2021 Year in Review
Each year I write a quick recap of some of the most notable things I did during the year as your State Representative. Here’s 2021 and, as always, I hope to hear from you about how I can better serve as your voice in Hartford — Sean
Another term
On January 6th I was sworn into my fourth term (time flies!). In normal times, swearing-in day is a special day full of family, pomp and good vibes inside a packed House chamber. This year was a bit different, starting with the fact that family could not attend and the ceremony was outside due to COVID.
That morning my former boss Chris Murphy sent me a text saying “Good luck today” and I responded “I think you need it more than I do” knowing there were some protests scheduled at the U.S. Capitol that day. That turned out to be a prophetic understatement given what would tragically unfold a few hours later.
Restoring civility
To me, the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th were a gut punch. It was the first time in my lifetime that I genuinely worried about the future of our country and democracy. To be honest, I’m still worried.
That’s mostly because I thought January 6th would be a catalyst for an awakening; a moment when Americans from both parties would wake up and say “enough is enough” and demand a change in our toxic political climate. Almost one year later, that sadly hasn’t happened. In fact, most members of one party refuse to even investigate the attack let alone reckon with it.
Change won’t start in Washington — it has to start locally. That’s why in the days after January 6th I called my Republican colleague Rep. Vin Candelora and asked him to do a forum on the need to bring civility back to politics.
Despite being from different parties, Vin and I work really well together and in 2019 we worked hand in hand to write Connecticut’s first overwhelmingly bipartisan gun law (Ethan’s Law) in the wake of a terrible tragedy in Guilford.
The forum, hosted by the Guilford Library, was great and over 200 people tuned into the livestream. Democrats and Republicans will never agree on everything nor should they. But the true test of our democracy will be if we can learn to disagree without being disagreeable and the forum proved that that is more than possible if you put aside partisanship and focus on finding common ground.
A new job in the House, a new state budget
A few days after the 2020 election, the incoming Speaker of the House Matt Ritter named me chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
There are two dozen committees in the legislature and each legislator sits on several committees. Most of the work done in the legislature happens at the committee level in the sense that the committees evaluate bill proposals relevant to their committee issue area, hold public hearings on them and then vote on whether they should continue to the full House or Senate.
The state budget is put together by two committee, Finance and Appropriations. Finance handles the tax side while Appropriations handles the spending side. Oddly, the committees essentially do their own thing all session and then merge their respective proposals together towards the end of the session at which time the legislative and committee leaders must negotiate a budget that can both pass both chambers and be signed by the Governor.
On June 9th, I was really proud to lead passage of a bipartisan state budget, something that’s only been done one other time in recent memory.
It was not easy to do but, as I said above, finding consensus and compromise without giving up your principles is important and I was so honored to help play a role in getting it done during my first year as Finance chair.
The future of Route 146
Route 146 means so much to me. Growing up and to this day, it’s where I go to clear my head. It’s where I took my wife while trying to convince her to move here and where I take any friend who comes to visit me. Earlier this year I worked with the Connecticut Department of Transportation to create a Management Plan for the road. This plan will study the road, identify challenges and most importantly come up with solutions so it can be preserved for future generations to use and enjoy. More to come on this in 2022.
Riding the third rail
Besides the bipartisan budget, the thing I’m most proud of this year was negotiating the first substantial reforms to our state’s unemployment system.
My predecessor as Finance chair, Jason Rojas, had worked with Republican Rep. Dave Rutigliano, a restaurant owner, to try and reform the law in previous years.
When I became chair, most people said unemployment was the untouchable “third rail” and despite them laying the groundwork we could never get labor and business to agree to a reform bill.
As is the case with my day job running Tweed Airport, those are the most motivating words I could ever hear! I called the lead Republican on my committee — Rep. Holly Cheeseman — and got to work on a marathon round of shuttle diplomacy with her, labor unions, CBIA (the state’s main business group) and the Governor’s office.
In late April, we reached a deal. Not everyone was happy (the sign of a good deal, in my opinion) but, starting in 2024, 73% of businesses will get a tax cut and our fund will be on the road to solvency for the first time since the Nixon administration.
My favorite pictures of the year
Guilford Fair Weekend is my favorite weekend of the year, mostly because of the Citizen’s Day Parade. Maybe it’s because I’m an Irish politician but I love parades and, to me, there is nothing more fun than walking the route and seeing so many friends, neighbors and people I’ve known my whole life along the way. Great to be back this year after missing the parade in 2020.
A few years ago Chris Murphy decided he was going to walk across the state each summer as a way of connecting with the people he represents. Most people assumed it was a gimmick until they saw he was actually walking 20+ miles each day in shorts, a t-shirt and a UConn hat. He has a rough idea of where he’s going to start and end each day but in between it’s truly unstructured and he often takes crazy detours if he sees something interesting or finds someone random to talk to. This year he came through Guilford and I joined him for the last leg of his walk from the Green to Jacob’s Beach.
One of the things I missed during the first year of COVID was office hours. I really enjoy civil conversations about politics and policy and was glad to resume them earlier this fall alongside Sen. Christine Cohen.
There aren’t as many community events as there once were but I had an awesome time serving as emcee of the Guilford Fund for Education “Trivia Bee” this year.
As I said above, I love marching in parades. Even better? Marching in parades and then watching the rest of them with your son as I did here at the Branford holiday parade.
It’s been a challenging and interesting year. As always, so honored to do this job. Happy New Year and see you in 2022!
