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10/12/2022 10:00 AMVoters in Clinton, Killingworth, and Westbrook will find three choices when voting for the District 35 State Representative in November: incumbent Democrat Christine Goupil, Republican Chris Aniskovich, and Green Party candidate Hugh Birdsall.
District 35 serves Clinton, Killingworth, as well as northern Westbrook, and for the past two years has been represented by Goupil. This year, all three candidates are Clinton residents.
The Harbor News spoke to all three candidates about why they are running and what issues are important to them. Read what each had to say below:
Chris Aniskovich
Chris Aniskovich, a Clinton native, said the reason he wanted to run for State Representative is to give the community a voice in what is happening in the state.
“Basically, I’m running because I have a strong commitment to community and a commitment to doing what’s best for all and not just politics,” Aniskovich said. “I want to represent the whole district and do what’s in the best interest of the community and just one political agenda.”
Aniskovich is the current chairman of the Clinton Town Council, a position he’s held since being elected in 2019. Besides the Town Council, Aniskovich has served on the Planning & Zoning Commission and Board of Assessment Appeals. Outside of politics, he has served as the president of Clinton Youth Football. Formerly, he’s also served as a board member and coach for Little League and a volunteer basketball coach in the Park and Recreation basketball league. Professionally, Aniskovich is a mortgage broker at Security Financial Mortgage Group in Clinton, which he also owns. If elected, Aniskovich said he will remain on the Town Council.
Aniskovich said he views the role of government as to “provide and protect” for the people and outlined several issues that were important to him.
“Affordability, is a big one. A lot of people know Connecticut isn’t always affordable to everyone. I think we should look at taxes and making sure our spending is responsible,” said Aniskovich.
Local control, when it comes to zoning and education matters, is also something Aniskovich is a strong proponent of.
“The state shouldn’t be involved in local zoning. I think parents should have a seat at the table when it comes to education, and I think you have the board of education, superintendents, and teachers that should all have a seat as well,” said Aniskovich. “I think we struggle sometimes with outside factors affecting people and we should go back to having open and honest conversations with each other.”
Asked to elaborate what he meant by local control, Aniskovich said towns should be able to determine what works best for their specific town.
“Every town has elected officials; people should let those people do their jobs and help decide what’s best for the town. Who knows better their town better than those people who live there?”
On the public safety front, Aniskovich said he is a strong backer of first responders.
“We’ve passed bills that restrict what police can do on their jobs that make it harder. We should look back at that,” said Aniskovich. “I get that there’s issues on a national level across the country, but not every community is having those issues so I don’t think it’s fair. For example, here in Clinton, we don’t have those issues. They’re doing the real work to keep us safe. We need to continue to support first responders,” said Aniskovich.
One area that Aniskovich said he supports more state intervention on is battling climate change.
“We’re a shoreline community here in Clinton, and sea level rise and climate resiliency are big issues. It exists and I don’t think you can say it doesn’t. That is where I think Hartford comes into play. There are things beyond our level that the state has access to, like resources and experts that can help. It’s important to listen [and] learn, and I think the state has access to more information that can help,” said Aniskovich.
As the country and state becomes more divisive Aniskovich said that his proudest accomplishment has been working with everyone regardless of party to accomplish common goals. “During my time on the Council, I‘ve been able to set agendas aside and work together. That won’t change at the next level. Working together is the only way you solve an issue. Some of that is just common sense,” said Aniskovich.
“Good ideas don’t just come from one party. Will partisanship be more of an issue in Hartford and then it is in Clinton? Yeah probably. But I will do my part so show I’m not for that and I will put the public’s best interest first,” said Aniskovich.
In close, Aniskovich said “I think it’s important people on Nov. 8 put thought into making sure you vote on who is the best person who will be bipartisan, who will represent the entire distinct, who will be open and communicative, and who will best represent our community in Hartford,” said Aniskovich.
More information on Aniskovich and his campaign can be found on Aniskovich22.com and Aniskovich for State Rep on Facebook.
Hugh Birdsall
Birdsall, a Clinton native, is a retired teacher who is now a part-time musician. He also works part time as the education coordinator for Reforest the Tropics, a Mystic-based nonprofit which works to fight climate change. Birdsall is also a current member of the Clinton Sustainability Committee and the Clinton Tree Committee. During the 2021 election, Birdsall ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Clinton Zoning Board of Appeals.
Birdsall said he was not initially planning on running for State Representative, but he was talked into it. In fact, Birdsall said winning the seat this election is not even his goal.
“Because, last election, we got more than one percent of the vote, the Green Party was able to maintain a space on the ballot. I’m in this race to keep our space on the ballot. The two major parties make it hard to even get on the ballot in this state,” said Birdsall.
Rather than win the election, Birdsall said he hopes he can at least bring attention to issues he believes are ignored.
“I’m a person who teaches climate change to kids, and I think climate change should be everyone’s number one issue and it just isn’t for a lot of people. The major parties pay lip service to it,” said Birdsall.
“Florida just got hit with a big hurricane and so far, Connecticut has been lucky and dodged them, but we’re due for another big one and storms are getting stronger now than they used to be,” said Birdsall.
