Democratic incumbent State Representative Bob Godfrey has served in the 110th district for 12 terms and says his mantra is nurturing working families
Republican Scott DeMuth is a small businessman and realtor who says he is fed up with the spending in Hartford.
Godfrey says rail is in his DNA, with his father and grandfather working with trains. He says improvements on the line from Danbury to Norwalk were completed with state help. Federal funds are being used to upgrade the main line. Godfrey says he would like to extend the Danbury branch North to New Milford.
DeMuth says he would have opposed the New Britain to Hartford busway because of the taxpayer contribution that will be needed for its maintenance and operation. He says the idea of a busway is a good one, but not during these tough economic times.
Godfrey says one of the hallmarks of the 2012 legislative session was the historic education reform bill, which provides more funding for school-based health centers and family resource centers. He says the reform bill underwrites 1,000 school readiness slots for preschoolers and funds several initiatives to improve early reading success. He calls the reforms a worthwhile investment because Danbury will receive an increase of $1,696,559 in its Education Cost Sharing grant to prepare students with the necessary for future jobs.
Godfrey says he's been spending time working with education and business leaders to reform curriculum for the future and global competition. But he says the state also needs to help strengthen early childhood opportunities.
DeMuth calls the Education Cost Sharing formula is one of the most convoluted laws in the state. He says it's similar to how hospitals get their money. He calls ECS harmful to Danbury because of the city's fiscal responsibility. He would like to see the system done away with and completely redesigned.
Godfrey praised a new law that will give smaller, local hospice facilities the opportunity to provide high quality services while allow patients to stay closer to family and friends. He notes that with just two licensed hospices in the state, this was much needed.
DeMuth says there are too many taxes and fees on businesses that cut into profits. He says there is a lot of red tape that he would like to cut through to help businesses. He also says a lot of state Departments are still active only because they were created a long time ago and Connecticut is the land of steady habits.
DeMuth says he is all about fiscal responsibility. He feels there is enough money to go around to all important services like transportation, health care and education, if lawmakers look at wasteful spending. He would like to see a needs based analysis done of every tax and fee in the state with some sort of sunset on each of them. He would also like to reduce the size of government.
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