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09/23/2020 08:00 AMBorn and raised in East Haven, incumbent State Representative Joe Zullo (R087) served as town attorney from 2011 to 2019, making him the youngest town attorney to serve the town. He has also been involved in the town’s schools and a number of civic groups and is a partner with his father, Alfred Zullo, at Zullo, Zullo, and Jacks in East Haven.
“We live in increasingly uncertain times and our residents need and deserve experienced leaders who will fight to keep them safe and help them get ahead,” said Zullo. “I want to continue to represent the 99th District because I love East Haven, I’ve spent my life working to improve our community, and because I want to continue putting my experience to work for the benefit of the residents of East Haven.”
Zullo is on the Board of Directors of the East Haven Chamber of Commerce and volunteers with the East Haven Fall Festival Committee, the East Haven Community Classic 5K Road Race Committee, and the Momauguin and Joseph Melillo middle schools’ PTA/PTO.
Zullo has seen residents facing several issues, including economic insecurity due to the “state’s high taxes, poor business climate, and out-of-control borrowing”; difficulty accessing state resources like housing and unemployment; and rising healthcare costs. Zullo said he has fought for residents on these issues through different bills, proposals, and legislation in Hartford.
If re-elected, Zullo plans to continue to fight to oppose new taxes, close affordable housing loopholes and work to make the state’s housing laws fairer to communities like East Haven, and address reports of crime, nuisance, and increased opioid abuse/fatalities since the pandemic.
“We need to stop asking for more and we need to stop looking at our state’s budget problems simply as revenue problems. The solution cannot always be to raise taxes,” said Zullo. “I am committed to continuing to oppose the Hartford majority’s tax-and-spend agenda and to finding efficiencies in government. We need to streamline our government to make it more accessible and less costly to operate.
“In East Haven, we’ve seen how developers can exploit loopholes in our state’s housing laws to leverage communities to pass dense, often controversial housing proposals and last session, I proposed concept legislation to close loopholes in the state’s housing laws and to make those laws fairer to towns like East Haven which already have diverse, affordable housing stocks,” added Zullo. “Last session, I co-sponsored legislation increasing penalties for those who manufacture and sell the deadly drug fentanyl and, if re-elected, I am committed to working to increase resources to help those with addictions get meaningful treatment. If re-elected, I’ll also work across the aisle to advocate for changes to the police accountability bill to address a number of provisions which I feel have made it harder for our police to keep illegal drugs off the streets and which I believe will increase costs, and possibly taxes, in cities and towns across our state.”
Zullo encourages anyone with questions stop him to ask when they see him in town or to reach out by writing or calling.
“I have, and always will, put East Haven and its residents first and I will always be accessible to our residents,” said Zullo.
For more information, visit joezullo.com or staterepzullo on Facebook.