The University of Connecticut Foundation will pay about $4,500 to send Gov. Dannel Malloy to the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, while the state owes the foundation $18 million in matching grants.
Since 2007, the state has pledged to match one quarter of all donations to the UConn Foundation endowment. This commitment is in place until 2014.
Between 1999 and 2006, the state matched half of all contributions to the endowment.
Although the state budgeted no money to meet this commitment in the current fiscal year or the previous one, the state’s obligation “shall be carried forward and be eligible for a matching state grant in any succeeding fiscal year” through 2014, according to state statutes.
As of June 30, 2011, the state’s cumulative obligation is $18 million, according to the UConn Foundation’s financial statements.
UConn, which received $233 million in state funding, also paid the foundation $8.5 million in fiscal year 2011. During the previous year, the foundation received $9.1 million in contractual payments from UConn, plus a special $2.5 million payment for a new IT fundraising system.
Malloy will attend the meeting from Jan. 25 to 29.
“Throughout my first year in office, I’ve taken every opportunity to send the message that Connecticut is open for business,” Malloy said. “I can’t imagine a better opportunity to share that sentiment with leaders from around the world than at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. It’s a real honor, and I am proud that I will get to represent the people of Connecticut at such an important event.”
what a bunch of BS from Malloy
Malloy is in Switzerland on (ultimately) the taxpayer’s dime to “prospect” for business. This backhanded admission that business is slow might be positive if his administration wasn’t otherwise doing all it can do to kill business and hiring for those already established in the state and characterizing the cooking of the unemployment numbers as good. How could we experience a 0.3% decline in unemployment while experiencing a net LOSS of 1,300 jobs unless people are exhausting their benefits and giving up their job search dropping them from statistical visibility?
Nothing this governor does reflects any real concern for what’s going on in the state. .
This would be funny if it wasn’t serious. The state is broke! BROKE! We have the highest per-capita indebtedness of any state in the union; estimated by some to be as low as $23k for every man, woman and child and by others as high as $40k/capita. Pick a number – any number. We’re BROKE. Meanwhile, Danny keeps spending money like it’s water. The cost of attending Davos is estimated at between $50 to $72k per person – and that’s the cheapest price of entry. There are no ‘free’ entries to Davos. Airfare and hotels are on top of that figure. And to imply that because Danny’s tab is being picked up by UCONN is a cruel joke. In case Dannel; hasn’t heard, UCONN is a STATE institution, not a private university. It’s ALL taxpayer money, folks!!
This right pocket vs. left pocket accounting (which would embarrass any self-respecting public accountant…) is a favorite ploy of the Dem’s whenever they want to hide or diminish the apparent cost of boondoggles like this. Let’s make sure that Danny’s presentation to the Davos attendees is made public via an FOI request. I’d like to see the fairy tale that Danny spins when he tries to convince a bunch of broke Europeans, broke Asians and really broke Africans and Middle Easterners to bring their business to Connecticut. Davos is so last decade. The government potentates and captains of industry who go there, go there for a some expensive R&R and ego enhancement while they pretend to conduct business and pretend to care about the future of the world. The only people who are conducting legitimate business in Davos are the hotels, restaurants and a bunch of taxi drivers.
Who will file an FOI request to get a peek at Danny’s sales pitch? Is the Republican party listening?