VIDEO – Forum 34th District Senatorial Debate 10 22 2014

Steve Fontana Calls Out Opponent On False And Misleading Claims – 34th State Senate District Race

October 29, 2012
Steve Fontana Calls Out Opponent On False And Misleading Claims

Steve Fontana today called out his opponent, Len Fasano, for making false and misleading claims relating to Wallingford Electric in an effort to scare voters. “Len Fasano apparently has decided that his only chance of winning this election for State Senate is to make false and misleading claims about me,” Fontana said. “I don’t know how else to explain his decision, in a recent campaign mailing, to say something about me that he knows is simply not true.”

“His campaign mailer claims, without a shred of evidence, that I’ve taken some sort of position on Wallingford Electric’s autonomy. Len Fasano is simply wrong,” Fontana said. “I DO NOT support any changes in Wallingford Electric’s structure or governance and I’ve never said at any time that I do. I challenge Len Fasano to provide evidence to the contrary.”

“What’s more, people who've worked with me on energy issues, like State Representative Mary Mushinsky, know the truth: I think Wallingford Electric does an excellent job, should be independent and remain so,” Fontana added. “I’ve never made a statement otherwise and Len Fasano should know better.”

“By taking this route, Len Fasano has demonstrated an inability to be truthful with the voters at a critical juncture in this campaign, and I believe that they will take notice,” Fontana pointed out. “If you make claims in a campaign mailing that your opponent ‘wants’ or ‘believes’ something, you ought to be able to prove that he actually does. Len Fasano isn’t entitled to make claims about me by turning a position on one issue into a position on another issue. That’s just making stuff up in an effort to mislead voters before an election, and that’s exactly what Len
Fasano’s doing.”

Fontana concluded, “It’s too bad that Len Fasano’s campaign has sunken so low that he needs to make up things about me in an effort to scare people into voting for him. More than anything, voters want the facts on what we will do if they elect us, and we should be doing everything as candidates to provide them with those facts, rather than engage in last-minute scare tactics.”

Steve Fontana is running for State Senator for the 34th District, which includes all or part of the towns of Wallingford, East Haven, North Haven, and Durham. He served as North Haven’s State Representative from 1997 to 2011.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Call Steve Fontana at (203) 234-2240 for further information.

Candidate commentary -- Rebuild the middleclass -- Steve Fontana Connecticut 34th senatorial district

As published in the North Haven Citizen on Sunday October 28, 2012

Steve Fontana, Democrat, is a candidate for election to Connecticut’s 34th senatorial district, which represents the towns of North Haven, East Haven, Durham and Wallingford.

By Steve Fontana

Everywhere I go in Wallingford, East Haven, North Haven, and Durham, people tell me that their middleclass way of life is disappearing, and that they want their elected leaders to do something about it. I’m running for the State Senate because I will do just that – by starting to rebuild the middleclass.

To rebuild the middleclass, we can’t keep pursuing the same trickledown economic policies that have failed to pull us out of this recession. We have to go back to what we know works: investing in people and businesses, and giving them the ability and opportunity to succeed.

Here is my plan to start rebuilding the middleclass:

1. Make higher education more affordable: For many young people, joining the middleclass, or simply remaining in it, means being able to go to college. Unfortunately, skyrocketing costs, stagnant financial aid, and mounting debt are making it harder for them to pay for it.

We can make college more affordable by ensuring that every student has access to: (1) cooperative-education programs that combine classroom study with real-world experience; (2) three-year degrees that allow students to get their careers going more quickly; (3) online instruction that gives students more convenient classroom learning options; (4) college credit for knowledge and skills that students receive in nontraditional settings; (5) free or low-cost textbooks that reduce classroom expenses; (6) more spots in our state university system; and (7) college-business partnerships that connect students to companies with jobs.

2. Promote small-business job growth and rein in energy and healthcare costs: The keys to getting people back to work are: (A) stimulating demand by getting more discretionary income into consumers’ hands; (B) channeling capital to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and companies in emerging industries that will create good-paying jobs with benefits here in Connecticut; and (C) pursuing common-sense initiatives that will save everyone money, encourage more investment and foster sustainable economic growth.

