The Newtown Bee Editor Moderator Curtiss Clark welcomed five state candidates to the newspaper’s annual pre-Election Day Candidates Forum Tuesday, October 21, at the Edmond Town Hall Theatre.

With a Charter Public Access filming for broadcast, Second District Republican incumbent Dan Carter, 112th District GOP contender J.P. Sredzinski, 28th Senate District challenger Representative Tony Hwang, 106th District incumbent Republican Representative Mitch Bolinsky, and his Democratic challenger Matt Cole each articulated positions on taxation, transportation infrastructure, Common Core standards for state educators, and recently enacted gun legislation. Mr Clark served as moderator for the event.

Democrat Candace Fay, who is vying for the Second District seat, and 112th District Democratic challenger Jen Aguilar both withdrew several hours before the event because of sudden family health emergencies. With the two vacant seats on the evening’s panel, last-minute invitations to participate were sent to 28th Senatorial District candidates, Democrat Kim Fawcett and Republican Tony Hwang, both currently state representatives. Rep Hwang was able to participate; Rep Fawcett had a previous commitment.

An audio recording of the forum, which welcomed about 60 audience members, was created during the event. The 90-minute event will also be broadcast on Charter’s CommunityVision 21 public access channel Sundays, October 26 and November 2, at 2 and 8 pm each day.

The Bee is also planning to publish profiles on each state candidate including those running for regional probate judge next week.

The October 21 forum opened providing each participant an opportunity to introduce themselves, starting with Mr Cole, who was the sole Democrat represented on the panel. Mr Cole said he is running for state office “because I feel like we’re yelling at each other instead of having constructive conversations.”

The 106th District challenger said in his profession of social work, he is trained to find consensus among those who might not necessarily agree.

“We need a voice that has that background in Hartford,” Mr Cole said. “We need somebody who can be a strong advocate for us — and I learned from [former state representative] Chris Lyddy how to be that advocate.”

Rep Bolinsky said he was running for reelection following a “relatively turbulent first term.” The first-term lawmaker touted the fact that he is committed to running a campaign free of negative ads and focused on accomplishments.

“You won’t see a single negative word in the press, in an ad, on a Facebook post or anything from me because I believe, coupled with Newtown, we have a lot to look forward to,” he said. “Now what we need to do is get down to work and fix our state.”

Rep Bolinsky said he believes this election is about creating a more business- and job-friendly atmosphere to help attract and retain its commercial base and the jobs that come with it.

Rep Hwang clarified that he has already represented Fairfield and Trumbull for six years in the house.

“What drove me to participate in the governmental process was a belief that we needed to do better,” he said. “It’s remarkable that six years have passed and it’s ‘déjà vu all over again.’ The same issues we ran on six years ago — excessive taxing, excessive spending — have not truly changed.”

Rep Hwang said he wants to promote common sense governing that reflects the “will and the wishes of our residents, people in our community and households.”

Mr Sredzinski said while the 112th District only overlaps a small part of Newtown, he pledged if elected, to represent all of Newtown. He said he has served as both a Town Council member in Monroe, as well as chairman of the local Republican Town Committee.

“I look forward to taking all the experience I’ve had in local government and taking it to the state level,” he said. As a public safety dispatch manager, Mr Sredzinski said he enjoys giving back to communities in his professional world as well.

“There’s a lot of issues that the State of Connecticut currently faces, including a $1.1 billion deficit next year. We face an economy that is struggling behind other states, and we face an environment in our state that is not business friendly at all,” Mr Sredzinski said.

Rep Carter said he chose to move to the state with his family when he left his service in the Air Force. And when he decided to run for office in 2010, he said he has been “the advocate for common sense leadership in Hartford.”

“I’d like to see the framework that there are a lot of really great people on both sides of the aisle in Hartford,” Rep Carter said. “We work together, and in fact, about 80 percent of what we vote on up there, we really get along on and it’s good stuff. It’s that 20 percent that we’re usually having very bitter arguments about.”

The lawmaker said he’s running for reelection because there “is still a lot more to say and a lot more to do,” and that “there is still a of fight in me to do good things.”

The Bee will be using responses to its forum questions as part of next week’s candidate profiles. In the meantime, listen to the full forum audio at newtownbee.com, or watch rebroadcasts of the forum on Charter Channel 192 on October 26 and November 2.