Malloy to critics: GE’s footprint still substantial

The taunting has been relentless: He’s the governor who lost General Electric. It’s come from every direction, even in the context of the presidential race as a punchline of Donald Trump. But that narrative of a GE exodus from Connecticut is being disputed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who says the conglomerate’s workforce in the state hasn’t diminished. In fact, the Democrat has gone one step further. “There are more GE employees in Connecticut today than there were this time last year,” Malloy said on Aug. 15, during a briefing in East Hartford.

Even with GE unpacking at its temporary new global headquarters in Boston this week, Malloy stood by the claim that the company’s footprint in Connecticut remains mostly intact.

Previous estimates put the total number of the GE employees in Connecticut at 5,700, spread out between the company’s longtime headquarters in Fairfield and business units in Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury, Plainville and Windsor.

“GE is a great company and we’d like to continue to do well with them,” Malloy told Hearst Connecticut Media Wednesday. “You shouldn’t miss the good news because you’re dwelling on the tough news.”

So does Malloy’s math, which was derided as spin by his critics in the GOP and the business community, add up?

The answer is somewhat murky. Both Malloy’s office and the state Department of Labor were unable to provide current employee totals for GE, which they said is confidential information.

Malloy said he was counting 600 jobs at Synchrony Financial in Stamford — GE’s former consumer credit arm that the company spun-off as a separate business in 2015 — toward the total. The governor’s calculation also includes the addition of 1,000 to 1,200 jobs at what was previously known as Alstom Energy in Windsor, which GE acquired in late 2015.

Hard to calculate

But GE, which announced in January that it was leaving its home since 1974 in Fairfield for $145 million in incentives from Massachusetts and Boston, contradicted the governor somewhat.

“Best we can say is that, year over year, employment is down — primarily driven by sale of the majority of GE Capital and the Synchrony split-off,” said Susan Bishop, a GE spokeswoman. “There were additions from Alstom but they don’t offset the Capital declines. We don’t share employment numbers so can only provide what is above.”

Malloy’s office said it had taken into account the sale and downsizing of GE Capital, which has business units in Stamford, Norwalk and Danbury.

A Synchrony spokeswoman said the company has gone from 310 to 600 employees in Stamford since reaching a deal with the state for up to $20 million in economic incentives last year.

“Clearly Synchrony has been a home run for the state,” Malloy said.

To include Synchrony in the calculation is a stretch by the governor, some say, including David Cadden, a professor emeritus in the School of Business at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

“You can spin numbers any way you want,” Cadden said, citing a quote frequently attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, the late British prime minister. “Benjamin Disraeli said there are three types of liars. There’s your basic liar, your damnable liar and your statistician, and people do this all the time.”

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, defended Malloy. His city is getting 600 of the 800 jobs that are being displaced from GE’s Fairfield headquarters to the Merritt 7 office park, where remnants of the disbanding GE Capital business are now located. The remaining GE jobs are shipping up to the Boston.

“There’s a political element in this state that is rooting for failure, and they helped create this notion that every single job of GE’s was leaving and going to Boston when, in fact, less than 200 are going to Boston,” Duff said. “The vast majority of jobs from Fairfield are in Norwalk now. I believe there will be job growth by GE here in Norwalk over the long term. Connecticut still has more Fortune 500 companies per capita than any other state.”

Spin accusation

State Rep. John Frey, R-Ridgefield, said Malloy is forgetting all the ancillary workers affected by the loss of GE’s headquarters, from limousine drivers to building custodians. “He keeps trying to put this revisionary spin on GE,” Frey said. “He can try all he wants. He can’t put a positive spin on GE.”

The departure of GE’s headquarters was not lost on Trump during an Aug. 13 rally in Fairfield.

“How do you lose General Electric?” Trump said.

Malloy characterized the loss of jobs from GE’s headquarters as “unfortunate” Wednesday. But the governor has steadfastly stated that “the howling would not have stopped” if he gave out $162 million in incentives to lure 200 jobs to the state the way Boston and Massachusetts did.

Massachusetts officials said Wednesday that they’re getting more bang for their buck, and that the deal is for 800 jobs by 2018.

“It’s a world-class company whose reputation is outstanding and they’ve already created a buzz in Boston and Massachusetts,” said John Regan, the executive vice president of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, of which GE is a member. neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy