Candidates running in the Nov. 8 elections were asked by the Westport Journal to provide information for readers about their background and position on several major issues.

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BACKGROUND: Alma Sarelli is a working mother of four who moved to Connecticut 13 years ago. A Westport resident for the past six years, she is an immigrant from Albania with a college degree in Business Management. Alma and her husband, Nick, have been married for 22 years. Their 13 and 16-year-old boys are both currently attending Staples. Their 18 and 20-year-old daughters are also Staples graduates and are both currently undergraduates at Connecticut Universities. Alma and her husband run a national event entertainment production company serving over 50 cities. As Executive Vice-president, Alma has worked in securing relationships with major well known corporations.

Besides her regular job, she is currently the President of Newcomers & Neighbors of Westport and was previously Vice-President of Events. Alma has been involved in the community bringing people together as a mom and as a community organizer. She was also the co-chair of the Newcomers Committee for Staples High School. In 2021, less than 10 days before the election, Alma ran as a write-in candidate for the Westport Board of Education garnering close to 600 votes. Through her candidacy for the Board of Education, she had a unique opportunity to meet and work with many wonderful people in Town.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: What is the obligation of the communities you seek to represent to provide affordable housing? If you agree more needs to be done, what is the best way to accomplish that goal? Would repeal of the 8-30g law help or hinder those efforts?

The availability of housing for families that is affordable is critical for Westport and Connecticut, but I would vote to repeal 8-30(g). That law is flawed and is just used as a bludgeon by contractors to beat and threaten local Planning and Zoning Boards. 8-30(g) doesn’t give any credit to housing units that may in fact be affordable unless they are constructed after 1990 and “deed restricted “and their occupancy is supervised by local housing authorities and can only be used as affordable housing. Residents who stabilized their lives and improve their economic position can’t stay. This prevents the typical development of neighborhoods and locks residents into a trap of poverty.

Westport is a responsible town. Let us determine what affordable housing solutions work for us. Hartford should not mandate solutions that mainly serve to benefit special interests, such as contractors, and risk destabilizing neighborhoods and potentially whole towns.

TAXES: The state has amassed record surpluses in the last few years. What are your priorities for state finances — cut taxes, fund new programs or pay down long-term debt?

It is no wonder that Connecticut’s finances are doing better over the past couple years than they have in the past. In addition to record tax revenue spurred by 1) the now ended stock market rally, 2) inflation and 3) the huge Covid stimulus payments Connecticut residents have received from the federal government, Connecticut has itself received billions of dollars in Covid related funding directly from the federal government. 

From 2010 to 2020, the amount of income tax sent to Hartford from Westport has increased by over $100 million from $161,476,949 to $264,713,846. Westport’s combined per capita total of income tax and property tax is $16,794, fourth highest in the State behind only Greenwich ($20,517), Darien ($19,771) and New Canaan ($18,010). Despite the high taxes paid by Westport residents, Hartford has done nothing to control spending.

For 30 years, Hartford has betrayed Connecticut residents by failing to provide the definitions necessary to implement the Constitutional Spending Cap promised when over 80% of Connecticut voters ratified that amendment after the enactment of the income tax. I would vote to implement this. I would also vote to eliminate Connecticut’s Prevailing Wage Law (more appropriately called the Crony Construction Cost Inflation Law).

TRAFFIC/TRANSPORTATION: Traffic on state highways through the region, as well as local roads, continues to grow more congested. At the same time, ridership levels on public transit alternatives, such as Metro-North Railroad and buses, have yet to recover from losses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. What do you suggest to help alleviate these problems, which have a negative impact on everyday life and the region’s prosperity?

We always hear that the problem with transportation is lack of funding, but the real problem is mis-directed spending. When we eliminated tolls following a horrific fatal accident at a toll plaza, the State put in place a gas tax to replace the lost revenue and provide funding for transportation. First off, we should repay the hundreds of millions of dollars diverted from the Special Transportation Fund prior to 2018. Second, we should eliminate our mis-named Prevailing Wage law that inflates our construction and maintenance costs by 20% to 50%.

In 2019, Reason Magazine estimated that Connecticut spent $96,956 on Capital and Bridge Disbursements per State Controlled Lane Mile in 2016 (the latest year for which data was then available) compared to the average for all states of $36,681. Connecticut’s cost for Administrative Disbursements per State Controlled Lane Mile in 2016 was $35,028 compared to an average for all states of $4,501. These are just indications of how much we overpay for roads and bridges, but we overpay for all significant new construction or repair by the State or a municipality.  The potential savings are hundreds of millions of dollars, and possibly more than a billion dollars each year.

PUBLIC HEALTH: In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, what measures might better prepare the state to mitigate the impact of a similar public health emergency in the future, particularly in critical areas such as education and employment?

It is not surprising that we and everybody else were unprepared for Covid. Preparedness for low frequency but high severity events competes with high frequency but relatively low severity issues for political attention, and politicians don’t get elected by saying no to constituents clamoring for resources and instead preparing for something that may never happen. Our initial response was hampered by the lack of availability of accurate testing tools needed to understand the prevalence and transmissibility of the virus. This was due primarily to failures by the CDC in Washington, which had apparently also frozen out the participation of other competing providers. We have all learned that being an active and inquiring patient is essential in obtaining quality personal health care, and I believe that seeking multiple opinions is essential in the public health area, too. We have in Connecticut excellent medical schools and medical labs, many wholly or partially State funded. We should put in place a low cost contingency plan that catalogues available facilities and experts that can act as second (or third and fourth) independent opinions and potential sources of testing methodologies and tools in the event of a similar health emergency.

ETC.: Are there any specific issues on which you particularly plan to focus if elected?

I support Connecticut’s laws on abortion and firearms. I would not vote to change them.

It is unfortunate that a high percentage of crime is done by a small percentage of the population. Premeditated crimes like car theft, robbery, burglary and other break-ins usually are committed by experienced criminals. I believe our criminal justice reforms should be re-examined to facilitate keeping repeat offenders off the street. Accommodation of those accused with probable cause of criminal acts must be balanced against the need to protect law abiding residents.

I support treating each child as an individual, and not in accordance with a preconception based on the child’s outward appearance. I believe we as parents know our children best, and we must be involved in their education, both in designing curriculum as well as reinforcing and supplementing lessons learned in school.  We are proud that we have such excellent schools in Westport, but that excellence is in part due to Westport families prioritizing education and school work outside of school.

With respect to the apparent increase in focus on sexuality in school, let us focus less on that and more on those academic subjects that children can learn best in school.