Byron Takes State Represenative Seat Over Anest
NEWINGTON - Democrats retained their state House of Representatives majority in last Tuesday’s midterm elections, but Newington was one exception.

       Republican Gary Byron, a Newington business owner and NCTV volunteer, edged Democratic Town Committee Chair Carol Anest to claim the 27th District seat vacated by former state representative Sandy Nafis.

       The unofficial vote tally posted on the Newington website Nov. 6 had Byron at 4,668 votes to Anest’s 3,943.

       â€"I’m absolutely honored to be Newington’s next state representative,” Byron said after the election. â€"I can’t wait to get to work.”

       The two candidates ran campaigns expressing similar intentions--to spur job growth and fix the state’s economy while minimizing the tax burden on residents--throughout the months leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

       Byron’s â€"Learn, Earn and Retire” in Connecticut campaign slogan aimed to address that along with what he sees as an exodus of residents from the state. The issues interconnect, he said in interviews given prior to the election.

       â€"They’re living and working in another state, spending their money there, and growing their economy,” Byron said about a week before Newington residents went to the polls.

       Connecticut needs to grow its own in order to keep them here, but accomplishing the latter will only go further to improve the state’s economy, he said. Byron has already expressed intentions to pursue a tax holiday--for four or two years, depending on the length of an individual’s degree program--for recent college graduates that choose to live and work in Connecticut.

       â€"We want to keep them here,” he said. â€"I want Connecticut to be the ‘learn here, earn here, and retire here’ state.”

       But the first step is bringing more jobs to the state, Byron said.

       â€"There aren’t many career-oriented jobs in Connecticut,” Byron said. â€"Kids are getting out of college and working at Dunkin Donuts. That’s not right.”

       And then there are those who are unable to afford college to begin with. Both said that making higher education more accessible from a financial standpoint needs to be a priority as well, with Anest suggesting that Connecticut examine what other states have done to reduce interest on high-cost student loans.

       Both candidates said that they want to bring larger companies to the state, but what they disagreed on was how to make that happen.

       Months ago, Anest said that she sees initiatives like the First Five Program-a tax incentive program to keep big companies like ESPN and NBC Sports in-state, as ways to combat unemployment, the rate of which was a state Department of Labor-reported 6.4 percent in September.

       â€"I think job growth is important and that would help keep Connecticut residents here,” she said. â€"I think what they were trying to do is keep companies here so we can employ our workforce.”

       Byron contended that any incentive program for corporations needs to be designed to avoid increasing the tax burden on residents.

       â€"These companies don’t need a billion dollar tax incentive,” he said during an interview given shortly after his nomination.

       While Anest backed First Five, she said in a recent interview that the companies that benefitted need to be held accountable and â€"reimburse the state” if â€"they don’t uphold their contract” to provide jobs.

       But as suppliers of big companies, small businesses benefit from such initiatives as well, Anest said.

       â€"If these companies moved out, a lot of small businesses would have to close,” she said. â€"We are also competing with other states--who are also giving tax breaks--for these corporations.”

       Both candidates also expressed intentions to focus on the needs of small businesses, which Byron has said are overtaxed.

       â€"Small businesses are the backbone for creating jobs,” Byron said.
MORE NEWINGTON NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Nov 12 2014  |  COMMENTS?