| Notes |
Connecticut’s aborted education partnership with hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio demonstrated an important principle for other states and the federal government, warns U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.
When officials rely on philanthropy, rather than taxing the wealthy, to fund a core public function like schools, the result is an elite few having far more influence than the average taxpayer — which rarely ends well, regardless of how laudable the goals, the Democratic senator said.
“When it comes to how dollars are spent through government, no billionaire should have more say than my poorest constituent,” Murphy told author and columnist Anand Giridharadas in an interview published Sept. 15 in The Ink — an online, public affairs newsletter.
“We’ve got folks who want to be very generous with their billions, but they want to have a big say in how their money is spent on good causes,” Murphy said. “I still believe in one person, one vote.”
Murphy, who discussed his comments Thursday with the CT Mirror, said they were offered in reference to Dalio, the founder and former CEO of Westport-based Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund.
Dalio and his wife, Barbara, backed out in May from the Partnership for Connecticut following media reports that they sought to remove the group’s CEO before state officials involved with the venture had been informed.
That incident was just one of a string of controversies that followed the partnership since Barbara Dalio first announced the couple’s unprecedented offer in April 2019. The Dalios pledged to contribute $100 million over five years to help low-performing districts provided the state matched that investment and worked with the Dalios to raise another $100 million in private contributions.
But just two months later, as legislators were poised to vote on the deal, they learned the Dalios wanted the partnership exempted from state disclosure and ethics rules.
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The exceptions were granted despite objections from news media, open government organizations and a statewide parent advocacy group. Significant portions of the partnership oversight board’s meetings were held behind closed doors.
And after Attorney General William Tong said state officials on the partnership’s oversight board still would have to make public any related documents, the Dalios then pushed to form a board subcommittee — with no state officials on it — that would administer most matters. Legislators on the partnership board blocked that.
When news of the attempted firing of the CEO broke in May, the Dalios accused some lawmakers and journalists of trying to sabotage the partnership.
“It has become clear that it’s not working because of political fighting,” Barbara Dalio wrote in a statement. “I am not a politician and I never signed up to become one. I only want to help people. Through this experience I’ve learned about our broken political system and I don’t see a path through it to help people.”
All of the conditions tied to the Dalios’ pledged contribution “probably created more trouble than it was worth,” Murphy added. “And I think that’s the conclusion everybody came to.” |