Tony Scott, of Monroe, the incumbent Republican state representative for the 112th District representing Monroe, Easton and Trumbull, is seeking a third term with affordability as the primary focus of his campaign as the cost of groceries and utilities rise.
He is being challenged by Beth Cliff, a Democrat from Easton. Aside from the cost of living, Cliff says women are concerned over their reproductive rights and there is a national fear among many Americans of a loss of democratic values, such as the separation of church and state.
Constituents will have a choice to make when early voting begins on Oct. 21.
“Every election cycle different topics tend to bubble up,” Scott said in a recent phone interview. “The main topic for this election is clear, without a doubt it’s affordability, not just in the district but throughout the state.”
Due to a 2017 contract with the Millstone nuclear power plant, more than $400 million in Public Benefit Charges is owed to Eversource and United Illuminating, putting a strain on rate payers.
“There are definitely things we can do for utility costs alone,” Scott said of the legislature. “Last session Republicans proposed using some of the remaining ARPA dollars for the public obligation, but Democrats wanted to use it to help the colleges and universities. It’s just making priorities for those things actually affecting constituents’ pocketbooks.”
Scott said the voices of the people have been loud on this issue, so he expects the next legislative session to be different.
“I believe affordability is one of the number one issues,” Cliff said during a phone interview. “But it’s not just about tax relief, it’s about paid family leave, child care, supporting a working family as they’re trying to live their life, affordable housing and rental protections, public transportation nearby, insurance and gas.”
One issue that clearly separates the two candidates is how they want spend the annual budget surpluses Connecticut has been having since spending caps were approved to close soaring budget deficits.
Cliff said she believes the government should share some of the surpluses by using more funds to help families, while Scott is adamant about keeping the spending caps in place and using surpluses to pay down pension debt for state employees.
“We’re doing so much better as a state now,” Scott said. “We don’t want to go back to out-of-control spending. We’ve had a big surplus the last two years, but that’s got to be used to pay down pension debt. There are hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded liabilities in the pension fund.”
Another topic both have commented on is a ballot measure for No-Excuse Absentee Voting, which will be decided by state voters this November.
While Scott has said the absentee ballot scandal in last year’s Democratic primary for the Bridgeport mayoral race shows issues need to be addressed before expanding absentee voting, Cliff concedes there were problems but supports the measure.
“I am in favor of this amendment,” she said. “Like early voting, allowing all citizens to vote by mail only makes voting more accessible. I do think it’s crucial to have safeguards in place to ensure that everyone follows the process.”
Women’s issues
Cliff said women’s right to control their own bodies has been under threat since Roe v. Wade was overturned and women are still paid an average of 84 cents to the dollar compared to men for the same jobs.
“There’s just this general concern about women’s place in business and government, the whole privacy stuff,” she said. “I am finding a lot of people are really, to put it lightly, nervous and heavily scared, some terrified about what will happen on Election Day. A lot of people I talked to are uneasy about the future.”
“Trump could pass some federal laws that can hurt us,” Cliff said. “They want people who will stand up against that.”
“‘Connecticut is a blue state, so you don’t have to worry about it,’ actually you do,” she said. “The reason why Connecticut is a blue state is because people like me are voted in. Republicans in the general assembly have not supported reproductive health.”
Cliff said the vast majority of Republicans support Trump’s agenda. “My opponent has been quiet, so you have to assume he goes along with it,” she said. “You can’t have people who go along. You have to have people who speak out.”
Unfunded Mandates
Aside from higher taxes hurting residents, Scott said the legislature keeps passing unfunded mandates down to municipalities.
“This should eliminated at the state level if they’re not getting funded out of the existing budget, because it impacts property taxes,” he said.
One recent example of an unfunded mandate, according to Scott, is early voting. Though the state has given municipalities funding for additional hours for the work that needs to be done, there is no guarantee that the funding will be continued in ensuing years.
If early voting continues to be a requirement, without the state funds, an added expense will be placed upon municipalities to comply.
Another unfunded mandate that came to mind was the Right to Read program all school districts are required to implement. It cost Monroe schools around $300,000.
“It doesn’t matter how good your district is at getting your kids to read,” Scott said. “You have to switch. That’s stuff I will not support.”
Scott said another mandate is a requirement of cameras at ballot boxes, because of a cheating scandal in Bridgeport. “Who’s paying for the cameras? Not the state,” he said.
