Politics & Government
With Primary In Hand, Stevenson Is Wary Of Democratic Spending
Fourth District Republican nominee says Inflation Reduction Act will, over time, hurt the less wealthy
Jayme Stevenson Michael Goldstein Jim Himes
Joe Biden Donald Trump Catherine Rampell
DARIEN – After collecting about 60 percent of the votes in the primary, Republican nominee Jayme Stevenson says she has reservations about the components of Democratic President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan that recently cleared the U.S. Senate.
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Stevenson, who stepped down last year after a decade as the first selectman of Darien, captured 14 of the 17 municipalities in the Fourth Congressional District against Greenwich eye doctor and attorney Michael Goldstein, who had petitioned to get on the ballot after not automatically qualifying at the convention in May.
“I took the high road,” Stevenson said in an interview with Patch.com on Tuesday night after giving a brief victory speech from a chair at the Goose restaurant on the Boston Post Road.
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“We ran on ideas and policies,” she added after winning every municipality except Greenwich, Oxford and Easton. She said the campaign assembled an impressive team of volunteers throughout the district.
Stevenson, who scored five lopsided victories in her campaigns for first selectman, was noted for being bipartisan and approachable. Republican former Darien Selectman Susan Marks told Patch.com in April that Stevenson would try to reach compromises with Democrats on the board even when she had the votes to move forward without their support.
According to the Secretary of the State’s web site, Stevenson, who had sought the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor four years ago, garnered 9,961 ballots to 6,555 to Goldstein, who is a strong supporter of Republican former President Donald Trump’s policies.
There were no debates during the primary.
Stevenson and Goldstein said in interviews during the campaign that inflation was the top issue among voters.
Stevenson will face seven-term Democrat Jim Himes of Greenwich in the November 8 election. He has captured at least 61 percent of the ballots in each of the last two elections. Republicans had prevailed in every election between 1968 and 2006 in a district that now includes four of Connecticut’s nine largest municipalities – Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk and Greenwich.
The Sabato Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia calls the district “Safe Democrat.” Statistician Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight web site rates it “Solid Democrat” and projects that Himes will capture 62 percent of the vote in November.
Regarding issues, Stevenson said she has concerns about the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act that was approved 51-50 on a party-line vote earlier this month in the U.S. Senate.
About $370 billion will be devoted to climate change measures, including incentives to purchase electric vehicles and energy efficient appliances, according to Reuters.
Stevenson said that she is still studying the legislation, but that her analysis indicates that it is a case of “government picking winners and losers.”
“There are some people who are going to be hurt,” she added in an apparent reference to Democratic claims that only the wealthy will pay more in taxes to offset the additional costs.
“The less wealthy are going to be affected over time,” said Stevenson. “The Democrats are trying to pay for their energy deals at the expense of taxpayers.”
The legislation also calls for increased enforcement from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Remarked Stevenson, “It really says something that when you’re going to hire another 100,000 employees. I think that everybody should be scared that that is a priority item.”
Washington Post economics columnist Catherine Rampell has reported that Congress “has systematically under invested in the IRS.”
Stevenson also recently signed a pledge with U.S. Term Limits to serve only three terms in Congress if she is elected.
“If you are in office too long, you become part of the system,” she commented. “It becomes more about you.”
However, Democratic State Central Committee member Audrey Blondin of Goshen recently told Patch.com that she served for 10 years on the Board of Selectmen in Litchfield and that she was a better selectman in year 10 than in year one.
Said Stevenson, “Yes, hopefully the longer you serve, you learn. But in Washington, the longer elected officials serve, they stop listening to the people they’ve been elected to represent.”
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