Jason Bartlett to Run Against McLachlan for state senate District

Jason Bartlett, who held the 2nd state assembly seat from 2007 to 2011, has raised his aim higher and is challenging state Senator Michael McLachlan for the 24th state senate seat.

"If most people knew what Mike was doing in Hartford, I don't think they'd agree with him," said Bartlett, 46, of Danbury. Bartlett won election in 2006 and 2008, but lost his election in 2010.

Bartlett wrote McLachlan off, saying he won the senate seat by coming "out of the shadows of Mayor Boughton, codos to Boughton." McLachlan was Boughton's chief of staff from 2001 to his election in 2008. He won reelection in 2010.

Bartlett and McLachlan will be running against each other in November for the 24 state Senate seat, which includes Danbury, Sherman, New Fairfield and part of Bethel.

Bartlett said McLachlan failed to work on the most important issues facing the state, the economy and education. Instead, McLachlan worked on a birther bill, a bill to give women seeking an abortion an ultrasound screening, and a bill for states' rights, Bartlett said.

"Chances are we're not going to agree on very many things," McLachlan said about Bartlett. "I am glad I have someone to talk about the issues with."

McLachlan said, like Bartlett, the economy is the state's biggest issue, and he said two years ago he worked on the legislation with the Democratic party for a jobs bill. He voted with the majority on legislation that would give state money to companies that hired unemployed people. That money came in the form of cash grants and tax credits.

He said he had more problems with the Democratic party this year, because it seemed more interesed in raising taxes and increasing spending than in finding jobs for people.

However, he said the legislature is probably coming back into special session this summer to deal with another jobs bill.

"What we're asking ourselves is what can we do to get businesses to hire people," McLachlan said.

Regarding the birther bill, the ultra sound concept and the state's rights, McLachlan said yes, he was lumped into the birther debate (this was the question of whether or not President Obama was born in the U.S.) McLachlan said his idea was simply that anyone who ran for president would prove he or she was born in the U.S. He said Obama's birthplace had been established by the time he proposed his idea.

The second issue arose, McLachlan said, because the Knights of Colombus have found that women presented with an ultra sound image of their pregnancy will sometimes chose against having an abortion. McLachlan is a member of the Knights of Colombus and a Roman Catholic.

The third issue, state's rights, or the 10th Amendment, arises when the federal government gives states "unfunded" mandates, and McLachlan said he opposes that, in part, because the state then passes those mandates down to the towns.

"I did spend some time on the 10th Amendment. The idea of the 10th Amendment was to tell the federal government, 'You're not the boss. The state's are,'" McLachlan said.