Incumbent Morin Keeps State Representative Seat
WETHERSFIELD - It was close, but Democratic State House Representative Russ Morin will hold onto his 28th District seat for another term.

       The incumbent held off Republican challenger Mike Hurley, a member of the Wethersfield Town Council, by taking just over 53 percent--according to The Hartford Courant--of the votes in the Nov. 4 elections.

       â€"I was very thankful for all the support,” Morin said after the election. â€"It’s a good victory, and it’s time to get back to work.”

       Both candidates focused on impacting local issues-namely taxes, education, and economic development-local issues at the state level. While Morin expressed a desire to push for state financial aid to drive small business boosting economic development projects in town, Hurley emphasized what he felt was a need to curb the amount of regulations imposed on such enterprises.

       â€"You have enough at the town level,” Hurley said during a pre-election interview at Town Hall. â€"There are a lot of fees, which to them feels like a tax. If you let them open more freely, that helps everybody.”

       Hurley said that he supports state initiatives to provide financial aid to small businesses, but â€"only if it’s done right”.

       â€"I don’t know if I’m for just throwing out money for businesses to get going,” Hurley said.

       Morin pointed to initiatives like the state’s façade improvement grant, which provided the town with $450,000 to fix up the former Weight Watchers building on the Silas Dean Highway.

       â€"It allows the town to do so many things without raising taxes,” Morin said during a phone interview about a week before the election.

       This year the town’s mill rate increased from 34.46 to 37.05, and Morin estimated that around 82 percent of Wethersfield’s tax revenue comes from residential property owners.

       â€"I think we need to look at working out ways to help with the property tax base,” Morin said during the pre-election interview. â€"The town wasn’t designed to increase that base, so we need to help with that.”

       Part of the problem is that Wethersfield doesn’t have a lot of room to grow. At its development peak, adding to the tax base in order to reduce the burden on residents while maintaining town services has been a challenge, local officials have said.

       As of this past spring’s budget session, Wethersfield’s grand list-at $2,205,813,324-was 5.06 percent less than the previous year’s, Town Manager Jeff Bridges reported at the time.

       This has prompted local officials to focus on seeking opportunities for redevelopment of existing properties, and the state has-and should continue to-help with that, Morin said.

       Taxes and economic development also tie into the quality of schools-a large factor in a family’s decision to move to a town-Hurley said before the election. As residents move in, businesses will follow suit, he said.

       Morin, who helped to secure a $10 million space waiver to erase a PCB remediation and inflated construction cost related budgetary overrun, said that he would push for additional state aid-if the need arises-in order to finish the $75 million project, which includes the construction of a new gymnasium, media center, and music room.

       When it comes to boosting the performance of schools in general, Hurley cautioned against simply directing funds at struggling districts without measures to ensure that the aid is used in an effective way, and spoke out against the new Common Core State Standards’ slew of unfunded mandates.

       â€"If we’re going to put something together, figure out how you’re going to fund it first,” he said.

       Morin also had some criticism for the Common Core-particularly its execution.

       â€"It’s a good goal, but how you bring it out is going to determine how successful you are,” he said after the election. â€"I was hearing from teachers who said they were getting evaluated 5 times a year, and it didn’t really make sense. The most important thing is to listen to the people involved.”
MORE WETHERSFIELD NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Nov 12 2014  |  COMMENTS?