State Senator Dan Debicella (R-Shelton) today announced he has formed a committee to run for Congress in 2010 in Connecticut’s Fourth Congressional District.
“We need Washington to start creating practical solutions to improve the quality of life for Fairfield County families,” said Debicella. “Rather than partisan, ideological fights, we need to start focusing on areas of consensus that can improve the economy, lower healthcare costs, and fix transportation issues in our state.
“Fairfield County wants an independent-minded Congressman in the mold of Chris Shays who will work in their families best interest—not a political party’s interests.”
Debicella said he was planning on supporting State Senator John McKinney for Congress until last month when McKinney decided not to run for family reasons. “John would have made a fantastic Congressman,” said Debicella, “and like John I will be a moderate voice who gets results for the people of Connecticut.”
Debicella is a lifelong resident of Fairfield County. He grew up in Bridgeport, where his father was a police officer. He was the first in his family to go to college, attending the Wharton School and receiving his MBA from Harvard Business School. He has spent most of his career in business, having worked for management consulting firm McKinsey in Stamford, as Director of Strategy at PepsiCo in Purchase, NY, and currently as Assistant Vice President of Marketing at The Hartford Financial Services.
Debicella ran for the State Senate from eastern Fairfield County in 2006, and was re-elected in 2008. His focus at the Capital has been on economic issues ranging from stopping tax increases in the state budget to writing a landmark 2007 law that gives tax credits to companies who create 10 or more jobs in Connecticut.
Debicella is a fiscal conservative who has co-authored “no tax increase” budgets in both 2007 and 2009. He believes in a small, efficient government because it is individual people and small businesses—not big government—that create jobs and improve the quality of life for families in Connecticut. He holds moderate positions on social issues, supporting a woman’s right to choose and having voted for state funding for stem cell research.
Debicella said there are three key issues he believes Washington needs to focus on. First is improving the economy. “Rather than trillion-dollar bailouts and pork-barrel stimulus, government needs to help small businesses create jobs. Through job-creation tax credits and smarter regulation, we can give small businesses the boost they need to create jobs and bring us out of the recession,” said Debicella
Reforming healthcare would also be a focus for Debicella. “We need to control costs to reduce premiums for the middle class and make coverage affordable for the uninsured,” said Debicella. “By providing incentives for preventive medicine, improving healthcare IT, instituting real malpractice reform, eliminating mandates, and lowering the cost private plans, we will drive down healthcare expenses for everyone.”
“Reducing costs is a better solution than Jim Himes’ vision of expanding government-run healthcare,” said Debicella. “The Democrats’ plan will tax the 94% of us with insurance to cover the 6% without insurance without addressing the root cause of the problem—out-of-control costs.”
Finally, Debicella said that fixing transportation in Connecticut had to be priority. “We need common sense solution for our rails and roads to resolve the choke points where traffic builds or where mass transit fails,” Debicella said. “To increase ridership on MetroNorth, we need more parking in eastern Fairfield County and a comprehensive shuttle system in western Fairfield County. For our roads, we need to increase capacity at heavy traffic areas along I-95 and the Merritt Parkway—just like we did at the Sikorsky Bridge, where just adding 1,000 yards of an entrance and exit lane removed a massive traffic backup area.”
The Fourth Congressional District comprises most of Fairfield County, including seventeen towns from Greenwich in the west, to Shelton in the east, to Ridgefield in the north. The seat was previously held by Congressman Christopher Shays from 1987-2009.
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