Roy Cooper And Dan Malloy: Birds Of A Feather, Drive Businesses Out Together | Eastern North Carolina Now

 Raleigh, N.C.     Today, NCGOP Chairman Hasan Harnett released the following statement on N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper's high-dollar New York City fundraiser with "America's Worst Governor," Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy.

 View the invitation here.

 "Roy Cooper and Dan Malloy are perfect together — and as Malloy's tenure as governor of Connecticut proves, the Cooper-Malloy high tax, big government agenda causes businesses and residents to flee for better business environments like in North Carolina. While under Governor McCrory, North Carolina has among the best business climates, has stood up to Washington, D.C.'s harmful policies and was recently named the most competitive state in the country, the fact that such an anti-business, pro-Washington, D.C. governor like Dan Malloy is raising money for Roy Cooper's campaign says a lot about the kind of governor Cooper would be."

 Morning Joe slams Dan Malloy for tax increases:

Background:

• "GE Notifies Employees It's Looking for a New Home" (Vincent Salzo, "GE Notifies Employees It's Looking for a New Home," Fairfield Patch, 6/4/2015)
• "Businesses, including major Connecticut employers General Electric Co., Aetna Inc. and Travelers Cos., criticized the increase in business taxes included in the budget." (Joseph de Avila, "Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy Defends New Budget," Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2015)
• "Immelt asks GE team to weigh Connecticut pullout after tax hike" (Edward Krudy: "Immelt asks GE team to weigh Connecticut pullout after tax hike," Reuters, 6/4/2015)
• "General Electric Co has assembled an "exploratory team" to look at moving its headquarters out of Connecticut after lawmakers passed a budget that includes $1.2 billion in tax increases despite protests from some of the state's biggest corporations." (Edward Krudy: "Immelt asks GE team to weigh Connecticut pullout after tax hike," Reuters, 6/4/2015)
• "Last week, GE gave Connecticut notice it can no longer take its headquarters presence for granted, either, sparking responses from legislative leaders who said the taxes GE pays are unreflective of the company's actual operations in Connecticut." (Alexander Soule, "GE's impact on state goes far beyond taxes," CT Post, 6/7/2015)
• "Fairfield-based GE, one of the five largest companies in the world, warned the tax hike, retroactive to Jan. 1, would make businesses and citizens 'seriously consider whether it makes any sense to continue to be located in this state.'" (Yaël Ossowski, "'Another sad day for Connecticut' as $2 billion tax hike set to pass," Watchdog.org, 6/1/2015)

• In 2013, more than 200,000 people moved from high tax states like New York, Illinois, California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts to Texas, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Arizona. (Paul Blair, "Taxpayers Fleeing Democrat-Run States for Republican Ones," Americans for Tax Reform, 9/4/2015)

• "Connecticut's budget chief: The state is in a 'permanent fiscal crisis'" (Op-Ed: Suzanne Bates, "Connecticut's budget chief: The state is in a 'permanent fiscal crisis'," Watchdog.org, 1/22/2015)
• "Fiscal Suicide: Connecticut Governor Malloy's $40 Billion Budget" (Op-Ed: Rex Sinquefield, "Fiscal Suicide: Connecticut Governor Malloy's $40 Billion Budget," Forbes, 6/16/2015)
• Received a D on the Cato Institute's fiscal report card (Cato Institute, 2014)
• Moody's Downgraded The State Of Connecticut's credit rating. "Highlighting the state's long-term problems, Moody's has downgraded the state's credit rating by one notch. It cited its high bonded debt, empty reserve fund and huge unfunded liabilities for pension and retirement health benefits." (Editorial: "Malloy's budget comes up short," New Haven Register, 1/24/12)
• "Anyone who still believes tax increases are the solution to chronic budget deficits should take a look at the fiscal train wreck in Connecticut. Even the state's biggest employers are alarmed. The Nutmeg State just passed a $2.5 billion income-tax hike in 2011 — the biggest in the state's history — but the revenue got spent, taxpayers fled the state and the flimsy economy never really pulled out of the Great Recession. Now Hartford wants more money." (Editorial: "The Hartford Way: Keep Raising Taxes In Connecticut," Investors Business Daily, 6/6/2015)

• "The record $40 billion budget cancels even the tiniest cuts in social programs recommended by Malloy, and increases spending for many of the left's favored programs. The only austerity in this budget is imposed on taxpayers." (Editorial: "The Hartford Way: Keep Raising Taxes In Connecticut," Investors Business Daily, 6/6/2015)

• Malloy Passed "Largest Tax Increase In State History" (Blog: Christopher Keating, "Malloy Signs Budget And Tax Package; Largest Tax Increase In State History Would Close Deficit," Hartford Courant, 5/4/2011)
• "Malloy had mentioned the word 'celebration' when he had reached a deal with top Democrats on the budget." (Blog: Christopher Keating, "Malloy Signs Budget And Tax Package; Largest Tax Increase In State History Would Close Deficit," Hartford Courant, 5/4/2011)

• Governor Malloy "has been among [President Obama's] strongest statehouse allies" (Jenny Wilson and Daniela Altimari, "Obama Campaigns For Malloy In Bridgeport Appearance," Hartford Courant, 11/2/2014)

• "The extension of the temporary 20 percent surcharge maintains Connecticut's effective corporate tax rate at 9 percent, compared with a base rate of 7.5 percent, the fifth-highest in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation." Edward Krudy: "Immelt asks GE team to weigh Connecticut pullout after tax hike," Reuters, 6/4/2015)
• "Connecticut ranks in the bottom 10 on the Tax Foundation's 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index (and has the second-highest property tax in the entire nation)." (Op-Ed: Rex Sinquefield, "Fiscal Suicide: Connecticut Governor Malloy's $40 Billion Budget," Forbes, 6/16/2015)

• "Malloy's approval sinks as fears of GE exodus mount" (Neil Vigdor, "Malloy's approval sinks as fears of GE exodus mount," CT Post, 10/15/2015)
• "The public's fear of losing GE's headquarters to another state has created a major drag effect for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, whose 32 percent job approval rating in a new Quinnipiac University poll is the lowest since the Democrat took office in 2011." (Neil Vigdor, "Malloy's approval sinks as fears of GE exodus mount," CT Post, 10/15/2015)

• Voted for the largest tax increase in state history.
• Doubled state spending.
• Grew government jobs faster than the private sector.

• Roy Cooper has refused to stand up to the Obama Administration's overreaching EPA regulations for coal-fired power plants, which will kill jobs and increase average utility bills for NC families by $434 while doing little to reduce pollution.
• Roy Cooper is in favor of sanctuary cities, and has stayed silent on a bill signed by Governor McCrory to end them in North Carolina.
• Roy Cooper refused to sue the Obama Administration to halt the implementation of its illegal and unilateral executive order granting legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants.
• Roy Cooper sided with Washington over North Carolina when he refused to challenge overreaching EPA water regulations, which would cede more control of North Carolina waterways to an unaccountable federal bureaucracy and expose farmers to excessive federal fines.
• Roy Cooper again sided with Washington, D.C. over North Carolina when he refused to sign on to an amicus brief in the case of G. G. v. Gloucester County School Board to oppose the ACLU and federal government's attempt to force local school districts to open sex-specific student locker rooms and bathrooms to individuals of the opposite biological sex.

• Contact: Kara Carter
•  NCGOP Press Secretary
•  kara.carter@ncgop.org