THE FACTS: MY RECORD ON AFFORDABILITY
My opponent recently sent voters a mailer blaming me for Connecticut’s rising cost of living.
You should not have to take my word or his for what my record is. Look at the record for yourself.
He said “Residents are Reeling” and indeed that is true – but who is actually responsible?
I have represented my neighbors in the Connecticut legislature for sixteen years, and am well known as the leading opponent and most outspoken check against the agenda being advanced by the one party Democrat majority serving in Hartford.
I have consistently opposed tax and spending increases and have repeatedly introduced bills, offered amendments, and supported proposals intended to reduce the cost of government and the financial burden it places on Connecticut residents.
That record is documented in votes, legislation, amendments, public hearings, floor debates and years of public advocacy.
I HAVE NEVER VOTED FOR THE POLICIES THAT HAVE MADE CONNECTICUT MORE EXPENSIVE
Connecticut’s budgets, taxes and statewide fiscal policies are enacted by votes of the General Assembly and the governor’s signature. I serve in the Senate Republican minority.
I have never voted for a tax increase or a spending increase, and I have never voted for one of the state budgets that passed during my service. When I have supported spending for a particular purpose, I have consistently sought to offset it elsewhere rather than simply increasing the burden on taxpayers.
Consider the 2025 state budget. It became Public Act 25-168 after passing the General Assembly and being signed by the governor. The official legislative history also shows Senate Republicans offering six amendments to that budget before final passage.
The same pattern continued in 2026. On February 25, I participated in offering a tax-relief amendment. The official Senate Journal records the amendment failing 11-25.
https://cga.ct.gov/2026/jnl/s/pdf/2026SJL00225-R00-JNL.PDF
People can disagree about whether those policies were right or wrong. What they should not do is attribute policies to a legislator who opposed them.
I HAVE FOUGHT TO LOWER TAXES AND FEES
My legislative record includes repeated proposals to reduce or eliminate costs imposed by state government.
In 2026 alone, I introduced legislation to eliminate state taxes and fees when the government spends more collecting them than they produce in revenue. The official General Assembly record identifies me as the bill’s sponsor.
I also introduced legislation to eliminate state taxation of Social Security benefits and pension or annuity income, and another bill to prohibit state agencies from imposing service fees on people paying by credit card, debit card or similar means.
Those aren’t campaign promises. They are bills filed in the Connecticut General Assembly.
I OPPOSED THE HIGHWAY USE TAX
Connecticut’s Highway Use Tax was enacted through HB 6688 in 2021 and became Public Act 21-177. The General Assembly’s own legislative history documents its passage.
I opposed that tax, and in 2026 Senate Republicans again proposed eliminating it as part of a broader affordability package. That package also proposed income-tax relief, occupational-license-fee elimination, a reduction in the Paid Family and Medical Leave payroll assessment, and removal of Public Benefits Charges from electric bills.
More recently, I joined another affordability proposal calling for elimination of the Highway Use Tax, elimination of the Public Benefits Charge, income-tax reductions, a temporary gasoline-tax holiday and other forms of tax relief.
I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING HIGH ELECTRIC BILLS FOR YEARS
Perhaps nothing illustrates the problem with this mailer better than electricity costs.
Long before this campaign, I was introducing legislation aimed at the charges and government policies embedded in Connecticut electric bills.
In 2023, I introduced SB 683 to eliminate a surcharge assessed to electric customers and SB 684 to suspend the Combined Public Benefits Charge. The official Senate Journal also records additional proposals I introduced involving PURA independence, energy procurement and the effect of battery-storage policy on ratepayers.
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2023/etdata/cbr/cbr1.asp
Why does that matter? Because the legislature’s own nonpartisan Office of Legislative Research explains that a portion of Connecticut electric bills results from state-level public-policy decisions and identifies those costs within the Combined Public Benefits Charge and other components of electric bills.
https://cga.ct.gov/2024/rpt/pdf/2024-R-0132.pdf
In 2024, I joined ratepayers and advocates in delivering more than 68,000 petition signatures demanding relief from Public Benefits Charges and calling for legislative action.
In January 2025, I joined Senate and House Republicans in proposing a six-part electricity-affordability plan that included removing Public Benefits Charges from electric bills, restructuring PURA, changing energy-procurement policy and examining ways to increase energy supply.
And in 2026, the affordability plan I supported again called for removing Public Benefits Charges from customers’ electric bills.
I HAVE ALSO FOUGHT WASTE, EARMARKS AND WEAK OVERSIGHT
Affordability isn’t only about tax rates. Every dollar wasted by government ultimately belongs to the taxpayers who earned it.
That is why I have also pursued stronger oversight and transparency.
In 2025, I introduced SB 637 requiring public hearings for budget earmarks.
In 2026, I joined proposals aimed at increasing oversight of government spending, fraud and waste. Two government-accountability bills I sponsored—SB 247 and SB 423—advanced with bipartisan support; SB 247 incorporated recommendations from Connecticut’s Auditors of Public Accounts intended to strengthen oversight of state financial practices.
THE RECORD IS THERE. PLEASE CHECK IT.
Political candidates are entitled to criticize one another. They are entitled to disagree about taxes, spending, energy policy, health care or anything else.
But voters should be able to distinguish between a political argument and a factual claim about someone’s record.
So don’t take my word for it.
Watch the videos. Read the bills. Check the roll-call votes. Look at the amendments.
Then decide for yourself whether the claim that I am responsible for Connecticut’s rising cost of living is consistent with the legislative record.
I am comfortable putting my record under that scrutiny.
MORE PUBLIC COMMENTS CHALLENGING RUNAWAY SPENDING AND TAXES BELOW:
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