106th Assembly District Republicans Nominate Mrs Wasserman For An Eighth Term

By Jan Howard

State Representative Julia Wasserman of Sandy Hook is seeking her eighth term representing Newtown’s 106th Assembly District. She accepted the nomination to run for reelection at a caucus Wednesday at the Multipurpose Center on Riverside Road.

Rep Wasserman said she is looking forward to another term in Hartford.

She noted there are certain issues in which she would like to be involved on the local level, such as the Sandy Hook Streetscape and environmental issues about the Pootatuck River.

“It’s my backyard,” she said Monday prior to the caucus. “I feel to give Sandy Hook the life it needs we have to find another access to it. I’d like to pursue that.

“I feel I still can do something to benefit the town,” Rep Wasserman said. “I have a fair amount of experience and know my way around in Hartford. I like the challenge.”

In addition, she said, “I have a few things to tidy up about Fairfield Hills.

“I made a lot of contacts up there [in Hartford],” Rep Wasserman said. She noted while commissioners of departments might change in Hartford, agencies’ bureau chiefs do not change.

Rep Wasserman has led successful efforts for the town to acquire the 189-acre Fairfield Hills campus from the state. She has also been instrumental in the state’s conveyance to the town of more than 100 additional acres of Fairfield Hills land.

“The town comes before the state, but only a little bit ahead,” she said. As a legislator, she noted, “I have to look at statewide and environmental issues, too.”

She said she wants to help the selectmen with making choices about a 12-acre parcel off Old Farm Road that was recently approved for donation to the town. She said the town would need help from the state in regard to traffic issues there.

“The next two years are critical if I want things from OPM [Office of Policy and Management],” she said. “They have done a lot for Newtown.”

She said in addition to selling the campus to the town and the donation of the 100-plus acres, the state has also helped to keep most of the Fairfield Hills land open by placing it under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture.

Rep Wasserman said another issue to pursue in the next legislative session would be Exit 11 of I-84. “It will be on the front burner,” she noted.

She said she would also like to obtain some funding for the town’s tercentennial celebration in 2005 and Kevin’s Community Center, a clinic at Canaan House that provides free primary care services for Newtown’s uninsured and low-income residents aged 16 and older.

“Another key reason for staying on is that I like my Program Review and Investigative work,” Rep Wasserman said of the committee she chairs. One “very hot and complicated issue,” she said, is how the state regulates pharmaceutical issues.

During the recent session, Rep Wasserman said her committee studied the way the state handles the purchase and dissemination of pharmaceuticals for state clients and employees. Another key issue is public health awareness and how the state would respond to a medical emergency, such as bioterrorism.

Rep Wasserman co-sponsored legislation that addressed prison overcrowding and alternatives to incarceration. She also sponsored legislation that provides for the commissioner and staff of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DEMAS) to be members of a subcommittee with the Department of Corrections and the University of Connecticut Health Center to oversee care of mentally ill prisoners.

Currently, Rep Wasserman said, DEMAS is in charge of prisoners’ care at prisons, such as Garner Correctional, before and after their incarceration, but UConn takes care of them while they are in prison. “There should be continuity during their imprisonment,” she said, terming this legislation “very important.”

She recently was named to the Commission on Government Accountability, Creativity and Efficiency that would look at downsizing state government. The commission terminates upon submission of its report in December.

Previous recommendations regarding downsizing, which included a Consolidation Study, had been shelved and were “dead in the water,” she said. “They don’t want change.”

The commission is to begin its review not later than June 11, and submit its report on or before January 5.

Rep Wasserman’s previous service in Newtown includes four terms on the Legislative Council and ten years on the Newtown Conservation Commission.

She served for 13 years as state Department of Environmental Protection appointee to the King’s Mark Resource Conservation and Development Project. She was chairman at the time King’s Mark conducted a review of the Pootatuck. She also served for six years on the Fairfield County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Rep Wasserman was a former director of health for the town of New Fairfield, and is a retired captain in the US Army (WAC).

Prior to the caucus, Rep Wasserman was honored at a reception for her years of service to Newtown.