We can get our economy going again if we: (1) reduce healthcare costs for small businesses by giving them access to the state health plan and developing better illness management; (2) reduce energy costs by having the state negotiate lower rates for all electric utility customers, and by allowing utilities to generate electricity competitively again; (3) establish a public-private infrastructure bank to invest in critical projects; (4) end wasteful corporate tax breaks, and “claw back” state aid from companies that ship jobs out of state or overseas; (5) help lower-income families make ends meet by indexing the minimum wage to inflation; and (6) help people refinance their mortgage at a lower interest rate.

3. Support family life and healthy communities: From buying a home to paying for college tuitions, hardworking parents are struggling to manage large amounts of debt, job insecurity, and, sometimes, health care issues. They want someone to make sure that their kids get the best education possible, and that help will be there for their family if they ever need it.

We can make it easier for them to focus on raising their family if we: (1) modernize aging school buildings; (2) allocate state education funding more equitably by requiring that the state’s education formula uses the most accurate, up-to-date information; and (3) improve insurance coverage for children who need expensive medical care.

4. Ensure seniors a more secure retirement: Families nearing retirement, and senior citizens already in retirement, rightly believe that being part of the middle class means being able to save enough money to retire, and then being able to afford to live on a fixed income once they retire.

We can improve seniors’ retirement security if we: (1) protect our current senior safety net from people who want to cut it; (2) pursue opportunities to reduce seniors’ energy and prescription drug costs; (3) promote senior-friendly affordable housing; and (4) develop portable retirement accounts to help working families save for retirement.

For more details, please visit stevefontana.com

Connecticut State Senate 34th District Forum: Leonard Fasano and Steven Fontana (2012)

WALLINGFORD - Fur flies at forum for 85th, 90th

As published in the Record Journal, Friday October 19, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD — Republican Greg Bachand says state spending has grown 700 percent during the 32 years his opponent, Democratic state Rep. Mary M. Mushinsky, has held office.

“Her voting record speaks so loudly, it doesn’t matter what she said here tonight,” he said.

But Mushinsky called Bachand a “tea party aficionado” and said with the cuts he proposes, he’s putting dollars before people.

“There’s a clear choice between the two of us,” she said. “He looks at numbers, not people.”

Bachand and Mushinsky, who are vying for Wallingford’s 85th state House district, were the first of four pairs of candidates to face off in candidate forums sponsored by the Wallingford Community Women at Town Hall Wednesday and Thursday night. The forums were taped and will be rebroadcast on Wallingford Government TV.

On an issue that has financial implications in the millions, Bachand and Mushinsky also disagreed. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection adopted a phosphorus reduction strategy in response to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and compliance with the current standards will cost Wallingford $19 million.

Mushinsky, who has been a longtime environmental advocate, said the legislature passed a bill to give municipalities more time to comply with the standards and to receive up to 30 percent of the cost of the upgrades from state grants.

“I think more time and good technology should allow us to solve this problem at a reasonable cost,” she said.

But Bachand said unfunded mandates are “not sensible.”

103rd House District: Parts of Wallingford, Cheshire and Southington

Democrat Elizabeth Linehan agreed with her opponent, Republican state Rep. Al Adinolfi, on several issues throughout the forum. Both candidates said they supported reducing state government spending and suspending the Risk Reduction Earned Credits Program, which allows inmates to take courses and earn time off their sentences.

“It’s too inefficient on who they allowed to be released early,” Adinolfi said.

“I may be a Democrat but I am tough on crime,” Linehan said. “I have kids who live in this community ... I’m not messing around.”

But Linehan, a mother of two, said she felt she was more in touch with the concerns of residents in the 103rd District, which includes portions of Wallingford, Cheshire and Southington.

“Mr. Adinolfi, as nice as he is, does not fully represent the values of our district,” she said. Adinolfi said he has been elected five times, and votes based on what he hears from his constituents.

“I know what’s going on up there and I know what needs to get done,” he said.

90th House District: Parts of Wallingford and Cheshire

In one of the sharper exchanges of the night, Republican Guy Darter criticized the record of his opponent, Democratic state Rep. Mary Fritz. Darter said Fritz has been part of Democratic leadership that, through increased spending and taxes, “has driven the state into the ground.”

“Sometimes I wonder how you sleep at night,” he said.

But Fritz defended her record, saying she voted against the state income tax when it was proposed in the early 1990s and also voted against Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s most recent budget, which included $1.8 billion in new taxes.

When Darter called for spending cuts, Fritz pointed out that his company, Darter Specialties, has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in state contracts.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have spent that money,” she said.

