UPDATE: The most recent endorsements submitted by Democratic candidate Nick Kapoor were added to this report at 9 am on April 9.

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On Tuesday, April 13, more than 2,300 Newtown voters will play an important role in seating the next State Representative for the 112th District — a seat left vacant when former lawmaker JP Sredzinski resigned last month to concentrate on his family and new job demands.

Besides hundreds of households in southern Newtown, the district also includes all of the neighboring town of Monroe. Residents can vote in this special election now because under an existing executive order imposed last year that remains in effect giving qualified voters from Monroe and Newtown an opportunity to cast a no-excuse absentee ballot.

Those ballots, similar to last November’s presidential election, can be mailed back to the Town Clerk, can be dropped off by hand at the town clerk’s office, or deposited in a secure drop box located outside the Newtown Municipal Center’s entrance opposite the Community Center. In person voting will occur April 13, from 6 am to 8 pm, at Reed Intermediate School.

As previously detailed in The Newtown Bee, the contenders for that open seat and the remainder of Sredzinski’s two-year term are Newtown resident William Furrier, a nominee of the Independent Party of Connecticut and a registered Republican; Monroe Republican Tony Scott; and Monroe Democrat Nick Kapoor. All three recently spoke with the newspaper, expanding on their introductory releases.

Furrier, a former selectman and member of the Independent Party of Newtown or IPN, and member of the Newtown Public Building and Site Commission, previously served as president of his condominium board, and is currently employed as a chemical engineer and cosmetic formulation scientist.

Upon his nomination by the Independent Party of Connecticut, Furrier commented that he “will be representing first and foremost the people of the district and of Connecticut, not a major political party.”

He told The Newtown Bee that while he remains a registered Republican, it is primarily so he could vote in state and local primaries.

“The primaries is where the action is,” he said. “That’s where you really get to pick your candidate.”

Furrier also said he was briefly a member of the Newtown Republican Town Committee.

“It’s hard to explain, but I really didn’t think I had anything in common with those guys in terms of political philosophy regarding the town,” he said. “It’s quite amazing how different town politics is from the issues at state level and national levels. That’s where you see the real differences in philosophy. Locally, political differences are quite narrow between Republicans and Democrats — sometimes they seem like they’re identical. And that’s not a bad thing unless they’re not in touch with the changing demographics of the community.”

Furrier said the former IPN represented a changing demographic in the community who were primarily big school system supporters, a passion he shared at the time. Now, almost a decade later, he was surprised to receive a call from Independent Party of CT leader Bruce Walczak asking if he would be interested in running for the seat.

“My initial answer was, sure,” he said. “I feel real strongly about some state issues, and what a great opportunity to express some of my concerns about the government’s response to COVID. A lot of people are really sensitive about talking about COVID — it’s almost politically incorrect to talk about it. But in political circles, it’s okay.”

A year-plus into the pandemic, Furrier said he has growing concern about the amount of power being exercised by Governor Ned Lamont.

“This is a dangerous execution of power, the suspension of constitutional rights due to an emergency. And here we are a year later and it’s still an emergency. That doesn’t seem right,” he said. “I would have liked to have seen more [powers] exercised by the legislature.”

Furrier said he is an advocate for “opening the state completely.”

“We need that bad and I think it’s time,” he said. “We’re at the cusp of herd immunity, and we’re ready to rip the band aid off and go out there and face it.”

Furrier said the 112th voters have a recent track record of sending a fiscal conservative to Hartford, and with the state’s population on the grow — at least partially due to relocations spurred by the pandemic — Furrier fears unfavorable tax increases could drive them away, and he will stand against them.

“I’ve read more than once that Connecticut’s government is in a fiscal death spiral and there is no way to get out of it,” he said. “I don’t necessarily agree with that. Our representatives should be on the side of wanting to fix that. That’s where I would align.”

Furrier said in the remaining weeks, he will be campaigning in Newtown and Monroe so he can meet voters face to face.

“There is value in demonstrating a different way of thinking than the party line,” he added. “We’ve seen a lot of that. And it’s great if you think your party is on the right track. If not, maybe it’s time for an independent voice — free from the rigidity of political parties walking in lock step.

“For me, I align with the founding fathers who believed a government’s job is to preserve and protect the rights of individuals,” he said. “That’s the real strength of America.”

‘Ready For The Challenge’

Announcing his candidacy, Tony Scott said he knew he had big shoes to fill after Sredzinsky’s departure, but he is “ready for the challenge.” A marketing professional who also studied broadcast journalism, Scott has previously served in appointed posts on Monroe’s Economic Development Commission, has been a member and chair of the Monroe Parks and Recreation Commission, and was appointed to fill a vacancy and currently serves on the Monroe Town Council.

