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10/17/2018 12:00 AMRepublican Noreen Kokoruda is seeking a fifth term as the 101st General Assembly District state representative, serving Madison and part of Durham, this November. When voters go to the polls on Nov. 6, residents get to choose between Kokoruda and her challenger, Democrat John-Michael Parker.
A Madison resident for more than 30 years, Kokoruda is a former selectman who’s held leading roles on numerous other committees and commissions. As a representative, Kokoruda serves on the General Assembly’s committees on Children, Appropriations, and Education and is the Minority Caucus chair.
In Hartford, Kokoruda says she is known for her bipartisan approach to issues and for being a voice for small towns, trying to break the perception among some legislators that all small towns are wealthy, resulting in less state aid.
Kokoruda has pushed for mandate relief for towns and relief from regulations and penalties that hurt small businesses. When out knocking on doors, Kokoruda said people want to talk taxes and jobs. Constituent work is her favorite part of the job, but Kokoruda said she wants to keep her seat so that she can be a part of the solution to tackle the state’s growing fiscal problems.
The state has now passed two budgets with bipartisan support and while they haven’t been perfect, Kokoruda said it was a sign legislators—regardless of party—were willing to come together for serious and productive conversations.
“We need people at the table who are willing to talk about how the state spends money,” she said. “I think that is a conversation people are having now because folks have been forced to realize that we have nowhere else to go.”
Education
Over the past few years, state education dollars for Madison have gone from the millions to almost nothing. Kokoruda said it bothers her that the State of Connecticut invests so little in students in Madison, including special education.
“It’s about priorities,” she said. “We can spend half a billion on a bus way in New Britain, but we are not taking care of our kids”.
As a member of the Education Committee, Kokoruda received an Honor Roll designation from the Connecticut Education Association this year. If re-elected, Kokoruda said she hopes to work on legislation this year focusing on social and emotional challenges of today as another tool to help keep students and teachers safe.
In addition, Kokoruda said she wants to keep her seat to continue to fight for the kids in Madison and Durham and make sure party doesn’t come before the needs of public schools.
“Several years ago, the governor proposed taking all education funding away from Madison,” she said. “I fought that and we were one vote away in the Senate—we could have blocked that cut to Madison. That is my frustration, that we didn’t have someone there who would have voted for us and instead voted with a party.”
Pensions
Pensions can dominate much of the conversation coming into an election because the pensions, between the current obligations, unfunded liability, and agreements, lock up a significant portion of the state budget. Staring down the barrel at extraordinarily large pension payments for the foreseeable future, legislators and governors have pitched numerous solutions, but Kokoruda said there are some simple actions the state needs to take.
“The state workers pension is fraught with issues,” she said. “We have to have a cap on pensions for state workers. The average pension for a teacher is $60,000. There are state workers who have a six-figure pension and that is ridiculous.”
Kokoruda said there has been some progress. She said this past year was the first time legislators got to vote on the contracts, pulling some of the negotiations and deals out of the shadows.
“I don’t have the silver bullet on how you fix this, but everything has to be discussed,” she said. “People get it. A state employee can say to you, ‘Well I don’t want to touch my pension’ and that’s fine, but some day your pension check is going to bounce if we don’t sit down and work together on this. This has to be fair to everybody.”
In terms of being fair, Kokoruda said for the teachers and workers who put in years and were promised a pension, the state has to meet that obligation. However, the state has to stop offering some of the extraordinary benefits it gives state employees—but not teachers—and keep expecting residents to foot the bill.
“To ask people in Madison or Durham to pay for a health care plan for a state employee that they can’t even afford for themselves is just wrong,” she said.
Transportation
Connecticut’s infrastructure is approaching a critical point with deteriorating roads, bridges getting lower safety ratings, and services like Shore Line East (SLE) getting tossed on the chopping block when the state needs to find savings fast. Kokoruda joined with other shoreline legislators this spring to push back on the cuts to SLE, which she said were just another example of the state not considering the long-term ramifications of certain decisions.
“No, SLE doesn’t pay for itself, but it keeps 2,000 cars off the road a day,” she said. “You have to think about that part, too.”
The Special Transportation Fund (STF), which funds transportation projects, has only a few years left before it runs out of money. Tolls have been widely debated as a way to fund the STF, but Kokoruda said just throwing up tolls doesn’t solve the root of the problem. There is a question on the ballot this year to create a transportation lockbox, theoretically to dedicate toll money to transportation if implemented, but Kokoruda said there is already an issue with the lockbox language.
“I’ve always voted for lockboxes, but again they put in a loophole and what it says is when the money is in the lockbox, you can’t take it out, but it doesn’t say you have to put toll money or gas money in the lockbox,” she said. “You can divert the money before it goes into the lockbox.”
Kokoruda said she will support the lockbox, but she wants to see legislators look at the big picture with tolls and not just jump at the possibility of more revenue.
“You never say never and you have to keep things open but most people I’ve talked to are not in favor of tolls because its just another tax the way it is presented,” she said. “Show me where you are going to cut back—like the gas tax—so that a person’s bottom line is not worse than it is today if we bring in tolls.”
A Bipartisan Effort
Hartford currently has a Democratic majority in the House, but Kokoruda said she has never seen being a member of the minority party as a reason not to work with everybody. She said her bipartisan approach is her trademark in Hartford, and over the years the bipartisan efforts of which she has been a part have helped protect women’s health care and tackle sex trafficking in the state.
Kokoruda said focusing on party lines discourages conversation and keeps everyone from getting involved with issues that really matter. Her second year in Hartford, Kokoruda was the only Republican woman at an event supporting domestic abuse prevention, a fact that both irritated and fueled her.
“It’s about bipartisanship and that is the mentality I brought with me,” she said. “If we want to be part of the solution, we have to be in the room…I mean what woman doesn’t support domestic abuse prevention? Party can’t get in the way.”