Darter countered that he would be in favor of eliminating his own contract — which covers pens, pencils, coffee mugs and other promotional material for the state.

“It’s one of many of the frivolous ways we’re spending money,” he said.

34th Senate District: Wallingford, East Haven and parts of North Haven and Durham

Democrat Steve Fontana, a former state representative from North Haven, criticized Republican state Sen. Len Fasano for not working hard enough to support the middle class.

“He’s become too close to millionaires and corporations,” Fontana said. “On issue after issue Len sides with millionaires and corporations. What we really need ... are people that side with the middle class.”

But Fasano said that Democrats had supported a budget that increased the sales tax and made clothing purchases under $50 and over-the-counter drugs taxable.

“That hurts the average person.”

He agreed with Fontana that the middle class is in trouble, but said Democrats were to blame.

“We’ve had 26 years of one party rule. ... It wasn’t me, it wasn’t my party that got us here.”

Fontana, who served in the General Assembly from 1997 to 2011, was defeated by Republican David Yaccarino for the 87th state House District seat in 2010. He said in the two years since, he has learned to reconnect with his community. “Too often when you’re at the Capitol, you live in a bubble,” he said.

This year is the first time Fasano has had an opponent since he joined the state Senate in 2002, but the Republican said he wasn’t changing his message or his campaign strategy.

“I want my kids to stay in the state of Connecticut,” he said. “I have to make this place desirable for them to live here.”

34th State Senate District race: Fasano, Fontana are all business

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday October 17, 2012

By Laurie Rich Salerno
Record-Journal staff
lsalerno@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@LaurieSalernoRJ

NORTH HAVEN — Candidates in the 34th Senate District race differed on how to foster economic growth in Connecticut during a business- focused Tuesday morning forum.

Incumbent state Sen. Leonard Fasano, a Republican, championed tax credits and small business loans, while his opponent, former state Rep. Steven Fontana, a Democrat, said that lowering health care and energy costs would better help businesses.

The candidates fielded questions from panelists at a forum sponsored by the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce held at Ulbrich Steel headquarters in North Haven. The event was moderated by chamber member Christine Mansfield, of Wallingford.

“I think taxes are one of the most important issues facing businesses. We’ve got to change the tax structure, it’s just impossible for small businesses to survive,” said Fasano, answering a question from chamber lobbyist Betsy Gara asking how the candidates would resolve the top issues facing state businesses.

Fasano, a small business owner, also said the state should be assisting community banks with making small business loans.

Fontana said tax policy has“extreme limits” in terms of encouraging business. He champions lowering small business costs for energy and health care to help level the playing field.

“It costs small businesses a lot more to compete than it does large corporations. We can use the ability of the state to pool customers, to negotiate better rates on behalf of customers as well as to promote energy efficiency and conservation,” Fontana said.

Fasano disagreed with Fontana’s plan, saying that a pooling health plan had been passed but vetoed by former Gov. M. Jodi M. Rell, a Republican, and purposely never taken up by Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy upon taking office. He said this was because businesses with high-risk insurance costs would weigh down the state system.

Fontana said Rell’s veto was another example of Republican obstructionism in the state legislature, and added that there were different ways pooling could work.

Both candidates agreed that the state should invest in educational programs to better equip students to take on high tech jobs. Each has said in previous interviews that they’ve talked to high-tech business owners who say it’s tough to find qualified job candidates in the state.

On energy issues, Fasano said he believes in the state’s recent push to promote infrastructure for natural gas. That, along with tax credits for alternative energy technologies like fuel cells, he said, would make energy more affordable for businesses and energy-saving more attractive. He said that as a small business owner, he’s looked at some of the energy saving technology and found it cost-prohibitive, and that tax credits would help people in the same position purchase that technology.

Fontana, who chaired the state legislature’s Energy Committee for four years, said he agrees with what he has heard from residents, that tax credits don’t move people to do things like invest in alternative energy. He said he believes the state’s procurement manager should negotiate state-wide purchasing rates for energy for the state’s utility companies to obtain lower bulk costs.

Fasano said this type of bulk procurement is already in place. “That’s sort of happening on a private scale,” Fasano said.

He also said the state had the highest rates for power in the nation while Fontana was chairman of the energy committee, and said the legislature’s vote to deregulate electricity was a mistake, another measure Fontana voted for. The state deregulated electricity in 2000, prior to Fasano being elected.

