Biography
Dad- 4 great adult Kids and future great son in law–SENATE, 2015-present, Assistant Republican Majority Leader (2017-present); past chair, Southeastern CT Council of Governments; Regional Water Committee; co-chair, CT Council of Municipalities Environment Committee; NFIB CT Leadership Council; First selectman, East Lyme, 2007-2015
Founder/co-chair, East Lyme Business Community Group; honorary member, Rotary Club Niantic; former member, East Lyme Zoning Commission; member, East Lyme Board of Finance; past president, East Lyme Kiwanis Club; East Lyme Chamber of Commerce; member, CT Restaurant Assoc.; National Restaurant Assoc.; Eastern CT Chamber of Commerce; St. Matthias Knights of Columbus; coach, Little League
Q1: What is the biggest problem facing the state, why is it the biggest problem, and what would you do to help solve it?
The biggest problem is to continue the bipartisan work of the last two years to restore stability to our State budget.
Working across the aisle we were able to craft a budget that included no tax increases, a spending cap, borrowing cap, no tax on social security, phase out over 6 years of the tax on all pension income, a new education cost sharing formula that provides more certainty to school
districts and job training dollars to keep young people here.
Q2: What do you think of our leadership in Connecticut and Washington?
The loss or erosion of civil discourse when it relates to policy discussions is a disturbing trend. Washington -and all branches of government are in need to eliminate the personal attacks as they don’t add to solutions rather extend problems.
Connecticut’s majority leadership has produced a dismal economy and we need to change course. Continued emphasis on the refocus on agency efficiencies and to embrace and consolidate technology innovations.
Q3: What policies or infrastructure do you support at the state level for fostering or managing growth in your district?
I support the continuation of –
—upgrading our energy infrastructure to continue to develop renewable energy supplies inc off
shore wind
—-Port and freight rail support
—the fine tuning of our new ECS-education cost sharing- formula which provided further
stability for education.
—the expansion of our “Prioritize Progress capital infrastructure plan that will repair and
upgrade our bridge and road infrastructure without the need of new taxes or tolls
—zero based budgeting
—comprehensive tax review
—partnering with our cities and towns to find common savings and secure revenue streams.
Q4: Why are you running for this position?
It has been a great honor to serve as your State Senator these last four years—thank you! I ask for your support on November 6 so that we may continue to stabilize the States fiscal status, develop a new renewable energy infrastructure, support common sense and collaborative discussions on improving education, health care not sick care, tax reform and our business climate.