Fazio’s campaign pledge raises questions
On June 3, Connecticut political analyst Kevin Driscoll published an article questioning Ryan Fazio’s transparency on his key campaign promise to cut electricity rates. That article, edited for length, follows.
Connecticut’s new Republican nominee for governor has built his campaign on one promise: he’ll cut your electricity rates by 20%, with eliminating the public benefits charge as the centerpiece.
For about 20 years, Connecticut hid about a billion dollars of spending inside your electric bill. A 2023 bipartisan law, which Fazio co-authored, forced the utilities to print it as its own line: the public benefits charge, which has run $50 to $60 a month at peak on a typical Eversource bill, close to a fifth of what you pay.
Bringing that into daylight was a genuine public service. Then he built a campaign promise on it. Fazio says he’ll eliminate every hidden tax in your electricity bills and cut rates 20%. His math holds: Getting rid of it would lower the line you pay to the utility.
Here’s the number he won’t give you. That line isn’t one thing. It is about more than 50 programs: a long-term contract to buy nuclear power, energy efficiency, clean power procurement, help for families who can’t afford their bills and the unpaid bills the rest of us have to cover.
Hardship programs and unpaid bills make up nearly a quarter of Eversource’s public benefits charge and 45% of UI’s. It’s aid to households that can’t afford it and debt already owed. You can’t wipe it off a bill, you have to move it somewhere else.
Fazio’s actual plan is to end some programs, phase out others, and move the ones he likes to the regular state budget. Where they’d be up for debate every two years.
Fazio’s supporters will say moving the charge to the income tax is fairer, and they have a point. But fairer isn’t gone. Most of the 20% isn’t being cut, it’s just being moved.
The real question is who pays for it once it lands in the budget. Fazio hasn’t put any numbers to it and that is the hole at the center of the plan.
And here’s the catch. Connecticut has spending caps, the fiscal guardrails from 2017. A billion dollars of new spending can’t slip in under those caps. Something has to give.
So here’s the ask… Name the programs that you’d cut.Plainly say that the charge is being moved, not eliminated. What number goes up when this one comes down?
In a June 2 op-ed introducing himself to Connecticut voters, Fazio repeated the promise. He’ll eliminate every hidden tax and cut rates 20%. He had plenty to say about the laws he’s passed and the taxes he blames on Lamont. He didn’t say what his plan would cost.
Fazio calls it eliminating the charge. It’s really moving it, and he still won’t say where. (Fazio’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment).
Another recent article in CT Insider also fact-checked Fazio’s recent claims. It’s worth reading here.
At Greenwich public schools, the arts take center stage
In Greenwich, we are incredibly fortunate. The Greenwich Public Schools Arts department has developed a top-notch K-12 arts education program. Our highly talented arts educators dedicate themselves to guiding students through an extensive variety of classes including visual, music, and theater arts.
Arts are a core academic pursuit
From early strings training in our elementary schools to specialized secondary electives in ceramics, photography, Shakespeare, music production technology, and much more at Greenwich High School (GHS), our educators build spaces that excite students and create community. Traditions like the winter candlelight concerts that include a performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, during which GHS Chorus alumni are invited to join in on stage, to gallery-like art showcases, to orchestral and instrumental study, to the annual theater department musical, demonstrate the depth of the curriculum.
Too often, in modern education, the arts are relegated to extracurricular status, overshadowed by an intense focus on standardized testing and STEM, not to mention reading and writing, all of which are important. Yet, at the Greenwich Public Schools, the arts are not viewed as a luxury or a secondary pursuit; they are a core academic necessity.
Preparing students for life
The renowned Stanford education professor Elliott W. Eisnerfamously noted that life’s problems are more like problems encountered in the arts, requiring students to think flexibly and navigate a complex world that cannot be addressed with an instrument like a multiple-choice test. Arts education teaches invaluable skills like teamwork, how to judge what’s good without fixed rules, and, most importantly, gives students a way to express what words and numbers alone cannot. The arts teach future leaders how to innovate, to creatively problem-solve, to communicate, and fundamentally, how to express joy.
While there certainly are challenges unique to pursuing a career in the arts, there are unique benefits as well, regardless of the profession a student ultimately decides on. The arts teach future leaders how to innovate, to creatively problem-solve, to communicate, and fundamentally, how to express joy.
And for those students who do decide to pursue an arts profession, the Greenwich Public Schools provide an excellent jump start.
What we’re reading
Medical debt can be an overwhelming burden and lead to worse health outcomes. Greenwich Free Press reports on what Governor Lamont is doing about it in partnership with the non-profit Undue Medical Debt. According to the story, “In total, more than 252,000 Connecticut residents who’ve been struggling with medical bills have had more than $513 million in medical debt cancelled since the initiative began in 2024.”
Action Calendar
June 12. Drop in.
Join Greenwich Selectwoman Rachel Khanna for coffee and conversation at 1 p.m. Hear about what’s happening in town and bring your questions or comments. Coffee for Good, 48 Maple Avenue.
June 13. Honor.
Celebrate Juneteenth with your family through storytelling, quilting art, crafts, history tours, treats, and a StoryWalk honoring freedom, community, and the power of tradition. At noon, Kim Taylor will read from her book “A Flag for Juneteenth.” 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Free but registration is required. Greenwich Historical Society, 47 Strickland Road, Cos Cob.
June 15. Learn.
Hear law professor and New York Times bestselling author Melissa Murray on her new book, “The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader.” Space limited; registration required. 7 p.m., First Congregational Church, 108 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich.
June 17. Meet.
Greenwich Democratic Town Committee meetings are open to all local Democrats. Special guest speaker Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons. Join us 7:30-9 p.m. in the Meeting Room at Town Hall, 101 Field Point Road.
| Volume 4, Number 50 • June 11, 2026 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |