Callahan brings extensive record of public service to House race

By Scott Benjamin

Republican state House candidate Patrick Callahan says now is the time for bipartisanship with capital letters in boldface 36-size type.

He called the Coronavirus pandemic "unprecedented" and praised Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) for holding daily news briefings and "reaching out" to governors in neighboring states to coordinate closings of retail establishments and gathering places.

Furthermore, Callahan of New Fairfield, who is seeking the GOP nomination in the 108th District, said in a phone interview that he also agrees with former state Rep. Dan Carter of Bethel who is again running for the state House seat in the Second District,, that during the regular sessions of the General Assembly there should be more socializing among legislators of both parties to foster greater collaboration on legislation.

Carter has told Patch.com that veteran legislators have said that some years ago - before he arrived in the state House in 2011 - that Republicans and Democrats would go out to dinner.

Said Callahan, "I am a Republican and a conservative, but I get along with Democrats. I've worked with people from both parties at the local level and I've coached a lot of kids in sports, and I know the value of personal interaction."

Carter has told Patch.com that Lamont is fighting "a two-front war," since in addition to the opposition Republicans he has been ad odds in some instances with Progressive Caucus Democrats.

Callahan is seeking to succeed state Rep. Richard Smith (R-108) of New Fairfield, an attorney, who announced this winter that he would not seek a sixth term.

According to his bio, Smith successfully eliminated fees in variable electric rates in 2015 and also has been honored multiple times by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Republicans have held the seat for 45 of the last 47 years, and the roster has included Clarice Osiecki of Danbury, who became president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, and Norma Gyle of New Firfield, who after 14 years as a state representative became a deputy commissioner in the state Department of Public Health.

The district includes all of Sherman, which grew more per capita than any of Connecticut's municipalities during the 1990s, as well as most of New Fairfield, and small parts of Danbury, a growing city that leads the state in sales tax revenue, and New Milford.

A New Fairfield Republican has held the seat every year since the 1984 election, and no Democrat has been elected since Danbury attorney Lawrence Riefberg was victorious in 1982.

"I'm not taking anything for granted," said Callahan, who has lived in New Fairfield for 25 years.

"I'm running hard and I'm pleased with our early fund-raising," he added.

Callahan's wife, Andrea, a kindergarten teacher, grew up in New Fairfield. Both of them graduated from Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. They have three children.

He is currently a member of the New Fairfield Planning Commission and is a former member of the municipal Ethics Commission.

Callahan, who is a chief probation officer for the state Judicial District, is a former member of the Candlewood Lake Authority, serving as its chairman for 10 years. During that time he testified on issues before the General Assembly.

He noted that it has been seven years since he last served on the panel, but based on his current knowledge the water, which has been regularly tested for 30 years, is "pretty good."

"There have been very few closures," said Callahan. "The biggest issue is limiting the nutrients."

Candlewood Lake, which is man-made, borders New Fairfield, Danbury, Sherman, New Milford and Brookfield.

Callahan said that during his tenure on the authority he had good relations with First Light - the owner of the hydro-electric system.

"There are always disagreements but they have been cooperative," he explained.

First Light is required to update its shoreline management plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at least every six years. The fees for the property owners near the lake have been a source of controversy at times, even prompting then-U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy - who is now Connecticut's junior U.S. senator, to have FERC hold a public hearing in New Fairfield in 2007.

"I think the fees are fair," Callahan said of the current rates.

CT Hearst has reported that criminal justice reforms that were enacted by former Gov. Dannel Mallioy (D-Essex) lowered the state's prison population in 2018 to its lowest level since 1994.

The reforms were featured in a segment on CBS' "60 Minutes" in 2019, months after Malloy left office.

The state approved have young people tried as adults at age 18, instead of age 16. Pardon and parole procedures were revised and there were reduced penalties for non-violent drug crimes.

Callahan has worked in the judicial system for nearly 27 years. His late father, Robert Callahan, was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 1985 and was the chief justice from 1996 to 1999.

He said that since he works in the Judicial system he wanted to limit his comments on the reforms, but did say that in Connecticut the "recidivist" rate among parolees is one of the "lowest" in the country.

"It is probably not best to try 16- and 17 year-olds as adults," he said. "But the results are yet to be seen,. The car thefts have gone through the roof."

On another topic, he said that he opposes tolls as a means of improving Connecticut's transportation infrastructure. Lamont's multiple plans never got to a vote in the General Assembly, even the last attempt, which would have only placed tolls on tractor trailer trucks.

When Malloy was contemplating border tolls on all vehicles in 2015, Callahan and his wife wrote a letter to the General Assembly's Transportation Committee in opposition.

