Power & Politics: One-on-one with outgoing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona reflects on tenure and future 

Power & Politics: Combating ghost guns; 1:1 with oversight committee co-chair State Rep. Lucy Dathan

Power & Politics: Jodi Rell’s legacy; the reopening of Norwalk’s I-95 overpass

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Rep. Himes on Trump’s Cabinet picks, his plans for new session

Power & Politics: Washington shifts right – but CT remains Democratic stronghold

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News 12 Staff

CTPP61B

I'm Mark Sudha. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Scott Burns candidate for the State Senate 22nd district seat joins me now and welcome. Thank you, Mark. Thank you for having me. So, Scott, you are on the Bridgeport City Council have been for a little while now. Tell us a little bit about your background. Sure. So I am in my seventh year on the city council. Uh That's where my energies and focus have been uh in, in those last several years. Um My background really is as a teacher, public school teacher and public school coach. Uh I did that for a number of years. Uh gave me a great foundation. Uh And, you know, now I'm a homeowner in Black Rock. I got two adult kids who've moved on uh living their own uh best lives. Uh And I'm, I'm married to a very successful uh uh business executive. Uh And uh that arrangement has allowed me to really give a lot of time to the district uh to the city, to the council and I feel like I've done a lot of really good work there, for example. Uh Sure. So one example, uh is our, our tax incentive policy. It's a little nerdy but uh it's, it's an opportunity where if a developer wants to come in, they know what they're gonna be in line for. Uh And, and so it's encouraged some development in the city that clearly we need in Bridgeport. Um, another area that, uh, we've worked on, uh, and this is with the council president, Irene Nieves. Uh, she and I worked on what we call the public safety task force. Uh And part of that was in, in light of what happened, uh Post George Floyd. Uh So two of the important outcomes from that one. We funded uh a uh program where a social worker would be able to work with the police department because we know there are occasions where social workers is a more appropriate background assignment task uh versus uh someone wearing uniform and a gun. Um, and that's moved ahead and, and is making some good progress. Uh The other area under the public safety task force, uh that we made some uh promise on, um, was from um, b and this is, um, well, well, tell me, tell me why, why, why do you want to run for Marilyn Moore? Sure. Sure. Uh So my uh motive for uh running for the seat is I feel like I'm in a good place and a good time to do that. Um Again, I've been serving on the council for a number of years now, I've got a very good handle on the budget as a budget co chair. And I see that the region, the city really need to make sure that we're getting our fair share of the state funding. I think our state delegation has done a really good job. I think Senator Moore did a good job bringing us those funds, but I do see where we need even more to come into play uh with regards to uh funding and that's Bridgeport, it's Trumbull, it's Monroe those three areas. Uh You know, we share something of a geographic corridor. Uh and, and uh that's, that's what we need to do. So what do you think are some of the other issues facing the people of Bridgeport Monroe and Trump? Yeah. So one of the concerns uh and, and issues is we wanna make sure that folks have good quality of life matters. So, you know, we need a, a library in the reservoir district. Uh Trumbull needs a grocery store. They're looking for a grocery store in my district in Blackrock. Uh We're transitioning from one grocery store to another, but we don't have a bank yet to replace the one that left with the stock and shop. So those are kind of quality of life issues that are really important that I wanna make sure get taken care of uh within uh my role as a state senator. So we have talked to Tyler Mack and Bill Finch, we've had, uh, on previous shows and Democratic primaries coming up this summer, we, we learn now we're down from five candidates to four candidates. Uh, so do you think this is gonna be a close race? Sure, I would think so. Uh, listen, uh, all four of us have gotten to know each other even a little better. Uh, Councilman Mack. Uh, and, and, uh, the former mayor, uh, finch, uh, you know, I've known them both for a good amount of time and worked with them in different capacities and uh the, the candidate from Trumbull um also was a very interesting background and, and bring things to the table. So I think we all have different strengths that would help serve the seat. Uh But for me, uh again, I feel like I've put in the time to understand really what is needed. Now, um you know, one of the concerns I have is there's a lot of federal money out there from the bipartisan Infrastructure law, the uh Inflation Reduction Act, those are factors uh and, and fundings that we need to take full advantage of. Uh And a lot of those actually overlap with concerns of mine around environment, which is, you know, a very important issue, right? Uh Bridgeport is facing sea level rise issues. Uh We have flooding in different districts. Uh We're still fighting lead in areas of Bridgeport. So uh if we can get our hands on those funds and maximize them. They're gonna help fix quality of life issues, create jobs, uh and move ourselves ahead as, as a city and a region. Marilynn Moore held the seat for, for a decade. What do you think her legacy is? You know, I think she brought a lot of dignity to the seat and I, I think that's really important. Uh, you know, there's only 36 state senators and the fact that she was up there fighting for Bridgeport, fighting for the right causes. Uh housing was obviously an important factor to her and it's important to me too. Uh And, and housing is something I really feel needs to move ahead in Bridgeport and, and beyond. Um We've got a lot of old housing stock. Um We do have housing projects online which is good and they're moving and what we're finding is as soon as they're built, they're filled even before they're built, people are lining up to move in. So Bridgeport is still uh uh it's a desirable place to live. Um And you know, the, the, the neighboring communities tremble and, and Monroe, same way we wanna have places where the next generation wants to live, wants to stay build their lives because connect it is a great place, but we gotta make sure that they have a good place to live that's affordable and can move ahead and, and uh raise their families. Scott Burns candidate for the State Senate 22nd district seat. Thank you so much for being with us. All right, thank you, sir. All right. Well, coming up how the state is putting the brakes on drivers who think about passing school buses.

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This week at the Connecticut State Veterans Memorial Park in Hartford. Senator Blumenthal highlighted the success of the Pack Act. The law delivers relief to veterans exposed to burn pits, agent orange and other toxic substances. It also aims to correct the nearly 80% rejection rate faced by burn pit veterans seeking claims. Last week, the Biden administration announced that 1 million PAC Act claims have been approved and benefits have been delivered to veterans in all 50 states, hazardous chemicals waste other kinds of potentially damaging substances. They are all covered now by the Pack Act as a result of this expansion in benefits and coverage. The Pact Act was sponsored by Blumenthal and signed into law by the Biden administration in August of 2022 in Bridgeport. Lawmakers highlighted this week new legislation that will help protect students. They were all at Dunbar Elementary School talking about Senate Bill 420. It passed the legislature and is awaiting the governor's signature. The legislation ensures that towns are able to monitor detect and find drivers who pass park school buses. Data shows nearly 10,000 drivers illegally pass stop Bridgeport school buses in the first six months of this academic year tickets will cost drivers $250 when we see a stop arm for a school bus that we stop. Uh, just like we were stopping at a stop sign. Uh, because our kids are just that precious. Lawmakers said 100% of the funds from the tickets will go to local municipalities and private safety initiatives. A few months ago, she was at the center of a Bridgeport ballot scandal at the mayor's race. But now Anita Martinez is celebrating a major political victory. It's emotional, very emotional for me. Martinez won the endorsement from Bridgeport Democrats in her bid to unseat state representative Andre Baker in the 124th district house race. She praised Baker as a good friend to both her and Bridgeport but said it's time for new progressive leadership. A judge found Martinez mishandled ballots in the Bridgeport mayor's race and she's accused of violating pandemic business restrictions at a nightclub she managed. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudal. Thanks for watching.

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