticut a destination of choice for high-paying jobs in health care and medical research. In just a few short months, that strategy is already paying off as the Maine based Jackson Labs has announced it will build a $1.1 billion genetics research lab in Connecticut.
Connecticut, which bucked the trend in 2010 by going all blue, elected its first Democratic governor in 20 years. Dannel P. Malloy entered his new job with many of the same problems governors around the country faced - a bad economy, job loss and massive debts. Instead of trying solve these problems through massive cuts that don't really address the problems and will likely make things worse down the road, Malloy passed a plan that seeks some cuts, but also raises some revenues. But - just as importantly - he also realized that cutting the budget just to cut it doesn't always make sense. Sometimes, you can cut your deficit by spending - if you do it wisely.
The Bioscience Connecticut Initiative includes funds to renovate the University of Connecticut Health Center hospital and research facilities as well as hire new clinical and research faculty. The goal is to expand the number of research dollars brought to the state as well as increase the class sizes for the Medical and Dental school with programs to encourage these graduates to practice their craft in Connecticut. This approach creates jobs in the short term with a goal of creating more, high paying jobs in the long term. It also address some critical areas in the state, one being the condition of the state's only public medical school and two being the shortage of health care workers in the state.
But the big goal was that by investing in health care and research in the state, other smart people around the country would see this and realize that Connecticut might be one of the few oases of sanity left in what is becoming an alarmingly anti-science, anti-common sense country. A commitment to research and infrastructure in the state may be a lure to biotech companies to come to Connecticut.
Well, its working so far! Gov. Malloy held a press conference this morning to announce that Jackson Labs - a world-famous institute in Bar Harbor, ME, primarily focused on mouse genetics - will build a new $1.1 billion lab focused on genomics and personalized medicine. And don't think the vision of this Democratic governor didn't play a role.
An official at The Jackson Laboratory, who asked not to be named, said that the state's investment in Bioscience Connecticut and the presence of major research universities such as the University of Connecticut and Yale University were part of the reason that the research institute decided to expand into Connecticut.
"Hartford, New Haven and Connecticut are really in a sweet spot halfway between Boston and New York," the Jackson official said. "We think we can create a research triangle between New Haven, Hartford and Storrs. ... It's not going to happen this week, but over the course of a decade or two, it will become a powerhouse of the medical future."
Jackson Labs was looking to put this facility in Florida, but eventually cancelled those plans due to an inability to get along with the leaders there over potential start-up funds. As one source put it:
The Jackson source said Thursday, "Politicians in Florida took a dramatic, hard turn to the right, and funding dried up."
Their loss, our gain. Now right-wingers will scream about the state spending money and how terrible it all is. But the expectations are that Jackson Labs will eventually staff their new lab with 661 research-related jobs. Those are generally high-paying jobs that will infuse a lot of money into the local economy. In addition to the construction jobs the project will create, it is estimated that an additional 6,000 jobs will be created as a result of the new facility.
I have to say, I have been really impressed with this new governor so far. I have been told by people that have met him that his plan is exactly as I stated above - he will take advantage of the dolts running other states right now to make CT more attractive to talented people. As a medical researcher here in Connecticut, I am thrilled about this news today and hope that CT becomes a leader for voters in other states to reject this stupid, short-sighted tea party thinking and start thinking forward again!