28th District Republicans

Nominate McKinney

By Jan Howard

Senator John McKinney was nominated May 19 during a Republican convention at the Helen Keller Middle School in Easton to seek a fourth term from the 28th Senatorial District.

The 28th District consists of the towns of Newtown, Fairfield, Easton, and Weston.

He will be opposed in the November election by Democrat Morgan Graham of Fairfield, who was endorsed by her convention Monday at McKinley Elementary School in Fairfield.

Sen McKinney is a 30-year resident of Fairfield where he was born and raised. When he was about 18, his family moved to Westport, but after he graduated from college he returned to Fairfield.

A former lawyer, Sen McKinney now describes himself as a legislator/self-employed businessperson. Following the recent sale of his gourmet food store in Litchfield, he is looking into investing in another small business.

He said Wednesday that the insights he gained from running the food store “made me a better legislator” as he now understands how state legislation affects small businesses.

Sen McKinney said he is running for office again because “I feel that a lot of what I was working for is still worth fighting for.

“I get frustrated by the lack of fiscal responsibility in government,” he said, such as irresponsible spending patterns. “I have been very outspoken about those fiscal practices. That voice needs to be heard in Hartford.”

As an example of fiscal irresponsibility, he noted that two years ago the state borrowed $250 million to pay for a prior year’s spending.

He said one of his fights is for a better transportation system and more commitment to mass transit. “Transportation is a huge issue,” he said.

He is disappointed an amendment to stop a train fare increase failed. “I am frustrated to see that they don’t see how important trains are to Southwestern Connecticut,” Sen McKinney said. “I will keep fighting for that.”

Sen McKinney said it became obvious following the recent I-95 truck explosion that trucks were heading up Route 8 or 84 as alternate routes, putting a greater strain on this area at that time.

However, he said, the answer to the highway problem is not the addition of lanes. “The answer is not in more roads,” he said. “The answer is getting people to rely on mass transit.”

He said businesses should be encouraged to use trains and barges to carry goods in the future. Barges could be loaded with trucks or with products that would then be picked up by trucks nearer their delivery site.

“We need to open up a better freight system,” Sen McKinney said. One roadblock to such a solution is low bridges that exist in the Northeast, he noted.

Sen McKinney serves on the Transportation Committees; Finance, Revenue and Bond Committee; Environment Committee; and Housing Committee. He also was recently named to the newly formed Commission on Government Accountability, Creativity and Efficiency.

He has sponsored or co-sponsored a number of bills this year, including several environmental bills. One, the Clean Cars legislation, requires cars sold in Connecticut in 2007 to have stricter emission requirements.

“Thirty to 40 percent of the pollution in our air comes from cars,” he said. “It will be of benefit several years down the road. We may be able to go to the federal government and say we don’t have to run emission programs anywhere.

“This is a big bill I cosponsored and helped to write,” he said.

Other environmental bills included one that would provide water source protection when a water company abandons wells or a reservoir. The Department of Public Health would have to determine if other consumers were in need of the water source before it could be sold for another purpose, such as development.

Minor changes in an open space law would offer increased incentives, such as tax credits, to encourage landowners to preserve open space.

The bill Sen McKinney is most proud of during this term is one that would protect nonprofit organizations, such as treatment facilities and YMCAs, from local property taxes. “The charities couldn’t handle the taxes,” he said. “The state never intended these to be taxed.

“Part of my obligation as a legislator is to speak up for people who don’t have as loud a voice,” Sen McKinney said.

“I feel blessed and humbled that people gave me an opportunity to represent them. I never forget that is my role,” he said.

“I am one of the loudest critics of unfunded mandates,” Sen McKinney said. “What I fight against is the state telling the towns what they should do.”

Because more and more people in state government want to do that, Sen McKinney said, “I’m looking forward to going back. My voice is needed more today that it was two years ago.”