Written by Brian Shea  

With Republican state Senate candidate Toni Boucher calling it “the one main issue in this campaign,” Democratic candidate John Hartwell and Ms. Boucher sparred over taxes at a breakfast forum on Thursday, Sept. 18.

“I will not support a tax increase. I am not going to balance this budget on the backs of people already overburdened in this community,” said Ms. Boucher.

“She’s talking about lowering taxes when we’ll have a deficit,” said Mr. Hartwell. “If you withdraw more money from the state budget, you will put more people out of jobs.”
The forum was held at the Wilton Library and was sponsored by the Wilton Chamber of Commerce, the Wilton League of Women Voters and the Wilton Library Association. The forum was designed to allow audience members to ask the candidates questions and have each candidate respond. Both candidates are running for the 26th District Senate seat, which represents Wilton, Ridgefield, Redding, Westport, New Canaan, Bethel and parts of Weston.

John Hetherington, a Republican state representative, asked the candidates whether they would increase income taxes to help deal with the state’s budget shortfall and whether they would repeal the estate tax.

Mr. Hartwell, an international management consultant from Westport, said he would be willing to look at the “cliff” in the estate tax. The “cliff” is a concept where up to $2 million in an estate is not taxed; but when that threshold is reached, the entire estate is subject to the estate tax, including the initial $2 million.

“I would not be willing to look at taking out the estate tax,” said Mr. Hartwell. “The estate tax as a concept is a fair one.”

As for income taxes, Mr. Hartwell said a look at the entire tax system would be necessary.

“The property tax is a very burdensome one,” he said. But with a need for government services comes a need to pay for them, he added.

Ms. Boucher, one of Wilton’s state representatives, was adamant that the Democrats would not change the estate tax.

“The other side will not reduce or eliminate the cliff,” she said, and that they would also support a more progressive state income tax.

Mr. Hartwell said the state’s “rainy day” fund could possibly be used for addressing the budget deficit.

“That is there to protect our bond rating,” said Ms. Boucher of the fund. “It’s going to cost you and I even more if we raid it.”

Ms. Boucher suggested that more early retirement programs should be employed to save the state money.

“I cannot imagine paying people not to work,” said Mr. Hartwell in response. He added that part of the reason the Department of Transportation hasn’t been doing “the job we need it to do” is because “a lot of the good people left. They took early retirement.” Ms. Boucher countered that some of those retirements had been mandatory.

One resident asked what should the state do differently to fix an unequal school system.

“It’s not simply a matter of money, though money is a useful tool,” said Mr. Hartwell. He said “we are throwing away the kids in our cities” and it was important to come up with a way to manage the schools differently. He said that since he was not an urban education expert, he didn’t know exactly how to manage the schools differently.

Ms. Boucher pointed to her work in replacing the Hartford Board of Education with a Board of Trustees earlier in her tenure as state representative, though that change has since reverted with the sunsetting of the bill that affected it.

“We have to work with parents, especially young children having children,” said Ms. Boucher, adding that support systems for students having children need to be put in place to keep those students in school.

Mr. Hartwell said while Ms. Boucher has professed a passion for education, in 2007 she missed many votes of the Higher Education Committee and Employment Advancement and asked why. Ms. Boucher said Mr. Hartwell had the wrong information.

Ms. Boucher’s voting attendance record reveals she was absent for 41 of the 80 votes that committee took last year, but Ms. Boucher said on Tuesday that was because many of the votes were taken over one day and when other votes were being taken. She said it was wrong for Mr. Hartwell to look at her attendance record on only one committee, and pointed to her attendance on other committees. For instance, Ms. Boucher was present for 63 of the 66 votes taken by the Education Committee in 2007.

“He’s trying to find an Achilles’ heel at every point that doesn’t exist rather than discuss the issues,” said Ms. Boucher. She said an attendance record should be judged on the basis of many years and from both committee and floor votes.

Audience members also asked about what the candidates’ thoughts were on train issues.

“We have a major problem here with transportation,” said Mr. Hartwell. “We have to make it easy for people to use public transportation, which we haven’t done in the past.”

Mr. Hartwell said he was in favor of extending the Danbury line to New Milford but that he felt electrification of the line was too costly. He also said a new control system was necessary, as the line still uses switches that are changed by hand.

Ms. Boucher said while she and Mr. Hartwell agreed on the need for trains, “the difference is I’ve been doing something serious about it.” She said she had worked for improvements at the Wilton train station and had put the focus on trains in the legislature.

“If I win this election, they will give me a leadership spot on the transportation committee,” she said of her party. Mr. Hartwell later said the Democratic Party would give him a leadership position as well if he were elected.

Another resident, an employee at Wilton Meadows, asked the candidates what they would do about the budget in terms of funding facilities for the elderly. He said the most recent budget had led to quality of care suffering over cuts.

Both candidates pledged not to forget the elderly if elected, and both said they were unhappy with what happened with the most recent budget. Mr. Hartwell said the country’s entire health care system needed an overhaul, but Ms. Boucher said as far as the state is concerned, only 6% of residents are not covered by health insurance and “we have to be careful not to destroy the system working for 94% of the people.”

The issue of Super 7 was also asked about. Both candidates said they were against Super 7, but Ms. Boucher pointed to Democratic State Senator Robert Duff of Norwalk as one proponent who would still like to see it built.

Former First Selectman Paul Hannah asked what the candidates would do to stand up for community colleges. Ms. Boucher called Norwalk Community College “an incredible resource” that is “the first line of defense to teaching nontraditional students.” She said if cuts were needed in the budget, community colleges is not where she would look to make those cuts. Mr. Hartwell agreed, calling the college “a jewel we need to protect.”

“It needs a lot more funding and a lot more care,” said Mr. Hartwell.

Ms. Boucher closed the forum by saying she was someone who had lived through tough times before and she is someone “who has demonstrated their ability with deeds and not just words.”

Mr. Hartwell said he was not “someone who has come up through the ranks of government but who has been successful in another sphere.”

“I’m not one who says we need more taxes or regulations. What we need is common sense,” said Mr. Hartwell, adding he would like to “reduce some of the partisanship and work more closely together” with the other party.

© 2008 Hersam Acorn Newspapers