He told The Newtown Bee after living in Chicago, he and his wife, a Monroe native, decided in 2007 to settle and raise their family there.

Scott said the frustrations he heard from developers who approached him on the Monroe EDC was in part because of onerous regulations and difficult processes established at the state level.

“It slows down our business opportunities and prevents communities from growing their grand lists,” he said. “I’d like to see the state loosen up those processes if we can, and try to allow businesses to develop when they can and where they can.”

In his capacity on the parks commission, where he spent five years as chair, Scott said he built his experience receiving and responding to constituent concerns, something he would also be doing if elected to a statehouse seat. His year as an appointee on the Monroe Town Council heading up a committee focusing on local capital improvements also helped him prepare to take on a greater role in Hartford.

His work background as a marketing specialist, Scott said, will also serve him well as he manages a department with a $16 million budget.

“I’m tasked everyday with being smarter and more careful with other peoples’ money, the company’s money, and I would look at things the same way with taxpayer dollars,” he said. “I want to make sure when we approve new legislation that depends on taxpayer dollars, we fully understand how those dollars are being used.”

Scott said the legislature’s habit of passing unfunded mandates down to towns like Monroe and Newtown has to end.

“When you pass unfunded mandates to cities and town, you are basically saying you’re not accountable for how money is being spent. You’re saying, ‘Cities, deal with it...towns, deal with it.’ It’s wrong putting the burdens on towns and cities to bear the cost of state legislation,” he said.

When it comes to getting his voice heard as a freshman lawmaker if elected, Scott said he would call on the experience he got during a five-year stint working on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

“I was in my 20s, and it was crazy but it was truly being part of the heartbeat of the economy,” he said. “It also allowed me to see how the markets work and how they effect everyone’s daily lives.”

Scott said if elected, he would spend the balance of this year’s session serving vacancies that Sredzinski left. And he would be concentrating on issues related to public safety and affordability.

“I’m always thinking about how to make this state more affordable, especially for young people and the elderly. And looking for revenue streams that would not impact those populations,” he said. And similarly to Furrier, Scott has concerns that lack of affordability will drive newcomers to the state to go elsewhere in a few years.

“Every bill I vote on,” he said, “I want to have that in the back of my mind.”

Weathering Political Tides

When just out of college and 21 years old, Nick Kapoor, like his opponent, received an appointment to a vacancy on the Monroe Town Council. Shortly after, he ran for the seat and lost by around 80 votes.

Then, because he was a top vote-getter, he was appointed to another council vacancy in 2012. In 2013, he ran for the seat again and lost by 37 votes, before he was elected to a Town Council seat in his own right in 2015.

More recently, Kapoor was elected to serve on the Monroe Board of Education and, on a statewide level, in 2017 he was appointed to the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO). He also served as an aid to former Newtown (106 District) State Rep Chris Lyddy.

Kapoor said he was proud as a Monroe council member to champion an effort to have more public participation opportunities added to council agendas. He also helped create a part-time pay plan with salary ranges based on those of similar positions in other towns.

In May of 2019, he purchased a home in Monroe and subsequently ran for the school board. He was elected and continues to serve that board today.

His service to the CHRO and his former work as a legislative intern, Kapoor said, will be a particular asset if elected to the 112th District seat.

“I really love our district, and I’d really like to work on the budget if I’m elected to state office,” Kapoor said. And since working for his family’s international technology firm, “I’ve seen the ups and downs on Main Street, and how we tax people up in Hartford.

“It needs work,” Kapoor continued. “We need to be sure taxes are fair, and low. We cannot keep taxing.

“As a visiting professor of math at Fairfield University, I would love a seat on the Appropriations Committee, Finance, Revenue, and Bonding, and certainly Energy and Technology is a great committee,” he said. “I’d also seek a seat on the Higher Education Committee. Being educated should be a right, and we need to make higher education attainable and affordable.”

Kapoor also supports early voting and no-excuse absentee voting, and wants to see those constitutional measures brought before state residents in a referendum vote.

“I’ve lived in this district my entire life, and I want to be the voice of all the people who live in the 112th,” Kapoor said. “I’ve worked across the aisle here in Monroe, and when we work together to come up with solutions together, we get to a place where everybody feels like they’ve won something.

“So I think being a Democrat in a delegation with other Democrats and Republicans will be very exciting,” he said. “I can’t wait to reach across the aisle and talk to colleagues about issues affecting both Monroe and Newtown — that’s how it should be done.”

On April 8, Kapoor submitted to The Newtown Bee, endorsements from the Connecticut Education Association; the Sierra Club, and the 3.14 Action group, which works to elect STEM professionals to office.