Candidates for State Representative in Greenwich’s 149th district and State Senator in the 36th district, faced off on Tuesday night at Round Hill Community House.
Republican Tina Courpas and incumbent Democrat Rachel Khanna debated first.
The event was hosted by the Round Hill Association and moderated by the organization’s president, Brendon DeSimone.
Incumbent Democrat Rachel Khanna and her challenger Republican Tina Courpas are both in their 50s and each has four children.
Candidates for State Representative in Connecticut’s 149th district Republican Tina Courpas and incumbent, Democrat Rachel Khanna. The 149th district includes Greenwich and parts of Stamford. Oct 8, 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager
Courpas, 58, who graduated from Princeton University and Columbia Law School, had a career on Wall Street as a corporate lawyer and investment banker before going on to lead two non profits: the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women in Connecticut and The Hellenic Initiative.
Khanna, 52 and a triathlete defeated incumbent Republican Kimberly Fiorello in 2022. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College and completed a Master’s degree in Political Science at Columbia. She worked for Morgan Stanley and later started a local organic meal delivery service and published two cookbooks. She previously served four years on the RTM in District 10.
Connecticut’s Housing Shortage and 8-30g
Candidates were asked how they proposed to balance the need for affordable housing and maintaining local control of zoning given statute 8-30g had been on the books for 30 years and was unlikely to be overturned or amended.
Ms Courpas described 8-30g as ineffective and needing to be overhauled. She said Ms Khanna had voted in favor of a transit oriented development bill called Work Live Ride, eroding local control.
“It would have deferred hundreds of millions of dollars away from towns that did not opt in,” she said. “The bill had environmental problems. It would have impacted areas of our town that are closest to the water.”
C0urpas said accessory dwelling units “ADUs” and both private school, hospital and country club housing for employees should be counted toward the 10% towns are required to have as affordable.
“There are incentives we can use at the town and local level, to incentivize developers or require developers to have a percentage of the housing they erect as affordable,” she said.
Ms Khanna said the state should not tell towns where and how to build housing.
“I remain steadfast in my commitment to protecting local control,” she said adding that in 2023 she broke with her party to vote against the “Fair Share bill” that would have required each community to build a number of units mandated by the state.
She explained that in 2024 when a Transit Oriented development bill called “Work Live Ride” was working its way through the House and was going to pass, she worked with both State Rep Meskers and State Rep Arzeno to engage Frances Pickering from WestCOG and Greenwich P&Z commission chair Margarita Alban to help craft language to protect local control of zoning.
In May the three Democratic State Reps wrote an op ed explaining that behind the scenes they worked to make sure that the bill was truly opt-in, with no mandates or penalties for towns that choose not to.
Another bill she supported would have allowed Greenwich to get more points toward an 8-30g moratorium.
“When my opponent accuses me of violating my promise, I respectfully respond that I do the exact opposite by protecting Greenwich’s right to decide whether and where moderate income housing is built.”
Ms Khanna said more housing was needed in order to grow the state economy, with some estimates that 90,000 units are needed across the state.
“But this needs to be driven by us because local leaders know best about the town’s needs on density and infrastructure, and this is why I received the endorsement of the CT Realtors.”
Bi-Partisanship
Ms Courpas described herself as a pro-choice Republican who supports the environment and worked at a women’s organization, the Bipartisan Women’s Commission of CT, for three years.
“That organization had a 50 year legacy of advocating for CT’s women and girls. As a Republican, as you can expect, I was the minority in that framework, but I managed to build coalitions across the state.”
“There is a difference between an Independent voter and an unaffiliated voter,” she said.
Ms Courpas was dismissive of Ms Khanna’s endorsement by the Independent Party.
“The Independent party is a political platform. It supports ranked choice voting and other things I do not support,” Courpas said. “So when my opponent says she has the endorsement of the Independent party as a proxy for being bipartisan, I respectfully disagree. My opponent voted 98% of the time with her party.”
Ms Khanna said 98% of legislation in Hartford passes on a bi-partisan basis and that her Independent Party endorsement did indeed reflect her reaching across the aisle to reach consensus.
She also pointed to her experience working across the aisle on Greenwich’s RTM for four years.
“I’m proud to have worked and co-sponsored legislation from all sides in the House and will continue to do that,” she said, adding that between sessions she had gone on a listening tour listening among constituents regardless of party.
Full house at Round Hill Community House for the debate season kick off. Oct 8, 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager
Crime
Ms Courpas – endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the Police Association of CT, and the Stamford Police Association – said the police accountability bill of 2020 rolled back “common sense tools” used proactively by police.
“My opponent has taken a number of votes against putting some of those reasonable policing practices back,” Courpas said.