They stated, "Stop trying to think of new ways to impose on our lives and us further. . . Why don't you see how the New Britain bus station boondoggle goes before you waste more of our money."

However, in 2019 Tom Condon, the former urban affairs columnist for The Hartford Courant, wrote in CT Mirror that, "New Britain officials, led by Republican Mayor Erin Stewart, have embraced the CT FastTrak bus rapid transit system as an economic engine, and it seems to be working."

"The mayor said in a recent interview that she expects 200 new units of downtown housing in place by the end of the year, with another 100 coming next year," according to CT Mirror.

Stewart told CT Mirror that CT FastTrak "has driven nearly all of this. It's my talking point."

On a separate topic, Callahan said he wants Connecticut to become more affordable.

Lamont established a debt diet last year, holding only four meetings of the state Bond Commission instead of the usual 12 monthly sessions,. He said his goal was to try to slash $700 million a year from the annual bond appropriations.

However, the General Assembly recently approved a $4.7 billion bond appropriation package - which according to CT Mirror would go $1.1 billion beyond Lamont's debt diet. The votes were overwhelming - 126-20 in the state House and 31-5 in the state Senate.

They came just hours after state Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano of North Haven held a news conference criticizing the proposed expenditures. Nevertheless, a majority of the Republicans in both chambers voted in favor the higher bond appropriations.

It will be up to the Bond Commission, which Lamont chairs, to determine how much money will be spent.

Callahan said, "We need to get down to bare business and not have so many pet projects."

The March 2018 report from the state Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Competitiveness reported that the pensions for the state employees were only 29 percent funded.

Ct Mirror budget reporter Keith Phaneuf told a League of Women Voters forum in Wilton in April of last year that the pensions for the state employees and the public school teachers were structurally underfunded each year from 1939 through 2010.

In 2017 Connecticut received a grade of 'D' on its legacy costs from the Volcker Alliance, the organization established by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker that reviews fiscal management in each of the 50 states.

However, Callahan says the state "must honor its commitments to the state employees' under the contract that was ratified in 2017.

He said that he expects that there will be a large number of retirements by state workers over the next three years, and the governor will have to carefully consider where to save money through attrition while still maintaining adequate services.

CT Hearst business columnist Dan Haar has reported that Malloy trimmed the state's full-time work force by 13.1 percent during his eight years in office.

"I think sometimes state employees get an undeserved bad reputation," said Callahan. "A lot of them work hard and are innovative."

Yale Economics professor Robert Shiller, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote in his 2012 book, "Finance and the Good Society" (Princeton University Press, 304 pages), that public employee pensions should be connected to taxpayers' ability to fund them. Gross domestic product could be an indicator.

Callahan said that is a topic worthy of discussion in a future General Assembly session regarding new hires to the state work force.

"Considering any new procedures, the collective bargaining units would have to agree to them," said the state House candidate.

Callahan said he opposes efforts to have the municipalities pay for any portion of the pensions for the public school teachers in grades kindergarten through twelve. Malloy and Lamont have made proposals to accomplish that.

Brookfield Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn has told Patch.com that the state should not renege on a commitment that it has kept since 1939.

Callahan said he agrees with Sacred Heart University Government Department Chairman Gary Rose, the author of the 2019 book, "Connecticut In Crisis" (Academica Press, 302 pages) that the state's economic growth will largely depend on the Pentagon budget.

Connecticut has three major defense contractors - Electric Boat in Groton, United Technologies Corporation at the Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney facility in East Hartford and Lockheed Martin at the Igor Sikorsky plant in Stratford.

Callahan said, "We need to keep improving our advanced manufacturing."

Apparently that has been a priority of the Lamont Administration.

Manufacturing consultant Rich DuPont of Branford, who lived in Watertown in 2018 when he ran for the Republican nomination in the Fifth Congressional District, has praised the recent collaborative efforts between the departments of Economic Development, Labor and Education. He also has said that he is encouraged by the early efforts of the governor's Workforce Council, which is chaired by Garrett Moran of Greenwich, the former chief executive officer of a division of the Blackstone Group.

Lamont said during the 2018 campaign that too often jobs go unfilled because the state doesn't have qualified applicants. He told Patch.com in 2018 that a degree from a state community college in manufacturing-related areas could generate a higher starting salary than a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Yale.

Callahan said he agrees with Rose's comments to Patch.com last year that a reduction in taxes on individuals - the sales tax and the income tax - would do the most to boost Connecticut's economy.

Callahan declared, "In Fairfield County , the taxes and the cost of living is going up every year."