Newtown Candidate Profile: Cathy Reiss For Legislative Council

NEWTOWN, CT — The 2019 municipal election is heating up in Newtown and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Newtown Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Cathy Reiss is running for the Legislative council in the first district as a Republican. She is the treasurer for her church and a member of the church council for the past six years. She also coordinates and is a handler for the church's comfort dog ministry.

Are you running for office in Newtown? Contact Rich Scinto at rich.scinto@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Newtown Patch.

The single most pressing issue facing our town/district is _______, and
this is what I intend to do about it.

Attrition. Connecticut is ranked third in the nation for people moving out.

More and more people are leaving the state for more affordable areas. While I can’t fix our bloated, mismanaged state government from Newtown' Legislative Council, I would work to ensure

Newtown is a place in Connecticut where people and businesses want to (and are able to) remain or move to. I would look to avoid/remove undue burdens on residents and businesses, both
undue tax and ordinance burdens. I would work to achieve both affordability and quality for Newtown' s schools and services, to ensure we get good value for our property tax dollars.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates
seeking this post?

All the incumbent Democrats seeking this post approved an ordinance to ban plastic bags and force businesses to charge a fee for paper bags. While perhaps they had good intentions, they had no justification that this would benefit Newtown' s environment or residents.

By contrast, I believe that before a town Council institutes something as extreme as a ban/fee intended to curtail the free exchange of legal goods among free citizens, there better be a very good reason for it, and if so, it should be the option of last resort. And that the approval of any such ordinance should be based on a critical evaluation of relevant evidence and alternatives following a clear definition of a problem affecting Newtown. So, when evaluating a similar type of ordinance, that's what I would do.

Newtown's bag ban/fee has negatively impacted the daily activities and
wallets of Newtown's residents, and it has put Newtown's businesses at a
disadvantage relative to businesses in neighboring towns.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

To remember that I'm not better than anyone, and nobody is better than me.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Through my education and my corporate and volunteer work, I've had many years and of problem solving experience, managing budgets, and working with and through others to accomplish goals.