Democrat says Republican incumbent has voted the party line

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Kerri Colombo says her mission is to represent “those people who don’t have a voice.”

She managed a food rescue program in conjunction with the United Way of Western Connecticut, the CT Food Bank, area grocers, retailers and food pantries.

Colombo even drove a refrigerated truck to the contracted retailers to collect fresh food that helped feed more than 450 Danbury area families each week. She said she helped rescue half a million pounds of food that otherwise would have been placed in a landfill.

A Democrat, she is now running for the state House of Representatives in a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1974 – when Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) was a junior at Harvard.

The boundaries include Brookfield, where Colombo – who operates a home organizing business, has lived for 10 years- part of Bethel, the town where she lived seven years before that, and a northern slice of Danbury.

Colombo, who also has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, said incumbent Republican Stephen Harding of Brookfield – who initially captured the seat in a February 2015 special election – has not provided a voice for some constituents.

“In 2018 he voted party-line 97 percent of the time,” she said in an interview. “He has stuck with the Republican Party no fewer than 95 percent of the votes every year that he’s been in office. Who hasn’t had a voice? Every nonparty-line Republican constituent.”

Harding said, “A lot of the votes are actually non-partisan because a majority of the Republicans and a majority of the Democrats have the same position.”

“About 85 percent of the bills in the General Assembly are approved by large pluralities,” he added in a phone interview. "We even had a bipartisan budget in 2017. I certainly will agree with Democrats if it is something that is going to help the communities that I represent.”

Brookfield Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn has praised Harding.

He told Brookfield Patch this summer that Harding “has been incredibly helpful” in the town’s efforts to try to acquire state bond money to lessen the local tax burden for the construction of the new $78.1 million Huckleberry Hill Elementary School that should begin next year.

Also, Harding has crossed the aisle to compliment Lamont for his response to the pandemic.

“He has been very cautious, which is a good thing,” the state representative, an attorney, told Brookfield Patch in July. “His collaboration with regional governors seems to put us on the right side of the picture.”

Two years ago, three of the six legislative seats that cover at least a portion of Danbury flipped as Democrats Julie Kushner – 24th state Senate District – Raghib Allie-Brennan – 2nd state House District – and Ken Gucker – 138th state House District – prevailed over Republican incumbents.

Harding is now the only Republican legislator who represents at least a portion of the Hat City.

The Greenwich Time reported in 2018 that CT Mirror state Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas had said that Connecticut is undergoing a “political identity crisis.”

Kushner’s victory was the first by a Democrat in the 24th District since 1992. Alexandra Kasser of Greenwich was the first Democrat to capture the 36th state Senate District since 1930 and Will Haskell of New Canaan was the first Democrat to win the 26th state Senate District since 1970.

Bethel Democratic First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker is in his sixth term after Republicans had held the office in 12 of the previous 14 years. In Brookfield, after 22 years out of office, Democrats have won the first selectman’s post in five of the last six elections.

Brookfield Democratic Town Committee Chairman Laura Orban said in a phone interview that the 107th District has been adding more Democratic and unaffiliated voters over the recent years.

Sacred Heart University Government Chairman Gary Rose, who has written books on Connecticut politics and served as a panelist at gubernatorial debates, has said in recent years more suburban women have been voting Democrat.

In 2018 Harding repelled an ambitious campaign from Brookfield Democrat Daniel Pearson to take 59 percent of the vote to garner a third term.

Regarding issues, Colombo said she believes Republican President Donald Trump and Congress should approve an additional stimulus package at least somewhere near the U.S. House Democrats’ $2.2 trillion proposal.

Trump, the congressional Republicans and the congressional Democrats have not been able to reach an agreement since May 15, when the U.S. House Democrats approved the $3 trillion HEROES Act to further address the impact of the pandemic.

“We’re going to require some more federal funds to help people with the recovery,” said Colombo. “It is about making sure people can keep roofs over their heads and that our small-time landlords can recover.”

She praised Lamont for helping to maintain a $3.1 billion rainy day fund, part of which can be used to address the reduction in tax revenues.

“I’m really glad that we have it,” Colombo said. “That was really good planning.”

She said she supported extending Lamont’s emergency powers for another five months – until February. That extension was recently confirmed on a 6-4 committee vote.

“We have one of the safest states in the country,” said Colombo regarding the governor’s use of executive orders.

“He should have those extended,” she exclaimed. “We’re still in the midst of it.”

On another topic, Colombo said she disagrees with Eversource’s recent letter to the General Assembly’s Energy & Technology Committee in which, according to CT Mirror, the company claims it responded in “near heroic terms” to the damage in August from Tropical Storm Isaias.

“It was eight days before we had power,” she declared.

Addressing tolls – the issue that dominated Lamont’s first year in office – she said that they would, “provide the opportunity to obtain about 40% of revenue from out-of-state drivers, unlike the Republican proposal of more long term bonding which places 100% of the burden on the next generation of Connecticut tax-payers alone. It makes good fiscal sense to place gantries where out of state drivers will contribute to the upkeep of our infrastructure just like every other state on the east coast. “

Harding has opposed all proposed tolls plans.

Last year he told Brookfield Patch that he endorses the plan by 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski of Madison to trim one percent from each department’s budget at apply those funds to transportation improvements.

Colombo said she has not taken a position yet on how to address the state employees’ pension system, which is only 29 percent funded, according to the 2018 report from the state Commission on Fiscal Stability & Economic Competitiveness.

She said that she would need to acquire more information before taking a stance on Lamont’s debt diet in which he has pledged to reduce bond appropriations annually by about $700 million of their usual level.

Colombo, who has mostly been contacting voters by phone and the Internet, said the cost of health care is another high profile issue.

She and her husband, Carlo, a car salesman for Subaru, have two daughters - Ashley, 14, a freshman at Brookfield High School., and Allison, 10, a fifth grade student at Whisconier Middle School.

Colombo said, “I tell my daughters that if you see things that need fixing, you should try to do something about it. That’s part of the reason that I’m running for this office.”