Vincent Candelora is the Republican incumbent running for 86th General Assembly District covering North Branford/Northford, Wallingford, Durham, and Guilford. Candelora said he’ll continue to fight to bring important reform to Hartford and represent his district.

Candelora was first elected in 2006 and ran unopposed during the last four election cycles. The North Branford resident is a manager of his family’s North Branford business and is an attorney. In Hartford, as a member of the House committee on Legislative Management, Candelora has been deputy Republican leader since 2011. He also serves on the committees for Finance, Revenue, and Bonding; Judiciary; Public Health; and Regulations Review. In addition, Candelora is chair of the House Screening Committee, reviewing all legislation before it’s put up to a vote.

Candelora feels his legislative experience combined with his personal and professional background is valuable to his district.

“As deputy leader, I’m in the House for a lot of conversations and that certainly is helpful for the district,” said Candelora. “You create relationships. And it’s a citizen legislature—it’s part time, so I think my background running a business in the community gives me good experience to represent people. I also have three kids in the public schools. You get a lot from all of that.”

While Republicans are in the minority in Hartford, Candelora said he has been making changes at the state level and working to shine a light on areas which need better scrutiny.

“I’m very proud of some of the reforms I’ve done, like requiring the State of Connecticut [publish a document that] shows what our cash flow is and shows what our bond indebtedness is, all on one piece of paper, so people can see and understand,” said Candelora.

He said he also found success with a law passed two years ago that’s geared to help retool budgeting practices.

“The summary of the law is to smooth out revenue volatility in the State of Connecticut, so we don’t budget based on stock market returns,” said Candelora. “This actually forces us to create a rainy day fund, rather than looking at windfalls.”

That’s important, said Candelora, especially as Connecticut continues to cover budget deficits by dipping into a rainy day fund nearing depletion.

On Sept. 30, Candelora voted against some $680 million to be allocated for 41 state bonding projects because they are unfunded, saying the state’s indebtedness is already a burden to taxpayers, he said.

“The number of unfunded projects has grown, under this governor, from $2.5 billion to over $7.5 billion,” he said. “That’s why I voted against all the bonding projects [three] weeks ago.”

Candelora said the state’s Democratic leadership has also used its muscle to push through some important issues without the benefit of public hearings.

“Public hearings are part of the process, but there are two ways of circumventing a public hearing,” said Candelora. “One way is to have emergency certification bills by legislative leaders—the speaker of House and president of the Senate can write any concept, without a public hearing. Unfortunately, that process has been used more and more frequently, and we’ve ended up with egg on our face.”

Removing the public hearing process from critical decisions has negatively affected the economy, he said.

“In the past four years, Democrats have raised taxes without public hearings, like the Unitary Tax,” said Candelora.

Also known as combined reporting, the unitary tax came on line in January. It applies to companies doing business in multiple states and requires itemization of earnings generated in Connecticut. Candelora said the resulting costs are driving out large corporations, from insurance industries to General Electric (GE).

“It caused GE to say, ‘We’re leaving Connecticut,’” said Candelora.

Candelora has been a vocal critic of state budgets crafted under Democratic leadership. He said he wants to continue to work to change current paradigms and stop decision-making “behind closed doors.”

“I’m proud to say I think I’ve helped change the dialogue in Hartford and how we look at the budget,” he said. “But still, this mentality of, ‘Let’s go behind closed doors’...it’s dangerous, because the public hearing process is so critical. The level of arrogance with the leadership, that they know best—we’ve been hurt by it. GE is a big example of that.”

Even though Candelora voted in favor of the state’s recent $220 million tax incentive deal to keep Sikorsky here, it’s a “wake-up call,” he said.

“We can’t throw money at businesses to stay here,” said Candelora. “We need to change the tax code so businesses feel more comfortable staying here. But Sikorsky is a very unique business, and I think it would have been catastrophic for our state to lose that. So it’s a success story, but it’s also a wake-up call.”

Candelora said a business-friendly Connecticut’s a priority for him.

“We had a meeting with realtors, and they can’t sell homes because there’s real fear in the air. We need to become more business friendly,” he said, pointing to “simple proposals” for the next session, such as, “If a business disputes the way an agency interprets the regulations, they have a way to resolve the dispute without having to go to court and sue. We’re just much too predatory in our approach.”

With 22 open House seats in this election cycle (including 20 vacated by retirements) the opportunity to swing the House majority to the Republican Party has not gone unnoticed by Candelora.

“I think there are a lot of great Republican candidates, and a lot of open seats, and constituents are aware more than ever with what’s going on,” said Candelora.

Candelora said he wants to continue to make progress and represent his district in Hartford.

“Besides issues like the budget, I continue to work hard for the district. We have big local issues, like the [ongoing legislation regarding] Regional Water Authority [RWA]. There was a bill that would have revamped the RWA—it would have expanded the scope of their abilities to anything a private corporation could do,” said Candelora. “It passed committee unanimously, it got out of the Senate unanimously, and it came to the House. I read the bill and saw the problems with it. The House Chamber rejected the bill and re-committed it to the committee because of the respect they have for me.”

The bill is expected to be reworked during the next session. Candelora said the House decision to take another look also shows his ability to garner compromise across party lines.

“Having built close relationships in my 10 years of experience, and being put in this position of leadership definitely helps,” said Candelora. “I have enjoyed serving this district, and I hope voters will allow me to continue to serve them.”