We-Ha.com is offering our readers the opportunity to meet the candidates running for election on Nov. 8, 2016.

Chris Barnes. Submitted photo

Compiled by Ronni Newton

We-Ha.com is offering our readers the opportunity to “Meet the Candidate” – designed to help them get to know the local candidates running for office in the Nov. 8, 2016, election.

Identical questionnaires have been sent to all major party candidates, and each profile received has been submitted directly to We-Ha.com by the candidate or the candidate’s campaign management. The responses have not been edited but have been formatted to match our publication style. Questions left blank have been deleted.

As profiles are received, they will be published on We-Ha.com under the “Government” tab. We-Ha.com is not making endorsements of any political candidates but we are publishing this information in order to assist West Hartford voters in being informed and prepared when they go to the polls on Nov. 8.

If you are a candidate and wish to submit a profile, please return it by email to Ronni Newton at [email protected] ASAP.

Name: Chris Barnes

Age: 47

Party, Position Seeking: Republican, Representative 19^th House District (parts of West Hartford, Avon, and Farmington).

Family Information: Married to Stephanie and we have three teenage daughters.

Occupation: Partner with the law firm of Reardon Scanlon Vodola Barnes LLP located in West Hartford.

Political Experience: Currently serving second term on the West Hartford Town Council.

Other relevant experience: In addition to serving on the Town Council, I previously served as a member of the West Hartford Risk Management Advisory Board.

Why are you running for office? I am running to represent the 19^th House District to build a better future for all of us. We need to restore fiscal sanity and stability to our government. We need to restructure and right-size our government, and we need an economic plan to become business-friendly to grow our state economy. Having the government pay a few companies to move to Connecticut or to remain here, while ignoring all of the others, is not a sustainable economic policy. We need change and we need it now.

What issues(s) are your primary areas of focus? Work to turn the State economy around, grow business and create jobs, and balance and provide stability to the State budget. Connecticut should be a great place to live and work. We enjoy a great location, many natural resources, have a highly educated workforce, and we are one of the wealthiest states in the nation. We can do better. We must do better.

What do you feel is the biggest issue facing West Hartford today? Two of the bigger issues are the high cost of living and regionalization. West Hartford is a high property tax town and in return the town provides strong services. With the current and future budget problems facing our State, West Hartford will likely see cuts in State aid and grants. This, along with the town’s regular budget increases, will put additional financial pressure on our town residents. As the city of Hartford faces its own budget problems, Mayor Bronin and others are raising the possibility of regionalizing services in the area, including, as some have suggested, public safety and public schools, and imposing a regional tax for Hartford’s benefit. These are issues we must follow very closely.

What do you feel differentiates you from other candidates also running for this position? The State legislature has been under one-party rule for thirty years. Our State is in a permanent fiscal crisis and the majority party is without the ideas and leadership to turn it around. We need new leadership and new ideas in Hartford. We need a government where both political parties have to work together to serve the people of Connecticut. That is not happening and until it does nothing will change.

Anything else you would like to share? I can be reached by phone at (860) 798-5207 or by email at [email protected].

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford!