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Tallarita
Vaults To A Fifth Term
By
CHRISTINE DEMPSEY
Courant Staff Writer
November 8, 2006
ENFIELD -- State Rep. Kathleen Tallarita, D-Enfield, easily won a fifth
term in Tuesday's elections, fending off a feisty challenge from
Republican school board member Susan Lavelli-Hozempa.
"I'd say the people in Enfield spoke and I'm very grateful,"
said Tallarita, 41, after the results began coming in. "I work hard
for my district and the people in Enfield recognized that."
Lavelli-Hozempa conceded at 10 p.m.
"You can quote me as saying congratulations to Kathy Tallarita,"
she said, adding that she got swept up in anti-Republican sentiment.
Tallarita's ample name recognition probably played a role in her success.
She is a former town council member; her brother, Patrick, is mayor. Her
mother used to be director of the local senior center.
Lavelli-Hozempa, 39, a board of education member who describes herself as
a government watchdog, said her top goal was to cut taxes. She also wanted
to make the state more attractive to energy producers, even if it means
curbing environmental regulations. She supported tougher criminal
sentences and state grants for private school tuition.
She referred to Tallarita as "fluffy" during the campaign.
An assistant majority leader, Tallarita is on the legislature's finance,
revenue and bonding committee, and the aging and intern committees. One of
her biggest accomplishments has been to bring back money to Enfield in the
form of state aid, she said, including $816,000 this year.
Other accomplishments she cited during the campaign include raising the
income limits for the ConnPACE prescription drug program for seniors. She
also helped secure financing for a new train stop in Thompsonville and for
a dredging project at Freshwater Pond.
A controversy that surfaced late in the race did not appear to have an
effect on Tallarita's chances. A pair of Internet bloggers contended that
a newsletter from the bank where Tallarita recently got a job looked like
campaign literature. Jim Brewer and Andy Thibault also questioned in
"The Cool Justice Report" whether a wine-tasting the bank
sponsored was a political event.
Thibault, a former Courant editor and reporter, notified the state
Elections Enforcement Commission in a letter, but no formal complaint had
been filed as of Friday.
Tallarita said both the newsletter and invitations to the wine-tasting
went only to bank customers.
Contact Christine Dempsey at cdempsey@courant.com.
Link:
http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2006/11/courant-on-tallarita-lavelli-hozempa.html
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