"We need to make our local and state officials responsible for how every penny of our hard-earned tax dollars are spent. We need these officials to realize that job creation starts by investing our tax dollars with Connecticut companies that hire Connecticut workers."
Charles LeConche
Director
Connecticut First Coalition
| Responsible Connecticut contractors, professional trade organizations, associations, business, political and community leaders and the public have come together in a bi-partisan manner to fight the gross misuse of taxpayer dollars on public and private projects and where state and federal funds are used. Construction project nightmares, such as discovered at the University of Connecticut and so many other sites are the result of fly-by-night contractors coming into our state and bidding below the responsible contractor. The library alone at the University of Connecticut cost taxpayers $32 million more to rebuild because of shoddy workmanship.
Our group is also seeking out and exposing criminal contractors that hire undocumented workers from places like Mexico, eastern Europe and other places. These contractors pay workers pennies-a-day without including any benefits, violate prevailing wage laws and consistenly forge payroll records. Overall, these contractors abuse workers rights and fail to pay federal and state employment taxes for these workers. Our goal is to uncover the illegal operations of these contractors, recover federal and state tax payments and start the process of turning these undocumented workers into legal, hard-working U.S. citizens.
For example, because of the misleading direction set by Lelah Campo, head of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut, Middletown taxpayers as well as state taxpayers are goin to be paying $30 million plus more on a future high school that seemingly will never be completed. Led by labor industry expert Charles LeConche, the Connecticut First Coalition supports laws that support responsible Connecticut contractors and the people who work for them. Our group supports the training and apprenticeship programs for Connecticut residents and the use of agreements which cities and towns have employed to put their residents back to work.
The overall mission of the Connecticut First Coalition is to: encourage job growth in Connecticut; encourage more of our tax dollars to be spent here in Connecticut; work to support & improve training & apprenticeship programs; work to promote job safety programs; ensure minority paricipation; fight the gross mis-use of our hard earned tax dollars; and work to protect Connecticut taxpayers.
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