Letter: Tina Courpas has kept her promises

Dear Editor,

Tina Courpas, whom I have know for 20 years, is running for re-election on a platform of fiscal responsibility and keeping down costs. Her voting record in the legislature demonstrates her commitment to those principles and merits her reelection.

In 2017, when the State Senate was divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, the legislature voted to adopt “fiscal guardrails” (budget controls) designed to keep most government spending in line with changes in household income and inflation and while requiring that higher than expected tax revenues from certain sources, such as capital gains, be directed towards paying down the State’s unfunded pension liability that had grown to a massive size.

During the current legislative term Democrats chose to ignore those fiscal guardrails by diverting to other uses approximately $1.2 billion that could have be used to pay down pension debt – a diversion Tina opposed.

In addition to defending the fiscal guardrails, Tina, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, consistently pressed for the following:

Compliance with Connecticut’s spending and volatility caps.

Continued repayment of the state’s unfunded pension obligations.

Transparent appropriations through the normal budget process.

Clear evidence and measurable outcomes before new programs receive funding.

Greater scrutiny of state-employee compensation and long-term pension costs.

Tina Courpas is a State Representative who has kept her promises to her constituents of enforcing fiscal discipline at the state level so that the Democratic majority in Hartford will have no excuse to enact tax increases as they have attempted in the past with their proposals for a statewide property tax, a 5% surtax on capital gains, dividend and interest income, dramatically higher income tax rates (from 7% to 10%) on top earners, and increasing taxes on Connecticut’s beleaguered business sector – tax increases that would only serve to depress our state’s economy and limit upward mobility for our most vulnerable populations.

Please join me in voting for Tina Courpas for State Representative, District 149.

Jane Sprung