“I’m not blaming the people who voted for it. ... I wasn’t there, so I’m not going to second- guess anyone’s vote because I wasn’t there to hear the arguments,” Fasano said.

Fontana, who had previously acknowledged that deregulation has not worked well, defended his vote, saying when the legislature voted on the issue, energy prices in the state were already the highest in the country and the business community came to legislators and testified that deregulation would lower rates.

“The business community came up to us and said you have to do something that will lower our rates,” Fontana said. “And it did temporarily.”

Both men voiced support for upcoming upgrades to the New Haven-to-Springfield rail line, and each had issues with the state’s proposed bus way.

The candidates also agreed that the state’s bipartisan jobs package passed late last year contains good plans, and time will tell whether all the projects within it work.

The candidates will appear together again Thursday at 8 p.m. at Wallingford Town Hall for another forum.

Laurie Rich Salerno / Record-Journal

Sen. Leonard Fasano, left, responds to a question while his opponent, Steven Fontana, takes notes.

Election 2012

---

Steve Fontana Democrat for State Senate – Plan for Making Higher Education More Affordable

Steve Fontana is the Democrat Candidate for the 34th District State Senate seat that covers Wallingford and East Haven as well as part of North Haven and Durham.

Steve’s website is http://stephenfontana.com/2012/ and he has forwarded his Plan for Making Higher Education More Affordable which is available for download.

Steve Fontana Democrat Candidate for State Senate 34th District

Steve Fontana Democrat Candidate for State Senate 34th District

Steve Fontana qualifies for public financing

As published in the Record Journal Thursday June 7, 2012

WALLINGFORD — Steve Fontana’s spokesman announced this week that the former North Haven state representative qualified for public financing for his campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Len Fasano in the 34th Senate District.

Fontana surpassed the necessary $15,000 in contributions. He received support from 300 people living in the district, which includes Wallingford, East Haven, North Haven and Durham, raising more than $18,000, according to staff.

“As a believer in reducing the influence of special-interest money in politics, I’m really pleased that we met the qualifications for this grant, applied for it promptly, and received approval so quickly,” Fontana said in a statement.

FONTANA FOR STATE SENATE CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCE GRANT

Steve Fontana announced today (Tuesday April 3, 2012) that his State Senate campaign has met the eligibility thresholds for a public campaign finance grant, and that he will be submitting his prequalifying paperwork to the State Elections Enforcement Commission this week.

Under public campaign finance rules, State Senate candidates must raise $15,000 overall, and collect at least 300 contributions from people who live in one of the towns of the district, to qualify for a public campaign finance grant.  The Fontana for State Senate campaign has exceeded both of those thresholds: as of Saturday, March 31, the campaign had raised more than $18,000 overall, and collected more than 340 in-district contributions.

“As a believer in the power of grassroots democracy, I’m really pleased that we’ve met the earliest possible deadline to submit our paperwork for the public campaign finance program,” Fontana added. “When I announced my candidacy a little more than two months ago, I didn’t know whether we could do it.

“I’m heartened and humbled by the outpouring of support we’ve received from people who not only want a greater say in our political process, but a better State Senator than they’ve been getting for the last ten years.  The people of all backgrounds and financial means who helped me to reach this goal want a real fighter for the middle class.”

“I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my campaign so generously,” Fontana concluded.  “I’d also like to thank my campaign treasurer, Sarah Aziz, and her deputies – Tessa Marquis, Pat Brown, and Judith Meyers – for all of the hard work that they put into making this early filing possible.”

Fontana is running for State Senator for the 34th District, which includes all or part of the towns of Wallingford, East Haven, North Haven, and Durham.  He served as North Haven’s State Representative from 1997 to 2011, and is a former member of North Haven’s Conservation Commission, Board of Finance, and Board of Selectmen.  He has a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.B.A. from Cornell University, and a J.D. from the University of Connecticut.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT STEVE FONTANA (203) 234-2240

Paid for by Fontana for State Senate, Sarah Aziz, Treasurer.  Approved by Steve Fontana.


NOTE FROM JASON ZANDRI - As this is a public site and I freely offer the space to all things dealing directly or indirectly with Wallingford and politics that affect Wallingford, no fees were charged or exchanged. I have used the text above in it's original format which included the "paid for by" information.

VIDEO - 34th State Senate District - Voter Forum - Wallingford

GET INFORMED - GET INVOLVED - VOTE