Meet the Candidates: Tony Szewczyk, R-17

 

Government Experience: Former member, Derby Board of Aldermen, 2006-09; member, Planning & Zoning Commission, 2011; Regional Planning Commission, 2012-present Community Experience: Chair, Derby Republican Town Committee, 2010-present; volunteer, Geriatric Care/Support Occupation: Retired architect Education:

B.A., Catholic University

 

Top Priorities: 1. I believe the biggest issue facing Connecticut today is the sorry state of our financial affairs. 2. We need to make CT viable again. Our business, our industry, our best and brightest are leaving 3. Our economy has been flat for so long, we need to take stock of what shape we are in physically.

 

What he says:  There are two key issues in Connecticut: jobs and budget reform.

We must set the economic stage to attract new jobs and retain existing jobs. We need jobs, good jobs. We need not only white collar business and service jobs, but blue collar manufacturing and heavy industry work as well. We desperately need regulation reform to attract more work.

The other major issue is Connecticut’s abysmal budget situation. We must balance our budget! Our bond rating is dropping and that costs us millions of dollars in excess interest payments on our debts. We can’t afford that. Our state government has grown out of control. We now have 40,000+ employees, each with benefits and a pension plan. These government pensions are underfunded and overly generous. They are the elephant in our financial room. We must honor our contractual commitments, but make sure future negotiations lead to affordable options.

I’m the right candidate because Crisco, and other democrats, have been running things for over 40 years and they are not doing a good job. We are in worse shape now than we were then and we need new, common sense leadership in Hartford. I want to be part of that new team.