She said Ms Khanna voted against an amendment in the House to restore consent searches that would allow police to pull a driver over if they have a reasonable suspicion that illegal guns and drugs are in a car and with that person’s consent they could search the car.
She said Khanna also voted against an amendment allowing police to stop a car if the driver was spotted visibly smoking cannabis.
Ms Khanna pushed back.
She said current law already allowed police to pull someone over who is under the influence of cannabis or visibly impaired.
Reading from the DOT website she said, “It is essential to remember that operating a motor vehicle under the influence of cannabis is illegal and carries the same penalties as driving under the influence of alcohol or any other drug. A police officer can test an operator based on the odor of cannabis if at the time they reasonably suspect the operator is under the influence of the same.”
Khanna said Connecticut ranked among the safest states in the nation, and violent crime was down 41% since the state enacted sweeping gun safety laws in the wake of the mass shooting in Sandy Hook.
She said she voted in favor of funding for police body cameras, strong gun violence prevention laws, and in favor of a bill that made families of firefighters and police officers who die in the line of duty eligible for benefits. She also voted in favor of a bill to provide greater protections for victims of domestic violence.
Public School Funding
Ms Khanna, whose children attended Parkway Elementary School, described public schools as the backbone of the community and the number one reason people want to live in Greenwich.
“I’m a big supporter of our public schools and will continue to work hard at the state to make sure they are properly funded, that the facilities are modern, and that we can recruit and retain the best educators so our kids can learn and thrive,” Khanna said.
“In 2023 we made historic investments in K-12 education, the second biggest in the state’s history at $240 million. I worked with the Greenwich and Stamford delegations to bring back funds for the construction of Roxbury Elementary School and Central Middle School.”
Khanna, who earned an A- from the Connecticut Education Association, said she was a strong proponent of free school meals for all, as opposed to means-tested qualifications.
“We need to make sure our children have all the tools they need to succeed – from tablets to nutrition. We need to remove the stigma around not being able to pay for a school meal.”
Ms Courpas said considering the total amount of funds invested in public schools, achievement should be higher.
“For example, Stamford Public Schools invest $20,000 per student and achieve only 54% reading proficiency at the 4th grade level, yet the Stamford Charter School for Excellence spends half of that per student and achieves an 82.5% reading proficiency level.”
Taxes
Ms Khanna said she opposed a “mansion tax,” and was proud to have brought back state funding and resources for the community.
“In 2023 we had the largest tax cut in Connecticut’s history and also expanded tax exemptions for pension income,” she said.
The listed securing money for projects including the Glenville Corridor project, and local non profits including the Boys & Girls Club and Greenwich Library.
Ms Courpas said she opposed a mansion tax, especially at $1 million. She said Connecticut taxes were already driving away its the highest income residents.
“I don’t need to give that news here in the back country,” she said, adding that high income earners had already bought into a progressive tax system.
“But our state has taken this to the extreme,” she said. “In 2020, Connecticut had 1.7 million tax return filers. The top 20,000 of those filers, or 1% of the people, paid 40% of the income taxes of this state.”
She said the response and recovery effort for Covid-19 was the largest relief assistance program in American history and the federal government dumped $4.5 million into the state legislature in 2020 and 2021.
“My opponent’s two years in the Connecticut legislature coincided with the largest federal slush fund in American history, which slush fund had to be deployed during her tenure.”
Closing
In closing, Courpas called for “a course correction,” and a change of leadership to prevent the state from becoming a one-party state and that she expected Khanna would “bow to the political pressure of the majority party” on proposals such as a statewide property tax, mansion tax and surcharge on capital gains.
“It will mean that a Governor like Lamont, who is a constituent of this district, will not be able to veto any extreme legislation proposed. A simple 2/3 super majority will override his veto, and the final check and balance will be gone.”
Ms Khanna said when she ran in 2022 she promised fiscal responsibility without sacrificing values.
“We balanced the state budget, paid down pension debt, saving tax payers $700 million a year, and filled the rainy day fund to its maximum,” she said. “As a result, the three major credit rating agencies upgraded Connecticut’s debt rating.”
Rep Khanna said she’d brought back close to $100 million in funding to Stamford and Greenwich for new school construction, road and pedestrian safety improvement projects, and support for the work of local non profits that serve older adults and children.
“I’ve consistently voted to protect our values and rights, including keeping our communities safe and ensuring that women can make reproductive healthcare decisions for themselves.”
Khanna said she was proud to be endorsed by CAGV, CT Realtors, Planned Parenthood, Stamford Professional Firefighters and had a 100% rating from the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.
See also:
League of Women Voters Announces State Senate and State Rep Debates on Oct 15