Candidate Profile: Jane Garibay, 60th House District

WINDSOR LOCKS-WINDSOR, CT — The 2020 election is heating up in Connecticut and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office. Eyes are primarily focused on the presidential election, but every state representative and senate seat is up for grabs. All five of Connecticut's congressional seats are up for grabs as well.

There are 151 seats in the state House of Representatives and 36 in the state Senate. Democrats currently hold majorities in both chambers with a 91 to 60 lead over Republicans in the House and a 22 to 14 lead in the Senate.

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

Jane Garibay, a Windsor resident, is running for re-election to the House of Representatives District 60.

Age:
Party affiliation: Democrat
Family:
Occupation: Executive Director, First Town Downtown
Previous elected experience: Currently an incumbent state representative
Family members in government: No

Campaign website: janegaribayforhouse.com

The single most pressing issue facing our state is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.
The single most pressing issue facing our state is the health and economic effects of the public health crisis. We need to find a way to deal with this two-pronged crisis in a way that keeps our residents safe while not squeezing them economically. We need to pass legislation that develops a supplemental pandemic fund to assist the residents of our state that have lost their jobs due to this crisis. Additionally, we should explore more robust public-private partnerships that produce the amount of PPE and testing that we need to keep our residents safe, especially the most vulnerable among us. This will not be easy on our state, but public service is not about only making the easy decisions.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?
I have much more experience in dealing directly with small businesses. I served as the President of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce for over 20 years and built up a wealth of connections and knowledge about how to keep small business alive. This is a critical skill to have right now and one that I have certainly been employing with businesses in both Windsor and Windsor Locks. Furthermore, before the public health crisis I co-founded the Main Street Legislative Working Group with Representative Phipps of Middletown.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?
Since the public health crisis began I have been assisting residents and small business as they file for Unemployment Insurance and PPP loans. This work has given me important connections with Department of Labor workers who are doing the best that they can to provide everyone with the compensation they deserve. It has taken a lot of hard work to build and maintain these relationships, and without them many people would not have gotten the help that they needed. During the 2020 legislative session I wrote and introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow veterans with specialized technical skills to forego training that duplicates the training they have already gotten in military service. This is common-sense legislation that will save small businesses all across the state that deal with heating and cooling work. This work proves that I can work across the aisle during these very polarized times. We need to restore decency to our politics and I believe I am well-suited to do just that.

Do you believe Connecticut needs reform when it comes to electric utility oversight? What steps, if any should be taken?
Yes, I do. Rates have gotten way too high and service, especially during times of crisis, has gotten much worse. We need give PURA, the regulatory agency in charge of overseeing Eversource, more power to regulate rates and prevent consumer price-gouging. More specifically, we need to build off of recent legislation to make sure that Eversource pays its customers enough money to cover food spoilage or medication losses in the event of a prolonged power outage.

What steps should state government take to bolster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic for local businesses?
We need to put more money towards programs that supplement federal action and also provide temporary tax relief to small businesses that are struggling the most.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:
Lowering the price of prescription drugs and healthcare more generally, protecting social security benefits, amending the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula to ensure that inner-ring suburbs get more funding for public education, asking the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes to our state.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?
I would like voters to know that I want to help restore civility and bipartisanship to our politics. National politics has gotten out of hand in recent months and we need to make sure that we are able to listen to one another and empathetically understand problems that are plaguing our society. This is the first step into creating better and more equitable communities in our state and beyond.

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