Housing, zoning
Scott, who is the ranking Republican on the Housing Committee, also spoke of the need for more housing in Connecticut.
“We have looked at ways to make it more appealing for builders to build in the state of Connecticut,” Scott said. “Giving tax breaks or incentives on building materials bought in the state will hopefully bring down the overall cost of building, making it financially appealing for that builder.”
Another thing the state can do is help builders get financing, according to Scott.
“We do need housing of all kinds at all levels, but we need to make it as easy and cost effective for builders to want to build those units,” he said.
“I’m in support of local control of zoning and for our locally elected officials to be making the land use decisions,” he added. “We voted for them to make those decisions, not legislators in Hartford.”
‘A full court press’
Two years ago, Sheila Papps, a Democrat from Easton, did not run an aggressive campaign to unseat Scott. By contrast, Cliff said she had been talking to people in neighborhoods in the 112th District’s three towns on a daily basis, having met hundreds of people since Labor Day to see what’s on their minds.
“I have been very busy and a team of us have been busy going out talking to people in Trumbull, Easton and Monroe,” she said. “We have phone banks set up. We have texts and digital ads. It’s a full court press revving up to the election.”
“People are really pleased and impressed that I’m out and about talking to them,” Cliff said. “They haven’t had that. They said, ‘it’s the first time somebody is talking to me about issues.'”
Cliff said she is also attending events and distributing lawn signs.
“I was very busy getting endorsements from various different entities, who can speak for what I stand for,” she said.
The endorsements are on the homepage of Cliff’s campaign website and includes organizations like Planned Parenthood, Connecticut Against Gun Violence and AFSCME Council 4 to name a few.
She said service employees and industries, teachers, Connecticut employees and custodians have all come out to support her in the belief she will represent working people.
“All understand I’m working hard and I’m doing it for them and they really appreciate that,” she said. “It’s a lot of hard work and I’m not even in office. I’m in a position where I can do something. I’m retired. I have the time. My children are grown.”
Cliff was endorsed by the Connecticut Working Families Party and the Independent Party of Connecticut.
“I had to demonstrate to them that I’m a good candidate,” she said. “When I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I deliver what I promise.”
Cliff uses the rally for women’s rights she organized in Easton, which was attended by Governor Ned Lamont, Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, U.S Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, and several state representatives and candidates as an example.
“I’m somebody who played a lot of competitive sports,” Cliff said. “I’m tough. I can pick myself up and keep going. In the legislature you have to be tough.”
Cliff also leans on her business background.
“I’m a business person. My background is not social work,” she said. “I think there are ways to problem solve things to get it done. You need data and to use organizational levers to make it happen.”
“I know how the sauce is made,” Cliff said. “I got my MBA from the University of Virginia in banking and financial services that involve people. You have to deliver what it says. I have delivered for MIT and Northeastern University, Fortune 500 companies … the Travelers in Hartford was my first job out of college.”
Cliff said she is motivated to make lives better for people in the district.
“I’m going to do all I can to make sure people know what’s at stake and show I’m tough enough as a woman,” Cliff said. “I attended schools that were all men three years before I went there. In business I was one of the few women in the room. I know how to compete in a man’s world.”
Continuing to fight
Scott has been attending events in the district, such as the Think Pink Palooza, the Monroe Police Union’s pasta fundraiser for a retired officer who lost his home to flooding on Aug. 18, and the grand opening of Aldi supermarket in Monroe.
“Aldi is known for their value pricing,” he said. “The location opening in Monroe should help folks in the district.”
“If people have questions and topics they would like to discuss, I’m there and able to talk to them,” Scott said. “I do a little bit of door knocking. My thing is more to be at as many events as I can be. A lot are on weekends.”
“When reelected, I want to continue to hear from constituents on issues they are individually facing,” he said. “I will be their voice, but I need to know specifically what their issue is.”
Scott encourages constituents who want advocacy on an issue important to them to send an email to his official state representative email address [email protected].
“I am going to fight for us, because we are all in this together to make Connecticut more affordable,” he said. “I’m fighting against unfunded mandates and we’re going to try to restructure how we deal with the utilities.”
“I am feeling very confident going into Nov. 5,” Scott said. “I’m talking to people: Republicans, Democrats and Unaffiliated. I hear the same things. They appreciate me fighting for affordability, safety, local control and my past record has shown I will do that — and I promise I will continue to keep fighting for them.”
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