Fonfara running for Hartford mayor
State senator has spent 36 years in Connecticut legislature
HARTFORD — After fighting for money and opportunity for Hartford during 36 years in the state legislature, Sen. John W. Fonfara is now making a new move in his hometown: running for mayor.
A lifelong Hartford resident, Fonfara has never strayed far from the city — attending the local public schools in his youth and still living in the city’s South End that has become his political power base.
But with Mayor Luke Bronin stepping down, Fonfara sees a major opportunity. He said Monday that he would have supported Bronin for another fouryear term because he has done “a phenomenal job,’’ but Bronin says that eight years of running the capital city is long enough.
“What’s driving me to this is the mayor’s job is direct, hands on, every day with 400 people behind you — hopefully all rowing in the same direction to make Hartford better,’’ Fonfara told the Courant in an extended interview. “Unfortunately, the neighborhoods of Hartford struggle in some places with extreme poverty, lack of opportunity . ... Could I stay on as the state senator? Could I stay on as the chairman of the finance committee? Yeah. But I feel that I have this opportunity to transform our city. The goal and the objective is to provide opportunities to those families that are here.’’
Recently elected to another two-year term, Fonfara does not need to step down because he is not up for reelection until 2024. He is expected to run against at least three other opponents in the Democratic primary in September.
Fonfara ranks among the most influential legislators because he serves as co-chairman of the powerful tax-writing finance committee, and he is expected to play a key role in the coming months as Gov. Ned Lamont says he wants to enact a middle-class tax cut. The details are expected to be released in Lamont’s budget address next month, and a final
package is expected before the legislature adjourns in early June.
A low-key lawmaker who does not seek headlines or rush in front of the television cameras, Fonfara is known for working behind the scenes at the state Capitol on complicated bills on issues like electricity prices and taxes. He said he developed his stoic personality from his mother, who turns 98 years old in three weeks. His father recently turned 99.
At 67, Fonfara said he wants to turn around the entire mindset in the city and establish a new era of optimism in the region.
“You shouldn’t have to move out of Hartford to get a better life,’’ he said. “People in Hartford currently do that. It’s not that they want to leave Hartford. Many are born and raised here. Their families are here. Their house of worship is here. Their friends are here. But if they have children or if they feel that another place is safer or has greater opportunity, they seek higher ground. No one can blame them, but we have to compete for that person and we have to give them reasons to stay here.’’
Fonfara added, “This is a major tenet of mine in this effort — we have to grow incomes in Hartford. I don’t mean doing that by importing people. By raising incomes and opportunities for the residents who are here, particularly in those neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. It’s a very tall task, but the alternative for me is unacceptable . ... We’re constantly exporting success stories. Constantly. And I want to reverse that.’’
Fonfara will be running against a growing field that includes former Sen. Eric Coleman, a longtime friend who once represented 40% of Hartford as Fonfara still represents the other 60%. He described Coleman as “a dear friend’’ for decades who sat next to each other for 20 years in the Senate circle and in the Democratic caucus room at the Capitol.
“I hope it is a contest of ideas on our visions of Hartford’‘’ Fonfara said. “I would hope that people will look at our records . ... I’m not going to be critical of anyone. This is too serious of a job.’’
Fonfara also did not have any criticism of Hartford Land Bank President Arunan Arulampalam, who is also running in the crowded Democratic field.
“Nice guy. Smart guy,’’ Fonfara said of Arulampalam. “He came to me this past session to help him in his role with the Land Bank.’’
The two Democrats worked together in securing millions of dollars for the Land Bank in an effort to help the city with increased home ownership and improved neighborhoods.
He is also running against city council member Nick Lebron, a lifelong resident who was born in the city’s North End and holds a master’s degree from Trinity College.
While he also represents Wethersfield, Fonfara represents a large swath of Hartford that stretches from the city’s southern border and goes north to the SAND Elementary School on Main Street above Albany Avenue. He also represents downtown, Frog Hollow, and the area around the Colt building off Interstate 91 along the city’s eastern border that stretches along the Connecticut River.
A lobbyist’s pin on women
With the political campaign starting, those who oppose Fonfara are recalling an incident that generated headlines in April 2018 when Fonfara apologized following a clash with a lobbyist at the Capitol.
Arvia Walker, a lobbyist at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, reported that Fonfara had noted that she was wearing a “Stand with Black Women” pin and responded, “I need a stand with white men pin.’’
Walker then said that she responded by saying, “No you don’t because the entire country stands with white men.’’ To that, Fonfara replied, “You’ve been listening to propaganda … You should walk in my shoes one day.”
Nearly five years later, Fonfara, who grew up in public housing in Hartford, now says that he learned lessons from that time and is grateful to Walker.
“That experience made me look inward ... to participate in a personal discovery which made me appreciate that it’s frankly aspirational to live in a colorblind society, but that assumes that every community is starting with the same advantages and has the same opportunities,’’ he said. “As difficult as it was to endure at the time, I know that it’s where my journey began — a journey that helped me recognize and appreciate how much race still determines a person and a community’s opportunities in life. It’s a journey that will never end.’’
Another issue raised by detractors is that Fonfara owed more than $50,000 in federal taxes to the Internal Revenue Service that became public after a lien was filed at Hartford city hall for debts that were owed in 2008 and 2009. Fonfara said after the lien was public that it was related to a billboard company that he no longer owns and that he had successfully made arrangements with the IRS to pay off the debt.
Clashes on energy committee
For years, the legislature’s energy committee was known for ongoing clashes and epic battles that even top legislators described as dysfunctional. At the center of it, Fonfara often his disagreed with his co-chairwoman, Rep. Vickie Nardello of Prospect.
Nardello was generally seen as supporting more regulation of the utilities, while Fonfara often favored a free-market approach on various issues.
They even disagreed on the size of the bills, with Nardello preferring smaller bills and Fonfara not opposed to complicated, 120-page bills in the final, frantic days of the legislation session.
The two co-chairs admitted their clashes, but they also passed major legislation at the time. Nardello lost her House seat in 2014, and then lost in a Senate race in 2018 to Republican Rob Sampson of Wolcott.
The volatility cap
Fonfara has become known at the Capitol as the father of the “volatility cap’’ — a key provision in state law that prevents the legislature from spending excessive money from capital gains that are generated in boom years on Wall Street. The cap has been credited with helping create the largest surpluses in state history in recent years — allowing billions of dollars to be transferred to the long-underfunded pension plans for state employees and teachers. If the economic patterns continue, the state’s rainy day fund could grow to $6.17 billion later this year, allowing $2.8 billion to be siphoned off for the pension funds.
But Fonfara, who was the lead senator to introduce the idea years ago, said that others were involved in the budget deal of 2017 that was crafted by legislators without the input of then-gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
“People give me credit on the volatility cap, but none of this would have happened without bipartisanship,’’ Fonfara said. “It would not have happened without [then-senate Republican leader] Len Fasano, who was a statesman who stood up. It’s a little lost art when we watch things at the national level these days, but he deserves as much credit for what happened as anybody.’’