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10/26/2022 09:12 AMIn November’s state election, Republican Vincent J. Candelora is running unopposed for a ninth consecutive term as 86th District State Representative. The district, redrawn in 2022, represents North Branford/Northford and sections of Guilford, Durham and now, northerly East Haven.
In 2020, Candelora was unanimously elected House Republican Leader of the 54-member GOP caucus.
“It’s an honor to be able to serve the House Republicans as the leader, but it’s a greater honor to serve my district. I have really enjoyed the 16 years of providing the service to people.”
Candelora said the most important issues residents currently face are affordability and public safety.
During the 2022 session, Candelora led the House GOP caucus in proposing a $1.2 billion plan for tax relief, which did not garner needed Democratic support. Candelora said he’ll push to reintroduce it in the new session, “...because I do think where the Democrats missed the moment is that they provided no long-term systemic relief for the residents of Connecticut. We had an opportunity to actually reduce the income tax for lower-and-middle-income people, which could have resulted in upward of $1,200 per family.”
Working with both sides of the aisle in 2017, Candelora was one of four GOP members among eight legislators crafting an 11th-hour bipartisan state budget. He said introductions of bond lock provisions and spending caps helped set the stage for Connecticut’s current budget success. In the 2022 session, he was frustrated when the Democratic majority voted down the GOP’s push to extend the spending cap, bonding cap, volatility cap and revenue cap. As it currently stands, the provisions expire in June 2023.
Candelora said it will be a “hot debate in Hartford” in the new session.
“Essentially, what those caps and that lock does, is it automatically shifts revenue away from our budget and into a savings account to paydown our unfunded obligations. It’s a budgeting tool that prevents government from spending too much money and not paying off its debt. That’s all set to expire next year. So it’s one of the bigger priorities that I’m going to have, is trying to make sure that all those caps stay in place, and to remind so many of our colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, who are enjoying running on the fact that there’s a surplus, that they can’t forget about what created that surplus.”
Candelora said much of the tax relief touted in the state’s current budget is short-term and targeted, such as the $250 child tax credit.
“I think there’s a real disconnect there. The tax relief that went out are only for people that had children and it was short-term... it didn’t address our seniors and newly married couples or anybody who is just financially strained.”
Candelora said Connecticut’s tax relief philosophy “...should not be picking winners and losers. It should be broad-based policies that can make Connecticut more affordable.”
He said Connecticut currently has “...the tale of two cities.”
“Our wealthy communities, certainly while they’re paying higher costs, they have the ability to absorb it, as evidenced by the Governor telling everybody to fill their oil tanks up prior to the cold season. What he fails to recognize is that we have families that can’t afford to even fill their tanks right now, even though it’s cheaper to do so. And so that’s what we should be looking at.”
Candelora said he’ll continue to push for reductions in the income tax and the sales tax, especially during a time when he said state government is benefiting from inflation by bringing in more tax revenue as prices increase.
“Government shouldn’t be working for itself and taking advantage of that inflation. We should be indexing our sales tax products and our income tax to inflation; so that as inflation goes up and your wages go up, the taxes should remain the same.”
Candelora said he and fellow GOP legislators will also continue the call to increase public safety, with proposals addressing “...some of the bad changes that were made in our criminal justice system to cause a spike in crime.”
“We have recommendations to help our police officers to be able to better serve the needs of the public, and that’s resonating with people,” during this election cycle, he said. “We see on the other side of the aisle that they’re continuing to choose to talk about social issues like abortion, which is really not an issue that impacts the state of Connecticut; because Roe v. Wade is codified in our state.”
In 2019, Candelora joined Republican House members’ unanimous vote against the Police Accountability bill, which became law under Governor Ned Lamont in 2020. Candelora said some amendments are needed.
“I will say there were parts in that bill that were good. There’s just a few areas that are problematic to me,” Candelora said. “We’ve got to allow [police] to be able to pursue vehicles again, to be able to conduct consent searches, and we’ve got to restore the qualified immunity.”
As it stands, the law’s qualified immunity provisions protect officers if they are operating under a good faith belief of not violating a person’s Constitutional equal protection rights.
“They should not be subject to a law suit based on their decision-making at a split-second moment, at a time where now they have to worry about their life every time they’re going into the job,” said Candelora. “It’s not fair. The deck is stacked against them and we need to restore some balance in our criminal justice system.”
Candelora said the balance “has tipped too far” because the bill was “looked at in a vacuum.”
“And I think that’s part of the problem, because we changed the standards of what a reasonable officer is allowed to do... [and] what a lot of the proponents of that legislation want to do is to look at each piece [in] isolation. You can’t do that. You have to look at it holistically.”
Candelora said his concerns have been further heightened by the tragic shootings of three Bristol police officers in October.
“That was terrorism against our police officers. And because the Democrats have refused to address the crime issue on the front end, we need to now address what’s happening on the back end. And that is a reduction in law enforcement. One of the things I do want to look at are financial programs for them, whether it be incentives for training... [and] I think the state needs to look at their pension benefits and their life insurance benefits, in making them uniform in order to keep our officers working in the force; but also making sure their loved ones are taken care of in case something happens.”
Candelora also said there’s “no question” people are feeling less safe in their communities.
“You go on social media and there are more warnings from civilians talking about guarding your purses, being careful in shopping centers... there is a climate – it's not just breaking into vehicles in the middle of the night.”
As District 86 state representative, Candelora said it is an honor to work collaboratively with municipality leaders to attain results assisting their communities, such as the $4.5 million state bond granted in 2022 for the construction of the new North Branford police department.
Candelora said it is rewarding and affirming to hear from individual constituents they feel he is supportive and responsive to their requests. During Covid, he said he was especially honored when one, whom he said described herself as a “staunch liberal Democrat,” told him she didn’t agree with his votes but appreciated him for being approachable and available to talk.
“It was a great honor that was said. I don’t think she realized the impact of that statement to me. Because certainly while I have my political party and my philosophy that I stand by, you always want to make sure that you make yourself approachable to every constituent in your district. Because it’s a fine line to walk; and I think in politics we sometimes forget that. Everyone is human, and we’re here for public service, not for politics only.”
Candelora, a North Branford resident, is a local business owner and an attorney. For more information about his legislative work, visti cthousegop.com/Candelora