Ranked choice voting is another item Birdsall said he would like to see people push for. Ranked-choice voting is a system in which voters are able to rank their preferred candidates in order from favorite to least favorite. In a situation where no candidate in a race wins more than 50 percent of first-place votes, the last place candidate is eliminated from the race, but the candidates still in the race would pick up additional votes based on how they were ranked on the ballots cast by ballots on which they were not the first choice. In theory, with ranked choice voting perhaps a candidate who is not necessarily everyone’s first choice but has views that more accurately reflect the opinions of the majority of voters would emerge victorious.
On the local level, Birdsall said he would like to see an effort made toward composting – a process where food waste is naturally converted into fertilizer for soil.
“It’s really easy and there’s companies that do it in the state,” said Birdsall.
Birdsall said he would like to see an effort made toward curbside composting, where every trash day people put out bins of trash, recycling, and composting. The composting would be transferred to a designated area that allows it to go through the composting cycle instead of just throwing it all away.
“We need to be more circular. Right now, we just produce, consume, then throwaway. It’s not sustainable and that should have been evident decades ago,” said Birdsall.
Even locally, Birdsall said that he thinks more can be done for climate change and sustainability.
“I actually think that Christine Goupil has done a pretty good job as our representative, but I think she should have done more with the climate change education mandate. I think Chris has done OK on the Town Council, there’s nothing I’ve seen I strongly object to, but I wish the Council had done more regarding the composting issue. That is something that the Sustainability Committee brought up a year ago, and there hasn’t been much movement on.” Birdsall added that the lack of movement might have more to do with the Council as a whole and not Aniskovich specifically.
As a last point, Birdsall implored voters to think beyond just Democrats and Republicans when they cast their votes.
“I would love if third or fourth or so on parties had more visibility. The League of Conservation Voters endorsed Christine Goupil, but they never even contacted me. There’s lots of third-party voters, and there are always more than two points of view in a room and we are given the illusion that there isn’t,” said Birdsall.
Christine Goupil
Since 2020, the District has been represented by Christine Goupil, a Clinton native. At the state level, Goupil has been the Vice chair of the Planning and Development Committee and served on the Transportation and Human Services committees since she began her term. Goupil has a professional background in project management at KPMG, Clear Channel Communications, and The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment.
In Clinton, Goupil served as Clinton’s first selectman for a term of two years. A charter change supported by Goupil, however, led to a change in government structure, eliminating the first selectman position in town in favor of a town manager/town council form. Goupil is a current member of the Town Council and has also served on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission in the past.
On her decision to seek reelection Goupil said, “I feel I have been successful in the last year and a half at providing resources to the constituents in the District. I’ve been successful in getting initiatives done in town, like the Clinton Train Station, and working with developers and the towns. So, I’d like to keep working with those relationships,” said Goupil.
Goupil said there are a litany of issues she’d like to address over the next term but one of the top ones was “easing the tax burden on residents, specifically families and seniors.”
“I want to make sure seniors on fixed incomes are protected and can age in place by staying in their home,” said Goupil. Goupil said she would like to see the State find ways to increase access to adult day care and in-home care.
Increased mental health care is also a priority for Goupil.
“I’d like to expand mental health care for farmers and for veterans. Looking forward, we can understand triggers that are there that we need to pay attention to,” said Goupil. “I also want to focus on improving the quality of life for teachers. It’s been a tough two years for them, and they doing hard work building our leaders of tomorrow,” said Goupil.
Working on legislation that protects the environment is another topic Goupil said is important to her.
“We need to start addressing clean water initiatives. I think coastal resiliency is a huge issue too. Especially like what we just saw in Florida. We need to bring in the big guns and tackle this issue with experts,” said Goupil.
On the subject of policing Goupil said that the latest statistics show that Connecticut had a reduction in crime, including a 9 percent reduction in violent crime.
“We’re a pretty safe state overall,” said Goupil. “Locally, Clinton has a robust and fantastic police force with a lot of officers who live locally and understand the issues in the communities,” said Goupil.
Goupil said that providing mental health care to public safety officers as well as making sure they have access to needed funds as well as care for hazardous conditions is an important goal.
Asked for accomplishments she’s proud of during her time as a representative Goupil said, “I’ve been successful in partnering with towns when looking for STEAP grants.”
Goupil pointed to recent money awarded for sidewalk improvements in Westbrook, money provided for improvements to the American Legion building in Clinton, and money provided for a police radio project in Clinton.
In the past, some candidates who were on local government boards have pledged to resign from the local board should then win a state seat. Goupil said she has no such plans to stop serving on the Town Council should she win election.
“At the moment, I have not considered making any changes. I feel I bring value to the Town Council, and I feel it allows me to bring unique value in my role in the state legislature knowing what the towns are facing,” said Goupil.
As Americans have become more divided along party lines not only on the national level but also on the state level, Goupil said she has no problems working with people of any party.
“I don’t see my goals as partisan. I think they are ones anyone regardless of part would be concerned with. As vice chair of the planning committee, I find it very helpful to work with colleagues across the aisle,” said Goupil.
More information on Goupil and her campaign can be found at www.facebook.com/RepChristineGoupil.
Just 12 days before voters head to the polls, the three candidates will meet for a debate at Andrews Memorial Town Hall, 54 E. Main Street, Clinton, on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.