This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/20/2019 07:00 AMJosh Balter, Democratic candidate for the 99th Assembly District seat vacated by James Albis in January, is a 20 year Navy veteran who was stationed throughout the country and did a tour in a nuclear submarine. He entered politics in the 2018 election season, challenging Aili McKeen to be the Democratic candidate for the 34th Senate District.
His discussions of priorities start with the economy.
“We need to find a way of making Connecticut a more affordable place to live,” Balter said. “I’m against the governor’s plan to tax groceries or medicine...We need to raise revenue in ways that don’t hurt the people of the state.”
Balter supports tolls on Connecticut roads on the condition that residents receive maximum discounts and the gas tax is eliminated. He is also in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana.
“I want to use that money...to invest in the people of this state,” Balter said. “We need to ensure that people can go to vocational schools or colleges to fill high-paying, needed jobs in the state.”
Balter proposes a five-year condition attached to funds that send people to school. Those who take advantage of the program would have to remain to work in Connecticut for five years or return the money.
He also places a priority on family issues.
“I want paid family leave,” Balter said. “Also...women have to be paid dollar for dollar what men are paid.”
Balter wants to defend Medicare and Medicaid supplements from the state.
“I want older people to stay here,” he said. “We need to keep families together.”
He also supports raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour and implementing protections for small businesses. Balter said that the first five years of a small business are the most important, so he would propose a tax plan that cushions those early years.
“I would like to introduce a bill where we give small business owners who are under a certain [income] cap...where year one, no state taxes, year two, it goes up a little bit, and then finally by year five they’re at the same tax rate as anyone else,” he said.
He also supports a graduated minimum wage to protect small business growth.
Bringing new businesses to Connecticut is also important to Balter, but he said that he wants to ensure that new businesses receiving tax benefits are compelled to stay in the state when those benefits have run their course.
Balter supports revitalizing Connecticut’s three deep water ports, New Haven, Bridgeport, and New London, to improve our shipping industry.
The Sierra Club has endorsed Balter’s candidacy for the 99th District based on his environmental policies.
“The big fear that people seem to have is: Can business and the environment coexist? And they absolutely can,” Balter said. “Not only do I want our state to work toward a zero-carbon footprint, I want to become a leader in the actual technology of building wind and solar equipment.”
Balter said that he wants to be a voice for East Haven and expand on the work James Albis did, particularly in the realm of bringing more state money to the education system.
“People need somebody that they know they can trust,” Balter said. “I’m not tied to any scandal, I’m not tied to brushing anything under the rug, and I’ve never supported somebody who’s done things like that.”